Yachting eatery succeeds

The Waiheke Island Yacht Club pop-up restaurant, which is near the start-finish line for the...
The Waiheke Island Yacht Club pop-up restaurant, which is near the start-finish line for the America's Cup in San Francisco. Photo supplied.
Silver Fern Farms is already reaping the benefits of its involvement with the Waiheke Island Yacht Club in San Francisco.

The company is the sole supplier of red meat to the New Zealand-inspired pop-up restaurant and bar which opened in July to coincide with the America's Cup.

It has been spearheaded by award-winning restaurateur Tony Stewart, of Clooney restaurant fame in Auckland, who also did the pop-up Kiwi House restaurant in London during the 2012 Olympics.

The restaurant was performing ''definitely well above'' what Silver Fern Farms initially expected in terms of product and it was going through close to double what its projections were, group category manager Grant Howie said.

While it was a big undertaking, the feedback received, both from those who had dined there and also on social media, was ''just really going well'' and new customers were being gained every week, he said.

It was also a good way to gain an understanding of exactly what a top-end restaurant, in a city like San Francisco, required.

New Zealand's red meat industry had been doing business in the United States ''for years'' but it was mostly grinding beef for hamburgers.

Silver Fern Farms saw a big opportunity for both high-end and mid-range restaurants in the US to ''buy into'' the New Zealand grass-fed natural beef, lamb and venison story. In the top-end market, there was definitely a swing away from grain-fed beef, he said.

''It's a matter of literally restaurant by restaurant building our business over there. Right now, we can't supply enough,'' he said.

The Waiheke Island Yacht Club, which attracted a visit from actor Tom Cruise, who dined on a dish of Silere Alpine Origin Merino, will be open until the end of December.

Americans were traditionally big beef consumers and did not eat much lamb but the Silere merino story was grabbing their attention, Mr Howie said.

Silere is a joint-venture meat brand between Silver Fern Farms and The New Zealand Merino Company.

It was still building in New Zealand, but a programme had started in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and sights were set on Dubai, in the Middle East, for the coming season.

 

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