An artist's impression of The Loft at Craggy Range, which could open in November. Photo / Craggy Range
An artist's impression of The Loft at Craggy Range, which could open in November. Photo / Craggy Range
Craggy Range’s two-hatted restaurant will, by summer, have some onsite competition.
The winery’s pending restaurant, The Loft at Craggy Range, will be developed in an upstairs section of the existing restaurant building, with the hope it’ll be open in time for summer.
Craggy Range chief executive Craig Sims said the“new dining experience” would have its own menu but would occasionally share the fare of the existing restaurant.
“There will be the current [restaurant], which everyone loves and enjoys, and there will be a new offering in the upstairs area which we are calling The Loft.
The existing Craggy Range Restaurant, near Havelock North, has won multiple awards and caters for up to 76 people.
Both restaurants will be serviced by the same kitchen, led by executive chef Casey McDonald, but more staff will be brought on to operate The Loft, which can cater for an additional 32 to 36 people.
The picture-perfect Craggy Range winery and restaurant near Havelock North. Photo / Supplied
“Craggy Range has been here for 25 years. We have an awesome reputation and this is about extending that and getting another experience that people will enjoy,” Sims said.
The addition would be an “expansion and elevation of what we do”.
The upstairs space being developed for The Loft was currently used for storage.
“If you are in the restaurant now and you look up, you will see a wall of rosé wine and behind that we have a facility that many years ago was a dining experience. When we modernised the restaurant in 2018, we changed that.”
The restaurant building at Craggy Range. Photo / Warren Buckland
Construction will run from mid-August to the end of October, during which time the main restaurant building will be unavailable.
However, the adjacent cellar door dining area will be used for dinner and lunch reservations during that time.
The restaurant building is not being expanded in size as part of the project.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
