PLB offloads Taverna
New owners for acclaimed Kingscliff restaurant
RESTAURATEUR Mark Wilson has sold off one of his eateries as he seeks to create a more nimble hospitality operation able to withstand the COVID-19 downturn.
Mr Wilson is the general manager of hospitality company PLB Group, which has venues on the Gold Coast and northern NSW.
It has both restaurants and wedding venues with the former including Lolita’s Mexican Cantina in Casuarina and Ancora in Tweed Heads.
This week PLB announced it had sold Greek-inspired boutique restaurant Taverna in Kingscliff to the current managers.
The restaurant, which prior to COVID seated 60 indoors and had eight staff, was established in December 2015.
It has won widespread plaudits and was ranked in the top 100 in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Hot Food List from 2017, which featured venues from across the globe.
Mr Wilson said the decision was a strategic move to refocus on core operations
during COVID-19. “We’ve been working hard to reposition our organisation to ensure it’s well-placed both during and after any COVIDrelated downturn” he said.
“The thought of bringing our key players from across all five restaurant venues back into a more nimble and streamlined organisation was an exciting prospect.”
Mr Wilson said with the sale of Taverna, PLB could focus on larger restaurants such as Lolita’s Mexican Cantina.
He said restaurants, particularly small venues, carried too much risk while the wedding sector had proven more robust.
The sale of Taverna included goodwill but not the
brand which PLB retains and has loaned to the new owners for 12 months.
Mr Wilson said PLB would look to launch a new venue in the next 18 months to two years.
“It’s safe to say there will be some compelling opportunities on the other side of the downturn,” he said.
“The PLB Group originally
began off the back of the GFC when we started taking closed-down venues and bringing them to life again with different concepts.
“Creating great spaces and exciting products is what we love the most. Although we’ve had to make some tough decisions, I have not felt as excited about the outlook as I do right now.”