Toby Stuart: Michelin Star Chef on the launch of their new luxury retreat in Abel Tasman

A more analogue type of vacation at a new retreat. 

Created by Kiwi Michelin Star Chef Toby Stuart and his wife Sabina Bronicka-Stuart, ‘Slow Stay’ is a luxury retreat over the Abel Tasman. 

The idea is to switch off technology and relax, recuperate, recharge, and reconnect with one another and the world around us.  

It’s tapping into the global wellness tourism market, which is projected to hit US$2.1 trillion by 2030 – growing at 12% per year. 

Stuart told Mike Hosking that while it’s not cheap, there is value for money. 

Some of the things included are dinner, breakfast, yoga classes, and wellness facilities, and he says it’s up to guests whether they want to embrace the wellness elements or embrace a bit of indulgence.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good news story from our tourism see to Toby Stewart
Michelin star chef who's back in the country opening up
his own multimillion dollar luxury slow stay retreat. This isn't
the able Tasman. It's all about switching off tech and
reconnecting over conversation and dinner, that sort of thing. This
taps into the global wellness tourism market, which is projected
by the Way to hit over two trillion dollars by

(00:20):
twenty thirty. Anyway, Toby's well this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Mate, Hi, good morning Mike. Thank you so much for
having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Not at all how big a punters this do you reckon?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well? For me, it's everything, you know, we've put everything
on the line, remort to the house, you know we are.
We're very confident that we've got a great product and
we're really looking forward to kind of welcoming our guests
to come and have a slice of the Tasmas sun
and relax, recopery, recharge, maybe disconnect from the electronic devices

(00:55):
for a while and just embrace maybe a spit of nature.
You know, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Top end and you're charging big money. Is it local
or international? Do you think.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
We'd like it to be for everybody. I think it's
top end with regards to the position of the property
and the detail and level of service that we're bringing
into it. But at the same time, we feel that
we've positioned its we feel that it is accessible. It
does provide a little bit of a value for money

(01:28):
we've in our pricing and there's a lot of added extras.
There's a lot that's included in that, being a breakfast,
yoga classes, wellness facilities. You can embrace wellness or you
can embrace a little bit of indulgence. So it's really
up to the guest of what they want to get
out of the state.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
But have you got a sauna?

Speaker 2 (01:51):
We do have a sauna. Yes, yeah, we've got a sauna,
a hot tub, we've got massage room, we've got beautiful
refreshing pool. Reviews on to the able Tasmin and then
a nice place where you can relax on the deck
and overlook Tasmin Bay, you know, where you read a
book or just enjoy some of the visits from the

(02:12):
birds and the nature we have on the property.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
What's your sense of it? Are you doing this because
it's your dream and you would have done it any
way at any time, or are you seeing something in
the tourism industry you think you have timed this about right.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
No, I think it's it's actually more of just the
kind of the stars aligning. I don't really want you know, fate,
but it's an accumulation of my lifetime work. I've been
in the industry for coming three decades, very much at
the top level, and we've always enjoyed traveling and exploring
and the hospitality scene. You enjoyed discovering new dishes, in

(02:49):
discovering new cuisines, new ingredients, and yeah, I think this
is a distillation of myself and my wife's kind of
dream and we just we really enjoy hosting people, really
into meeting people, and we kind of realized that there
was a little kind of feeling of going back to

(03:11):
maybe more sort of analog stay, more kind of embracing
a bit of wellness, and so we kind of the
timing's kind of come together quite nicely. But it's something
more of a passion project for ourselves that it's just
come together at this time, and we would have done
it anyway.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, absolutely fantastic. All I can do is wish you
well with a Toby Stewart Michelin style restaurant chef who's
opening up in the able Tasma's really a very good article.
I don't have time for now. I'll come back to
it later. That you should read over the weekend if
you're interested in this sort of thing. There's another company
in using called Oh Studio. Tim Bateman, who you may
remember is a sports guy Maury all Black. He isn't

(03:50):
a Saunas and that sort of stuff. Open a branch
in christ which he's expanding, and that wellness industry generally
talk about boom that's up to ten trillion dollars are globally.
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