Award spurs expansion thoughts
THOUGHTS of expansion are fermenting away in the minds of Arc Brewing Company’s owners after they won major categories at the recent inaugural Otago Hospitality Awards.
Jono Walker and partner Emma Parsons won the people’s choice award and the best regional establishment award on Monday night.
The awards acknowledge the outstanding hospitality professionals and businesses which are making a positive impact on the local cafe, dining and drinking scene.
The couple were ecstatic about the success of their small batch brewery, located in a converted service station at Evansdale, north of Dunedin.
Mr Walker said they were still new to the brewing industry, having only opened to the public in late 2018, and he was still not sure whether it was beginner’s luck or not.
‘‘We’ve worked hard over the last four years. It’s great to be recognised for it.’’
He said they started out by making home brew while living in Sydney, and when the opportunity came up to buy the Evansdale site, they moved to New Zealand and started brewing for public consumption.
‘‘We spent a couple of years fixing up the building and fitting out our tap room and brewery, and we opened at Christmas in 2018.
‘‘We’ve never looked back.’’ Since then, they have created a venue which is loved for its craft beer, laidback atmosphere and coastal Otago landscape.
At the moment, 100% of what they brew is sold on site on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
And so far, they have resisted the temptation to expand their opening times, open other venues or start bottling their beer and selling it commercially.
He said that had been their longterm idea ‘‘right from the word go’’, but like all sensible small business owners, they wanted to grow the business slowly alongside the hospitality side of the business.
‘‘I think with Covid19, it’s made that decisionmaking a bit tougher — not knowing what that next step looks like.’’
But since the Otago Hospitality Awards, the idea of expansion has been bubbling closer to the surface of their thoughts, he said.
‘‘We are a brewery. It would be cool to eventually get a bigger kit and then we could start making some beer for some pretty cool bars — especially after the awards.
‘‘It would be fun to support some of these cool venues around Dunedin.
‘‘That’s the goal. But we’re not in a hurry.
‘‘We just want to do it well in incremental steps, rather than come out all guns blazing and making a mess of it all.’’