Vineyard restaurant and function venue placed on the market

Media Release
6.6.2017

Vineyard restaurant and function venue placed on the menu for sale

One of Gisborne’s biggest and most successful hospitality and function-catering venues – located in the middle of a working vineyard and winery – has been placed on the market for sale.

The Vines restaurant and café operates in the middle of Bushmere Estate winery in Main Road, Makaraka. The business has been successfully operating for some four years – building up a steady clientele in both the leisure and corporate sectors.

The venue has three distinct room offerings, dependent on the number of seated guests attending and the nature of the function – ranging from ‘the tasting room’ which has a capacity to cater for up to 15 guests, the ‘bond room’ capable of taking up to 60 people, and the outside marquee licensed to serve up to 200 people.

Function menus are predominantly aimed at the high-end sector – serving canapes, fine dining a-la-carte, gourmet buffet, and high teas. As a restaurant and café, Vines is open for lunches Wednesday to Sundays between 11am and 3pm, and for dinners from Thursday to Saturdays between 6pm and 9pm. Corporate functions are booked any day or time throughout the week.

Now the land, buildings and business sustaining The Vines’ operations have been placed on the market for sale by tender through Bayleys Gisborne, with tenders closing on June 29.

Bayleys Gisborne sales manager Karen Raureti said the hospitality and catering business was being sold with 19 weddings already booked throughout the remainder of 2017 and into next summer.

Accounts for the business show turnover has been growing steadily throughout its operations – with The Vines turning over approximately $680,000 in the 2016/17 financial year.

Ms Raureti said the business employed five full-time kitchen, front-of-house, and administration staff. In addition, part-time kitchen and service employees were contracted in over the busy summer function season, and for larger functions.

Building infrastructure included in the business’s assets encompasses a pair of three-bedroom owner/manager’s residences, a 341 square metre carpeted marquee with its own stage and sound system, and a newly-erected high-stud Total Span barn currently used for storing food and beverage and general property maintenance machinery and equipment.

Kitchen amenities listed as chattels are all commercially-graded, and include all, gas hob grillers and ovens, extractor fans, walk-in chiller unit, wide-span outdoor umbrellas, tables and chairs, stainless steel high-volume plating and servery bench, and all cutlery and crockery.

Ms Raureti said the two residential dwellings linked to The Vines could be used as they currently are – as owner and staff residences – or could alternatively be switched to generate other substantial revenue streams from a more vertically-integrated business. She described the interior and exterior decor of the two residences as equivalent to a four-star rated commercial accommodation provider.

“There is the potential to use both dwellings as commercial accommodation venues – either for use by guests attending functions at The Vines, or as stand-alone luxury accommodation for short-term tourists staying in Gisborne. So, one weekend the homes could utilised as bridal or bridal party retreats, and the next weekend they could be reserved through an Airbnb booking by visiting Americans,” she said.

“In the main house currently used by The Vines’ owners, the kitchen, one of the two bathrooms and the master ensuite have been totally remodeled and updated and now have the look and feel of a new home. Meanwhile, the quaint cottage-like second property is currently tenanted and generates $300 a week rental.”

Ms Raureti said The Vines worked collaboratively with the Bushmere Estate winery label, whose product is created off-site. Grapes on site are grown by an independent company which then harvests and crushes juice from its 17 hectares of plantings, featuring chardonnay gewürztraminer, viognier, pinot gris, montepulciano and sangiovese.

“The big attraction for clients booking a function or event at The Vines is that both the restaurant and marque venues enjoy majestic views over a fully functioning vineyard and winery – sustaining the whole winery experience and ambience for diners and guests,” she said.

“Menu items are regularly intrinsically linked to the vineyard – often making use of the vines, and of course the grapes in creating dishes.

“This is a ‘turn-key’ operation opportunity, with the vendors happy to negotiate a transitionary hand-over to any potential purchaser.”

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