New tap room gives cider company ‘home’ in Bay
Open day showcases Zeffer range after move from Auckland to be closer to suppliers
It might be 10 years old but it is only now that the Zeffer Cider Company has a home to be proud of, and it wants to invite the rest of Hawke’s Bay in. After a two-week “soft opening” and six months of development, the company’s newly fitted-out tap room on Korokipo Rd is to be the centre of an official public “open day” at midday tomorrow.
Zeffer chief executive Josh Townsend said the creation of the new tap room and cider bar was a logical progression for the company, following its move from Auckland.
“Basically, that was a move to allow us to scale up but also be near our fruit supply, which is all Hawke’s Bay fruit.
“Then, when we moved here, we realised how much of an opportunity there was to showcase Zeffer at the point of production.”
It had taken six months to redevelop a former wine tasting room into a specially-designed tap room.
“We didn’t want to rush into it because we wanted to do justice to the brand and create something unique for Hawke’s Bay.”
About 1000 people were expected to attend tomorrow’s free launch party, which would feature live music, food trucks and children’s entertainment.
“We’re really excited to invite a wider group to come and experience this place.”
Originally established in Auckland, Zeffer is New Zealand’s largest independent cider-maker and since setting up in Hastings has raised about $3.6 million to fund local and international expansion plans.
After last year successfully raising $1.2m in a first capital funding round, the company raised another $2.4m earlier this year.
“Part of the capital raise we conducted in April was about developing this place, and so that involved a total renovation of the front-of-house, installing the tap wall and really making it a Zeffer-branded space.”
The company’s latest achievement, will see thousands of bottles of its new one-litre flavoured ciders stocked in about 200 supermarkets nationwide this weekend.
“It’s been a busy winter and this year we are celebrating our tenth anniversary and as part of that, we have released a custom-made, onelitre glass flagon. It’s a really exciting new development for us.”
Co-founder Hanna Bower said opening the tap room, set on the site of the former Crossroad Winery, was a way of introducing the cidery to the public.
“We’ve been going for 10 years but we’ve been in this space from July, last year. We’ve been going for 10 years but never had a home for the brand. So this for us has been really nice to give a home to the brand that people can come and experience.
“We had a smaller tap room in Auckland but this is the first time we’ve had our own stand-alone experience, so it’s quite exciting.”
The new tap room would feature local food and produce as well as local beers and wine.
The site had already been getting a “great response” from local tour operators keen to offer “something different” alongside traditional winery tours.
Tap room manager Nigel Anderson said the tap room, which had six ciders on tap, also served “build it yourself” food platters.
“People can just help themselves, so they are not getting a pre-designed package where they might get a handful of things they don’t really want.”