50 of Tassie’s most influential hospitality figures
From cafes to pubs, bakeries and burger joints to renowned seafood and wine dynasties here are 50 of Tasmania’s most powerful hospo heads >>
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Over the past two decades Tasmania’s hospitality industry has gone from strength to strength and the state now harbours some of the best eateries, wineries, cafes, breweries and distilleries in the country.
The Mercury has done a deep dive into the industry and named 50 people who currently wield huge influence on the state’s hospitality scene.
Massimo Mele
Mele is a giant of Tasmania’s food scene and among many other ventures runs his own food catering business, Food by Massimo and owns popular Launceston restaurant Grain of the Silos.
Mele was born in Tasmania but spent his early years in Naples, Italy where he discovered that preparing food and being in the kitchen was a way of life for his family.
When he was eight years old Mele returned to the Apple Isle with his family where his food journey began through the experiences learnt in his parents’ Italian restaurant.
By his late teens Mele had committed himself to a career in the kitchen and the young chef got his first big break when he flew to Melbourne on a whim to interview for a job he saw in the classifieds.
The interview was with acclaimed industry stalwart Chef Roberto Castellanni Donovan who invited Mele to work at his St Kilda restaurant Donovan’s.
Mele eventually returned home to Tasmania where he opened Mud Bar and Restaurant in Launceston which earned the up and comer recognition at the Lexus Young Chef of the Year Awards.
After taking time off to travel the world and gain more knowledge Mele returned to Australia to run Hugo’s Group kitchens across Sydney then became Executive Chef at La Scala on Jersey.
Mele’s mainland success resulted in television appearances and numerous awards before the star chef returned to the Apple Isle to host his own pop up dinners called Tutti a Tavola, and collaborate with local producers around Tasmania.
Mele recently had a studio kitchen built at his home where he plans to host a series of intimate cooking and preserving experiences.
In October Mele will be opening a new Italian restaurant at The Tasman hotel on Murray St.
Bianca Welsh
Welsh has made a huge name for herself in Tasmania’s hospitality scene, winning numerous awards in recognition of her work.
Welsh is the co-owner of Launceston’s Stillwater Restaurant, Stillwater Seven Accommodation, and the Black Cow Bistro Restaurant, and is also the chair of the Tasmanian Tourism and Hospitality Workforce Advisory Committee.
Welsh’s training skills and professionalism have resulted in the Black Cow and the Stillwater Restaurant chosen as ‘Employers of Choice’ in Tasmania.
Welsh said she has loved her career in the restaurant industry so far but admitted it was not her original plan.
“I fell into the industry,” she told the Mercury.
“I was originally seeking a hotel career and when I got into that industry I didn’t really like it as much as the restaurant side of it and so I made the move to the restaurant side and I’ve loved it since.
“I love the adrenaline of service and that every day is completely different- no two days are the same.
“I love food and wine and so I love being surrounded by that every day and in Tassie we have such a passionate range of people and producers and it’s hard not to be excited about that.”
Welsh said she was loving her role as chair of the Tasmanian Tourism and Hospitality Workforce Advisory Committee.
“I’m really enjoying what I’m currently doing and enjoy providing recommendations to the minister in terms of what the industry needs to improve in the areas of training and workforce development.”
“I think the hospitality industry can be perceived as a negative working environment and I really want to change that narrative and let young people know it can be a really rewarding industry and also let people that are looking to change industry know it’s a great industry to be a part of.”
In 2019 Welsh was named Tourism Young Achiever at the Tasmanian Tourism Awards and in 2015 Welsh was the Tasmanian Young Australian of the Year Youth Ambassador and Young Restaurateur of the Year.
Josef Chromy
Josef Chromy OAM has been instrumental in the development of the Tasmanian food and wine industry, having owned and developed some of Tasmania’s leading wineries including Rochecombe (now Bay of Fires), Jansz.
Chromy’s journey began when he immigrated to Australia after fleeing his war torn Czech Village in 1950 as a penniless 19 year old.
Once in Australia Chromy used his skills as a butcher to build up a business that would eventually become Blue Ribbon Meat Products’ and evolve over forty years into a multimillion-dollar award-winning business.
