The land, buildings and businesses sustaining one of the biggest commercially run olive estates, function venue and restaurant empires in New Zealand have been placed on the market for sale.
Simunovich Olive Estate in the Bombay Hills some 50 kilometres south of Auckland is home to approximately 30,000 olive trees which have been yielding progressively bigger crop tonnages for nearly two decades – all of which have been pressed and bottled at the estate’s own pressing plant.
The countryside hilltop location also houses the Bracu Pavilion function venue, and the separate Bracu Restaurant – along with multiple dwellings used for staff accommodation.
Both Bracu Pavilion and Bracu Restaurant are heavily patronised by split customer markets servicing both corporate events and private bookings such as weddings and family gatherings.
The Bracu Pavilion is fully licensed and can cater up to 190 guests in a cocktail format or 140 guests in a seated configuration. Meanwhile, the 330 square metre Bracu Restaurant opens for lunch and dinner between Wednesday and Friday, and for lunches on Saturdays. The restaurant, which has the capacity to serve 85 guests per sitting, runs an a-la-carte menu, or an indicative standard three-course set menu. It operates from the original farmhouse.
The business’s olive processing plant currently crushes between six to 10 tonnes of fruit daily during the cropping season, with the capacity to press higher volumes without the need for adding any additional equipment. Simunovich Olive Estate and its sister Bracu operations have also prided themselves on operating to a high standard of environmental sustainability.
Now the 104-hectare Simunovich Olive Estate property, all building infrastructure, the olive oil growing and manufacturing activities, and hospitality business, have been placed on the market for sale by tender through Bayleys Auckland with tenders closing in May.
“With some 20-years in the marketplace, the Bracu name has a strong reputation in Auckland – both as a private and corporate venue,” said David Bayley from Bayleys Auckland. “Similarly, the Simunovich Olive Estate oil brand now has a well-established retail network for its product in addition to selling bottled stock through the Bracu food premises.”
