136 | BUSINESS The Fat Duck T T Rosa Watson Best paired meal nod for The Fat Duck Owners Cam Davies and Selina Wright. The Fat Duck Gastropub in Te Anau is creating a “wow factor” for guests, and has now wowed judges a national gastropub awards held this year. The family-friendly gastropub took out the best paired meal at the inaugural Estrella Damm Top 50 New Zealand Gastropub Awards, run by Hospitality New Zealand. The awards seek the top 50 gastropubs in the country, which were announced earlier this year. Owners Cam Davies and Selina Wright said it was awesome for the team to receive the recognition. “We’re super proud of what they’ve achieved,” Cam told Business South. “It’s important for the team to know we value them, and this is one of the ways we can show them.” The awards were also a good way to showcase the restaurant, and provided great publicity for Te Anau, he said. The restaurant prides itself on providing high-end, restaurant quality food and memorable customer experience – key elements to a successful gastropub, Selina said. “It’s a combination of a couple of different things. First, you’ve got to have really good food, and you have to have good hospitality team members to really back that up.” Creating a positive workplace culture played an important part in achieving this. “You’ve got to look after your team, and you’ve got to care about them, and you’ve got to provide them with the training they need so they can go out there and really look after your customers.” That was what created the “wow moments” for guests, Cam said. The couple have owned the restaurant for eight years having returned to New Zealand after living overseas for several years working on super yachts. Cam had been a chef for a number of years, and had originally planned to move to Melbourne but was offered a job on a super yacht through a friend of a friend. After several years overseas, it was time to move home. We decided to come back to New Zealand after we had our first child,” Selina explained. That’s when the opportunity to buy the Fat Duck came their way. “It seemed like a really good, solid business opportunity.” Already called the Fat Duck, the couple transformed it into a gastropub. “We spent a bit of time in the UK and we wanted to sort of differentiate ourselves ... a gastropub that’s renowned for better food offerings,” Cam said. It evolved quickly in the first couple of years and was continually changing and moving forward, Selina said. The couple again credit their team for being the secret behind their success. “It’s really the team that makes it what it is.” The local community had been a great support to them over the years, Selina said. “It’s a really good community to live in.” Te Anau was thriving and there were a number of hospitality outlets in the town, she said. “We’ve got some really good restaurants. We’ve got some variety in the town as well.” Cam agreed: “It’s got a thriving hospitality scene. We need that to be able to cater for the tourists that we have over peak times.” The team fluctuates between 16 in off peak to 25 in the peak summer tourist season. There was a good solid permanent team to support the restaurant, supported by a pool of seasonal workers, Selina said, The team were now looking forward to entering the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence. Proud to be working with The Fat Duck to help them build a smarter, better business (and win awards along the way!) Ready to level up your business? Contact us today and experience the difference of an award-winning accounting firm. mmca.co.nz
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