FEATURE: MOZZA MOZZA

Drinks on me!

Mozza Mozza, a new venue with a novel liquor license and lease agreement has opened at Sharks in Southport, writes Grant Jones.

WHEN A TRIED and trusted legacy restaurant in a club gets replaced with something shiny and new, even on the Gold Coast, there is bound to be some resistance.

But Southport Sharks took the plunge and engaged Dave Galvin and his SITE Hospitality to open a venue inside a venue and that’s how the Italian concept, Mozza Mozza, was born. Word soon spread.

“From a club perspective and my perspective, we have just captured the hearts and imagination of a whole new demographic,” says Galvin. “We just haven’t seen this kind of demographic come through the club.

“It’s taken a while, but we are really starting to convert the members now. We are getting more walkin traffic which really wasn’t a thing when we first opened. I think they all just wanted to hear from the other members that it was worth the investment, so to speak.”

With a four-metre-tall olive tree as a centrepiece, the 160-seater Mozza Mozza inside Southport Sharks, now offers long lunches (Friday to Sunday) and dinners (Wednesday to Sunday). There are now plans to open seven days. But Galvin made it quite clear that for a deal to go ahead, he needed full control of the food – and beverage – a novel concept in Queensland registered clubs.

“The one thing that I wanted to be famous for – and we are – is cocktails. We sell hundreds of cocktails a week. We started with a really cool list,” Galvin says.

“Our signature is a Southport Sour using a mango gin from White Oak Distillery, a local award-winning local distillery, that’s 1.5 -2km from Southport Sharks. We sell over a hundred of those a week.

“All of the drinks are pretty Instagrammable and a lot of the Insta girls come along to get their photos.”

Galvin says working with club CEO Dean Bowtell and the board to achieve a viable F&B agreement was crucial.

Group Executive Chef Nic Wood, SITE owner Dave Galvin and Head Chef Mitch Chesterton.

“We played out a few scenarios, including license agreement, food-only sales, however the drink creation and sales were critically important for us execute the concept, and for us to take on the opportunity,” says Galvin who secured the location in mid-2021.

“As far as we are aware, this is the only external liquor and food license within a registered club in Queensland.”

SITE Hospitality created the 400sqm, Mozza Mozza from the existing and much-loved Carmody’s steak restaurant plus an events space.

Galvin’s partner has an overseas-based procurement business, so the venue was designed here then prefabricated in China – furniture, joinery, shopfronts, marble, small-wares, packaging and custom equipment – before being shipped to Australia.

Gold Coast born-and-bred head chef Mitch Chesterton is behind the menu offering classic Italian dishes from the woodfired-oven, including pastas, 48-hour fermented pizzas and starters of house-made focaccia and puff pizza bread. With summer feedback from the now-diverse patronage, there have also been a few menu tweaks. The bistecca is now gone, replaced by a pork cutlet. The mains will also be expanded.

“The beauty of Italian cuisine is it talks to the masses, so the audience is mixed,” Galvin says.

“Fridays and Saturday we are at peak. We are just slowly getting the second sitting, as on the Gold Coast they like eating early and getting up early.”

Other menu favourites include Nonna’s meatballs and a fried mortadella sando on fluffy white bread, plus there are plates of cured meats, including salami, prosciutto and mortadella – sliced to order.

“The club was very supportive of the Italian concept, and they knew that we would deliver the classic Italian fare with our Mozza Mozza flare,” he says.

Such is the success, other clubs are now reaching out to CEO Dean Bowtell about the concept. That’s something to talk about.