A man with a conscience – An interview with Tim Connell

By Franz Scheurer

Tim Connell is a good-looking man in the prime of his life who could be anything he wants as his steadfast belief in his abilities matches his integrity; a definite recipe for success. His straightforward values are admirable and his enthusiasm is infectious. He knows what he likes and dislikes and is not afraid to say so. He likes Italian food and loves music, with a special penchant for opera. The way to this man’s soul might be through his stomach, but you’d be well advised to play some Mahler at the same time.

Tim has done a lot of different things in his life. He was a Qantas steward, a taxi driver, a wholesaler and buyer at the Melbourne Fish Market, a dishwasher at Stephanie’s, dreaming of his own rock’n’roll café, an outstandingly successful oyster salesman and eventually, after an educating stint with John Hewitson and the ‘Last Aussie Fishcaf’, a restaurateur in his own right.

The site at Cockle Bay, which is now home to his restaurant Coast, lured him to Sydney, joining Melbourne expats Simon Goh (Chinta Ria) and Paul Mathis (Blackbird) and ex-Melbourne boy Tony Bilson (Ampersand).

With the right location, a restaurant built to appeal to men (to capture the CBD lunch market) but liked by women, a terrific team and Connell’s ability to guide his staff to read the likes and dislikes of his customers, Coast might have been packed from the start. Surprisingly it wasn’t, and has taken years of hard work and focused energy to get the customers coming back.

Connell says his first big lesson in Sydney was that, “whereas Melbourne is traditional, substantial, Sydney is brash, flighty, some would say a touch pretentious. Values so different, they needed a different approach”.

Connell elaborates: “In Sydney a new place that sounds interesting will be ‘given a go’ but it’s hard to keep the diners interested. The most important factor in running a restaurant is keeping the anticipation, the mystery going. Expect the unexpected! This is especially hard once a restaurant has been running for years. Not only do you have to keep the customer interested, but you also have to motivate and stimulate the staff, literally on a daily basis, keeping them interested. You need to understand why a customer comes to a restaurant. They might come for the social aspects, meeting with friends, seduction or the dissolution of a partnership, they’re here to conduct business, some come for the view and ambience and a small percentage comes for the food. Each has to be catered for differently, but each has to have ‘the best dining experience’, an incentive to come back. The serving staff have to be able to ‘read’ the customer and offer what the customer wants, with a little theatre and a touch of magic.”

Connell looks at the present and interprets the future and is a firm believer in a more ‘shared’ experience with food. Although he believes there will always be a place for the ‘power restaurant’ (albeit not in the same numbers as we see them today), he sees the industry’s future in the more casual approach of shared plates and small degustation menus offering the chance to share many different tastes and textures for a reasonable amount of money. There may already be quite a lot of restaurants already pushing ‘tapas’, but Connell believes the ‘small shared plates’ menu will become the way, right across the restaurant industry. The baby boomers supported restaurants in a way previously unseen but the current economic downturn makes this unlikely to continue. The next generation is not going to spend as much time or money in restaurants, but wants more from their experience: more dishes, more tastes, more textures, and most importantly, more fun. Connell says: “Unless you can supply that element of fun, pure and unadulterated enjoyment in what you do, the restaurant of the future will not survive.”

Lunching with Connell recently at Coast I had a ‘front row seat’ to the ‘theatre’ of his restaurant, and I noted that every table within my vision was dealt with differently. An obviously courting couple were given privacy whilst a young lad, trying hard to impress his companion was ‘helped’ along by very attentive staff who gave her all the attention without neglecting him. A suggestion of sharing different dishes was welcomed by a group of friends at another table and a ‘top of the town business deal’ was conducted out of earshot of anyone else. Top marks for attentive staff!

Meantime we enjoyed Jonathan Barthelmess’ wonderful food and chatted about politics, music, food, the universe and everything, and I slowly realized why Connell isn’t just another visionary entrepreneur, he’s a man with a conscience: friend, confidant, mentor and boss to his employees, concerned that all his customers have their diverse needs met, a father figure with a firm but fair hand.

Coast Restaurant

The Roof Terrace

Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour

Sydney NSW 2000

Telephone (02) 9267 6700

Facsimile (02) 9267 6711

reservations@coastrestaurant.com.au

Lunch: Monday to Friday 12-2.30pm

Dinner: Monday to Saturday 6-10.30pm

Web Site: http://www.coastrestaurant.com.au