In 2007 at the age of 76 Chromy launched Josef Chromy Wines which made an impressive impact on the industry and was the winner of numerous awards and became one of the most successful launches in the history of the Tasmanian wine industry.
With 61ha of vineyard, a winery, a restaurant and cellar door, Josef Chromy Wines has become something of a cultural landmark in Launceston.
Chromy also founded JAC Group (which stands for Josef and Alida Chromy) which is a Launceston based mixed investment group with a diverse range of interests including tourism, wineries, property development and hospitality
Over the years Chromy has also kept busy with an expanding property portfolio and has acquired and resurrected some of Launceston’s most iconic buildings, breathing new life into them.
Chromy turned the former Launceston General Hospital building into a stunning hotel, luxury apartments and commercial space, and also acquired the Penny Royal site and turned it back into an exciting tourist attraction.
In August 2016 The JAC Group announced the purchase of the TRC Hotel site in Launceston and outlined major plans worth about $40 million including a hotel, that would have in excess of 100 rooms, a conference facility with up to 500 capacity.
The JAC Group has also proposed a new 160 room hotel that includes a restaurant, gym and spa and conference centre for over 500 people.
Among his many achievements, Chromy was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1997 for service to business and industry and in 2008 was named in the Top 50 most influential wine personalities in Australia’s Wine Business Magazine.
In 2011 Chromy received the Royal Hobart Wine Show Tasmanian Award for outstanding services to the Tasmanian wine industry.
Such is his prominence in Tasmania is the fact that Chromy was invited to lunch with the Queen during her visit to Tasmania in March, 2000, along with eight other prominent Tasmanians, including cricketer Ricky Ponting and then-premier Jim Bacon.
Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet
The former Sydney-siders are a big part of Hobart’s food scene and for the past 14 years have been holding cooking masterclasses in the city while also running his award-winning restaurant the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery.
Dunn and his family moved to the state in 2007 and transformed a former schoolhouse into Tasmania’s first hands on, farm-based cooking school.
In July 2007 Dunn and his wife Séverine Demanet transformed a Derwent Valley schoolhouse into the now renowned cooking school, The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School and Farm.
The popular cooking school was set on a five acre working farm and focused on showcasing local Tasmanian produce.
After the success of the Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School and Farm, the couple opened up a restaurant in 2017, The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, which is located just down the road from the school.
In May this year Dunn announced the closure of the original cooking school but revealed plans were underway to construct a new cooking school and kitchen garden within the same building as their popular Agrarian Kitchen Eatery in New Norfolk.
Before moving to Tasmania, Dunn was a big part of Australia’s food media scene, developing recipes for many Australian food magazines, working as a food researcher for the Better Home and Garden television program, and being the food editor for the Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine.
In 2004 Dunn authored a cookbook, Roasting, and in 2013 published a book containing recipes and his thoughts on his move to Tasmania to set up the cooking school and farm.
Kristy Lark-Booth
Kristy Lark-Booth is the owner operator of Killara Distillery and also the president of the Australian Women in Distilling Association.
Lark-Booth is a second generation distiller and has over 18 years experience in the distilling industry, having worked for many years at her parents business Lark Distillery as the head distiller and general manager.
During the time working for her parents’ business, she distilled some of Australia’s most significant and award-winning whiskies.
In 2016 became the country’s first female owner-distiller when she decided to branch out on her own and created Killara Distillery to continue the family tradition of producing high quality spirits.
Killara Distillery is one of the few distilleries worldwide to be owned and operated by a female.
She is the daughter of Bill Lark who is commonly referred to as the godfather of Tasmanian whisky and the founder of Lark Distillery.
Will Mure
Mure is the current head of the Mures dynasty which has helped build and shape Tasmania’s seafood industry.
In 1973 Will Mure’s parents George and Jill Mure opened Tasmania’s first licenced seafood restaurant, Mures Fish House, and with it began the start of an empire that today is at the forefront of the state’s seafood industry.
Mure said his career in the industry had taken many turns and that keeping the business in the family had always been a key focus.
