Musseling way round world

The Mussel Boys business has increased five-fold since the second restaurant opened

Matt Lint is passionate about molluscs - not just any mollusc, that is, but green-lipped mussels from the Marlborough Sounds.

The former Cantabrian has hatched a plan that could see the mussels become as synonymous with New Zealand's image offshore as the All Blacks or kiwifruit.

He is launching a chain of mussel-themed restaurants nationwide and hopes to take the concept offshore as early as next year. The restaurants, which trade under the Mussel Boys moniker, are designed as a walking advert for all things kiwi.

Fresh live mussels are steamed whole, or in the half shell; West Coast brewer Monteiths is the tap beer of choice; New Zealand music plays in the background; and the work of local artists adorns the walls - with a history of mussel trading in this country.

"I see it as a fantastic vehicle for New Zealand product, culture, music, food, wine," Lint said.

"Kiwi born, kiwi made, it's something we could export all over the world."

Lint opened his first Mussel Boys outlet in Havelock, in the heart of the mussel-growing territory of the Marlborough Sounds, in 1997. After years in the hospitality trade locally and overseas, Lint was astonished to arrive in Havelock to discover there was nowhere to buy cooked mussels.

"Havelock is the greenshell mussel capital of the world and you couldn't get a cooked greenshell mussel," he said. So he began rustling up steamed mussels on an old oven in a small building in Havelock.

"There was a huge niche there, heaps of traffic going through. Tourists sat on the side of the road and there was nowhere for them to stop and get some cooked mussels.

"Starting off, we just had a little Shacklock stove, cooking from that in a little room in Havelock, and it just went like a storm and I thought, gee, we've got to get a kitchen."

Located on the scenic route between Picton and Nelson, the restaurant was quickly discovered, with international guide book publisher Frommer's recommending Mussel Boys as a pit stop in its list of the "best scenic drives" in New Zealand.

It hasn't all been plain sailing. An attempt to franchise the chain in Kaikoura fell over after the owners decided to modify the original concept and a Napier outlet, opened in 2003, failed to get the necessary foot traffic.

"We bit off quite a bit and have learnt a lot about franchising in the past five years," Lint said. "My lawyer loves it."

Lint and business partner Mike Barry returned to the drawing board to examine site criteria and selection, service cycles, and menu development.

"Basically we decided we needed to stick to our knitting. We had a great food concept, it was just a matter of not diverging from that."

Mussel Boys opened its second wholly owned outlet in Paraparaumu, on Wellington's Kapiti Coast, in December.

Lint says the site, on the main highway heading north from Wellington, is perfect.

"It has great traffic flow; 30,000 cars go past here each day. We need exposure. We can have people in and out in 30-40 minutes if they wish. We need that trail of people." The idea is to make mussels New Zealand's "fast food".

Business is up fivefold since the Paraparaumu restaurant opened on December 3. A third outlet is planned to open in Tirau, near Hamilton, next month and there is a possibility of a return to Kaikoura in October.

By year end, Lint will start investigating expansion offshore, with London the most likely first stop.

Lint believes the business fits with Tourism New Zealand's Pure NZ campaign and could be a big drawcard for prospective visitors from overseas. If mussels haven't long been seen as a delicacy locally, they are very popular in Europe.

More than a hundred potential business partners in countries ranging from Australia, the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malaysia have been in contact.

If the concept catches on in the UK, the Mussel Boy partners could reap a bonanza. Last October, three New Zealanders sold their chain of gourmet burger bars - modelled on Burger Wisconsin - in England to a big restaurant company for $26 million. The Gourmet Burger Kitchen started in 2001 in south London. 

- NZPA