The Gunns have announced the listing of their large-format Tavern of Crescent Head, offering a strong business and opportunity ready to capitalise on the reopening honeymoon.
Darren and Hanh Gunn bought the business in 2011, bringing along their two-year-old son as they built trade in the only pub in town, with Hanh using her Vietnamese heritage to spice up her menu offering coming out of the kitchen.
The Tavern offers single bar operation, bistro with multiple seating areas fed by a well-appointed commercial kitchen, outdoor areas, gaming room with four EGMs, and plenty of off-street parking.
Downstairs is a bottleshop and takeaway food service, specialising in pizzas. Both these aspects of the business are continuing to trade during the pandemic shutdown.
The pub is found “a stone’s throw” from the Crescent Head beach, and popular caravan park. Crescent Head is a town of around 1,000 souls on the Macleay Valley Coast, about five hours’ drive north of Sydney, or six south of Brisbane.
It is home to the annual Malibu Classic surfing competition, by virtue of its world-famous point break, which is one of the longest rides in Australia.
Despite the social distancing rules in place, Darren says he’s still seeing a lot of out-of-towners.
“When the surf’s on, they’ll come,” he muses.
Ready to list the business in March, the couple were confronted with the national shutdown and paused to reflect before breaking the news.
Darren says running a pub has always been a “lifelong dream”, but he had planned to reassess after ten years and as his son enters high school and Hanh stresses the need to “be a family” he thinks it may be time for a change.
“In life you’ve got to find a balance sometimes,” he explains. “This is a tough industry … you’ve got to put something in to get something out.
“I still enjoy it. I love my regulars coming in for a chat. I’m more worried about when I don’t have something to do.”
The Gunns have determined, should the sale proceed, to move to Port Macquarie and closer to Darren’s parents, where he plans to find work that doesn’t interfere so much with his active child’s childhood.
They have listed the leasehold operation through Manenti Quinlan’s Leonard Bongiovanni and Gilchrist Business Brokers’ Dan Maley, boasting weekly trade (pre-shutdown) north of $35k, and 19 years remaining on the lease.
Importantly, the Gunns are willing to continue to trade the pub until restrictions are lifted.
“We were on the cusp of going to market before the current restrictions commenced, but decided to hold off and wait for the dust to settle,” says Bongiovanni.
“We now believe this time provides the perfect opportunity to use this period productively and find a new owner who can familiarise themselves with the area.”
The leasehold operation of the Crescent Head Tavern is being sold via Private Treaty.
