Putting on the ritz

Hilton Lake Taupō  Putting on the Ritz

Four ways to enjoy a high tea this summer

 Harri Sharman

Planning a special celebration, marking an important milestone, or just looking for an opportunity to treat yourself this summer? Why not delight in the decadence of a high tea: an elegant way to bring people together. Whether you’re keen to host your own or head out for some pampering at a restaurant, we’ve selected four fabulous options for your next afternoon treat.

Dine out in style

With sumptuous snacks served on beautiful crockery amidst relaxing surroundings, head to either of these two spots to enjoy a truly luxurious afternoon.

Hilton Lake Taupō

Located at the resort-style Hilton Lake Taupō, amidst the Victorian heritage building wing, Bistro Lago serves up The Timeless High Tea from Friday to Sunday, 12 to 3pm. Enjoy delectable petite bites while overlooking luscious greenery and the shimmering waters of Lake Taupō. Drawing inspiration from the 131-year-old building it is housed in, the crafted delights and beautiful chinaware convey the timelessness of afternoon teas and the history of this beautiful venue.

 80-100 Napier Road, Hilltop, Taupō  07 376 2319

Bookings required 24 hours in advance via Resdiary on

bistrolago.co.nz Millennium Hotel Taupō

Treat yourself or a loved one to an indulgent lakeside high tea at Edgewater Restaurant, at the Millennium Hotel and Resort Taupō. With an exciting range of Dilmah Exceptional teas, freshly made club sandwiches, assortment of delicate pastries and cakes, and freshly baked scones by their talented chefs, the memorable food and unbeatable lake views make for the perfect occasion. Upgrade your high tea experience by adding a glass of bubbles from the wine list.

 243 Lake Terrace, Waipahihi, Taupō  07 378 5110

Bookings required 48 hours in advance via

edgewaterTaupō.co.nz

 Sublime Catering

Host your own

For the entertainers, now you can host your own fabulous afternoon tea affair. Whether it’s for a picnic, a baby shower, or family event, add some class by serving up a high tea! Here are two fabulous Bay of Plenty businesses that will help you pull off your high tea with aplomb.

Sublime Catering

Situated in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Sublime Catering cook everything from scratch, using locally sourced, seasonal produce. Their high tea platters are made fresh to order, with options for small to large groups; perfect if you’re looking to amplify a special event. Using only real ingredients such as butter in their baking, their delightful pastries are chock full of the good stuff. Example treats include mini leek and cheese quiches, smoked salmon filo baskets, chocolate ganache tartlets, and scones with Devonshire cream and raspberry jam. You can choose to pick up directly from their kitchen, but they also offer prompt delivery and set up at your chosen venue.

Visit sublimecatering.co.nz for menus, email your enquiry to Patsy at patsy@sublimecatering.co.nz or call 027 410 6556.

Good Gracious High Tea

Over in Tauranga, Good Gracious High Tea delivers sophisticated nostalgia in the form of sweet and savoury high teas. Celebrate in style with delicious, fresh flavours presented with intricate detailing and extravagant touches. Available for pick up or delivery to your chosen venue, the high tea menu showcases seasonal, local produce, and upcycled ingredients. Sustainability is an important element, with every piece of crockery or teacup (all available for hire) sourced from gifts or family heirlooms, including a beautiful three-tier silver cake stand. Treats include lemon and gin botanical lamingtons and their signature Good Gracious chocolate decadence .

Book for your next event at goodgracioushightea.nz or call Denise on 021 511 766.

TIMELESS HIGH TEA

We think curves are sexy

 Advertorial

Get the dirt on fighting food waste

Meet the Taupō start-up making veggies exciting again

Did you know that one third of all food produced globally goes to waste? It’s not just leftovers growing legs in the fridge, either. A surprising

amount of what farmers produce doesn’t even make it to supermarket shelves. Too small, too big, not quite the right colour or shape, or just a bumper crop: all reasons our grocery stores might reject fresh produce from the farm. The thought of all this great food never reaching our plates is what drove the two founders of Misfit Garden to start up their subscription boxes. Filled with delicious, fresh local produce, their boxes help connect growers to customers, prioritising fruit and vegetables that otherwise might have gone to waste. For founders Jen and Sofia, this was the start of their mission to lower food waste, while also helping people enjoy more vegetables. They began working with local growers to take this surplus produce to the people, and in the process have inspired Kiwis to get excited about cooking vegetables again. They also donate

10% of their produce to charities and community meals around the area! Inside each box is an array of local, seasonal produce. It’s not all ugly or misshapen and includes a couple of staples like potatoes and onions, plus something not normally found in the supermarket. Recent examples include purple asparagus and Chioggia (striped) beetroot.

The produce is picked seasonally and collected straight away, then packed and delivered to people’s doors. This cuts out a lot of the supply chain that large stores use and makes it a great

eco-friendly way to get your five-aday. The food supply chain is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, with food often travelling many kilometres before it gets to us. With boxes starting from $26, you can enjoy fresh, healthy produce and fight food waste. Misfit Garden delivers in Taupō, Rotorua, Hamilton, and Cambridge. Tauranga, Whakatāne and Auckland coming soon!

misfitgarde .co n

.nz

Deciphering Digital Ads

 Harri Sharman

Which type of paid advertising should you invest in and why...

There are so many options out there, along with technical jargon about how they work, that it can be hard to know where to start. So, we decided to break them down into bite-sized pieces, to help business owners understand how online advertising can be used to target consumers in different parts of the sales funnel.

Facebook Ads

Perfect for brand awareness and reaching new people. Facebook (and Instagram) ads can be targeted at people with interests matching your demographics, which

is good for increasing your visibility among a new audience who may not yet be familiar with you or your products. They can also be great for telling your existing social audience about short-term promotions, like sales or upcoming events.

Google Search Ads

Perfect for converting hot leads and generating sales. Google Search is best for capturing people at the end of the marketing funnel, where they already have lots of buying intent and are just looking for the right place to buy. We consider Google search to be a crucial part of digital strategy for

that reason. If you’re not on Google Search, your competitors probably are! Search campaigns are great for general long-term ads.

Google Shopping Ads

Perfect for encouraging product purchases. This is a standard shopping campaign using a feed from your website of all your products. Google Shopping ads display in the Shopping tab on Google Search, next to search results (separate from text ads) and in Google Images. They are good

because they show a visual product, with pricing and an image, so they can be more appealing to people than just a text-based ad.

Google Display Ads

Perfect for raising brand awareness. Similar to how Facebook ads can help put your brand in front of a new audience, so can Google’s Display campaign – across millions of websites around the web. Display ads are a highly visual format combining images, text, your logo, and

Call 0800 90 25 22. To read more from the blog visit ninetyblack.com.

optionally (but highly recommended!) video. They are great for reaching a large number of people, generating interest in your brand through a more visual medium.

Performance Max

Perfect for all of the above! Google’s new campaign type, Performance Max, combines the best features from all of Google’s ad inventory – that includes Search, Shopping, YouTube (video ads), Display (which is on millions of partner websites, mobile games, online newspapers and so on), Gmail

and more. It also uses smart learning to place different types of ads that can be highly customised to the viewer. It’s great for brands who are already somewhat established and looking to drive their performance to the next level – especially e-commerce stores. Need some advice? Chat to

ninetyblack's digital team about your business goals for 2023, and which digital advertising options would best suit you and your business needs.