Harry Faas and Aaron Freeman are committed to highlighting local produce in their new restaurant.
Opening a new restaurant in the best of times is not for the faint-hearted, let alone trying to do it in the middle of a pandemic, but Harry Faas, who recently opened a new eatery in Palmerston North, is confident that by focusing on quality produce sourced from the region he lives in, he is on to a winner. Colin Williscroft reports.
Traceability has been a bit of a buzzword in agriculture in recent years, but it’s a concept often associated with overseas markets rather than those closer to home.
However, Performance Beef Breeders (PBB) general manager, and now co-owner of Palmerston North restaurant Provenance, Harry Faas believes he’s got a take on it that will benefit local food producers and the dining public.
The restaurant, which opened in mid-December, prides itself on sourcing produce for its menu that is grown in the wider Manawatū area.
That includes Angus Pure beef from Pahīatua, lamb from Whanganui, vegetables from Bulls, microgreens from Tokomaru, milk for desserts like ice creams and sorbets from Bunnythorpe, and cheeses from the Pohangina Valley.
Faas became interested in food traceability a few years ago through his involvement with Rural Innovation Lab.
Although much of the discussion at the time revolved around the role of technology in the process, the more he thought about it, he came back to the concept of the village butcher.
He said people went to their village butcher because they were like a trusted community brand, which was an idea he thought could be developed.
At the same time in his day job at PBB, farmers were telling him that although they were doing well financially, they were unhappy about the negative perception held of them in some quarters, which was leading to a growing rural/urban divide.
“We needed a way of getting the farm back into town, to showcase what we’re doing and (what) we’ve got,” Faas says.
“I looked around and thought, ‘Actually, we have a lot of good things here (in Manawatū)’, it’s just amazing really.
“So I started forming the idea of a restaurant and a brand around it, focusing on connections with local farms and food producers.”
While he’s not quite there yet, the goal is to have everything on the menu sourced from the region.
Central to the whole operation is Provenance co-owner and executive chef Aaron Freeman, known by many for his appearance in the TV series My Kitchen Rules.
Best end of eye fillet au naturel, served classically with shallot, caper, cornichon, mustards, salt cured egg yolk, and house made crackerbreads.
Faas says Freeman was suggested to him by Manawatū hospitality consultant Grant Kitchen.
“He (Kitchen) put us in touch and we (Freeman) had dinner together one night and just started talking about the concept,” he said.
“At the end of it we shook hands and he goes ‘Mate, I’m all in. I love this. I love this concept’.
“He’s pretty much key to the whole thing. You’ve got to get the right people on board to make it happen and Aaron’s absolutely the right person.
“He loves the whole concept of sourcing local, of gathering things up and then making beautiful meals out of them.”
Not surprisingly, setting up a hospitality business during a global pandemic has not been without its challenges.
Funding-wise a lot of lenders were risk averse, while sourcing building materials was also difficult because of hold-ups in supply chains.
“We were extremely lucky there. A week before the August lockdown all of our building materials arrived. If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be open now,” he said.
Finding staff has also been tough.
“There’s a lot of people leaving hospo for other jobs that are not going to be disrupted by covid,” he said.
“We’ve been very lucky with the team we’ve got, both in the kitchen and front of house.
“They’ve all bought into the concept and it’s really exciting that they want to get involved with it.
“A couple of our chefs recently went out to an orchard in Ashhurst, gathered up a whole bunch of grapefruit and came back and created a dessert out of it.
“That’s a special that we’re running right now.
“We want to do more of that kind of stuff; the chefs love it and I think customers will too.”
It’s an example of the seasonal nature of the menu, which will change during the year, capitalising on the best and freshest produce available at the time.
The kitchen is set up to move with those changes.
He said the reaction of diners to the restaurant so far has been “overwhelming”.
It has been full for dinner service and while lunch has been slower to take off, it too is starting to build,” he said.
“What’s really resonating with people is the fact that we support local, source local. That just strikes a chord.
“People are proud because this is the region they live in and all this food is being produced here, we’re just highlighting that.
“I’ve got a feeling that post-covid it’s going to be even a bit more important … you see supply chains being disrupted, whereas we can just source local.”
It’s still early days but there are plenty of ideas being explored for development, including wild game on the menu during winter and the potential for reducing food waste by using the commercial kitchen to turn growers’ excess, such as tomatoes, into condiments like sauces.
All going well, the plan is to potentially open other restaurants around the country based on the same concept.
“We’re hoping that it will go further than just Palmerston North. This is the test case, but we really want to build on the concept,” he said.
“We have a 10-year strategy where we open another four or five if people react well to it.
“It might not be the Provenance brand, but it will be sourced local; we’ll try and stay true to that as much as we can.
“There’s opportunities there, plenty of room for growth if this works.”
Despite the tough times restaurants are facing because of covid, he is confident eating out will always have a future.
“I’ve always looked at (covid) objectively. I’ve thought it’s one of those things that the world, we will come together, we will fix it and we will move on, so I was never really scared long-term for the hospo business, because people love to go out, love to eat, love to come together.”