“Its been a very diverse career I was very fishing focused early in my career with my father and had a huge focus on the fishing side of the business and then when my father died in 2003 I became more restaurant focused,” he told the Mercury.
“The business is very much a partnership with my wife and my family and we have a strong focus on being a strong family based business.”
Mure said his career to this point had been exciting and full of challenges and said he was excited to get his three children even more involved.
“It’s very exciting. We are really looking forward to the future and at the moment I’m focused on succession planning.
“We have three children who are very keen on the business and we are looking at getting them into the business which they are excited about.”
“Once we all get through Covid we definitely see a strong future for the hospitality industry in Tassie as the state still has a great reputation for food and tourism.”
Mures currently employs around 180 people in the summer months and around 120 over winter.
The Mures’ empire includes three restaurants in their Hobart waterfront building, a wholesale fishing business that distributes seafood all around Tasmania and to Melbourne and Sydney fish markets, as well as their 22m fishing vessel “Diana”.
Stefano and Monique Lubiana
Stefano and Monique Lubiana are the couple behind one of the state’s best moved wine labels, Stefano Lubiana Wines.
The couple moved to Tasmania in their 20s and developed the award-winning winery that celebrated its 31st anniversary this year.
Mrs Lubiana said it was a brave move to come to Tasmania at a young age to start a vineyard but that it had all paid off.
“I was only 23 when we moved here and Stefano was 27 and originally we thought we’d bitten off more than we could chew but it’s been great the way it’s all turned out,” she said.
“We felt so welcome when we first moved here to Tasmania and it immediately felt like home and it was so exciting because there weren’t a lot of wine makers here and we wanted to prove mainlanders wrong that Tassie was a great place to make wine.”
The popular vineyard, located in Granton, also houses a restaurant, Stefano Lubiana’s Osteria, which Mrs Lubiana said was expecting some exciting changes soon.
“We are really looking forward to summer when we have some exciting things planned for Osteria where our daughter will be getting involved.”
Mrs Lubiana said she and her husband were also still working on a project to open a new wine bar and shop on Melville St in the near future.
Will Priestley
Priestley is the founder of popular Hobart coffee shop Pilgrim Coffee and is co-owner or key stakeholder in a number of other popular Hobart businesses, including The Standard burger joint, Queens Pastry, Circle of Life Doughnut Co, Harlequin Hobart, and Aloft restaurant.
Priestley realised his dream of opening his own coffee shop when he founded Pilgrim Coffee in Hobart in 2011 after becoming a very well renowned and award wining barista.
He has competed in just about every barista and latte art competition throughout Australia and in 2010 became the Australian Latte Art Champion and also placed second in the World Latte Art Championships the same year in London.
Priestley said that after opening Pilgrim Coffee in 2011 he joined forces with a group of like-minded entrepreneurs that aimed to help each other chase their dreams.
“Coffee was my dream, it’s what I always wanted to to do and once Pilgrim was a success I wanted to also focus on helping facilitate people reaching their dreams,” he told the Mercury.
“I work as part of a group of around six people in Hobart and we work together to help people realise their dreams of opening businesses they are passionate about,” he said.
Priestley said his current focus was on Pilgrim Coffee but didn’t rule out any new ventures coming to Hobart soon.
Lucy Baker
Baker is the owner/manager of renowned Moonah restaurant St Albi.
The former resident of Melbourne and daughter of Hobart restaurateur and former AFL player Garry Baker has spent the last six years establishing St Albi as one of the best restaurants in Hobart.
Baker admitted that opening a fine dining restaurant in Moonah’s warehouse district was a brave move but said she was thrilled with the success of St Albi.
“Everyone said I was crazy to build a business in that area filled with warehouses, and everyone said it wouldn’t work and asked what I was doing,” Baker said.
“My dad also being from Melbourne and looking at the area with a different perspective to locals also didn’t have the fear of opening a restaurant there and looking back it was a great decision.
“I’m really passionate about the northern suburbs and it’s been great to watch it grow and I feel like we have lots of room to move and grow and create our own feel for the area.
“I’ve really enjoyed where we are now from where we started.
“We are six years old in December and I feel very content with our position at the moment.”
