I love opening new restaurants –
I think I have an addiction. Right now, I’m deep in the design process of our new beach pavilion on Oriental Parade in Wellington, due to open next year.

But, the usual fun part of playing tetris with the kitchen layout, guessing what’s on the menu in 18 months time and choosing appliances and new chef’s ‘toys’ has taken a dark turn for which I cannot yet see a solution. As I write this Shane Jones, our Associate Energy Minister, has announced that we may only have enough gas in New Zealand to last us another decade.

And if there is any gas past this point, then it will get snapped up quickly. We all know when low supply meets high demand, then prices skyrocket. This will affect hospitality greatly as maybe 90–95% commercial kitchens in New Zealand are powered by gas. So, the simple answer seems to be to move to electric, right? But existing venues could also need a major upgrade of their power supply and cabling before converting.

Richard Arts, National Field Sales Manager of Southern Hospitality, tells me that lots of new restaurants are being designed with induction technology, but the catch here is that a good-quality New Zealand-built Waldorf commercial gas stove sits around $12,000 and the same stove using induction is $21,000! Seeing a return on the electric investment is also complicated by dividend-focussed New Zealand power companies, increasing overheads for restaurants and the decreasing discretionary spend available to our customers… Maybe it’s time to take a serious look at my restaurant addiction and head to rehab.

However, I’m excited to learn that the long-term answer to these problems may come from the innovation and mindset from other sectors of the food industry. I’m filled with hope by a visit to Forest Lodge Orchard in Cromwell – aka Electric Cherries – to film for A New Zealand Food Story.

Forest Lodge Orchard has just come off a major win in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards for its revolutionary thinking, environmentally positive business. It has achieved this by reducing its fossil-fuel usage to zero, becoming New Zealand’s first – and only – fully electrified farm and at the same time achieving energy security and independence for its business. What is good for the environment has now gone past personal values and a marketing strategy; it is officially good for business, too, so truly a game changer.

Over five long years, great friends and business partners Mike Casey and Euan White have converted their cherry orchard to electric. With the backing of mother nature and her fierce Central Otago sun, they began with a few solar panels to power the irrigation to feed their trees. That has grown to 21 electric machines and a full solar array to run their farm. Every time they did the numbers on purchasing a new machine, financially it worked out better to go electric.

(left to right) Rachel and Euan White, Mike and Rebecca Casey of Electric Cherries

Mike (with a tech background) and Euan (a former police officer) are not our ‘typical’ Kiwi farmers. However, they have turned this into their strength, as not being married to their ideas or farming traditions gives an ability to be able to turn and look at their business from another perspective which is inspiring

What about their cherries? Embarrassingly, as a Kiwi chef I have never seen a cherry tree bursting with fruit in the flesh till now, yet New Zealand grows the best cherries in the world! I have only ever bought those little cherries from the market at Christmas.

Electric Cherries are huge, 32–36mm and incredibly delicious. To pick cherry after ripe cherry from a tree and eat it is a humbling revelation. Knowing and buying directly from our farmers is just so important now; when you visit and taste their products it’s like flying business class for the first time; you never want to go back to economy.

See more of Electric Cherries on season 4, episode 4 of A New Zealand Food Story on TVNZ+, and this cherry season give their website a go. You can even adopt one of their cherry trees and become a customer for life like me. forestlodge.nz

Electric Cherries grow the best-tasting and sexiest cherries in New Zealand, and they also reminded me I can learn from anyone and apply it to what I do. They have given a starting point and direction in a long process of change that must happen in my lifetime.

We must be better, not only for the environment, but also for sustainability in our businesses. We don’t need a crystal ball to know that energy prices are heading north, nor should we be surprised that it is happening. Finding efficiencies to reduce energy wastage, choosing the right equipment and having the right mindset will help to future-proof our industry. It’s a fight against rising costs and fighting for our planet at the same time.