Wakelin
Greytown in the Wairarapa is less than an hours drive from Wellington. Blessed with an ideal climate for growing grapes and other produce it’s become one of New Zealand’s top wine and food destinations. But while Greytown may be thriving, Wakelin House is diving, and in spite of all of owners Dave and Helen’s efforts, they’re losing thousands of dollars a month.
John’s spending the next five days in Greytown fixing up Wakelin House and to start, he takes 5 minutes alone to case the joint and then tastes the menu which is supposedly an Italian theme, but there are some very un-Italian touches. John tests the most popular dishes, mushroom risotto and lamb pasta, but they disappoint, and the truth hurts for experienced chef Kevin.
To add to that blow, two weeks earlier John came in for a meal, the restaurant was rigged with cameras and John’s dinner date was also wearing a hidden camera and it’s no surprise the news wasn’t any better.
This place seriously needs a game plan from John, starting with the food. And to get good tasting food back on the menu he has to get chef Frank inspired, starting with the local produce at the local markets. Frank already uses some local produce, but Johns plan is that he go totally local, starting from today, and Brigitte from ‘Destination Wairarapa’ is on hand to introduce him to the local growers and producers.
John sets a challenge for Frank to produce specials for the night’s menu, cooked entirely from local ingredients, and although Chef Kevin is nervous, this time he doesn’t disappoint, and the customers are impressed.
With the menu back on the right track, John has also put the hard word on Dave about reducing his staff numbers; put simply, his overheads are too high!
With a start made on redesigning the menu, now it’s time to work on the cold sterile décor, so John’s closing the restaurant for two days, and friends and family have come in to help with a makeover in record time.
With the renovations in full swing, it’s back to the food. The local theme looks a goer and while Frank’s shown his skill in the kitchen, he’s not the right person to come up with the new dishes for the menu. So John’s taking Frank to another local eatery, the Gladstone Vineyard Café to work with local award winning chef Zane Saba, who has agreed to design some new dishes for the Wakelin House menu.
Next, John wants Dave doing more in the restaurant to replace all the unnecessary staff, but there is a problem; Dave also puts a lot of time into promoting their gourmet foods. So John suggests that although a distributor will take a small commission, this would be offset by the savings made with Dave taking a bigger role in the restaurant.
Finally with the renovations complete and the restaurant looking fabulous it’s the day of the big re-launch, and local including growers and producers are invited. Entrée’s, desserts, and drinks will be charged for, but a free main and glass of wine is a marketing tool to entice them in the door.
But there is one last thing to do; Cath Hopkin of Alana Estate, a local vineyard is going to match some of the local wine with the new locally inspired dishes.
Finally Dave calls in his entire front of house staff and Zane’s talks them through his new menu. It’s crucial the wait staff are thoroughly briefed on all the dishes, even the portion sizes.
Five days ago, you’d struggle to recognise Wakelin House as a restaurant from the outside. Inside it was echoey, sterile and unwelcoming. And worst of all the food was a mix of complicated dishes smothered in unusual flavours.
Now the menu focuses on simple dishes made from fresh local produce. The dining room is transformed into a warm inviting, well laid-out space, the hallway’s no longer a storage area and the function room looks elegant and stylish, and the street frontage looks appealing with prominent signs to attract people in.
With the new menu and a full house, Zane’s on hand to ensure the big night runs smoothly, but also in the house tonight is Luke Dallow, a highly successful Auckland Restaurant & Bar entrepreneur, who will evaluate the food, service and decor; a big test for the team!
Everyone looks like they’re enjoying the menu and ambience, including our critic, so its’ no surprise he reports back to John with a favourable review. Tonight, Wakelin House may have been a success, but Dave still needs to get the house in order if he’s going to survive, and he still hasn’t rung a distributor for his gourmet products nor reduce staff hours to keep his costs down. But despite this, Wakelin house looks a lot better than it did five weeks ago.
A month on and John is back to see how Dave and Helen have gone with the changes. With so many staff on tonight, its obvious Dave hasn’t summoned up the courage to reduce staff hours, and he still doesn’t have a distributor for the gourmet food line.
On a more positive note though; tonight they’re over half full. Five weeks ago the place would have been empty. If they can last till summer they should start to make a profit.
It’s may take a while for them to pay off their debts, but for the first time in two and a half years Dave & Helen have a real future.
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