Baker has also been a big driver for increasing community engagement around Moonah and the northern suburbs of Hobart and in June she organised the To The North community street market which helped showcased a range of Hobart food and produce.
“We had about 4500 people come through the market and what I heard from stallholders and how much it meant to them was really rewarding,” she said.
“The love and success really inspired me to do it again and that the community really want something like that in the area and I definitely want to make it happen again next year.”
Andrew Smith
Smith is the current head of the Huon Valley apple empire that is R & R Smith and
Willie Smiths organic cider.
The fourth generation apple grower has been the managing director of R & R Smith since 2001 and has helped grow the business into Australia’s largest organic apple producer.
R & R Smith is currently partnering with Woolowrths in a multimillion dollar project to develop a new apple for the Australian market.
Smith said the large scale project was a long-term investment that from start to finish would last for at least 15 years and would involve planting over 300,000 trees between now until 2028 and cost his business around $15m.
The Willie Smith Apple Shed, located in Grove, receives up to 100,000 visitors each year to sample creations from Willie Smith’s cellar door, distillery, restaurant and cafe.
In March, Willie Smith’s cider became the foundation jersey partner for the NBL’s new Tasmanian team, the Jackjumpers.
Ian Vaughan
Vaughan is the man behind many of Hobart’s most popular watering holes.
Vaughan is the co-owner/director/licensee of Salamanca hot spots Cargo Bar Pizza Lounge, Jack Greene, The Observatory, Post Street Social, Republic Bar, and T42.
Vaughan is also the leaseholder at Murray St Pier, the previous location of the Observatory Bar, and has plans to turn the ground level into a restaurant and the upper level into a function centre.
Vaughan said he plans to open the restaurant in mid December and the function centre in early 2022.
Vaughan is also the previous operator of the popular Telegraph Hotel which recently closed after he decided not to renew the lease on the property.
Suzy and Cam Brett
Suzy and Cam Brett are the owners of the award-winning Spring Bay Distillery located on the East Coast of the state and also co-own Sullivan’s Cove Apartments on Hobart’s waterfront.
The couple established the popular distillery in 2015 and the success of the distillery led the couple to expand the business in 2019 when they opened an extension of the distillery in Cambridge.
Mrs Brett said when they chose to get into the whisky making business they decided some spare land they had at their East Coast shack was the perfect location.
“We have a love affair with the east coast of Tassie and we bought a property there ten years ago and it had some land with it and we thought it would be a great place to distil spirits,” she said.
“When we decided to build the distillery on the property we thought no one would come because we are a little bit off the beaten track but people find us which is lovely.”
In 2018, only three years into the venture, Mrs Brett decided to leave her 20-year nursing career behind to focus on the business — a move she said she does not regret.
“We felt the time was right to put more into it and have myself working in the business a lot more and it’s been a great move.
“It was a massive leap of faith. I had been in my position for over 20 years and it was a specialised position at the hospital and so to be able to leave that was big decision but it’s worked out very well.”
Mrs Brett said the couple were now looking into exporting their products overseas.
“We have no ambition to increase our current production as we are happy with where we are at but we are looking at exporting internationally soon.
“It wasn’t something that was initially on our radar but we now think that’s probably the next step for us.”
Mrs Brett said she and her husband were very grateful to people like Bill Lark and other prominent distillers in the state who paved the way for their business and who have helped create a thriving spirit industry in the state.
Andre Kropp
The executive chef of Wrest Point is a stalwart of Tasmania’s dining scene.
At the executive chef of one of Hobart’s biggest venues, it is not unusual for Kropp to cater for groups of up to 700 people.
Trained in Cape Town, South Africa, Kropp was an inaugural member of the Henry Jones Art Hotel team on Hunter St and has competed in international tournaments including two culinary Olympics, held biennially in Lyon, France — helping to raise Tassie’s profile on a world stage.
Kropp is admired in the industry for his role in mentoring young chefs around Hobart.
Frances and Peter Bender
Frances and Peter Bender is the founder of Huon Aquaculture and together have 30 years’ experience in fish farming operations.
The Benders are responsible for the leadership, operations and strategic direction of Huon Aquaculture which is a key player in the state’s seafood industry.
