Shed 2 on the Quay
What makes your venue the Best Gastropub in New Zealand?
Simply Choice delivered by friendly staff in a superb waterfront location.
After operating a high end restaurant from 1996 to 2012 Shed 2 converted its premises to a Gastro Pub in 2012. We redesigned and rebuilt our premises to reflect a more relaxed and cosy venue.
With a historic 1878 converted woolstore canvas to work with the reinvestment project resulted in a NZ Architectural award for the friendly design combining casual and formal dining and drinking.
We also changed our philosophy in controlling ultimately all the moving parts in our operation. We perceived it is an advantage to provide our customers with choice unrestricted by contracts enabling us to be the first large independent and open bar/restaurant in our area. While we had sourced the maximum possible food purchases locally from inception, we now were able to purchase all our wet and dry products with the customer and changing trends in mind.
Menus and food.
Shed 2 is driven by its food direction and we continually monitor and reevaluate our market opportunities.
Challenged throughout covid and the Hawkes Bay cyclone, chef Khovind has maintained a diverse and large menu. We have been able to sustain a menu that offers very interesting and multi-choice options.
Our Asian Street food brand Lucy Lu evolving over recent years alongside our traditional shed 2 favorites means we can offer high end and reasonably priced choices. Customers order, pizzas from our Italian woodfired oven, burgers, mains of Scotch fillet, lamb rump, market fish etc., from traditional Shed 2 Classics. From our lucy lu menu they may order Bao Buns, Oysters, sashimi, Chinese sizzling beef, wagyu scotch fillet, Massa Man curry, soft shell crab. This diversity see’s us specialise in large tables ordering across both menus.
Function menus - Buffet, set menus, casual canapes menus allow us to address the function market. Our Art Deco Dine and Dance events feature bubbles, three course dinner to the tunes of traditional Jazz Bands. Our Christmas menu bookable on our online store sells out usually in the first week of November. We developed our web site during covid to cater for our takeaway menu and increased our food profile and opportunities.
Beer and Wines & Spirits – Extensive lists
The options for tap beer and cider are interesting and reflect a diverse experience. The 26 Taps are split to 8 local tap beers and cider, 9 international and 9 craft beers.. Our extensive wine list features Hawkes Bay and NZ. Wines almost exclusively and showcases 23 local chardonnays and 32 signature HB reds. A selection of low alcohol and zero wines allows for customer choice at lunch or functions. A premium cellar wine list is extensive and amongst this list features fourteen vintages of our famous Coleraine wines. Local as local is our mantra. Alongside local beers and wines we list local Ahuriri gin, Ahuriri Rum, water, ginger beer, Sodas and fruit juices.
Describe the experience your customers have at your establishment – what is your food and beverage offering and why do people come back for more?
Our policy is a single female customer should be able to come in and be comfortable in the environment we have created. Customers will be greeted by friendly staff and directed to a table or leaner for service. Initial contact should be our mantra of LOOK AT ME – SMILE AT ME – TALK TO ME. Ambience should be set in such a way as there is a good feeling for a wide range of customers. The customer will feel comfortable and at ease to take their time and look over the food, beer and wine lists delivered to them alongside water placed on their table.
The customer can read the daily paper watch sports on our large screen and other TVs strategically positioned or converse with their companions. The customer can find their position of preference in booths, tables or leaners and take their time to enjoy the views, food and beverage offerings.
Our many regular customers will be greeted by name and their first drink poured while they find their particular corner or leaner, they occupy on a daily basis.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE offerings
NON – ALCOHOLIC AND LOW ALCOHOL LIST
For business meetings or customers driving, our beverage offerings will include a large range of non alcoholic juices, sparkling water, beers, gin and wines. Gluten free beers, diet drinks. low alcohol wines and beers are included in a comprehensive drinks list.
WINE LIST
Our wine list features a extensive list of wines featuring Hawkes Bay and NZ. Wines almost exclusively and showcases 23 local chardonnays and 32 signature HB reds. Our premium cellar wine list is also extensive and amongst this list features 14 vintages of our famous Coleraine wines.
BEER LIST
Our beer and cider lists 26 Taps. - split to 8 local tap beers, 9 international and 9 craft beers. The options for tap beer are interesting and reflect a diverse experience
Time to order Kai
FOOD MENUS
Our Asian Street food brand Lucy Lu alongside our traditional shed 2 favorites means we can offer high end and reasonably priced choices. This diversity has seen us specialise in large tables ordering across both menus. A large table may order, pizzas from our Italian woodfired oven, burgers, mains of scotch fillet, lamb rump, market fish etc., from traditional Shed 2 Classics. our lucy lu they order Bao Buns, Oysters, sashimi, Chinese sizzling beef, wagyu scotch fillet, Massa Man curry, soft shell crab.
People keep coming back to the “SHED” because we are an iconic brand that has a safety element attached to it. Over the many troubling times we have experienced in New Zealand and Hawkes Bay our experience tells us trusted brands are like old sofas. We gravitate to safe and comfortable places where we know life has been good to us in the past and we are known to the establishment.
