Latest / Best of Business / Selina Wright: The Fat Duck co-owner on the Te Anau spot being named New Zealand's best gastropub

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Selina Wright: The Fat Duck co-owner on the Te Anau spot being named New Zealand's best gastropub · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed Be
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  Speaker 1: Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: So let's have a chat about the greatest pubs in
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  Speaker 2: the country. The Top fifty New Zealand Guestro Pub Awards
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  Speaker 2: were held last night and the Supreme Champion was awarded
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  Speaker 2: to The Fat Duck in Tiano, beautiful part of the country.
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  Speaker 2: So to chat about what makes a great pub, we're
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  Speaker 2: joined by one of the owners of The Fat Duck,
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  Speaker 2: Selena Wrights. Good afternoon, Selena.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, guys, how are you doing today?
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  Speaker 4: Fantastic? What makes your Fat Duck so good?
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  Speaker 3: I think what makes the Fat Duck so good is
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  Speaker 3: it's got to be all about the team. We've got
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  Speaker 3: this amazing team of people who are really passionate about
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  Speaker 3: what they do. It's not just the food, it's the hospitality.
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  Speaker 3: They care about each other, they care about the community.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, I think that's all part of what makes
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  Speaker 3: us the best gets through a pub brilliant.
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  Speaker 4: And where did the name fat Duck come from?
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  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, Oh, We're perfectly honest with you. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know. We actually we purchased Cam and I have
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  Speaker 3: owned the restaurant for nine years and when we purchased it,
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  Speaker 3: it already had that name, so we can't take credit
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  Speaker 3: for the name. I'm afraid.
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  Speaker 4: Well, you didn't ask, you don't know, you didn't go.
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  Speaker 4: We're just buying this part. We're signing the pages.
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  Speaker 3: We really should have.
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  Speaker 4: Well, well, it makes me hungry the name for it.
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  Speaker 4: But anyway, not a huge population in Tire now, like,
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  Speaker 4: what is it three thousand people? Is is it mainly
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  Speaker 4: locals that come into to your pub or is it tourists.
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  Speaker 3: We're a really touristy town, so we're the gateway through
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  Speaker 3: to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sounds. So in summer we
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  Speaker 3: do the town does have a massive influx of tourists
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  Speaker 3: and that would be a main client tow but yeah,
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  Speaker 3: through winter, when the tourists have gone, we do have
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  Speaker 3: quite a few locals come through and we always love
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  Speaker 3: to see the locals come out que quite often all
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  Speaker 3: of coming out in summer and winter's kind of the
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  Speaker 3: time to come and have a meal.
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  Speaker 4: Tell us about the process, process that you went through
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  Speaker 4: to win this prize.
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  Speaker 3: So they open up applications, so we put in our application.
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  Speaker 3: We have descriptions, we submen at menus, and then there
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  Speaker 3: are four judges that are judging the competition and they
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  Speaker 3: look at their application, they look at their menus, they
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  Speaker 3: look at their reviews. They have a sort of a
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  Speaker 3: whole bunch of criteria that they look at, and then
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  Speaker 3: from there they narrow it down to the fifty best
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  Speaker 3: gastropubs in New Zealand and then from there they award
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  Speaker 3: regional winners and also won overall Supreme winner.
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  Speaker 4: And so you came up for the awards.
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  Speaker 3: We did absolutely. So we won the lowest South Island
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  Speaker 3: which was fantastic, and then we were taken quite by
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  Speaker 3: surprise last night when we won the overall Supreme award
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  Speaker 3: as well. So that was pretty amazing.
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  Speaker 4: Did you deliver a decent speed?
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  Speaker 2: Oh?
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  Speaker 3: Can? Did the speech? It was pretty short, to be honest,
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  Speaker 3: I think we're so it was pretty short.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, fantastic. Can I run a couple of things past you,
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  Speaker 2: Selena and what I think makes a great pub and
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  Speaker 2: see if the Fat Duck has it?
