A Hint of Gold for Tuatara

Way back in January, Tuatara Brewing Company decided to put aside our traditional Kiwi modesty and enter the Wellington Gold Awards.

These awards, now in their twelfth year, “seek those businesses, both large and small, that keep Wellington sparkling.” The snazzy website is not exaggerating – the list of previous winners does indeed resemble a “who’s who” of Wellington business, which made it all the more humbling to be recently named as a finalist.

We are one of five finalists in the Emerging Gold category – "Illuminating smaller enterprises which are shining beyond their size." Now, we are a pretty shiny little company but we are up against some very tough competition. The finalists are:

Dazzle Tickets	A fresh new event ticketing system
Pet Angels	Wellington’s largestpet care company
The Baby’s Room	A retail store and Australasian baby goods supplier
Tuatara Brewing Company	Producing craft beer from time honoured, traditional recipes
Yellow Brick Road	Moving those cooking seafood closer to those catching it

To put our challenge in context, the lovely Rachel from Yellow Brick Road not only sources some amazing fish, but she was a finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year 2010. In fact, some of us think she should have won.

The actual winners of the various Gold Awards will be announced at a black tie dinner on May 19. The biggest hurdle for the Tuatara crew may just turn out to be the formal dress code. Still, it is a great chance to continue to lift our profile and introduce our beers to more movers and shakers in Wellington business.

That’s certainly what happened when the Deloitte Fast 50 ranked us as the 39th fastest growing company in the country. Reporting on the launch event, Patrick Smellie from InBusiness Magazine started his article with the observation: "but what stayed with me, apart from a new love of Tuatara Ardennes Ale, was the clips of the winners saying when they get their best ideas. Here’s a secret: none of them said at work."

Wise words indeed – we will post details about some of our best ideas over the coming weeks.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.