Trellick is an independent advisory and consultancy business helping companies of all sizes conceive new ideas, refine existing ones, and execute strategies that deliver results. We operate from our home in Aotearoa, New Zealand, while also working on international projects.
Led by our Principal, Mike Murphy, we specialize in the food & beverage, retail, and hospitality sectors, but our expertise extends across a variety of business categories. We pride ourselves on quickly understanding what you’re trying to achieve and helping you create a clear path forward. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll connect you with the right experts in our network or collaborate with them to deliver the best outcomes for your business.
We’re experienced, highly transparent, and committed to sustainability. We work to agreed timelines and budgets, always delivering on the brief to meet stakeholder expectations.
How we Work
Transparent
Pricing
Day rate, hourly rate,
or project-based fees to suit your budget.
Flexible
& Adaptable
Available online or
on location by arrangement.
Short or
Long-Term Engagements
One day, one week,
or one year.
Real
& Practical
We work with every level of your enterprise — from the shop floor to senior leadership.
Services
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Whether you’re a startup or an established business, innovation is essential for future success. We guide you from the initial idea to feasibility, concept development, costings, new product development (NPD), marketing, and communications planning through to launch.
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Success in retail and hospitality is about more than great design—it’s about building community. With experience in New Zealand, Australia, the UAE, and the United States, we can guide you through every step: from tender and RFP submission to site selection, designer partnerships, project management and fit-out through to community activation.
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If your business needs fresh ideas or strategic direction, we can collaborate with your team, sit in on strategy or board meetings, and help you develop and execute a strategy, product roadmap, or store rollout plan; from storytelling to store building.
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We help businesses and organisations drive sustainable change—whether through values alignment, decarbonization, improving company culture, launching innovative ESG initiatives specific to your sector or telling authentic producer stories that connect producers with consumers. Every business is unique, and we’ll work with you to showcase your sustainability efforts in meaningful ways.
Capability & Experience
At Trellick, we think globally and act locally. We bring diverse people together to create new products, places, and ideas.
With over 30 years’ experience in the food & beverage sector, Mike is a future-focused business leader with considerable commercial expertise in governance, business management, and retail consulting. He has worked across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australasia, Europe, Papua New Guinea and the Middle East, with 18 years spent running two of his own successful businesses.
Mike Murphy — Principal
Current Assignments
Southern California Specialty Coffee
& Bakery Brand
Creation of a new specialty coffee and bakery brand, Southern California, United States — Launching Q2 2025 ☀️
Collaboration with the team at Rewiring Aotearoa to coordinate actions in the Northland/Te Tai Tokerau region to promote electrification and energy equity — public event planned for Q3 2025. ⚡
Key Projects
Kōkako Organic Coffee (2007–2024)
Mike acquired Kōkako in 2007 and grew it into one of New Zealand’s leading sustainable specialty coffee brands, with over 300 B2B and B2C customers, an award-winning flagship café, and multiple third-party certifications for sustainability. Mike successfully exited this business in 2024.
Kōkako Commercial Bay Flagship Coffee Bar
Designed by Ctrl Space, the brief was to create an intimate and bespoke specialty coffee bar that showcased Kōkako’s commitment to innovation, specialty coffee, sustainability and design. Inspired by visits to coffee bars in the USA and Tokyo, a life-size template of the bar was created on the floor of the Kōkako warehouse to ensure that operational efficiency and speed of service were optmised.
Kōkako Sustainabilty Reports 2016 — 2022
Compilation of two-yearly Sustainability Reports in collaboration with Go Well Consulting, with reporting completed to international GRI Standards, project case studies and design by Design Dairy.
A public-facing project designed to push the boundaries of a typical ‘trade stand’. By putting our team inside a square box we were able to create an immersive, sensory-driven brand experience where the public could interact with ‘the blue box’ through coffee tastings, sampling, sensory, sound and visual displays via video.
Kōkako Flagship Roastery in Mount Eden, Auckland, incorporating R&D facilities, training spaces, and offices to support future growth. Designed by Ctrl Space
Batchwell X Kōkako
Limited-edition Cascara Kombucha using cascara as a value-add ingredient from Papua New Guinea.
This product was designed to showcase how a previously thought of ‘waste by-product’ from the coffee pulping process could be used as an ingredient for a delicious and refreshing beverage.
Brand ideation, concept development, strategy and execution of a new supermarket focused coffee brand.
Designed to inject some fun onto the shelves, this brand and product line was created as part of a revenue diversification play post-pandemic. It was successfully sold in volume into the major supermarkets until range reviews impacted distribution.
Prior Projects
Site selection, concept development, menu development and operational execution. Design ideation and final design by CTRL Space.
RFP preparation & submission in collaboration with the client. Concept development and design ideation with full design by CTRL Space.
Scarecrow Café Auckland
Concept ideation and consultancy in collaboration with the client, including an initial pop-up for proof of concept
Henry & Ted Papamoa
Concept ideation and consultancy in collaboration with the client. Design by CTRL Space.
Concept ideation and consultancy in collaboration with the client. Design by CTRL Space.
Concept ideation and consultancy in collaboration with the client. Design by CTRL Space.
Consultancy and concept development for the landlord, advisory to the client on procurement and operations. Design by CTRL Space.
Concept Ideation, PR and consultancy in collaboration with the client. Design by CTRL Space.
Prior Experience
Hell Pizza is a successful NZ Pizza franchise. Assisted with the development of the original franchisee operations manual, working as National Operations Manager whilst the founders took the brand offshore.
Prior to this Project managing, owning and operating one of the highest performing stores in the NZ market.
Future Food Australia & UAE
Worked as a Senior Consultant, helping to open the UAE satellite office and contributing to large-scale hospitality precincts, including Dubai Mall at Burj Khalifa.
