Jack Stott, Maria Schosser and baby Ezra, who was born in August.
Jack Stott, Maria Schosser and baby Ezra, who was born in August.
Moviemakers call it a "meet-cute" - an amusing first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship. Every fortnight, Reset magazine shares a real-life relationship origin story. This week, Maria Schosser and Jack Stott on their life-changing kitchen romance.
Maria Schosser, 25 and Jack Stott, 28, met five years ago at Depot eatery, Auckland. He was her boss and, after he left, she worked her way into the head chef role. Now Jack's returned to the restaurant to cover Maria's maternity leave - the couple had baby Ezra in August.
MARIA SAYS … We worked together for about a year before we started dating. I was the demi chef, and he was my sous chef. We did a lot of shifts on the oyster bar together - a lot of time getting to know each other. When you're working closely with someone, you see all sides of them. It becomes pretty apparent whether you're going to gel.
I liked his sense of humour, his wittiness, and how laid back he was. We were spending more and more time together. It got to the point where, well, I guess we're dating now?
This is so cliche, but I remember going in for my trial at Depot and Jack would have been working the oven and Andrew, the head chef at the time, introduced him. Straight away, I thought "oh, s***". It was the first time I've ever seen someone and thought "I think I might quite like him," and I didn't know anything about him. You hear about that happening, but you don't think you're ever going to experience it yourself. He just caught my eye.
I don't know if I'm a massive romantic. I like the idea of it, but then I realise it's a lot of work! The way I show love is by cooking meals. When that's returned, when I get a really lovely home-cooked meal, that's super, super special.
The challenge, particularly at the start, was trying to navigate how to work together and remain professional - I didn't want any dynamic in the kitchen to change. And you get worried that maybe the attraction is because you work together. Do you actually have anything in common outside of this? We had to learn how to not talk about work, but I'm not going to lie - food is definitely pivotal to our relationship.
I was definitely very young to become a head chef. There was a lot of right time, right place and I've managed to keep growing within my roles. Now, I've finished up and gone on maternity leave and Jack (who was at Beau in Ponsonby) has taken over as head chef at Depot. It's exciting. I can still have a tiny toe in the door, even when I'm busy looking after baby. Being able to give my other baby over to him - it makes the whole process a little bit calmer.
I found out we were having a baby the day before we were reopening Depot after lockdown. I bought a pregnancy test but didn't even bother telling Jack, or waiting for him to get home, because I was so confident it was going to say no. Obviously it came back positive. I spent two hours pacing around the house. I asked him to sit down, and he told me about how his day asked me how mine was. Guess what? And he knew straight away. You're pregnant? Yep. And I think he said, "f*** off?!" and I burst into tears and he said, "ok - you're being very serious".
We had definitely talked about kids, but I don't know if it would have been right now. I'm really excited to just see both of us develop as parents. We both grew up in very family-oriented households. I just don't have a doubt that he will be a fantastic dad.
Maria Schosser (left) and Jack Stott met when they were both working as chefs at Depot. Photo/Supplied
JACK SAYS …
Neither of us were single when we met. It was at work and we definitely had a little spark there and we both definitely knew it, but it was a long time before we ever acknowledged it.
If we had any issues, we wanted to be able to leave them at the kitchen door. Sometimes that was easier said than done - when we first started dating, I was working on the pass running the kitchen in the senior team and she was one of my juniors.
The hours can be pretty long and irregular and change at the last minute. That puts a lot of strain on a relationship. Working in the same profession definitely made it easier for us to understand that, sometimes, plans change.
Maria cooks dinners at home more often than not. I spend the entire day slaving away over a hot stove and when I get home, I don't want to do that. I want a nice pad thai from the shop down the road . . . or perhaps it's more that I don't want to do the dishes. She cooks, I clean up!
There was definitely a physical attraction from the get-go, but that's just one thing. It was definitely her personality. She's larger than life and loud and funny and hard case and I like that about her. We share that personality trait.
I can't remember who said "I love you" first. I think it was probably me, knowing me. Probably after work at the pub or something, after a couple of drinks.
And now it has, indeed, got very serious. She's stuck with me now! If you'd asked me the day before I found out, how I might feel, I would have said terrified. I would have had my life flash before my eyes - "oh God, it's over". But, yeah, there was not an inkling of those kinds of feelings. I just grinned from ear to ear. No part of me was upset or disappointed or worried or anxious or anything. I was just pretty stoked - kind of the opposite of how I would have thought I would feel.
It wasn't really in either of our plans for this year, but I wanted to be a dad before I turned 30. It's just an exciting new chapter for both of us and we are both on the same page about it. Do I believe in fate? I don't know if we were meant to meet, but I think once we met, we knew we were meant to be together.
