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Real estate: Bay asking prices almost as high as Wellington

A shortage of listings in the Bay has fuelled the expectations of people wanting to sell property here. They’re now asking almost as much for their homes as sellers in Wellington. According to the latest Trade Me Property Price Index, Hawke’s Bay vendors are asking an average price of $545,100 for their properties, up a "staggering” 23.2 per cent...

HB Young Fruit Grower of the Year Makes History

Ask Hawke’s Bay Young Fruit Grower of the Year Lisa Arnold what the future holds for both her and the region and the first word that springs to mind is – Wairoa! At 27 years old, Lisa is about to invest in her own small plot of land to build “tiny” houses in a district, which she sees as being...

Roosters: 2 decades of brewing at the red shed

From a business perspective, craft beer and coffee have a lot in common, says Chris Jarvis. As the long-time owner of Hawke’s Bay’s Bay Espresso cafés and now also the proprietor of landmark Hastings brewpub Roosters, he should know. Chris and his wife Jonelle bought the Roosters business – on the industrial fringes of Omahu Road, where it’s been brewing...

Hawke’s Bay Brewing Co: from beer tankers to boutique bottles

Craft beer wasn’t a big thing when Hawke’s Bay Brewing Co started out way back in 1996. In fact, the company’s CEO Greg Forrest jokes that in those days, “craft” was probably a homebrew beer and drinkers didn’t even know how to spell the word. It was a time when the brewing industry was all about volume production of a...

EIT Hastings – a huge hit with students

Tailored to meet student needs, EIT’s newly-located Hastings Regional Learning Centre has become a drawcard for learners since opening ahead of the academic year’s second term. Light-filled, spacious and welcoming, the new centre exudes inclusiveness, which is encouraging students of all ages and backgrounds to engage in tertiary education. The relocation to a single-storey building on Heretaunga Street West has...

Bursting onto the global scene

When disaster strikes, a growing number of air-borne emergency responders around the globe are fighting fires with helicopter fire buckets designed and built in Napier. Fourteen years after starting a Hawke’s Bay engineering company with a $20,000 loan, Richard Lane now runs a specialist helicopter equipment business with a growing list of international customers. “In 2004 I started off with...

Getting our share of the Provincial Growth Fund lolly scramble

The government has a billion dollars a year to dish out for regional development initiatives, so will this region get in on the action? Hawke’s Bay is in line for tens, or possibly even hundreds, of millions of dollars’ worth of funding through the government’s $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund (PGF). Local councils and other backers of several large projects...

Strong passenger growth spurs Hawke’s Bay Airport Expansion upgrade

The Hawke’s Bay Airport terminal expansion has been given an upgrade, boosted by the latest passenger growth figures and the target of one million passengers by 2025. Last September the airport announced a redevelopment of the airport terminal increasing its size from 2500m2 to 3800m2 to accommodate the growth in passenger movements and visitors to the airport. Recently appointed Hawke’s...

Skills shortage holds back growth

Despite the great weather and lifestyle opportunities, Hawke’s Bay employers are struggling to fill key vacancies. What’s behind the region’s skills shortage? It’s a problem that’s all too common across a range of Hawke’s Bay firms: business growth is being held back because companies simply can’t find the skilled staff they need to expand. Richard Lane employs 16 people at...

Indigo Restaurant – adding spice to business success

Kingfisher is still the number-one beer match with a vindaloo at Napier’s Indigo Restaurant but it has a spicy point of difference that keeps the business as fresh as the local ingredients it uses. Indigo does the common curries like butter chicken, rogan josh and tandoori better than most but it stands out for its huge menu using local fresh...