I built Finally Mine from the ground up. The coffee program, the food, the bar, the space. Every detail. The food has always been restaurant quality and that's something I take seriously. When I decided to bring someone into the kitchen, I wanted a person who'd respect that and keep it exactly where it is.

That person is Lee.

A Gippsland story

Lee is Traralgon born and raised. He finished high school here, trained through Gippsland TAFE, then headed to Melbourne and did his apprenticeship in a two-hat restaurant. For anyone outside the industry: two hats is the Australian equivalent of serious Michelin pedigree. The kind of kitchen where every element on the plate is deliberate, every sauce is made from scratch, and you learn a discipline that stays with you for life.

In Melbourne Lee worked across fine-dining kitchens including Syracuse Wine Bar and Becco Restaurant. From there he moved north to Noosa with his wife Laura, a registered nurse, working as Chef de Partie at a modern Sunshine Coast restaurant.

When the two of them came back home to Traralgon, Lee stepped up as Head Chef at Three Little Birds Cafe, and that's where he and I first worked side by side. Over six years at Three Little Birds, Lee modernised the local brunch scene with the kind of food you'd expect out of a Fitzroy dining room. Confit pork belly with 62-degree eggs, truss-roasted tomatoes, house-made relishes. Fine-dining technique, cafe prices, and every plate a bit of a statement.

An OSCARS-winning chapter in aged care

In 2019, Lee made a move that surprised a few people in the industry: he took a role as Hospitality Manager at Yallambee Traralgon Village for the Aged. He wanted more time with his two kids, Phillippa and William, and he had something to prove. That aged-care food doesn't need to be an afterthought.

Under Lee, Yallambee's kitchen became something unusual. Restaurant-quality presentation, nutritious menus that actually taste like food, and an on-site café that functioned as a genuine dining destination for residents, their families, and the local community. He installed the OSCAR Temperature Monitoring System for food safety, trained a proper barista program, and ran the whole operation with a budget, a diverse team, and an open-door policy.

It worked. Lee was awarded the OSCARS Recognition of Excellence by the OSCAR Care Group, an industry award for innovation and leadership in Australian aged-care hospitality.

"A resident's world is so reduced, and often the last choice they have freely available is food. I wanted to offer the best possible food experience for residents to enjoy, and have them be just as excited to wake up and come out and enjoy it again the next day."

That's Lee, in his own words. He later joined SoupedUp as Catering and Solutions Manager, helping aged-care catering teams across the country run better kitchens with better software. Which tells you something important about the way Lee thinks: he's not just a chef on a station. He thinks about hospitality at scale, from the plate up to the whole operation.

Why this partnership works

The confit pork belly, the 62-degree eggs, the house-made relishes. I built that menu and I'm proud of every dish on it. Lee's job is to keep it at that standard, and to push where it makes sense. His technical background, his work ethic, and his respect for how we do things here made him the obvious choice.

Lee's not the kind of chef who leads with his resume. He'd rather talk about the producer he found up the road who grows the heirloom tomatoes, or the way a properly cooked egg changes the entire experience of a breakfast plate. He follows his own motto: "Don't tell people what you can't do. Tell them what you CAN." That shows up on every plate.

What this unlocks

The coffee doesn't change. The core menu our customers already love doesn't change. What changes is that Lee is now the constant in the kitchen, keeping everything running at the standard we built, and with space to introduce new things alongside it.

We're planning new events. Chef's Table dinners on select evenings. Seasonal degustation nights where Lee builds a multi-course menu around what's best from our local suppliers. Workshops where you can learn the techniques behind the dishes.

The bar nights stay the same vibe. Cocktails, wine, music. But the food offering on those nights is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Traralgon has a chef

Lee has cooked for hundreds of people you've never heard of, and a few you have. Actor Nicholas Cage was served Lee's signature Fresh Buffalo and Mozzarella Caprese (a recipe passed down from his Aunt Anne Badger). Now he's cooking back home in Traralgon.

One of Lee's proudest gigs along the way has been cooking for his own 99-year-old Nan, a resident at Yallambee, who Lee describes as "99 years young and sharp as an axe." That's the kind of detail that tells you everything about the person, and why this partnership makes sense.

Come in for a coffee at 5:30am, stay for Lee's brunch, and come back Thursday for a bar night. That's the full Finally Mine experience.