“Tourism Hawke’s Bay is doing a fabulous job but we still have to be innovative. We are always thinking about new ideas, testing and tasting,” he said.
“We have an absolutely wonderful team. Some of them have been with us four or five years. Unfortunately, we lost our baker who moved to Auckland for personal reasons. We were devastated.
“However, now we have Matt Neale who has reshaped and altered our menu. He recently decided to put a meringue on top of our lemon tart and one customer said it was like eating a cloud.”
“We have a tasting panel that we turn over every six months, but according to the staff I have an 80 per cent normal palate — which means if I like it most other people will.”
He said they were grateful for the continued support of the community.
“We pinch ourselves sometimes.”
Murray said this year’s crop was looking “brilliant”.
“It’s looking promising for fresh figs for Christmas or New Year. The main crop will start to be harvested on February 3. The quality looks brilliant. We have had perfect fig-growing weather.”
He has some plans for “a few things in the figgery” plus, because their pie had been such a hit with people buying them to take home for dinner, “it triggered in the back of my head an idea about developing ready-to eat meals including our new fig and apple pie”.
“I would like to wish our customers and all the community a merry Christmas. Thank you for being so supportive.”
The Figgery Cafe & Shop is open every day except public holidays.
If you are after one of the Christmas gift packs — best to get in now.
