Talk:Cobb & Co. (restaurant)

a rebranding

Licences to sell liquor were issued only on certain terms which included the provision of food and overnight accommodation so breweries were obliged to establish chains of hotels (and their dining rooms) with very large "open plan" bars on the ground/basement floors to sell their beer. Cobb & Co was a rebranding exercise for New Zealand Breweries hotel dining rooms with (for a customer) little change beyond decor and adjustments to the near universal "menu" though those were briefly refreshing in themselves. Licensing laws changed in the 1980s and Cobb & Co died. Eddaido (talk) 03:14, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

The vague "Timeline" section of their website says that in the 1970s "Lion Nathan Breweries opens the first Cobb & Co restaurant, which fed, showered, and sheltered the stagecoach passengers", which seems to be an embellishment. Stagecoaches in Auckland in 1973?? --Muzilon (talk) 07:43, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

I think it means at an unknown date between 1860s and 1970s and maybe a forerunner of Lion Nathan did do that before the stagecoaches disappeared. I guess they hope nobody will get around to "reading the fine print" or even thinking about what's being said. Have you watched the training video? Eddaido (talk) 11:30, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

I'm aware of that video. :) Too dull to sit through the whole thing. You've probably seen this article mocking it. --Muzilon (talk) 02:00, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

There's one good thing about that video, the star probably looks nothing like that now, well, I hope for his sake that is so! Eddaido (talk) 02:36, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

@Eddaido: on a separate matter: you queried whether Cobb & Co is really NZ's oldest restaurant chain. Although several sources do state this, it got me thinking and doing some digging. It is possible that Tony's is a rival to this claim, since they apparently opened their first restaurant in Auckland in 1963. So, I have changed the wording to "New Zealand's oldest family restaurant," which I don't think is disputed. Muzilon (talk) 02:06, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

I'd be most comfortable if you inserted the word surviving (or an equivalent) before family. For example Adams Bruce used to have shops selling chocolates and ice cream and cake and providing tea rooms throughout the country in surprisingly small towns not that they could be described as equivalent to Cobb & Co just that there have been many food organisations around here before, er, 1960 and I doubt you'll find a historian specialising in the subject who can be certain. Eddaido (talk) 02:41, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

OK, "surviving" it is. Or maybe "longest running" would be acceptable. (Adams Bruce sounds more like an ice-cream parlour than a family restaurant, IMHO :) Muzilon (talk) 03:03, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

No, (seriously North American that) but it was a place where socially aware but not necessarily prosperous women of all ages met for tea or/and lunch, any males present would have felt miserable. The chocolates were pretty special and remained available long after the chain closed, the cake even longer.

Longest running, no. I should think it flourished (for barely a decade?) until owner tired of putting cash in. The name, I gather, is technically still alive in remote places. I don't think the name could have much value but I'm not in that business am I! Regards, Eddaido (talk) 05:15, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Two things. I'm sorry, I didn't notice your link to ice cream history, I came back to sort of underline that I didn't mean to suggest there was any similarity except food — well tea and sandwiches (and yes ice cream too if you wanted it).

Ice-cream parlour is I guess a natural conclusion for perhaps a North American reading that item. If you follow what I mean the item is About ice cream and not interested in a balanced view of the rest of the business. Cheers, Eddaido (talk) 09:46, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Stub class or Start Class

@Dushan Jugum: Just curious why you rated this Stub class when AfC rated it Start Class? --Muzilon (talk) 01:56, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

because I was incompetent/had two pages open at once, problem solved sorry Muzilon. (Dushan Jugum (talk) 02:35, 9 February 2019 (UTC)).