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  Speaker 3: Yes?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, live music, Oh.
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  Speaker 3: My goodness, the first question. So we used to have
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  Speaker 3: live music really regularly. Now we kind of have it
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  Speaker 3: occasionally when we can. We're a small town, so we
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  Speaker 3: don't have a heap of options around live music here,
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  Speaker 3: but when we can we do all right.
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  Speaker 4: There's a great band that's not too far from you,
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  Speaker 4: covers being called the wheel Wolves of Lumsden. If you
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  Speaker 4: if you're looking for some great covers.
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  Speaker 2: It's a good name, all right.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good name.
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  Speaker 3: We'll have to give him about happy hour, Absolutely happy
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  Speaker 3: hour from five to six.
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  Speaker 2: Every day, fantastic. Do you have the odd meat raffle
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  Speaker 2: every now and again?
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  Speaker 3: Do you know we do not have the odd meat raffle.
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  Speaker 3: We are probably more restaurant than pubs, so meat raffles
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  Speaker 3: not quite acting. And there is there is another place
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  Speaker 3: in town that does a great meat wrestle.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, I'm anti meat rafel. I've won meat raffles
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  Speaker 4: a couple of times. Nothing that you don't know what
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  Speaker 4: to do with them. It's pretty awkward.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you won't beat a good meat raffle.
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  Speaker 4: One night I want to meet Refel, ended up putting
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  Speaker 4: it down in front of my pants and walking around
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  Speaker 4: all night with it and then woke up with it.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, what about the quiz night? Is that still a thing?
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  Speaker 4: The quiz night?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, quiz nights? Again, We're not really that the new
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  Speaker 3: and there are a couple of other places that now
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  Speaker 3: that do a fantastic quiz night.
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  Speaker 4: So how many pubs? How many pubs have you got in?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, gosh, we have got We're definitely more gastro pubs,
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  Speaker 3: certainly more restaurants style. I'd say we've definitely got a
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  Speaker 3: good three or four sort of pubs. But they do
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  Speaker 3: have restaurants attached as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yea.
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  Speaker 3: And then we've got some great offerings in terms of
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  Speaker 3: restaurants and cause been here in Tian now for the
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  Speaker 3: size of the town.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And what's your go to on the dinner menu
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  Speaker 2: for you personally?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, you can't beat the Loumina lamb as absolutely fabulous.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think we've ever had, you know, a negative
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  Speaker 3: comment about it. Everyone comes and they absolutely love it.
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  Speaker 3: But I would also always recommend a couple of small
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  Speaker 3: plates to share a little bit of sharing and try
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  Speaker 3: a little bit extra.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm just looking at the menu you call the
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  Speaker 4: Fat Dark. If I went to the Fat Dark, I'd
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  Speaker 4: expect to get a fat duck. You've got the fat duck,
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  Speaker 4: pet Hay, and you've got that, You've got the duck. Wanton's,
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  Speaker 4: We've got duck wanton's yet, but you're not just slapping
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  Speaker 4: a big fat duck on a plate and willing it.
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  Speaker 3: You know what. I am definitely going to put that
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  Speaker 3: request into the ship for the next menu change. Yep.
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  Speaker 4: Well, congratulations of I guess the final question key we
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  Speaker 4: tennis lu Lusun was from Tianna. Wasn't she just lu
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  Speaker 4: Lusn ever coming to the fat duck when she's in town?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? I don't know if she's been in to be honest,
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  Speaker 3: I know she was here recently with tennis club. I
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  Speaker 3: haven't personally seen her in, but maybe we should send
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  Speaker 3: her an invite next time she's in town.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Selena has been great to chat to you,
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  Speaker 2: and congratulations once again for the award and hopefully we'll
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  Speaker 2: be down there to see you soon and have some
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  Speaker 2: duck wantons.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, that sounds good. Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 4: There, there you go, the Supreme Champion at the twenty
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  Speaker 4: twenty five New Zealand Gestro Pub Awards.
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