The Benders are well recognised for farming innovation both in Australia and internationally and their extensive knowledge of aquaculture coupled with a strong continuous improvement ethic is the foundation on which Huon’s success is built.
Peter was born into a Tasmanian business family with farming and agribusiness interest and has a strong background in land-based farm management. The principles that guide land-based farming of keeping the stock well-fed, stress-free and healthy are the central tenets that he has successfully transferred to aquaculture.
He was named E & Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the Retail, Consumer and Industrial Products category within the Southern Region division (CY2007)
Frances was a keynote speaker at the 2014 World Aquaculture Forum in Adelaide and led the industry’s response to the (former) Federal Government’s Biosecurity Bill.
She was nominated in the Pride of Australia Medal environment category in 2014, was voted Tasmanian Rural Woman of the Year in 2001, and was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to agribusiness and community in 2001.
Matt Breen
Chef Matt Breen’s CV reads like a food guide of some of Southern Tasmania’s best ever food spots: Templo, Smolt, Frank and Saffire.
Along with his neverending list of hit restaurants, in 2019 Breen opened the hugely popular wine bar Sonny on Elizabeth St which over the past two years has become one of the hottest spots in Hobart.
Before taking Hobart’s hospitality scene by storm, Breen cut his teeth overseas at restaurants in Italy, the UK and Argentina.
Bill McHenry
McHenry is the owner and master distiller at William McHenry and Sons gin and whisky distillery near Port Arthur.
McHenry was a pharmaceuticals industry high-flyer in Sydney for 30 years before a particularly stressful day triggered a conversation with a neighbour that would eventually result in a move to Tasmania to start his own distillery.
After the idea to become a whisky maker was suggested, McHenry investigated the business of whisky distilling and dreamt of one day making the idea a reality.
Four years later in 2010, the temptation of starting afresh resulted in McHenry moving to Tasmania with his family to start his own distillery.
With a background in chemistry and agricultural science, McHenry was ideally suited to making whisky and the former Sydneysider is now an award-winning distiller.
When asked about the decision to change career and uproot his family to Tasmania to start a distillery, McHenry said he had no regrets.
“It was the best thing I ever did,” he told the Mercury.
“To make the big lifestyle and career change takes a fair bit of confidence as well as blind faith and its fair to say for us it worked out really well.”
McHenry said his whisky and gin business, along with his off-grid cabin accommodation run near the distillery had been impacted by Covid but that changes to spirit taxation would result in more investment into the distillery.
“Recent changes to Australian excise rates for spirits have had a huge impact and we essentially now have $350,000 that we now intend to use to invest in the business,” McHenry said.
“We will employ more people, expand our production capacity, and look to invest in more marketing,” he said.
Craig Will
Launceston’s Craig Will is the executive chef and co-owner of two of Launceston’s most successful restaurants, the Black Cow Bistro and Stillwater Restaurant.
Will also co-owns the Stillwater Seven Accommodation.
Will developed an interest in cooking at an early age and undertook his apprenticeship at Hobart’s Hotel Grand Chancellor before moving to Adelaide and taking a position at Salt, a wine bar in Glenelg.
Will returned to Tasmania two years later and eventually gained the sous chef role at Marque IV.
In 2008 he took on his first business opportunity when he took co ownership and became head chef at Black Cow Bistro and then two years later also bought into Stillwater Restaurant where he is now also the executive chef.
At both restaurants Will has a heavy focus on using local produce and said he loves that part of his job.
“I love working with Tasmanian produce and love working in restaurants and working with producers and the growers,” Will said.
“I’ve worked on the mainland for small stints but nothing compares to what we have down here in terms of the produce,” he said.
Will said he had thoroughly enjoyed helping build the Black Cow Bistro and Stillwater Restaurant into prominent restaurants in Launceston.
“We’ve been growing both restaurant for a long time and we want to continue to move with the times and keep bettering what we are doing.”
Will said he was also looking to venture more into the accommodation side of hospitality in the future.
Carl Windsor and James Kingston
Windsor and Kingston are the owners of popular North Hobart wine bar, Willing Brothers Wine Merchants.
