Down Under Diary

The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur Down Under
November 11 - Auckland

Went to work today! I spent the morning with the management of Retail Holdings, Ltd., a real estate firm who is the primary property owner at the Mission Bay development I visited last Saturday. We discussed trends in the foodservice industry in the US, food courts (they have a shopping center in Wellington) and how they could help their dozen or so restaurant tenants be more successful. (When have you ever heard of a landlord being concerned about that?)

After lunch at Bar Comida, a tapas restaurant in Mission Bay, I conducted a training program for the staff and managers of the various Mission Bay restaurants (and a few other operations as well.) I was very pleased with the way the message was received . . . and apparently they were as well. We are already discussing a return visit for next year!

Our final night in town, we took Jim & Adrienne to a restaurant called The Hunting Lodge located in the Matua Vinyards about half an hour north of Auckland. It was a delightful setting and a pleasant meal. It alternately seems like we just got here and that we have been here forever. In any event, they were extremely hospitable and it will be hard to say goodbye tomorrow.

For photos of Bar Comida and The Hunting Lodge, click here.

For photos of Jim & Adrienne, click here.

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