An iconic hotel with a rich history is about to reopen after being closed for almost two years for renovations – and there’s some major changes awaiting patrons.
Formerly known as the Country Life Hotel, the restored Kin Kin Hotel will revert to its old name and reopen for business on Wednesday, with some high-calibre staff behind the scenes.
Hotel owner David Ezrine purchased the Noosa hinterland venue in August 2021 but closed it early last year after it was severely damaged by floods.
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He revealed to Sunshine Coast News that the building had since undergone extensive renovations.
“When we bought the building it was a little over 100 years old and, golly, in need of huge repair,” he said.
“We pretty much had to gut and replace a lot of inside because we got hit with a flood a few months after we purchased it. It’s no secret it floods here – they’ve happened before and will happen again – so we had to repair from that.
“We completely had to take off and replace the front verandah, which was pretty much half rotten. We replaced it with native timbers from right up the road and rebuilt it the same way it was 100 years ago.
“We also restored all 10 bedrooms upstairs to their original condition, and got all the windows and doors working again, and brought back all the woodwork and repainted everything in its heritage colours.
“Ellie Ezrine, the co-owner, has designed all the interiors. She has done an amazing job to consider the local history of Kin Kin from its original roots of forestry, then a dairy culture, and onto more modern rural times, through her thoughtful approach to the interior design.
“She made a tremendous effort to source local antiques, choose great heritage colours and add clever artwork to the various memorabilia we inherited with the pub.
“We have a great collection of old Akubras worn by past patrons – the only catch is you need to to be dead to have your hat hung up.”
The hotel will initially reopen with reduced hours and just the bar operating, but Mr Ezrine said it would give patrons a sneak peek of bigger things to come.
“We’re going to focus on getting the bar up and get the bar menu rolling,” he said.
“People that come up are going to be able to get a sampling of some of the dishes that might be on the future Chophouse menu, but of course we’ve got to walk before we run and we’re not rushing over ourselves to get it wrong. Less is more is the idea.
“After Christmas we’re going to be opening up the Chophouse, which is going to be a really brilliant destination of almost a restaurant within a restaurant, as it will have a fire-cooking hearth that our chef serves directly to the table.”
The father of two said dining at the revamped hotel would showcase local produce in a way not seen before on the Sunshine Coast.
“There’s loads of amazing people that grow everything from macadamia nuts to honey to pigs and chickens and vegetables around the place,” Mr Ezrine said.
“We’re collaborating with them to invest in that infrastructure, invest in that supply chain, so that we can have a consistent offering here in Kin Kin to support what we’re doing.
“The way we’re approaching it is very much less is more – we’re not looking to build a giant monster and have hundreds of customers, hundreds of staff. We want to find a smaller approach to do it where the engagement with our customer is more authentic, where we get to have more quality time with customers, really reinvent hospitality.
“Coming from overseas, I sort of evaluate the current offerings of hospitality here and I’m left a little wanting. We think we can build a style or a format to do this in a way that we’re not telling people that ‘oh, you’ve only got your table for 45 minutes before we need it back, please move on’, we want to say the exact opposite.”
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Mr Ezrine said the future Chophouse would be “an elevated experience” using its own whole-carcass butchery.
“We’re currently working with a lot of farmers that do the right kind of husbandry we need to have the animals in the right shape to insure they are chemical-free and will yield the best product,” he said.
“Then we butcher them down whole and get to have all the unique things like bacons and sausages and drippings that you really don’t have the opportunity to do in the current supply chain here.”
The 10 accommodation rooms will also not open until after Christmas but will be offered to groups rather than individual bookings.
“All or nothing is what our approach is because we think there’s a lot of people that want to come and have a great meal and an experience up here, stay the night and be able to feel like they’ve got the whole floor up there to themselves,” Mr Ezrine said.
“In days gone by we had the bathrooms and everything down the hall so it doesn’t lend itself to having a mixed group of people, and we think it’s going to be more fun to have groups take the whole thing out.”
Originally from the US, Mr Ezrine describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur” who has been involved in real estate, technology and hotel businesses, as well as Big Green Egg ceramic barbecues, which he says are “all over the world”. He migrated with his family from the UK before discovering Kin Kin.
“We needed something to get our teeth into and came across the old, somewhat derelict heritage pub here in Kin Kin that was in much need of repair and investment,” he said.
“We purchased that quite some time ago and subsequently then purchased the rest of the main commercial street and the surrounding acreage, as you do, and really looked at the opportunity to bring a food-based destination to the rural hinterland.”
He was also drawn to Kin Kin by his business partner Matthew Flynn, who has long-standing family ties to the region.
“We’ve known each other for many, many years,” Mr Ezrine said.
“Funny enough, he’s probably the reason we discovered the pub in the first place. His mother is originally from Kin Kin, they grew up here and I think Matt’s mum and sisters used to run the manual switchboard in the telephone exchange here when they were younger. That’s how far back that dates.”
The hotel has been advertising for staff, and he has brought in some highly credentialled personnel to run the kitchens.
“We’ve already brought out Richard and Kirsty Mundt, who were running the bakery at Agnes restaurant in Brisbane, which just got voted the best restaurant in all of Australia (by Gourmet Traveller),” he said.
“They’re running a bakery and pastries and everything like this at the Black Ant, which is another business we have across the street from the pub.
“And of course we have Oscar Holgado, who I’ve known for years from England and is running the hotel program.
“From a staffing point of view it’s a challenge. We’re looking for people who are really passionate and skilled in these various pursuits, as well as people who are willing to train and upskill others to learn what they know.”
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Mr Ezrine said the renovation had been painstaking but hoped the reopening would be well received.
“When we took over we wanted to continue operating it … but then when those floods hit we said, ‘you know what, doing both these things (operating the hotel and renovating) at the same time is a fool’s errand’,” he said.
“It was the height of Covid, hiring people was nearly impossible, so we just took a view of closing and saying that if we’re going to do it, let’s do it properly and however long it takes we’ll just get to doing it.
“We’ve had a tremendous turning out of a lot of local trades in the area that have helped with everything from things like restoring the windows, to the plumbing and the electrical. We’re really lucky that we’ve had such good trades right here local to us that we found that also I think are really proud to get involved with a project like this and see it in their own community be rejuvenated.
“It’s taken a long time, we haven’t been cutting corners. We didn’t really have a burning pressure to say ‘oh, we must open by a given date’, as opposed to just doing it properly. So that’s what’s been driving our decisions.”
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