Opened in 2014, the classic neighbourhood wine bar was originally opened as an overflow business for the neighbouring Raincheck Lounge which Windsor owned.
Windsor said the Raincheck Lounge reached a point where he was running out of space for customers and decided to open a neighbouring supplementary business to fit the demand.
While the wine bar started off as a side project, Windsor said it soon grew to become its own establishment.
“While it started off as a place just to fit the overflow from the Raincheck Lounge, Willing Bros very quickly took up a real personality of its own and became its own entity and people would come specifically for the Willing Bros,” Windsor said.
“I love seeing regular customers and new customers and showing them the products that we have to offer.”
Windsor is also a board member of the Tasmanian Hospitality Association.
“Now I’m getting towards the mature part of my career, putting things back into the industry is a focus of mine.
“Part of the reason for my position as a THA board member is to help in the mental health space in hospitality.
“They are doing great things in that space and are leading the country with some of the things they are doing and I really want to help with that.”
Windsor and Kingston also owned former Hobart restaurant Etties, a popular European Bistro on Elizabeth St that was closed last year due to impacts of Covid.
The restaurant was a huge hit, particularly with interstate travellers, but was closed in July 2020 after the owners decided the cost of running the restaurant during Covid was not sustainable.
However, Windsor said he still had hopes it could one day return.
“We would love to find the right space to reopen Etties in some way, shape or form in the future,” he said.
Christian Ryan
Ryan is the head chef of the award-winning Aloft Restaurant at Brooke Street Pier and also a partner in The Standard burger joint.
Ryan has been cooking for over 15 years and did part of his training in the Savoy Grill in London with the infamous British chef Gordon Ramsay.
Ryan has also been a big part of Pilgrim Coffee, where he impressed with an inventive lunch time menu, and also worked at Mona’s fine dining restaurant The Source.
Vince Trim
Trim is a goliath of the Tassie food scene.
The New Zealand born Trim is Mona’s executive chef and oversees the food and beverage team for Mona’s Faro and The Source restaurants, Mona Wine Bar and cafe and the Heavy Metal Kitchen.
Trim also oversees Mona’s catering kitchen which services a busy calendar of special events, functions and festivals.
Among the many unique events Trim has been involved with as Mona’s executive chef, as part of the 2019 Dark Mofo festival he treated guests of the ‘grand feast’ to a nine course degustation- the courses included ingredients such as rabbit, deer, sea urchin, and thistle.
Trim also oversees the popular Mona burger bar, Dubsy’s, which received attention for its vegan beef patties that were hard to distinguish from real beef.
Matthew Evans
Evans is a former chef and food critic that now runs Huon Valley based pig farm, Fat Pig Farm.
Evans is the author of ten books based on food, writes regularly for Feast magazine, and has appeared on three series of SBS television show Gourmet Farmer.
The former restaurant reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald and one-time chef has spent most of his adult life — 25 years in fact — writing and talking about food.
Evans has a big focus on fresh Tasmanian produce and his Fat Pig Farm has its own cooking school and restaurant to best demonstrate the fresh produce Tassie has to offer.
Evans and his wife Sadie began turning the one time apple orchard into a 70 acre farm in 2011 before launching the cooking school and lunch venue in 2016.
Since its opening, Fat Pig Farm have offered guests a very hands on experience, allowing them to visit the pigs and roam the farm, raid the garden, and then take the produce back to the kitchen to cook in the school.
Jo Cook
Cook has worked in Hobart’s food industry for over 20 years.
Cook is the former owner and chef at Salamanca restaurant Syrup in the late 90s and has been a huge part of Hobart’s food scene and has worked with David Walsh’s DarkLab as the food curator for the popular Dark Mofo Winter Feast.
As the head food curator of the Winter Feast, Cook has played a huge role in the success of the annual event.
Cook is also the head of Slow Food Hobart, an organisation that is committed to protecting and promotion clean, quality food and food practices.
Cook also writes the restaurant reviews for Qantas’ in-flight magazine.
