Company’s 50 Years In Catering Business

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28490, 21 January 1958, Page 8

Company’s 50 Years In Catering Business

Fifty years ago today the shareholders of P. Burke and Company held their first meeting. The shareholders numbered only three. The firm continues in the catering business today, with interests not only in Canterbury but in the North Island. Besides catering, it owns the Bush Inn at Riccarton and is associated with the Winter Garden in Armagh street and is the biggest business of its class in New Zealand.

Before the company was formed in January, 1908, the business, begun in 1882, was conducted by its founder, Patrick Burke. A Galway man, he managed several sheep stations in New Zealand until in 1883' he became licensee of the Victoria Hotel, opposite the old post office, and then built the Southern Cross Hotel in Moorhouse avenue. In 1890, he took over Barrett’s Hotel, at the corner of High and Manchester streets, and then the Cafe de Paris Hotel (now the Grand Hotel). In 1898, he bought Tattersail’s Hotel and rebuilt it and later he held the licence of the Bush Inn Hotel.

He was a genial man, with a keen business mind and high organising ability. About 1885, he became caterer at the Addington Saleyards and the firm still does the catering there. The other shareholders in the original company were Messrs F. S. Harley and J. C. Chase. After the first two meetings, the shareholders, who were also the directors, met at the Bush Inn. Mr Chase held his shares until 19W. when he sold them to Mrs M. E. Burke. Three years later, Mr Burke sold his holding to Messrs Joseph Bryan and A. Rattray and Mrs A. Rattray. The last of the original shareholders. Mr Harley, sold his shares in 1925 to Mr A Rattray and the shareholding was extended to Mrs Bryan and Messrs Grierson and Davis. Messrs Rex Bryan and Alex Rattray were then working for the firm. All the shares in P. Burke and Company are now held by Dominion Caterers, Ltd., whose other holdings are in P. Burke and Company (North Island), Ltd., Majestic Hotel (Palmerston North) and Winter Garden, Ltd. The board of directors of , P. Burke and Company is: Messrs W. H. Nicholls (chairman) and P. J. Fotheringham, and three grandsons of the second owner of the business, Messrs A. N., E.E., and R. H. Rattray. The managing-secretary is Mr J. C. Hulme. Hotel and Cabaret The Bush Inn was leased at one time by the company and James Shand and Company, the owners being Manning and Company, the brewers in Ferry road. Later, the brewery company held two-thirds of the shares, which the catering company bought about 1924. A year later, the company bought the Winter Garden in Armagh street, placing Mrs E. Saxby in charge. “With these two valuable properties, your company,” the chairman (Mr J. Bryan) reported, “will hold a very safe nest egg and of a kind that cannot be taken away from us as can so many of our short-term leases from the racing clubs.” The company might have become the owners of the Clarendon Hotel, but the directors declined in 1913 to accept a lease of the hotel for 10 years at a rental of £ll3O a year. Costs in the catering business have increased extraordinarily. In 1910 the company accepted a tender for the supply of 150 hams at BJd per lb; and even by 1916 the price was only 9Jd per lb; today it pays 5s 4d per lb for pressed ham. The price of 260 z lemonades in 1913 was 2s 4d a dozen, potatoes £4 10s a ton. A tender for the painting of the Bush Inn in 1913 was £43 7s 6d, a quote which would delight the owner of a small bungalow today. Grouse, Pheasants Regular orders were given for importations • of grouse and pheasants from England before World War I. The prices of prime quality poultry, plucked, crated and branded, ready for the freezer, were then: boilers (average 3Jlb), 4s 3d a pair; chickens (3J to 41b), 6s 9d a pair; ducks (3Jib), 6s 6d a pair; geese (51b). 7s 6d a pair. World War I brought its problems. Attendances at races, shows and other gatherings could not be anticipated’. In 1916, the price of lunch at the Addington Saleyards was raised to Is 6d. And then the anti-shouting law was introduced, making it an offence tor any person to buy a drink for another in a bar. Rising costs and the effect of the new law compelled the company to seek a concession on its agreed payment for privileges at the Riccarton races. Agreement was reached to increase the charge for all spirits and English beers to 9d a glass and to charge Is 6d for afternoon tea until 2 p.m. and Is after 2 p.m. Big Functions

In 1926, P. Burke and Company decided to extend its operations to the North Island, and it now

has a hotel and a catering business, at Palmerston North and a catering business in Wellington. The firm was the caterer for the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition. Among equipment which was not taken from the tanks, the attendances being lower than expected after war broke out, was £4OOO worth of crockery, which for some years was stored at the headquarters behind the Bush Inn. The company’s North Island enterprises have been successful; the biggest undertaking is the catering for the Trentham races. The extension to the North Island followed invitations, visitors to Christchtirch for big events having been appreciative of the service given. Besides catering for the masses at shows, races and sporting gatherings throughout Canterbury, the company has catered at many social functions. Mr P. Burke earned a reputation as a caterer when he provided for contingents departing for the Boer War.

The biggest sit-down cupper in Christchurch was served in 1920. Two thousand attended the Royal ball in honour of the Prince of Wales in King Edward Barracks, and no fewer than 900 were seated ai the one time. The firm also catered for various functions when the Duke of York visited Christchurch in 1927 and a signally successful social function in which it took a prominent part was the civic garden party in the Botanic Gardens four years ago for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. The North Island firm was the caterer for the Royal garden party at Government House, Wellington, and for the Queen Mother’s visit to the capital next month it will cater for the Royal race meeting at Trentham, the garden party and the ball at Government House. The Winter Garden also held the lunch for Prince Philip on his second visit to Christchurch in December, 1956, and has been engaged for the supper after the civic reception in Christchurch for the Queen Mother. A photograph in the “Weekly Press” of June 26, 1901, showed Mr P. Burke’s cooks preparing poultry for the boilers in the back yard of Tattersail’s Hotel Defore the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York (King George V and Queen Mary). For years, the company has operated a modern kitchen and bakehouse behind the Bush Inn. All food is prepared and cooked there. The plant is self-contained for the biggest contract. Business has expanded and the latest addition to the premises is a big store. A permanent staff of 100 in Christchurch, Wellington and Palmerston North is employed and hundreds of casuals work at the races and shows, many of the casual workers having been on the firm’s paysheets so long that patrons look upon them as permanent. On race days, the workers in bars, lunch rooms and cafeterias number about 300 in Christchurch, but on the peak day of the year—Show Day—the number mounts to nearly 800. Organisation has to be smooth and in the company the work is sectionalised and dovetailed in on the .day of any big event.