Hot demand marks start of oyster season
A Southland seafood company expects to sell about 3500 dozen oysters throughout the country today.
Foveaux Strait oysters started arriving at Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters yesterday, marking the start of the season for the Invercargill business.
Company manager Graeme Wright and production manager Max Russell were more than happy with the size and taste of the delicacy.
‘‘If they all look like that, we’ll be in for a good season,’’ Russell said.
The fatness and colour of the oysters pleased Wright.
‘‘The majority of them [the 3500 dozen] will be sold from Dunedin and Wanaka south ... one guy reckons he’s coming down from Wanaka to buy some.’’
About 1000 dozen would be sold to distributors in Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington and Auckland, Wright said.
With Auckland at Covid-19 alert level 3, not as many orders had been received from the City of Sails as would usually be the case at the start of the season.
‘‘Probably not so much [at the moment] to the restaurant trade, but probably as much, if not more
[than usual] to the retail trade,’’ Wright said of Auckland orders.
‘‘They’ll be dispatched tomorrow, so it’ll be Wednesday morning before they [Auckland public] get them.’’
Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters receives calls most days from its five key Auckland distributors during the season.
Wright will have 20 oyster openers working today to keep up with demand.
‘‘The first two or three days will be crazy . .. the phone’s been crazy.’’
Meanwhile, the Ascot Hotel’s Oyster Opener event this week has been postponed until March 12 due to Southland being in Covid-19 alert level 2.
Also, all tickets to the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival on May 22 have been sold.