CONTENT & MARKETING COORDINATOR 

Kai Whakapai | Wānaka | Full time

Want to work at one of the coolest venues in Wānaka, spend your days making content people want to watch, dream up events, work with epic local brands and get paid to know exactly what’s happening around town?

This could be a bit of you.

Kai Whakapai has been sitting on the Wānaka lakefront for decades. We’re part café, part bar and part local institution. Now we’re looking for someone seriously switched on to take ownership of our content and day-to-day marketing.

Creative. Social. Ridiculously organised. Full of ideas. Good with people. Even better with a phone in your hand.

You’ll spend around 3-4 days a week on marketing and content, with 1-2 days working in the venue alongside the team. That part is deliberate. We want the person marketing Kai to know Kai. The regulars. The staff. The menu. The Friday afternoon rush. The random Tuesday that turns into a party. You won’t be sitting somewhere waiting for a brief. You’ll be in it.

WHAT YOU’LL OWN

Content and social  You’ll be the person capturing what’s happening at Kai and turning it into content worth stopping for. Food, drinks, staff, customers, live music, events and the general carry-on. You’ll plan and run our content calendar across Instagram and Facebook, shoot photo and video, edit Reels, write captions and Stories, publish and respond to our online community.

Events and Wānaka life  You’ll own the events and activations calendar and keep it working all year, not just in peak season. Wānaka changes shape from summer to winter and so does Kai. Long lakefront days and a town full of visitors need different ideas to a quiet Tuesday in shoulder season, and our winter programme, including Kai Fridays, is its own thing again. Your job is to read what the season needs and give people a reason to come through the door either way.

That means:

• Owning the events and activations calendar across the year
• Coordinating live music and our seasonal programmes
• Working with breweries, suppliers, musicians, community groups and local businesses
• Coming up with collaborations and promotions
• Promoting events across social, eDMs, website, in-venue and local channels
• Helping run charity and community events, and managing sponsorship requests
• Knowing what’s happening around Wānaka and spotting what Kai should be part of

When something is on, you’re the person making sure the musician is sorted, the website is updated, the eDM has gone out, the posters are up, Instagram knows about it and there’s great content being captured on the night. You make the whole thing happen.

Email and getting people back  You’ll plan and send eDMs, promote what’s on, grow our database and develop ideas that give people another reason to come back. We want someone interested in what works. Did people open it? Did the event sell? Did the merch move? Did Tuesday get busier? Followers are nice. But people through the door are better.

In the venue, and merch  You’ll keep signage, menus, promotions and merchandise looking sharp, make sure the floor team knows what we’re pushing, and spot ways to make the customer experience better. We like merch and our customers like merch, so you’ll help come up with ideas, coordinate suppliers and get more Kai merch walking around Wānaka. You’ll work closely with the Venue Manager and owner to plan what’s coming up and keep things moving.

WHAT YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED

We’re not looking for a perfect CV. But there are a few things you need to be able to walk in and do.

• Create great social content. Spot it, shoot it on your phone, edit it and get it live without a production crew
• Run Instagram and Facebook confidently. Posts, Reels, Stories, community management, scheduling
• Write well. Captions, eDMs, event promos and the odd bit of website copy
• Know your way around Canva. Not a graphic designer, but you can take our brand assets and make a good-looking poster, Story or event tile
• Make basic website updates. Add an event, change some copy, upload an image
• Execute an event from start to finish. Coordinate the people, promote it, send the eDM, sort the signage, capture the content, forget nothing
• Be ridiculously organised. Events, content, musicians, suppliers, merch and deadlines all move at once
• Be good with people. This is not a hide-behind-your-laptop job
• Take ownership. We’ll give you the goals and priorities. You pick up the ball and run
• Have commercial common sense. Good marketing gets people through the door and helps Kai sell more
• Be happy working 1-2 days a week in the venue. Getting amongst it is part of the job

You’ll need to be legally entitled to work in New Zealand. We cannot offer sponsorship.

AND IF YOU CAN DO SOME OF THIS TOO

Photography, more advanced video, Adobe Creative Suite, graphic design, Meta or Google Ads, analytics and reporting, SEO, merch design, campaign concepts, marketing strategy, website design, hospitality or events experience, existing relationships around Wānaka.

Tick off a couple? Exceptional. Tick off most? You’re a weapon and we should talk immediately. But don’t read this section and decide not to apply because you can’t do everything. When something needs specialist skills, we bring in the right people. What matters is that you nail the essentials above.

WHAT YOU GET

A full-time role with 3-4 days on content and marketing and 1-2 days in the venue. A brand people already know. A venue people already love. A budget to work with. And the freedom to bring good ideas to the table and run with them.

Plus the usual Kai perks:

• Performance-based monthly bonus opportunity
• Delicious rotating staff meals provided
• Unlimited caffeine (dangerous but essential)
• A daily knock-off beverage

We don’t want someone to simply keep the Instagram account alive. We want someone who wants to make Kai impossible to miss.

SOUND LIKE YOU?

Head to kaiwhakapai.nz and hit ‘Work at Kai’ to apply through our HR platform.

Send us your CV, examples of work or content you’re proud of, and a short note telling us why you’d be bloody good at this. Portfolio, Instagram, TikTok, photography, campaigns, events, whatever shows us how your brain works.

See you at Kai.