The sheer choice the “Shed” is able to offer means coming back regularly there are always many more options to try
Tell us how you showcase NZ produce / offerings? Does your menu change with the season and how is it locally influenced. How do you accommodate allergy and dietary requirements?
We accommodate both allergy and dietary requirements. Our menu indicates various dietary options, and a legend describes the dietary icons. In addition, we draw attention in two places on our menu to “please notify our staff of any allergies”. A good percentage of our menus are dedicated to options for dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian and vegan.
We do change menus seasonably depending on availability of produce. Maintaining the same vege and fruit vendor as well as our butcher and seafood supplier for many years does give us a nice relationship and advantage in the supply of very good quality produce. As a garden province of NZ and seafood port we are able to almost exclusively purchase our main menu ingredients locally. Where we can buy locally, we apply a five percent tolerance in price to stay with our local suppliers. In other words, we don’t mind paying more to our local business sector. We are supported extremely well by our local community and it is a well-balanced operation where we can return Hawkes Bay dollars back to Hawkes Bay. In a province economically challenged at times over the last 27 years we feel this is the best chance to retain jobs and people in our area. We have reached a stage where we deal 95% with locally owned business who in turn reinvest in our economy.
What are your key points of difference and how have you managed to deliver them?
Our key points of difference are a superb waterfront location featuring beautiful sunsets on the deck in summer and a warm and ambient fireplace setting in the winter. No Trade ties means we can offer extensive bar products from affordable to premium prices delivered in the oldest commercial building in Hawkes Bay. Space allows room for families, physically handicapped customers to park and easily access our ramps for access to our restaurants and bars. Canines are welcome on our deck. The large converted wool store was built in 1878 and is classed as a historic building. Our menus are the most diverse in the Ahuriri area and make us a culinary destination to West Quay in the revitalised popular village of Ahuriri. Our experienced team and space available allow us to take large table bookings from 12 to 25 and process a diverse and timely service to these customers. Delivery of our key points are backed up by staff delivery and a variety of Marketing tools from exterior signage to web sites, menu drops and sponsorships.
Best Known for:
Asian Street food menu and traditional menu
Waterfront location
1878 historic building
Please describe your commitment to sustainability.
We are aware of the contribution to sustainability hospitality can make.
Consumables has seen us convert from most plastic items to more environmentally friendly packaging.
Plastic straws have been replaced with paper and all of our takeaway products are in paper bags and or recyclable boxes.
Retaining our records digitally rather than accumulating boxes of paper
Recycling in tandem with our contractors.
Purchasing cleaning materials that are environmentally friendly.
Attention to power and gas use. These resources are monitored all day and turned off until the operation requires the resource.
Where we can we repair our assets. Tables have been sanded and recoated. Chairs are repaired. Purchasing high quality plant and furniture means far less requirement to replace or throw away assets into the environment. Much of our plant is heavy steel requiring very little replacement over the years.
Our purchasing policy is where we have options, we opt for sustainability.
Have you won any awards in the recent past? Tell us about them.
In our establishment years up until 2012 we actively competed for awards. When we stopped in 2012 we had won the following awards
10 NZ Beef & Lamb awards
Our Café Hep Set Mooch was Hawkes Bay Café of the year
Our Mexican Restaurant was HB Ethnic Restaurant of the year
Shed 2 was runner up in the HB Regional restaurant of the year
Shed 2 won Best redeveloped Bar in NZ
Shed 2 won HB Host Responsibility of the year
Shed 2 was in in 4 NZ Hospitality Finals – Best Bar, Best sports Bar, Best Host Responsibility, Best entertainment venue
NZ Architectural award for design
Please describe how you create ambience.
Blessed with a fantastic historic building 146 years old with fabulous native timbers, a number of years ago we consulted with leading Architect Steve McGavock known for his love of old buildings and timber to gut and rebuild the Shed. With the hindsight of operating in the building for 16 years we were able to establish a wish list of design for ambience, operational efficiency, customer comforts and technology. We committed and applied the wish list in a redevelopment that resulted in a NZ Architectural award for design. Multimedia, visual, lighting and sound were integrated into a Control 4 system which allows us to split our operation into three zones any of which we can individualise with sound, visual and lighting. We can offer a complete service aligned with our food and beverage packages. We recently converted all our main lighting to Led with the development of softer options and a variety of lighting fittings. Three standard settings activate throughout the day and night, programming video, sound and lighting. We achieve a consistent ambience with these settings. Overriding the settings manually is an option and we fine tune the mediums as customers’ requirements emerge. There are eight other applicable settings for various functions. These settings are coordinated with our recently updated back of bar led and deck lighting. to enable us to change colors depending on the mood of the operation and create a new feeling in the establishment. For many of our functions or special days we decorate the Shed and or hang theme posters from the rafters.
