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HeartandHustle

We tell the stories
of the legends who
feed New Zealand.

A national mini-documentary series · 100 legends in 12 months · Filming from January 2027 · Made with emerging Kiwi filmmakers

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The heart.

The hustle.

Specimen 001The Mince & CheeseFirst scan · January 2027

Every episode immortalises the signature dish — scanned, archived, served with a wink.

Season one · 100 legends · 12 months

Filming from January 2027

Every region · Every shift

We help New Zealand meet the people who feed it. The 4:30am starts. The second mortgage. The street they fed through lockdown. The heart, and the hustle.

Real food · Real people · Real grit

Behind the scenes

Placeholder: camera on a tripod beside the crew van in a dark carpark, 4:31am
BTS 01 · From January 2027
Placeholder: a softbox lighting a tiled kitchen, a stockpot steaming on the bench
BTS 02 · From January 2027
Placeholder: a field monitor on a floury bench showing the first take
BTS 03 · From January 2027
Placeholder: the Heart & Hustle slate on the counter, pie cabinet glowing behind
BTS 04 · From January 2027

Shot by the next generation of Kiwi filmmakers.

We’re working with film-course providers to connect emerging talent with real stories — real-world experience on a national series, and a screen credit on every film.

Real experience · Credited on screen

Join the crew

Not the glamour.

The graft.

Backed by the people who supply the industry.

The project

Heart & Hustle is run by Solid Axis Group. Founding sponsor Frankly Packaging (“We Give A Damn”) supplies 1,000+ Kiwi operators and introduces the first legends from its own customer family.

100 legends filmed and released in twelve months. Filming starts January 2027.

Cost to a featured legend: $0

The legend package

  • Run the shopTorvo — back-of-house scope$10,000
  • Keep the regularsEziloyalty — digital loyalty6 months
  • Fill the bookLuubu — sales & marketing, AI ordering6 months
  • Land the big oneYGC — whale-client strategy session$5,000
  • Look after your peopleThe Savvy Method — every staff member6 months
  • AfterwardsPartner rates on anything they keepFor life

Combined value $20,000+ per legend

Who’s behind it

Solid Axis Group

Solid Axis Group is a privately held group that builds, owns and operates the brands a business runs on — across sales, automation, leadership and live data.

We proved them the hard way. We bought a packaging business, rebranded it Frankly, and installed every one of our systems inside it. Within twelve months it was growing at double digits with a third of the staff, and a coached, retained team.

Why this one matters to us

They feed the country. Hardly anyone tells their story.

Frankly put us alongside more than a thousand Kiwi food legends — from bakeries to cafes, growers to ice cream shops. We see what it takes up close: the 4:30am starts, the lockdown years, the whole family behind the counter, the margins that leave no room for a bad week. These are the people who hold their towns together — and most of them never get a moment in the spotlight.

Heart & Hustle is how we say thank you. Not with an ad, but with a film worth keeping — their history, their grit and the dish their town would queue round the block for, made with real production value. Then we stand behind them once the cameras leave, because a good story should change more than a feed.

What we’re setting out to do

  1. 01

    100 legends in twelve months

    Cafes, takeaways, bakeries and food trucks from every corner of Aotearoa — filmed and released across season one.

  2. 02

    A real break for Kiwi filmmakers

    Real-world experience on a national series and a screen credit on every film, for the next generation of storytellers behind the camera.

  3. 03

    Support that outlasts the shoot

    Every featured legend gets the Legend Package — $20,000+ of tools and expertise, free, with no strings attached.

  4. 04

    Full tables, not just views

    Every story ends the same way: go eat there. Success is more locals through the door.

The bigger picture

The businesses are the vehicle, not the destination. Our vision is a self-sustaining ecosystem — people and ventures that feed each other — creating global impact through our united brands. Heart & Hustle is that vision at its most local: an operator, a young film crew and a town, all better off for the time they spend together.

We want every life we touch to be changed for the better, and we back people, including the vulnerable, with values we won’t compromise on. We build for enterprise value and a long horizon — and we’re always glad to meet investors, founders and CEOs anywhere in the world who build the same way.