The business won the New Zealand Gastropub’s 2025 supreme and best lower South Island award this week
Co-owner Selina Wright said she and her partner Cam Davis used the shutdown period create a more sustainable business model and undergo business coaching.
"While it was hard ... it was actually quite a transformative time for our business."
"Cam and I used to try and do everything ourselves and realised we needed to change the way our organisation is structured — moving people up within the business more so we can oversee and work on growing the business."
The couple had owned the restaurant for the past nine years and it had become renowned for its braised "Lumina Lamb" which is cooked overnight.
"It’s just absolutely delicious and all of the ingredients that we use in that dish are from Southland producers."
The Te Anau community had responded well to the win.
"We’ve got a really good community here so everyone’s pretty happy for us.
"We’re just super-happy for the team as well ... and we’ve got great community support."
All the entries were narrowed down based on public reviews and votes.
Then the final 50 awards submitted to a judging panel.
Last year the Fat Duck won first place for the best meal paired with Spanish Estrella beer.
Winning the award had created "a little bit of a buzz".
"I guess it just also helps us strive to always improve and get better."
Ms Wright said she believes their practice of always using products produced in the region is its winning formula.
"We have got so many fantastic growers and producers in Southland that we try as hard as we can to use local and from Southland as much as we can.
"We have a whole [menu] back page that is just dedicated to the local producers that we use on our menu."
By Toni McDonald
