Rose Gleeson bought Good Good because it was already her favourite place in all of Dunedin — and when it went up for sale, she refused to let someone else change it. Running a burger restaurant had been her dream for years, so she decided to take the leap herself. At the time of the interview, she had been operating the business for close to a year, with the one-year anniversary due in August.
Gleeson didn't set out looking for a business to buy. She simply saw that Good Good was on the market and felt an immediate, protective instinct toward a place she genuinely loved. Her reasoning was direct: if she didn't step in, whoever did might change everything that made it special.
That instinct aligned with a long-held ambition. Burgers had been her favourite food for as long as she could remember, and owning a burger restaurant was a goal she had carried for years. Good Good wasn't just any opportunity — it was the specific place she had always wanted to run.
The first year of ownership wasn't smooth. Gleeson describes being able to see, almost graph-like, where New Zealand's economy began to recover in late the previous year — and then where it tanked again in February. The business absorbed both movements directly.
Despite the volatility, Good Good was still standing. Gleeson's benchmark at this stage is clear and unsentimental: listen to the full episode on Listenly to hear how she frames survival itself as a form of success in the current economic climate.
"We are pretty much just keeping the lights on at the moment. And that's 100% fine. I've come to terms with that. That's all it needs to do — it just needs to pay for itself and not make me bankrupt."
Rose Gleeson — Owner, Good Good (Vogel Street, Dunedin)
Gleeson trained as a chef for two years at Otago Polytechnic and spent two years working in the restaurant industry before moving into government roles at ACC and Dunedin City Council. She represented New Zealand in synchronized figure skating at the 2009 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia — where the team placed 21st out of 21. She has also written a published children's book and performed in an improv troupe. At the time of this interview, she holds a full-time day job alongside running Good Good.
Good Good is a burger restaurant on Vogel Street in Dunedin. Gleeson describes its vibe as "Grandma Grunge" — a mix of old granny couches along the walls and a graffiti aesthetic, blending grungy industrial with comfortable, familiar surroundings.
The new Dunedin Hospital is described as the biggest civil engineering project in New Zealand since the Clyde Dam — a measure of how little major infrastructure investment the country has undertaken in decades.
Apopo surveyed 50 of its most senior practitioners in New Zealand, and 70% ranked governance as the highest priority for improving asset management — above technical skills or funding.
This answer comes from Episode 16 of The Otago Opportunity. Hear the full conversation with Rose Gleeson on Listenly.
Listen to the episode on Listenly