Already known locally from their mobile food business, The Saucy Chook, the couple have rebranded the café, naming it Between Classes and have taken the opportunity to bring their delicious chicken dishes to SIT.
Mr Listiarto says they’ve worked hard to expand what’s on offer at the café and filling the cabinets with more exciting choices - sandwiches, pies, desserts, lemonades - and plenty more still to come. “We’ve kept the things that made the café familiar while layering in a lot more variety and colour.” This includes a cold cabinet, a hot cabinet, and hot meals at lunchtime.
“Our chicken is still our star - that’s not going anywhere! And our coffee is great too.” The couple have introduced local brand, ROAR Coffee, who take ethically sourced and fairly traded organic arabica beans and small batch roast them for freshness and quality in Southland.
When customers visit Between Classes, they can expect a warm welcome from Mrs Listiarto; “Inov loves connecting with customers, she’ll make you feel welcome the moment you walk in,” and Barista, Andrew Yulius, who’s also a SIT graduate (BCom).
“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 came to New Zealand from Indonesia in 2015 and his wife followed the year after. “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.”
The appeal of southern New Zealand was the 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 says.
Mr Listiarto studied Diploma in Professional Chef Practice (Level 5) - currently the New Zealand Diploma in Cookery (Advanced) L5, and Mrs Listiarto completed the Level 7 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.”
Chef training gave Mr Listiarto the skills and discipline to be in a professional kitchen, while Mrs Listiarto’s hotel management background means she understands hospitality, customer experience, and how to run an operation well. “We genuinely use what we studied every single day.”
The couple took over The Saucy Chook in 2024, which had been running since 2017. Mr Listiarto admits stepping into a food business with history and loyal customers was both exciting and challenging. “I have my own way of doing things, so maintaining consistency while gradually making it our own, took time and a lot of effort.”
“…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.”
Mr Listiarto explains the reason they took on Between Classes was because SIT had given the couple so much - “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.”
Admitting he’s “the quiet one” of the pair, Mr Listiarto prefers to be in the kitchen making sure all the food coming out is worth coming back for. “We each do what we do best, and together I think we make a pretty good team! “
The Listiartos plan to operate The Saucy Chook and Between Classes 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.”
And their motivation? Customer satisfaction. “When a customer tries something and they love it, that feeling never gets old,” Mr Listiarto says.
“Beyond that, we have a real mission: 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.”