Popular Food Truck Duo Takes Over SIT Café With Fresh Approach
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The husband-and-wife team behind popular mobile food business The Saucy Chook have taken over the main campus café at Southern Institute of Technology, bringing fresh energy and expanded menu options to the student hub.
Emmanuel and Inov Listiarto have rebranded the café as Between Classes, introducing their signature chicken dishes alongside an expanded range of sandwiches, pies, desserts and fresh lemonades that have proven popular with students and staff.
"We've kept the things that made the café familiar while layering in a lot more variety and colour," Mr Listiarto said. The revamped café now features cold and hot cabinets plus hot meals at lunchtime.
"Our chicken is still our star - that's not going anywhere! And our coffee is great too," he added.
The couple have partnered with local ROAR Coffee, which uses ethically sourced and fairly traded organic arabica beans, small batch roasted in Southland for freshness and quality.
Customers are welcomed by Mrs Listiarto and barista Andrew Yulius, a SIT commerce graduate. "Our Barista, Andrew, is exactly the kind of person you want behind the coffee machine - friendly, chatty, and genuinely passionate about what he does. He makes a great cup too; SIT's coffee drinkers are in good hands," Mr Listiarto said.
The Indonesian couple's connection to SIT runs deep. Mr Listiarto arrived in New Zealand in 2015, with his wife following a year later. "We actually met at SIT," he reveals. "We'd never crossed paths back in Indonesia, but somehow we found each other at the bottom of New Zealand. That's why SIT will always hold such a special place in our hearts."
Mr Listiarto was drawn to Invercargill's smaller population. "Honestly, when I was looking to study abroad, I was searching for somewhere that wasn't too crowded - the less people, the better! Invercargill turned out to be exactly that, and it's become home," he said.
Both gained qualifications at SIT - Mr Listiarto completed a Diploma in Professional Chef Practice while Mrs Listiarto earned a Graduate Diploma in Hotel Management. "We both learned so much during our time there... Everything we learned at SIT laid the foundation for what we do today," Mr Listiarto said.
The couple took over The Saucy Chook in 2024, which had operated since 2017. "I have my own way of doing things, so maintaining consistency while gradually making it our own, took time and a lot of effort," Mr Listiarto admitted. "...week by week we got better, and now we have a whole new wave of regular customers who specifically come looking for us. That means everything."
Taking on the SIT café felt natural given what the institution had provided them. "Our qualifications, our skills. When the opportunity came to run the café, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. We want to give back to the place that gave us our start, and food is how we do that," Mr Listiarto explained.
The couple plan to run both businesses simultaneously. "They support each other well. They have their own identities, but at the heart of both is the same commitment to good food and looking after people."
Their goal is clear: "to make the SIT café somewhere students and staff are genuinely excited to come to, with lots of options, affordable prices, good food, and good coffee."
"SIT gave us so much, and this café is our way of contributing something back. We're so grateful for this opportunity, and we don't take it lightly," Mr Listiarto said.