Here’s to good neighbours

The enthusiasm of general manager Andrew Jones for the hospitality empire is plain from the moment he starts talking. But after sitting down over a pint with Andrew and head chef Matt Macaskill it soon becomes clear there’s as much levelheaded strategy as whole-hearted passion behind the scenes.

Within the 720 square metres of dining space the brand is consistent across every aspect of the visitor experience, and setting the right tone was important.

Across the 150 seats in the restaurant and the 50 in the bar area the design details and kitchen capability set the scene for this quality. A considerable investment in the initial fit-out made a big difference here. Andrew believes another big difference was with the help Good Neighbour received from Moffat and key suppliers such as Southern Hospitality. “It was a race to get things open,” he says “and we wouldn’t have been able to open without that level of support.”

“Because it was an open kitchen some of the choices were made for aesthetic reasons,” he says – the bold red colour of the equipment helping to “enlighten the kitchen.”

Of course the cooking equipment needed to provide substance as well as style. Here, the kitchen needed to perform quickly and consistently. “It’s set up for speed of service,” says Andrew.

“Nobody likes to wait long.” It’s not just the patrons who have discovered the kitchen’s efficiency. “We recently had a cook off competition for the annual Phoenix competition and other teams came to use the kitchen,” says Andrew. “They were just blown away, not only by its looks but by the functionality. The best feedback we could have received? They wanted to work here.”

After two and a half years in development and an investment in the fit-out such praise is music to the ears of the gastro-bar’s owners. With plans to extend the garden bar next summer, and the Good George brand going from strength to strength, further restaurants are on the horizon.

The Good Neighbour kitchen provides many capabilities from its central core, a focused, wide-ranging functionality that was carefully scoped before the installation.

“We invested extra in the kitchen from the initial budget,” says head chef Matt Macaskill. “It was about doing more with the limited space we had.”

To achieve this the kitchen was installed with a Waldorf Bold chili red pasta cooker, cooktop, oven range, chargrill and two fryers.

The multi-use nature of the equipment was vital. “We can use different parts of the oven for the different tasks,” says Matt, “So we still run service while prepping across the entire day.”

The centralised nature of the operation helps ensure everything can be controlled from one key point, “so you run (and reach) everything from the middle of kitchen, one person can oversee everything. It makes it all the more functional for a busy service.”