Cobb & Co.
TypeLimited
IndustryRestaurants
Founded1973 (1973) in Auckland, New Zealand
FounderNew Zealand Breweries
Headquarters
New Zealand
Number of locations
8
Websitewww.cobb.co.nz

Cobb & Co. is a New Zealand family restaurant chain.[1][2]

It is New Zealand's oldest surviving family restaurant chain,[3] having opened its first branch in 1973.[4] Its name derives from the Cobb & Co stagecoach business originally founded in Australia in the 19th century by Freeman Cobb, although the chain has no direct historical connection with that company.[5][6]

The chain's trademark feature is a stagecoach theme with red saloon-style doors. It offers a casual dining menu with steak, hamburgers, seafood, and similar items.[1] It is known for its non-alcoholic mocktail drinks.[7][8]

History

The chain was created by the hotel division of New Zealand Breweries (now Lion). Their first Cobb & Co opened in 1973 in their Auckland South Pacific Hotel.[9][2]

At its peak in the 1980s there were 37 Cobb & Co restaurants around New Zealand, but as of 2024 the chain had shrunk to eight branches: six in regional towns and centres in the North Island (Levin, New Plymouth, Porirua, Rotorua, Taupō, and Whakatane), and two cities in the South Island (Christchurch and Dunedin).[10][11][12][4]

In the 1980s it ran a series of comedic television commercials featuring British actor David Jason.[13][14]

In 2012 the chain was purchased by Sue and Ben Gower, who had originally been franchisees of the Tauranga branch.[4] In 2016, plans to re-expand the then-dwindling chain were announced.[4][1]

Controversy arose in 2017 when a newly relaunched branch located in the historic Dunedin Railway Station[15] applied for a licence to include slot machines on its premises, with the Problem Gambling Foundation criticising the presence of gambling machines in a family restaurant.[16]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Anthony, John (7 October 2016). "Cobb & Co planning a comeback with up to 30 new restaurants". Stuff.
  2. 1 2 "Cobb & Co restaurant, Auckland, around 1974". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. Retrieved 2 February 2019. NOTE: this source gives the founding year of the chain as 1974, but the majority of sources state 1973.
  3. ↑ "Full range of options among Taupō offerings". The New Zealand Herald. 28 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Cobb & Co's big comeback". The New Zealand Herald. 7 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Little, Paul (29 May 2018). "A brief history of Cobb & Co". Noted. North & South. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019.
  6. ↑ "This Month in History". Heritage New Zealand. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  7. ↑ McSweeney, Philip (12 October 2016). "Everything you ever wanted to know about Traffic Light drinks". Stuff.
  8. ↑ "Toni Street shocked by birthday surprise". The New Zealand Herald. Spy News. 6 September 2017. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Cobb & Co Restaurants Nationwide". Signal Group. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  10. ↑ Fallon, Virginia (26 February 2020). "Bring on the traffic lights: Cobb & Co returns to Porirua after more than two decades". Stuff.
  11. ↑ Mitchell, Paul (23 July 2019). "Cobb & Co's grand comeback will no longer extend to Palmerston North". Stuff.
  12. ↑ Clayton, Rachel (6 October 2016). "Cobb & Co lives on with new Dunedin railway station restaurant". Stuff.
  13. ↑ Belfield, James (9 May 2016). "Actor David Jason on Cobb and Co and his love of NZ". Stuff.
  14. ↑ Jason, David (2014). David Jason: My Life. Penguin Random House. p. 212. ISBN 9780099581161.
  15. ↑ Lewis, John (6 October 2016). "Cobb & Co to open railway station restaurant". Otago Daily Times Online News.
  16. ↑ Loughrey, David (27 June 2017). "Restaurant gambling machines 'appalling'". Otago Daily Times Online News.
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