TV chef and award-winning restaurateur Ganesh Raj is putting his famed west Auckland restaurant, The Tasting Shed, on the market for sale.
Raj said it was a difficult decision to let go of the business which he set up with his wife Jo almost ten years ago in a rundown cider shed.
“Our focus for the last decade has been building The Tasting Shed to its current level but in the last few months we decided to hand the reins to someone else,” he said.
He added: “It’s unbelievable to think that we’ve been part of the Auckland food scene for almost a decade, and named in every Top 50 Restaurants list in that time. We managed to attract a brand-new market to the area by building the kind of restaurant a customer would expect in the city, in the oldest wine region of New Zealand."
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Raj is the popular star of TV show Eat Well for Less in which he and fellow celebrity chef Mike van de Elzen helped families rein in their food budgets.
The Tasting Shed has won multiple awards. Photo / Supplied
The sale of The Tasting Shed follows the liquidation of Raj's other high-profile venture, The Māori Kitchen, which he co-owned with hangi master Rewi Spraggon.
The liquidators cited difficult trading conditions and are now looking to find a buyer for the business that offered traditional Māori cooking such as hāngī tuturu, burgers, wraps, fry bread and mussel fritters, in the food court in Northwest Shopping Centre.
Earlier this year, Raj told the New Zealand Herald that Covid-19 would hit the hospitality sector hard.
Ganesh Raj with his Eat Well for Less co-host Mike van de Elzen. Photo / Supplied
"I am trying to approach the next wee while with two values in mind. Compassion and courage. Every day I tell myself that I have to have the compassion to look after my family and staff," he said in April.
The Tasting Shed, which is for sale for just over half a million dollars, is being marketed by ABC Business Sales broker Lindsey Holcombe as a popular wedding and events venue.
Holcombe said the management team had kept things steady during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Accountant's projections, based on current bookings and realistic additional trading hours, estimate an EBPIDT of around $165,000.
“With a full team of experienced staff in place, the business is perfect for an investor or a hospitality guru looking to add their own ideas and flair” she said.
Raj and his producer wife, Jo, moved to Auckland from Singapore in 2002.
Their restaurant has consistently been in the Top 50 Auckland Restaurants' list and Raj has twice been named Restaurant Personality of the Year. He is an active supporter of charities such as Everybody Eats and hospice. During lockdown he launched The Humble Yum Yum on YouTube and Facebook, a cooking show with recipes that feed four people for up to $20, "global food that doesn’t cost the world” in his marketing spiel.