Scott Heffernan
Heffernan was the executive chef and part owner of the much loved Salamanca institution Smolt restaurant, which after 10 years of success was rebranded in 2017 and turned into the popular Pan-Asian eatery and cocktail bar, Suzie Lucks.
Heffernan is also the executive chef and owner of popular waterfront restaurant Frank, located at Franklin Wharf.
The industry stalwart also started an offshoot from his popular Smolt restaurant when he opened Smolt Kitchen in West Hobart — it was sold in 2018 and Heffernan put his focus on Frank and Suzie Lucks.
Heffernan has been nominated and won numerous awards during his career and is often commended for his role in fostering the next generation of Hobart chefs.
He has recently re-focused his energy into his catering business Flint Kitchen which notably catered Georgia Love’s wedding.
Paul Jubb
Jubb is the former president of the Tasmanian Hospitality Association and the co-owner of popular Hobart establishment Customs House Hotel which houses a bar, a restaurant and accommodation.
Earlier this year Jubb, along with some partners, including former Australian cricketer James Faulkner, purchased the heritage-listed Shipwrights Arms Hotel in Battery Point.
The owning partners have renovations plans for the popular establishment that would cost just under $1m that aim to modernise the business.
Jubb said he hoped to have the renovations completed in time for summer.
The Hursey Family
The Hursey family are almost royalty in the town of Stanley on the state’s North West coast where they run a fishing empire and restaurant.
They are the family behind Hursey’s Seafoods, a local institution famed for its fresh crayfish that has been operating since the 1970s.
The family opened their Hursey’s Seafoods restaurant in 1987 and today is one of the crown jewels of the area — and Tasmania.
The business is very much a family-run business with second and third generations of the family all helping keep it established as one of the state’s largest fishing empires.
One of the younger working members of the family business, Steve Hursey, featured in season two of Foxtel’s Discovery Channel series Aussie Lobster Men, which follows a number of cray boat crews from around Tasmania as they fish through a rugged winter season.
Sue and Jon Stagg
The Staggs are one of the biggest names when it comes to Hobart’s cafe scene.
The couple are the owners of their own cafe empire, The Stagg, with three stores spread across the city.
The most recent cafe, The Stagg on Francis, was opened earlier this year in Battery Point.
Mrs Stagg proved her barista skills in 2014 when she set a Guinness World Record by making 353 cappuccinos in an hour.
Nick Haddow
Haddow is the founder of the popular Bruny Island Cheese Company.
Haddow moved to Tasmania to practice his craft of making Tasmanian cheese and after creating a thriving cheese business has also focused on producing organic milk, beer, and wine.
In 2019 Haddow was announced as the inaugural chair of Brand Tasmania which was the first branding authority to be established in Australia.
Oli and Dan Lancaster
The brothers are the owners of popular South-East Asian eatery Dana Eating House.
The brother opened the restaurant in July last year in the middle of the Covid pandemic and incredibly have turned their debut restaurant into one of Hobart’s most popular new eateries.
The pair are said to have plans to also be opening a new wine bar in Hobart in the near future.
Tyler Walsh
Walsh is the co-owner of Circle of Life Doughnut Co. and co-owner and manager of Harlequin Hobart, one of the state’s biggest dining venues.
In 2019 Walsh and two other partners purchased the property that Harlequin resides and turned the 1960s Lenah Valley gothic style ‘castle’ into a family friendly food and beverage venue that takes advantage of its expansive grounds.
Sam Chang
Chang is the co-owner and head chef of popular Hobart burger joint The Standard.
Chang and two partners opened the burger hot spot in 2013 in an alley way on Argyle St before relocating and expanding the business to a new location on Liverpool St in 2020.
The new venue celebrates 80s pop culture and boasts three floors, including a rooftop for dining.
Nathan Imber
Imber is the co owner and head pastry chef of Circle of Life Doughnut Co and also owns and runs Candy Van, a food truck that travels the streets of Hobart offering a range of desserts and sweet treats.
Imber opened his doughnut shop in 2019 and has quickly become one of the best doughnut spots in Hobart, with its onsite ‘nutella tap’ treating locals to its popular Nutella filled doughnuts.
