McCarthy Magic – Tapping into Thai

He’s believed to be Queenstown’s longest serving downtown restaurateur clocking up more than 30 years, and Graham McCarthy has certainly proved his Christchurch lawyer wrong.
Ever the entrepreneur looking for a new opportunity, Christchurch-based Graham thought he’d try his hand at opening a Thai restaurant in Queenstown back in 1991. “My wife was a Thai chef and it seemed like a good time to open one. Queenstown was booming,” he says. His Christchurch lawyer warned him, tongue in cheek, that he’d be back, but he wasn’t. Graham and his brother had opened one of the first backpackers’ lodges in central Christchurch in the 1980s. But Graham’s eyes were set on the land of southern alpine opportunity. “It was generally perceived by my lawyer and colleagues that a ‘good deal’ in Queenstown meant that you and your wife transferred to Queenstown and you returned to Christchurch with your wife, but minus your money.”
For the most part business in Christchurch during the early 1990s was very flat with minimal tourism. Most tourists were just passing through on the way to Queenstown. “With my wife being a Thai chef we could see that there was a market for Thai cuisine in Queenstown.”
He started out with a takeaway restaurant in 1991 in O’Connell’s Pavilion and a restaurant in Ballarat Street, then opened The Happy Wok in the Four Square building downtown. “We then opened our original Thai Siam where The Mountaineer Building is. About the same time we opened a restaurant in Wanaka, before they finished sealing the Crown Range.” That restaurant is still operating, after more than 20 years, as Thai Siam in Wanaka. They opened a Thai Japanese restaurant in Wanaka too, which has since been sold. “We also owned a hairdressing salon in Wanaka and after a few years we relocated that to the Crowne Plaza building opposite Steamer Wharf where we ran Shadina Thai Massage and Hair Salon.” It didn’t stop there. They also owned a Thai Siam in Kaikoura for 15 or 16 years, until just recently.
“We opened three restaurants in downtown Queenstown at one stage because the town was pumping and there was a market for it,” he says. “We could see the demand so decided to expand.”
In those days Graham was a bit of a builder, and realtor Duncan Brown assisted him into the perfect leasing opportunities. “We converted the original Thai Siam space in Lower Beach Street into a restaurant.” It was 1997-98 – the time of the Asian financial crisis. “People said, ‘what are you doing?!’” It had been an old pop-up shop, basically a hole in the wall, but Graham saw potential in the site where the Mountaineer Building now stands. “I knew I had a defined market and that was a great location.” Graham bashed the wall in to see what was behind, much to Duncan’s dismay. “There was a huge hole behind so I knew we could do a restaurant there,” he says. They sub-leased the space off Rob Lynes and Tony Sparks, later Johnny Stevenson.
In the last 30 years Graham and wife Rattana have seen a lot of downtown Queenstown operators who didn’t make it. “Selling food helps, but you’ve got to be a good operator and be prepared to work the long hours,” he says. “You won’t survive in Queenstown 30 years if you’re doing too much wrong.”
Former District Mayors (Sir) John Davies and Warren Cooper regularly dined at Thai Siam on Fridays together and John recommended the restaurant to a client who sold him Mercedes trucks. “That guy came to eat once and said, ‘I’m here because John Davies says you guys are good operators,” says Graham. “I look back at that and think I must have been a good operator.”
However, good staff and chefs are vital – something Queenstown operators know only too well, especially at present. “You’re only as good as them. That’s the key ingredient,” he says. He’s got more of those staff in Thailand awaiting visa approval and they will surely be welcomed. “You can only do so many dishes,” says Graham, who’s had to pitch in amid staff shortages like everyone else.
The other necessary ingredient needed for survival is some good business savvy. “People come in here and misjudge the market. They pay too much rent and don’t have the right concept of food so they don’t attract the customers,” he says. “It takes time to woo people into a new business.”
Graham says he foresaw the business drift out to Frankton before it started to occur and, while he loves downtown Queenstown, his lease was expiring so he went with the tide. Thai Siam closed up in Upper Beach Street in March last year. The lease had expired in December 2020, but Graham and Rattana were asked to stay on over summer. They opened their new restaurant under the Ramada Remarkables at Frankton late last year where they’re now still enjoying a loyal local following. It was perfect timing. “I guess we dodged a bullet by getting out at the same time they started the Beach Street upgrade, and as pandemic restrictions were implemented.”
Graham has long been an advocate for a solution to downtown Queenstown parking issues. Parking has been a huge deterrent, keeping locals away from downtown, he says. “The barrier was up halfway across Frankton Road a long time ago, saying, ‘Don’t bother coming to town as even if you do find a car park you’ll probably get a ticket,” he says. Graham reckons people need at least two and a half hours to enjoy a meal or other leisure activities without being penalised. “If they don’t adhere to that then they pay the price.”
While it was a great initiative, he believes public transport isn’t working for everybody. “I think they need to put some more emphasis on the other people in the community who don’t use public transport, like families with kids at Lake Hayes, for example, or perhaps older people. It’s often not practical for them to use the bus.”