We caught up with Bert and James from Future Hospitality Group in Queenstown for a chat about all things hospo, living in Queenstown and how it all got started. We took the opportunity to check out their venues and shoot some of the latest arrivals to Barkers in the process. A day of good chats, good people and good food. Take a read below.
SO DO YOU GUYS WANT US TO GIVE US A RUN THEN ON HOW YOU GOT INTO THE HOSPITALITY GAME?
James: Yeah, I got into it early, washing dishes and pouring pints in Tauranga. And then things got serious when I moved from Sydney to Queenstown in 2009, when we bought our first business in 2011 and that’s when Future Bars was formed.
Since then we’ve opened 9 or 10 businesses in Queenstown and Auckland and we own 6 today.
Bert: I got started in hospitality back in Canada. Similar story to James, started as a dishwasher, had a bit of a faux pas and they moved me out to front of house, tried to get rid of me out of the kitchen, and yeah, that’s where I fell in love with hospitality. Just being able to serve people, and, kind of kicks off from there.
BERT, WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO QUEENSTOWN FROM CANADA?
Bert: So way back in the day, I travelled from Canada to Queenstown to just to experience a bit of the winter season, do snowboarding overseas, so to speak.
I came for the winter, stayed for summer, fell in love with the place and yeah, next thing you know, here we are today, a few businesses deep with James, my
business partner and rockin’ and rollin’.
WHICH OF THE VENUES IS MOST DEAR TO THE HEARTS?
James: The venue that’s most closest or dear store special to my heart would be Margo’s because it was born through COVID, when we were fighting life and for our livelihoods. We had a venue that we’re about to demolish, do our biggest renovation ever, covid happens, we’re just like holy ….
We go to Mitre 10 by the cheapest tools, we call up our old friends from the rugby and ice hockey community, give us a hand, whatever trade they can, and we build this 30 seat restaurant where we are trialling the food at Mat our Executive Chef ’s house. And then we, yeah, we opened this thirty seat restaurant and after the first night, the next day we’re just like, holy **** we’ve got to open it up bigger because we had another 60 seats upstairs. We did that because it was bursting at the seams, high energy, amazing Mexican food and at a time when everything was closing down around us. Everyone was down and out and we just opened this big explosive new venue on the smell of an oily rag.
Bert: I love James’s story that he just spoke about with Margo’s and, and how it got started. For me, the venue that’s closest to me is a venue that we actually no longer have, Rhino’s Ski Shack. It was the first sort of creative adventure that I got to experience with James when I when I started at Future Bars over a decade ago. Man, it was just a really fun, playful brand where we got to be pretty loose, serve pints, sling pizzas, play underground hip hop. Yeah, just lots of fun. It was really good, solid hospitality, but in such a casual manner, a lot of fun, a lot of personality. But yeah, sort of like ourselves sort of growing up maturing and then following the market for that one, we had to move on.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR OWN PERSONAL STYLE?
Bert: So I, I would describe my own personal style as I love rolling into a menswear shop, finding a tenant and basically asking them to look after me, I need help there. If it was up to me, I, I’d be rolling a hoodie and jeans almost the seven days a week, I’m pretty relaxed and prefer hanging out in cool casual wear, so when it comes to looking good, I like to trust the professionals, let them style me up and then just have a crack.
James: My style is pretty casual, little bit of edge, not afraid of a pocket. I have a 2 year old son, I like to be casual. I’ll typically wear what I wear to work on a week day, and then go out in that on a Friday night.
Chuck a little bit of colour in here and there.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE QUEENSTOWN STYLE?
Bert: If I could describe the style of Queenstown, I’m saying we’re very laid back and casual. You can literally wear something as casual as leisure wear to an evening function, that’s how chill Queenstown is. But like everywhere, there’s a time that calls for you to be a little bit sharper, and I think in in those moments, yeah, people understand it’s time to dress things up or take things up a notch, and in those moments we see a lot more flare and personality.
ONE PIECE OF KIT YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IN QUEENSTOWN?
James: Easily just a down jacket, one that’s going to last five winters and I love a pair of merino socks.
Bert: A piece of kit that I couldn’t live without in Queenstown, has to be a base layer.
There’s no such thing as being cold, there’s just being underdressed.
ADVICE FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT A MOVE TO QUEENSTOWN?
James: You’ve got to be intentional because it is not a cheap place to live, but if you do come with a plan and you’re here to make a good move, you can really thrive and it offers an incredible lifestyle which you can capitalize on all year round.
Bert: I think for, for anybody that’s thinking right about making the move to
Queenstown, I think you have to get behind it. You have to jump into the community, get involved, get into what you love doing. There’s going to be heaps of people here that love to do it, so go find your people.
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