Pier 36 meets challenges by growing its role in local food

While the coronavirus lockdowns have fired the entrepreneurial drive of many restaurants here in the shape of gourmet food delivery and collect services, Donaghadee’s award-winning Pier 36 bar/restaurant has taken these a stage further by retailing its most popular dishes in local butchery stores.

In addition to gourmet meals under the well-established Pier 36 branding, handmade pies, cakes and desserts are retailed from Bow Bells, a coffee shop in Donaghadee also owned by the hospitality business.

Founded in 1999 by husband and wife team Denis and Margaret Waterworth, two of Northern Ireland’s most respected hospitality entrepreneurs, on the back of other successes such as the Adelboden Lodge hotel and artisan bakery in Groomsport, Pier 36, Bow Bells and Harbour and Company, another popular restaurant they own in Donaghadee, is now run by sons Wesley and Jody, who’ve moved it to a new and inspirational level. Enterprise clearly pulses in the family’s blood stream.

Pier 36 has garnered a host of plaudits for its food and service. The Guardian named it one of the Top 6 Fish Restaurants in the UK. It has also been named Pub of the Year here an impressive three times since it opened. It’s a Taste of Ulster member.

Pier 36 also attracts visitors from throughout the world for its meals and also to stay in seven luxury rooms. The restaurant is also probably the only one in Northern Ireland to dry-age the beef it uses on its menus. Meat is sourced from local farms nearby and then aged for flavour for at least 28 days in the restaurant’s own special chamber.

As well as pre-packed gourmet meals and pies for cooking at home, other recent products they’ve created include artisan coffee, chocolate, desserts, cakes, fudge, breakfast muesli and candles, many sold under the Lighthouse brand, a reference to the coastal town’s famed lighthouse which overlooks both Pier 36 and Harbour and Company.

Bow Bell’s café, furthermore, has also been transformed into a smart deli featuring a host of award-winning artisan foods from many local suppliers including Irish Black Butter from Portrush, Carol’s Bone Broth Stock from Londonderry, Abernethy Butter from Dromara and Belfast’s Melting Pot Fudge.

“What we’ve done is to build on our experience and reputation as a good food business during the lockdowns by diversifying into areas such as retailing and other services for good food lovers in Donaghadee and from further afield,” explains Wesley. “All hospitality businesses, of course, have had to be creative to ensure

survival during what is – and continues to be - an immensely challenging time.

“Our initial reaction was to launch call and collect and limited delivery services of Pier 36 dishes. These continue to be hugely successful especially with our regulars and encouraged us to introduce pre-packed meals prepared by our chefs for retail around the area and further afield,” he says. “We were also concerned about the wellbeing of the 70 people employed by the restaurants and the café. We wanted to safeguard the business and the jobs.”

Supporting local suppliers of the ingredients for its meals was another important consideration: “We have long been committed to sourcing as much as possible from local suppliers of seafood, meats, poultry, potatoes, vegetables, ice cream and desserts and beverages.”

Copeland Gin, which is distilled just behind Pier 36, has collaborated with Pier 36’s chefs to create unique Copeland pork sausages! The recipe for the sausages was shaped by John McFarland, Pier 36’s executive head chef, and Denis Waterworth with Copeland’s Gareth Irvine.

The gourmet meal packs for retail were created to offer the same quality ingredients and rich flavours as dishes in the restaurant. They also involved investment in packaging that maintains the quality of the food and offers good shelf-life.

“The food had to look as good in the packaging as on a plate in our restaurants,” explains Wesley. “We looked at all our options and decided to seek expert advice with packaging, shelf-life and other requirements for retailing and home cooking in ovens or microwaves. Our aim was to make it as easy as possible for home cooks to enjoy genuine restaurant quality dishes.”

The popularity of the call and collect and the retailing have encouraged the ambitious company to plan to continue both when the lockdown is eventually relaxed and restaurants are allowed to open again.

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