Bay of Plenty restaurant Solera is the first in the area to be awarded ‘two hats’ in The Cuisine Good Food Awards.
The awards serve as New Zealand’s equivalent to the Michelin Guide, with restaurants eligible to earn one, two, or three hats. Solera earning two hats means the establishment demonstrates consistent excellence.
People in New Zealand can refer to the award list to discover the country’s top restaurants.
“More so the Aucklanders, I guess, would hunt it out, so over the summer period, when all the Aucklanders come down, that’s when we get the people hunting out the hats,” Solera co-owner Nick Potts said.
Restaurants are recognised based on scores submitted by two anonymous judges who visit and dine throughout the year. Out of the 300 restaurants Cuisine deemed worth visiting, only 32 received two hats.
Solera is one of just two dining establishments in the Bay of Plenty to have ever received recognition in the awards, though Potts noted that fine dining isn’t a goal pursued by every restaurant.
“You tend to make less money in restaurants of that quality, because your labour costs and food costs are drastically higher, so perhaps people would rather make a bit more money,” he said.
Potts said that rising food prices have particularly impacted hospitality businesses this winter, and most establishments have been unable to pass the entire cost on to their customers.
“With us, for example, we do a price review every few months, and our chef’s menu… we costed that before winter and after winter, and per person, the price it cost us to get it on the plate went up five dollars.”
However, he said it is challenging to transfer that cost to consumers in the current climate, so the restaurants have to absorb it through their profits.
The top food price increase affecting Solera is butter.
According to Potts, they are actually modifying some of their dishes because they use too much butter, and the price of butter has skyrocketed.