Angelo Fraraccio and Marco Caporelli
Fraraccio and Caporelli are the men behind arguably Tassie’s best pizza joint, Da Angelo’s.
The business partners opened the popular restaurant in 1994 and is still thriving today, often topping lists of Tasmania’s best pizza.
In 2019 the business partners also opened an Italian style cafe in Battery Point, Cibo e Vino.
The partners said the cafe was 25 years in the making and that they opened the cafe to bring a European-style cafe to Hobart that offers traditional foods such as cannelloni, ricotta and arancini.
Tony Scherer
Scherer is the founder owner of award-winning Coal River Valley winery Frogmore Creek.
Scherer has been a big proponent of sustainable and organic farming methods and has turned Frogmore Creek Wines into one of the state’s powerhouse wineries and has helped to build Tasmania’s reputation as a world leader in wine producing.
In 2012, Scherer co-founded the not-for-profit Sprout Tasmania to expand organic and sustainable farming and in 2018 was named Senior Tasmanian of the Year.
Kobi Ruzicka
Ruzicka is the man behind Hobart’s award-winning wine bar Lucinda and the highly acclaimed Hobart restaurant Dier Makr.
Such is the success of Dier Makr that in 2018 it made a New York Times list of 52 places to go in 2018.
To follow on from the success of Dier Makr, Ruzicka opened Lucinda in late 2018 and within nine months the restaurant was short-listed for the Gourmet Traveller’s Restaurant Awards for Bar of the Year and was the only Tasmanian business on the list.
The Melbourne born chef has also worked with UK chef Heston Blumenthal at his three-Michelin star eatery Fat Duck in England.
Ricky Evans and Chanel Parratt
Evans and his partner Parratt are the couple behind wine label Havilah, as well as the popular Launceston wine bar of the same name.
Havilah wine bar was opened in 2020 and provides diners with a small and intimidate dining experience featuring a range of wines and cocktails and a micro dining menu that specialises in charcuterie, including La Boqueria wild boar and truffle salami and Elgaar Organic Stilton cheese
Evans is also the founding owner of his nationally distributed wine label Two Tonne Tasmania.
Gilli and Paul Lipscombe
The married couple are the owners of the Huon Valley winery Sailor Seeks Horse.
The couple purchased the derelict 6.5ha vineyard in 2010 and have turned it into an award-winning winery.
In 2018 Gilli and Paul were short-listed as one of 50 finalists in Australia’s Young Gun of Wine competition and at the awards they won the winemaker’s choice of the year for their pinot noir and chardonnay.
Fabio and Jazmin Di Tomasso, and partners
Fabio and Jazmin are the co-owners of a number of Hobart’s most popular eateries and have a dominance on the North Hobart strip.
The couple, along with a number of business partners, are the co-owners of popular Mexican restaurant Pancho Villa, along with its attached Voodoo Bar, Italian restaurants Maldini and Capital, pizza joint Ragazzi & Co, burger joint The Burger Haus, and plant-based eatery, Veg Bar.
Mr Di Tomasso said he had plans to expand two of his businesses with new stores planned to open later in the year.
“We are going to open a Ragazzi & Co in Sorell and also The Burger Haus will get a new location there too.
“We are hoping to have them both open in time for summer,” Mr Di Tomasso said.
Warwick Deveson and Ben de Rue
The two friends are the owners of popular Hobart pub the Tasmanian Inn and earlier this year the pair, along with former Moo Brew general manger and head brewer Dave Macgill, opened a trendy new brewery and restaurant on Argyle St, Deep South Brewing Co.
The brewery features a 150 seat restaurant with a mezzanine level and a pizza oven shipped from Italy and has been a welcome addition to Hobart’s food and beverage scene in the last few months.
David Hales
David Hales is an established hospitality entrepreneur and property investor.
Hales career began when he bought a fish punt in Hobart at the age of 18 and since then has owned and operated a number of popular Hobart hospitality venues, including gourmet supermarket the Salad Bowl and popular Hobart nightspots the Observatory, Cargo Bar Pizza Lounge, Ivory nightclub, and the Telegraph.
Hales also established boutique burger chain Betty’s Burgers which he named after his late grandmother.
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