When Espen Harbitz and his late partner took on the lease for The Oriana Orange nearly nine years ago, he could see the food and beverage potential.
It took time to build it up first though.
Harbitz, the owner and director of Oriana Orange, tells Hospitality the venue was not being used as a food business at all. Their restaurant, dubbed the Peacock Room, was just a “broken-down space” at the time.
He says they had to build their offerings slowly and organically, which helped them understand what the market wanted. In Orange, there were some clear trends that started to emerge.
For example, the community tends to lean towards a meat preference, and they often enjoy portions that leave them feeling full.
“We are constantly trying things. Some things work, some things less so, and then you work with the challenges,” says Harbitz.
“People don’t have that big city mentality where they go out four times a week and meet socially at a restaurant but actually don’t really eat too much. Here, it’s a little bit different; they want to eat, they want to be full.
“They don’t like these little fiddly plates. That is beautiful, but that’s not as popular here, I find.”
While the Oriana Orange is a retro hotel with 49 rooms, demand for their food and beverage offerings tends to come from locals. Their outdoor area – The Gardens – features a large grass lawn, marquees, and a pool, which helps to draw in the crowd.
“I would say in the garden, close to 90% of business is local. It is very much the locals that appreciate what it is,” he adds.
“It’s totally flexible because we’ve got so much space, and it allows for casual planning. It means when the vibe is right, people settle in and can stay for say, five hours.”
That flexibility means they can put on events as they see fit. Sometimes that means $1 oysters when there’s availability, or live music.
Last month, they hosted an outdoor all-you-can-eat Brazilian barbeque, in part because they had a new outdoor grill and Brazilian sous chef on board. They paired this with their Christmas buffet which included cold meats and salads, as well as pizza cooked on their outdoor woodfire oven. Other offerings included sushi, and classic Christmas desserts – like pavlova, and local cherries.
In classic Oriana trial-and-error style, Harbitz says he loved the vibe of the event. However, he could see where they could make improvements, like making sure the meat was served faster to meet demand.
“But it was good to get it started like that,” he says. “We were able to see that there’s clearly a great excitement about the Brazilian barbeque.”
Going forward, he says he would like to have more meat options on the grill
Meanwhile, the Peacock Room leans heavily on French cuisine. Led by Executive Chef Julien Schenbeg, both locals and visitors are known to dine at the restaurant.
Schenbeg is Oriana’s first French chef, so the French menu will be trialed for the season to test how it is received.
“It’s reasonably priced but also casual, which suits people,” says Harbitz.
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