Fish D’Vine’s Kev Collins launches new business at Whitsunday Coast Airport, Proserpine

Travellers coming and going from the Whitsundays will enjoy a high-quality drinking and dining experience as a local hospitality guru gets set to launch a new cafe/bar at Proserpine’s domestic airport. Here’s what’s on the menu.

First-class local produce will be the star of the show at a new cafe and bar opening at Whitsunday Coast Airport in the new year.

‘Taste Whitsundays’ will offer visitors to the region a chance to sample an impressive range of locally-sourced food and drink products from February 1 2022, with Whitsunday Regional Council announcing the new business as its choice to take on the lease for dining facilities within the refurbished Proserpine terminal.

Frozen mango daiquiris and fresh prawn rolls are some of the Whitsunday-themed items you can expect to find on the menu, which aims to optimise convenience without sacrificing quality.

Airlie Beach chef and Taste Whitsundays CEO Kev Collins has more than 40 years’ experience in hospitality.

Taste Whitsundays’ CEO Kev Collins – best known as the founder of famed Airlie Beach seafood restaurant Fish D’Vine – said the vision was to give tourists the best-possible first and last impressions of the region by showcasing “the best of the things grown here”.

“We’re making a very significant effort to make it a lasting experience of the Whitsundays, putting as much of tropical Whitsunday into it as we can,” Mr Collins said.

“Wherever we can bring a sense of still being on holiday, even though you’re waiting at the airport.

“And when you’re at home, being able to take something back that speaks to where you’ve been – that’s really what we’re most excited about.”

Whitsunday Coast Airport received upgrades to dining facilities as part of a major refurbishment in 2019, but the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the council from securing a tenant for the bar/restaurant space. Picture: WRC

Departing guests will be able to sit down for a bite to eat and a drink or two, then take a hamper of locally-grown goodies home on the plane with them.

Arrivals will be equally well catered for, with a selection of wine, champagne, local craft beer, cheese and charcuterie boards on offer to get their holiday started as soon as they reach their accommodation.

“The product range will have a lot of people going ‘Wow, about time’,” Mr Collins said.

“We’re talking to Limes and More at Bowen about their lime and chilli products, Whitsunday Gold coffee, we’ll have Ballistic Brewing Co’s Reef range of beers, Airlie Beach Distillery’s award-winning mango lychee gin, local honey derived from when the bees are pollinating mango trees …”

The Taste Whitsundays team says their new cafe/bar will encourage people to arrive early for their flights to enjoy a high-quality drinking and dining experience. Picture: WRC

With 37 years in the region’s food scene under his belt, including a highly successful offshoot into catering, Mr Collins is confident he knows what customers coming to the Whitsundays want in a dining experience, and the council evidently agrees.

Taste Whitsundays beat KC’s Bar and Grill to win the tenancy for a fully kitted-out bar and restaurant space that has remained vacant since the airport’s 2019 refurbishment, as well as a smaller cafe space operated by a company that did not apply to renew its lease.

Taste Whitsundays is set to welcome its first customers at Whitsunday Coast Airport in February 2022. Picture: Supplied

Mr Collins said with borders reopening, the number of travellers expected to pass through the terminal in 2022 was looking “astronomically good” and the new business was already recruiting for up to seven full-time equivalent staff, offering work hours ideal for parents of school-aged children.

The council’s aviation and tourism chief Craig Turner expected the new dining options to increase the airport’s revenue by at least 60-70 per cent.

Originally published as Fish D’Vine’s Kev Collins launches new business at Whitsunday Coast Airport, Proserpine