Busy Boult behind Cobb & Co comeback

By Mark Peart

Friday 24th September 2004

The smile is a lot broader these days and the worry lines aren't nearly as prominent as they were in the 1990s.

Queenstown businessman Jim Boult happily admits his work-life balance is a lot more in sync now than when he was the managing director - for 16 years - of tourism icon Shotover Jet.

The late 1990s weren't especially kind to Boult.

Shotover was beset by a host of problems: financial, legal (the death of a passenger on one of its rides) and operational.

Boult was in the thick of it as investors came and went.

The company is now wholly owned by Ngai Tahu Holdings.

Then there was the Tourism Board payouts fiasco, in which Boult was entangled as deputy chairman at the time as taxpayer-funded golden handshakes to former members plunged the government quango into controversy.

Still Queenstown-based, Boult typically has his fingers in several pies in the hospitality, tourism and property sectors.

But there's been a major change from his Shotover days.

"None of it has me turning the handle."

"Coming from a family which had a high work ethic, you spend a lot of your life under the view that you have to be first in the door to turn the light on in the morning and last out to turn it off at night.

"It's been quite a pleasant change to move away from that and take a week off, or take an afternoon off and go for a run in the hills."

Shotover must have taken its toll?

"Anyone running a company for 16 years that runs 365 days a year in a relatively high-stress business, yep, that'd be the case.

"It is a fabulous company but it was still a high-pressure job."

Two years ago Boult and his wife Karen bought the ailing Cobb and Co restaurant chain from an even more ailing Wilson Neill Corporation.

"It was fair to say it wasn't in very good shape when we bought it.

"It suffered from a lack of promotion, a lack of new restaurants and a lack of control in standards, both in terms of the food and the restaurants themselves."

There were originally about 30 restaurants in the chain, many of which shut down before the Boults came on board. Just 13 remain.

The Boults, trading as Cobb and Co Restaurants Ltd - Mr Boult as chairman and Mrs Boult as chief executive - have just spent $1 million on two new Cobb and Co restaurants in Taupo and Christchurch's Northwood.

Both are already top performers in the chain, Boult said.

New restaurants are planned for the Kapiti coast and Manukau, with plans for a further six sites in as yet unspecified locations.

"It's our intention to get the chain back to somewhere in the range of 30 to 40 restaurants nationwide.

"When we bought the chain it was break-even at best.

"We turned a small profit in our first year and we'll do a little better in this second year.

"This franchise is all about increasing the number of restaurants in the chain and increasing the turnover of the individual restaurant. That in turn generates more franchise fees, which allows us to put more money into the marketing budget and assists to increase the turnover yet again.

"It's all about critical mass and it's just starting to get to the stage where we're getting that sort of mass."

Mr and Mrs Boult also own a 75% stake in Armada Tourism, which owns and operates the Christchurch Gondola and Christchurch Tramway businesses.

Former Christchurch Tramway manager Martin Mongan, who runs both businesses (formerly owned by NZ Experience and Shotover Jet respectively) owns the remaining 25% of the company.

Boult recently hit the headlines in Otago with his plans to treble the size of Luggate, a township on the outskirts of Wanaka.

Luggate Holdings owns 76ha surrounding the town, on which it has plans for a 217-lot subdivision, combining residential and residential-rural properties. The sites start at $130,000 and climb to $400,000 for rural residential sections overlooking the Clutha River, and aims to cater for working Wanaka residents.

And the property interests don't stop there. Boult has also nearly completed the sale of all 47 sites at a residential subdivision at Butel Park near Arrowtown, with one site unsold, where prices have ranged from $220,000 to $400,000.

The sections go from 500 sq m to 1.5ha, and ownership includes a share in a swimming pool, gymnasium, and tennis court complex.

Boult said sales had been split between locals, New Zealanders from outside the Wakatipu, and foreign nationals and Kiwis living offshore.

Boult rounds out his business interests as a Crown appointee to the board of Christchurch International Airport, which has been experiencing increased passenger traffic and is undergoing a domestic terminal redevelopment.

The less frenetic pace of life in the Boult household these days albeit a pace that would exhaust most people has allowed the family to buy a share in an Australian V8 racing team, which Boult finds satisfying.

Where to from here?

"We'd like to get another couple of good trading entities, like the gondola and tramway businesses, perhaps tourism-related, but not necessarily. Property is one of those businesses which will always have times when it is more positive than others, so it's good to have a mix of businesses that are less susceptible to the vagaries of the market."

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