Kia Ora Sept Issue

Business Enterprise
it was shocking, revolutionary; today
we all put miso in our kumara mash.
He has spent most of his working life
juggling several projects, at least a couple
of restaurants and various international
time-zones. He runs top restaurants (The
Providores and Tapa Room in London, and
Auckland’s Bellota and The Sugar Club), is an
Air New Zealand consultant chef, co-founder
of London’s Crosstown Doughnuts, cookbook
author, restaurant consultant, newspaper
columnist, telly personality, in-demand chef,
member of the UK’s Sustainable Restaurant
Association, superior charity fundraiser and,
by all accounts, top bloke.
It’s a seven-day-a-week gig which might
understandably leave many 50-somethings
in shreds. But here he is, fresh as a daisy,
and happy to take time out to have a chat,
cheerfully endure a photo shoot and put
up with us nosing around his kitchen.
After more than three decades he is still
at the top of his game. But it’s a punishing
schedule, “a seven-day working week,” he
says. “There’s a lot of time spent catching up
on emails. At least a couple of hours every
day on the computer on non-work days.
“When I’m in New Zealand I’ll get up in
the morning and check emails from London,
then I’ll do Sugar Club stuff and then some
Bellota work. Then there will be a meeting,
a school visit or something. I might be in
the kitchen, or out in the restaurant in the
evening. When I get back to my room
tonight, about 11pm, I’ll check emails from
London. It’s constant.”
How does he do it? “I have no idea,” he
says, laughing. “I think I’m just used to it.
I’ve been coming to New Zealand five or six
times a year for the last 13 years. I have a lot
of staff who don’t know what I’m like without
jet lag. I’m often a bit dopey and I sort of
flake out about 7pm for the first few days.”
Maintaining success, he says, requires
flexibility. “You always need to be willing
to adapt and change – that’s key.”
He cites the example of Auckland
fine-dining restaurant, Dine by Peter
Gordon, which made a big splash, back in
the day. But as the Federal Street dining
scene grew – ably shepherded by Gordon,
who suggested adding Al Brown (Depot
Eatery, Federal Delicatessen) and Nic Watt
(Masu) to the scene – he noticed numbers
at Dine thinning a bit.
“That more formal style of dining was
becoming less popular too. Dine’s heyday
had gone, and I recognised that and moved
on.” Besides, he’d always had his eye on a
spot at the top of that tower…
This page and
opposite: Gordon
working with
colleagues at The
Sugar Club restaurant,
high up in Auckland’s
SkyTower.
“But mainly, it’s all about staffing and
collaboration. You might have the big idea,
but if you don’t have a great manager and
a great head chef then you’re in trouble.
“The way I’ve always run the kitchens is
collaborative. ‘Peter Gordon’ is the name
on the door, but there will be dishes that
I’ve had 100 percent to do with, some I’ve
collaborated on with the chefs and dishes
that I’ve had nothing to do with.
“In London it’s the same. We might give
staff challenges like, ‘Let’s put on a clam dish
– you’ve got a week to come up with some
ideas’. I like that. There’s no way I could
come up with every single dish on every
menu with everything I’m involved in.
“And likewise, in order to keep staff,
from the cheffing point of view they want
ownership of dishes as well. People are
really proud to present their dishes.”
He’s proactive too. Years ago, when asked
to write his first cookbook, he figured he
could use some practice so wrote to “all the
magazines in New Zealand” to ask if he
could write for them. NZ House & Garden
took him on. “That became a 14-year
relationship. Suddenly, I found myself
writing for a magazine. Then I did some
more books, a newspaper column. It was
an organic thing, like most of my career.”
That said, some things were clearly meant
to be. Gordon’s 20-plus-year relationship
with Air New Zealand goes back to his
beginning – his birth – when he was named
after his uncle Peter, who worked for the
company. When he was 15 he applied for
an apprenticeship with the airline.
“I was flown from Whanganui to
Wellington three times, for three different
interviews,” he says, “but I didn’t get that
apprenticeship.” Thank goodness. That
disappointment eventually lead him to a
job in a restaurant kitchen, and the rest is
fusion cuisine history.
Fast-forward to the mid-90s and Gordon,
head chef at London’s legendary Sugar Club
restaurant, is flying economy on Air New
Zealand from Auckland to London, thinking,
——
Gordon’s relationship with
Air New Zealand goes back
to his beginning – his birth
– when he was named after
his uncle Peter, who worked
for the company.
——
“the food’s not very nice”.
Ever the self-starter, he wrote to the
airline offering his services. By extraordinary
coincidence, Air New Zealand had just
written to him to suggest working on a
project together – the letter arrived in the
post that afternoon. “Spooky.”
As an Air New Zealand consultant chef,
Gordon helps create the dishes served in
Premium Economy and Business. These days
he shares the gig with renowned Auckland
chef Michael Meredith. “We’ll be given a
brief like, ‘We need a duck dish, Europeanstyle,
for Beijing.’ Or, ‘We need a lamb dish,
no polenta, from LA.’ It’s very specific.
“We have a big meeting in Auckland two
or three times a year, where we strategise,
discuss any new routes, what’s working and
what’s not. And then in London we have
regular menu presentations at Heathrow.
“We aim to provide food that’s really
tasty, full of punchy flavour and texture.
Moisture in the food is really good, because
on a plane you might feel dehydrated. We
try to be seasonal as well.”
He agrees some airline food can have a bit
of a bad reputation, but says it doesn’t have
to be that way. “I fly all different airlines
because I need to know what our competitors
are up to and, yes, some of it is pretty bad.
But I don’t think it needs to be. You can have
restaurant quality food in the air. It’s all
about how much the airline prioritises it.
“Air New Zealand’s food and beverage
offering is really important to them; it’s key.
They invest a lot of time and resources in to it
and we do really well. Considering the size of
the airline, compared with some enormous
ones, the number of food and beverage
awards we’ve won over the years is huge.”
For all his success, Gordon wasn’t able to
dodge “a bit of a mid-life crisis” last year.
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