Ben Bayly

Ben Bayly grew up in Te Awamutu, his dad's side full of dairy farmers and his mum's full of Irish Catholics. He attended Te Awamutu College.^[1]

In September 2020 Bayly opened the restaurant Ahi, meaning fire in Māori, in Commercial Bay.^[2] A few weeks later Tip Top the restaurant sent a “cease and desist” letter for the restaurant's usage of the name Trumpet as a dessert.^[3]

In 2023, Bayly, partnered by dementia expert Lynette Tippett, embarked on opening a pop-up fine dining restaurants staffed by eight volunteers all suffering from Parkinson's disease or dementia and Alzheimer's.^[4][5] In 2024, Bayly expanded the group to 10 working-age volunteers all with early onset dementia in his new restaurant - Origine Restaurant at InterContinental Hotel on 1 Queen Street, a walking distance from Ahi restaurant, Commercial Bay.^[4]

Bayly is married. He and his wife have children.^[6] He embarked on becoming an advocate for degenerative diseases after his maternal grandmother died in 2022 from dementia.^[5]