Hello,
Sitting here waiting for my flight back to the states. A bit about this, I'm looking at opening a small craft brewery and wood-fired pizzeria in the top of the south island region. I submitted my business visa application and there was a potential brewery for sale that we could have added a wood-fired oven to so we decided to come out for two weeks and check things out and get a boots on the ground perspective. We have been here twice previously in November 2010 and November-December 2011.
We had been in this area previously and really enjoyed the area and saw lots of potential to do what we do currently in Colorado and New Mexico and felt we would try and nail down a location or buy the brewery that was (sold right before we arrived). By doing our due diligence on this brewery we gained heaps of information that was incredibly valuable to our business plan. We also looked at several other potential properties while here. We had a good time and learned very much.
Overall the biggest thing we realized is that in the off season (April-November) the restaurant traffic is very, very slim. Driving by the popular restaurants and breweries at 8pm on a Friday night we'd only see 3-4 tables occupied max; OUCH! We'd time it so that we'd drive from Motueka at 7pm and arrive in Nelson at 8pm driving the Richmond, Stoke, Tahunanui, and Nelson areas. We did this night after night and drive out to Mot so that we'd leave Nelson at 11:45ish to observe lunch crowds. Lunch was busier than dinner but still very quiet. The Sprig & Ferns draw more of a crowd but mostly 'blokes' getting on the piss from the times we were there. The Freehouse in Nelson seemed to have a crowd of family oriented folks Wed-Sunday. Golden Bear brewery in Mapua did a very nice business drawing out the biggest crowds. After two weeks of driving around we came to the conclusion that those places that have a good solid atmosphere, quality food (either served or available next door), and great beer seemed to do acceptably well.
From prior observations we realized that during the tourist season it is very busy but now we realize that one must be prepared for some very lean times the other half of the year.
What will we do? We learned that being right downtown is not a requirement for a successful business as people will travel to a quality destination. We are going to be incredibly aggressive in pursuing a lease that will allow us to survive months of very slow sales. We are reassured that if we offer an incredibly high quality gourmet wood-fired pizza and solid balanced flavorful beers and are 'family friendly' at an affordable price we will succeed. We also learned that word of mouth networking is more valuable than being the newest greatest fanciest place. We are hopeful to have an approval by July and if so will return promptly to observe the winter season and finalize leases. We opened bank accounts, found a good lawyer, found a realtor we got along with, and are ready to go pending immigration's approval.
Let's see how it goes!
Cheers,
mic