Neil Slater is celebrating 30 years of Scratchleys on the Wharf this month with trademark minimal fuss.
"We've never been very good with that kind of stuff," the restaurateur and businessman told Food & Wine, laughing.
"We've never celebrated the 10- or 20-year anniversary. This time of year we're too flat-out to take a breath and celebrate. It's business as usual and we just want to make sure our guests are happy and comfortable and want to come back again."
It's this attitude that explains why - and how - Scratchleys has remained in business for so long.
The restaurant first opened on November 13, 1989, having taken over the building that had housed the ferry wharf.
"Queens Wharf opened in 1988 as part of the bicentenary and in 1989 they decided to move the ferry wharf, which left the building vacant," Slater explained.
"I started trying to negotiate with Hunter Ports. I was that naive that I didn't really know what I was doing but I wrote a business case for the restaurant which they then used as a tender document for the public. Anyway, from there we won the tender and we opened as a BYO seafood restaurant.
"Ten years later, when we had the ability to build and add some toilets inside, was the beginning of the new Scratchleys and 16 years after that we did the Battlesticks Bar. So there has been a slow progression of the building from a very small ferry terminal more or less masquerading as a restaurant, to a restaurant in 1999 to the whole complex as it is now."
Scratchleys' secret? Its staff.
"If we go through what makes Scratchleys work - indeed any restaurant work - it is consistency," Slater said.
"Restaurant manager Danielle has been there for 27 years; Mel who is the other manager has been there for 17 years; Nate the head chef has been there for 12 years; and Dylan the sous chef has been there for 10 years.
"My wife Donna does all of the book work.
"In an industry that's notorious for staff turnover and a lack of longevity, what we've been able to do is create a kind of family environment where we might have a few squabbles now and then, but it is also an environment where everyone can have a career.
"It's all about the consistency of our staff, both front and back of house; the wonderful site that we're on; and the growth of Newcastle in general."
Slater has watched new dining trends come and go, and dining "hot spots" fire up and then fizzle.
"When Honeysuckle came along I thought 'God, there's going to be another 10 restaurants, essentially waterfront, to compete with' but our turnover actually went up by 10 per cent," he said.
"The development revitalised the promenade and the foreshore.
"Merewether Surfhouse hasn't dented us either, it's just kind of grown the pie in Newcastle. And it's still growing. Hopefully we've made some kind of contribution towards the dining scene and where we are going as a city.
"We're still growing as a business, we're still improving. We've never sat on our hands. We've always had to be competitive with all of the new players coming into the game."
And, last but not least, there's the customers.
"We're just developing tourism here in Newcastle so our business has been based on the loyalty of those customers who have been able to come back," Slater explained.
"The 100,000 people we see each year - those people have built our business.
"The return clientele we have is just unbelievable, and that is because of the Danielles and Mels of the world who have been with us so long. Customers get recognised as regulars and they continue to return.
"We have people who come as every Mother's Day; others come every week or twice a week. We like to think that over the years we get to remember the faces and we can bump them to a window table. They get a little bit more royal treatment, I suppose. In saying that, everyone is a VIP. They're all spending their hard-earned money with us and deserve to be looked after."
Chef on a roll
Andy Allen's star continues to shine bright. The one-time East Maitland electrician won MasterChef Australia in 2012, opened a few restaurants and is one of three new MasterChef Australia judges set to make their debut in 2020. And his new television series, Farm To Fork, premieres on Channel 10 at 4pm on Friday.
Ethiopian workshop
Lidya Stapleton, owner and head chef of Habesha Ethiopian Restaurant, is hosting an Ethiopian cooking class at The Essential Ingredient Newcastle on February 24, 5.30pm to 8.30pm. Now that's a Christmas gift worth buying.
Exciting new pop-up
Hatted chef Clayton Donovan is opening a pop-up eatery, PAN, at Roche Estate. Keep an eye out for our chat with him in Food & Wine soon. The host of ABC TV's Wild Kitchen likes to fuse bush foods, modern cuisine and his Indigenous culture in his pop-up restaurants. Exciting stuff.
Magic menu at Kawul
Something different for you. Kawul Restaurant at Pokolbin (formerly Nanna Kerr's Kitchen and then Love Kitchen Hunter Valley) has invited magician Tony Wild to dinner this Saturday, November 16. Kawul's menu heroes Australian native-inspired dishes and locally sourced produce, and the view from the deck is stunning.
Fun and games
The inaugural Festival of Snags is being held in Mudgee on November 30: think sausages, Mudgee produce and wine, and giant inflatable sausage races.
