Small business: Awards - Paula Pepperall, The Riverhead

Paula and Stephen Pepperall, directors of The Riverhead.

Paula Pepperall is a director, along with her husband Stephen, of The Riverhead - a tavern based in the North Auckland town of the same name.

Can you tell me a bit about The Riverhead?

Stephen and I purchased the Riverhead Tavern in May 2010 through a mortgagee sale. The tavern was operating - just - with only one bar open and a handful of staff. The buildings were in disrepair but, more crucially, the infrastructure was failing. We closed the venue for nine months, renovated and reopened in February 2011, rebranding the tavern The Riverhead - New Zealand's oldest riverside tavern.

We currently employ 75 staff throughout summer and have constantly exceeded our own budgeted predictions. We have plans for further development, and continue working hard to create better systems in order to streamline the business, as well as looking after the venue and marketing. Plus, we live on site.

What awards have you entered and what has motivated you to go on that journey?

In 2011 we entered the Hospitality NZ Awards for Excellence and won the best renovated restaurant/bar in New Zealand. This was a major coup as we were up against some highly priced fit outs that were professionally designed and implemented.

We think the judges must have taken into account that we did the work ourselves together with a couple of builders - a brother and an old family friend. We worked out how to design and rebuild the sewage fields, reinstate the water bore, construct a new dock, totally rewire, reroof and gut the building to bring it up to compliance with the fire code of the day. Then we had to add back in the elements that make it a unique, historic building. This award helped put us on the map and was something that the press was willing to talk with us about.

The following year we won another Hospitality NZ Award, this time for our food. Whether we win a category or are a New Zealand finalist, it is such positive news that it is worthy of being shared. We have been in the finals for categories as diverse as best country hotel, best music venue, and last year best restaurant.

In 2013 we entered the Westpac Auckland West Business Awards, which judges all kinds
of businesses using the strict Baldrige Criteria for judging performance excellence. We won two categories - excellence in strategy and planning, and best emerging business. We were also a finalist in the best medium to large business category. This meant alot to us that our business rates competitively alongside dissimilar businesses.

What has the business gained from entering these kinds of awards?

Each time we enter awards it highlights areas that we can improve on. It forces us to assess our systems, determine what we do that may make us stand us out from other businesses and highlights what we can do differently and better. It's a very good internal audit.

Has the process also been challenging, though, especially when you're dealing with the day-to-day running of the business?

The Westpac Auckland West Business Awards assessment process is very in-depth with an academic bent and that stretched our resources and time. But in return we received a report after the awards highlighting potential areas of improvement, which has been very helpful to the business.

How have you leveraged being an award winner?

The leverage gained from entering awards - and winning them - is hard to quantify. It is easier to get editorial attention as opposed to advertising, which is always much more effective. We have had people tell us they have come to The Riverhead because they have heard about us through National Radio or in an article in the press the previous year and it has remained a must-do for them all that time.

Winning awards creates a buzz and all our team can bask in the accolades and be proud of where they work and their own contribution to that success. They allow us to celebrate as a team and this has a positive spinoff for everyone involved in our organisation. It also helps us attract good people to our team.