Previous Projects
Dining Precinct - Willis Lane
Mean Business was engaged to manage the commercial and operational design of a world-class dining precinct in Wellington’s CBD.
Working as hospitality consultants alongside the project team and designers, we:
Helped set a vision for the development
Used industry trade data to develop a tenancy mix and leasing strategy
Developed an operational overlay for the venue.
Assisted tenants with their pre-opening programme to ensure they opened on time, with fit-out designs and business plans optimised for this trading environment.
The result was the hugely successful opening of an innovative new dining destination that reinvigorated central Wellington casual dining. The tenancy-mix fitted neatly with the initial vision, and despite a hugely competitive market, each operator was able to thrive, creating a win-win opportunity for the building owner and tenants alike.
Auckland Property Group
A large property group understood that their fifty food tenants required the help of hospitality specialists. Not only that, they knew that as landlords, their success was heavily dependent on the success of their tenant.
Mean Business’ hospitality consultation services were engaged, on an ongoing basis, to work alongside each one of their tenants, providing business coaching support, operational support to their shared dining precincts, and better reporting of their tenants’ performance and issues.
The partnership has endured for a number of years, and delivered to the client a better understanding of their food-retail portfolio to the client, as well as a higher-performing asset base.
Dining Precinct - Commercial Bay
Developers, Precinct Property, understood that their vision to create a food hall made up of small-scale independent eateries required a unique approach.
Mean Business, were engaged to help guide the development team to create a venue that responded to the needs of independent-style food retailers. And at the same time provided commercial and operational guidance to each of these tenants.
As restaurant consultants, we worked closely with these tenants to refine their product offerings, operational plans and business plans so that they opened as profitably as possible.
Commercial Bay now established itself as Auckland’s premier dining precinct with 44 high-quality, and novel, food concepts.
Franchise Development - Foodu Dumplings
To help expand their retail network, Foodu Dumplings engaged Mean Business as Restaurant Consultants to build their franchise system.
Together with the business’s founders and their team, we’ve helped build the franchise system from the ground up by developing their franchise plan, financial model and operating manuals.
We can’t wait to see the FooDu network grow, and better still, enjoy their amazing dumplings throughout New Zealand.
Auckland Restaurant Group
A restaurant group consisting of three different eateries had been trading satisfactorily for a number of years, but increasing costs were slowly eroding their profit margins.
Mean Business worked with the management team to successfully implement a number of cost-saving initiatives, and undertook a review of the menus, focusing on price, margin, market-fit and design.
This menu review alone netted a $290,000 profit increase over the following 12 months, across the group.
“We engaged with Stu to help us with the redevelopment and launch of the Auckland Fish Market. Stu brought wealth of knowledge and expertise in the hospitality, and was instrumental in pulling together the multiple tenancies and overarching operational requirements of the site to ensure success, not only at launch but ongoing.”
— Justine Powell Sanford
