Raised in Wanaka, where his parents had a hotel, Kieran Turnbull had nine years with Queenstown-based Good Group — the first four in the resort, before running venues for them in Christchurch and Auckland.
He then had a long stint as Auckland-based ops manager for Nourish Group, including overseeing Queenstown’s Jervois Steak House.
Taking over as GM at Ayrburn, which only opened last December, ticked three boxes, Turnbull says.
It was a chance to come home after a long time away, an opportunity to be involved with "an amazing venue", and "a good challenge as well".
"People come out with an expectation, and the buildings and grounds set that expectation, so it’s up to us to deliver on that to the same level.
"The place feels so mature in a lot of ways, but in real terms, as a business, we’re very young."
Turnbull says a lot of the hard work’s been done by local-based Winton developer Chris Meehan and his team.
"I definitely see myself more as the pilot, and I suppose my job is to fly it as well as we can."
He says staffing’s always a challenge — he has 140 hospo staff — "and I think Queenstown adds another level to that challenge, but the challenges present opportunities".
From December, the precinct starts adding more venues, but Turnbull says, even when it’s complete, "you’re only halfway there because you can always continue to run them better".
"You look at the Christmas lights we’ve done for the last month [and running till August 19], things like that we’ll continue to add in even when the venues are completed."
Turnbull says what he likes is though Ayrburn has high-end venues, it’s open to anyone to come and visit.
He also thinks it can help grow Queenstown’s pie by giving visitors a reason to stay longer in the area.
