Crafty’s Bar & Grill
What makes your venue the Best Gastropub in New Zealand?
We believe we have the best combination of Food, Drink, Service, and Atmosphere around. I've always had an image of the type of establishment that I would like to go to for a relaxed, casual dining experience, and no one was catering to the image that I had in my head. So I created it myself.
Describe the experience your customers have at your establishment – what is your food and beverage offering and why do people come back for more?
We specialise in what I class as "Street Food". Food from around the world that you can expect to find served in Food Trucks. Asian style finger foods and light meals, Burgers, American style Low & Slow BBQ etc. And when it comes to beverages, we specialise in Craft Beer and Cider. We have 17 different Beers and Ciders on Tap from small craft breweries around the country (We don't sell any beer that isn't produced in NZ), and wherever possible, all of our spirits also come from NZ distilleries. We have to make an exception for things like Tequila and Bourbon as they can't be produced in NZ, but things like Gin, Vodka, Rum, Whiskey etc we will only stock NZ made products. Our beer tap selection is constantly changing, as I generally only buy 1 of each keg at a time, so when it runs out we change it with a different beer from a different brewery, and that keeps people coming back regularly to see what new beers we have to offer.
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?
The majority of the meat we serve is purchased through Alliance Meats, and local butchers, coming from local farms. And as previously mentioned, we have seasonal menu changes between Summer and Winter. We also took part in Savour the South, a local promotion to create dishes made from locally sourced products through the month of April. We started out having seperate fryers for Gluten Free etc, but I found it too difficult and a high risk of cross contamination, so now we have removed gluten from all of our fried foods altogether. We have a seperate hot plate for gluten free meals also, and none of our meat products contain gluten or dairy. I haven't found an allergy that I couldn't deal with yet. One of our regular customers can't have Gluten, Dairy, Soy, or Eggs, and that's why she is a regular customer as she can't go to many other places where the risk of cross contamination is high.
What are your key points of difference and how have you managed to deliver them?
So far we have only been operating for 16 months, and we are currently onto our 4th or 5th menu. I like to keep things fresh and am always looking for new ideas and dishes to bring something different to our guests. We also like to bring seasonal changes, having comfort style meals in the winter, with lighter fresh meals in the summer. And everything that we can make ourselves is made on site. Including the little things like tomato sauce to serve with our chips etc. And we are very well known for our Korean Fried Chicken. That is where our journey began, running a food truck for around 6 years specialising in Korean Fried Chicken, which pairs extremely well with craft beers. We serve true big thick "Chunky Chips" with a homemade seasoning which we get a lot of great feedback over. I believe we are the only venue in the lower south (and possibly even wider) that brings this much variety of different beers and styles of food to our customers.
Tell us about your commitments to Customer Service and Host Responsibility
Our front of house staff go above and beyond to make sure our guests have everything they want, and need, wherever possible, in fact we just received an award from Blind & Low Vision NZ when my staff without being asked, slowly read through the entire menu (food and drinks) for the group, and even worked out how to change the settings on our touchscreen eftpos terminal to allow the vision impaired guests to be able to use it. I'm also committed to having as many of my staff trained to get their Managers Licence, so that they understand the importance of "Host Responsibility" and so they know the signs to look out for towards intoxication etc, as well as sending them to Host Responsibility courses when they're held locally by Hospitality NZ.
Best Known for:
Seasonal menu
Street food style
Korean Fried Chicken
Gluten friendly kitchen
Award winner Blind & Low Vision NZ
Have you won any awards in the recent past? Tell us about them.
Just the previously mentioned Blind Bit of a Difference award from Blind & Low Vision NZ. But to be fair, I haven't had time to enter any award competitions. I had plans to enter some of the Hospitality NZ awards as a new venue, but I was so busy that I missed all of the cut off dates to get entries in.
Please describe your commitment to sustainability
Minimising our wastage is a big part of our sustainability. Using every part of the products we purchase is an important part of it for me. All of the fat that I trim from meats is rendered into dripping or lard, that is then used in our cooking processes. Meat trimmings are then used to make our dumplings, gravy, pot pies etc.
Please describe how you create ambience.
We are in a beautiful 112 year old character building. After purchasing the building, I spent a lot of time re-painting the interior etc into a neutral colour scheme that really brings out all of the beautiful woodwork, and enhances the look of the old brick fireplaces etc. And after upgrading all of the down lighting into dimmable LED lights, and upgrading the sound system etc, that allows us to set the ambiance with lighting and music. We are in the process of bringing some Live Acoustic Music from local artists at the weekends, to bring another different atmosphere to attract some different clientele as well.
