End of era as Black Cow Bistro, Launceston owners "pass baton" to employees

Craig Will and Bianca and James Welsh, the hospitality entrepreneurs behind Stillwater Restaurant, said their decision to sell Black Cow to three of the restaurant's employees felt like "passing the baton" to the new generation.

"Our ethos has always been to look for great people and bring them into the fold, and definitely these three guys have shown they're part of the family, loyal hard-working team members," she said.

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They are selling to Black Cow employees Thomas Tyler, Ethan Han, and Nabin Gurung, who take over just as the restaurant emerges from a difficult pandemic period.

Business plunged after the onset of the pandemic and introduction of rules restricting the number of patrons came into effect.

"Owning a business is challenging at the best of times, and you definitely have to say the last two to three years have not been the best of times," said Ms Welsh.

"Battling with border closures and particularly for us at Black Cow, prior to COVID, we had a lot of international customers, and to lose that overnight was devastating, and then to lose interstate was devastating."

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She said her and her co-owners were looking to "carve out more time for family and other pursuits".

"For us and Craig we have young kids, and we feel like it was time to pass the business on to some new energy."

New co-owner Thomas Tyler said taking over the restaurant at such a rocky time was a daunting experience. But he has seen business resurge strongly since Christmas.

"It seems to have recovered significantly as far as I can tell, we are pretty much booked out, and four out of five nights a week it's pretty hard to get a table in here," Mr Tyler said.

Two of the new owners have interesting immigrant backgrounds - head chef Nabin Gurung arrived in Australia in 2009 from a Bhutanese refugee camp, and started at Stillwater as an apprentice chef in 2011.

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Ethan Han immigrated from South Korea and was granted permanent residency in Australia only last year.

"We think that's a great part of the story that they're bringing and adding to the Launceston community," Ms Welsh said.

Mr Tyler - Launceston born and bred - said he was "pretty disillusioned" with the hospitality industry before he started at Black Cow as an apprentice chef in 2016.

"To be honest I thought I'd had enough I thought I would give one more job a try and these guys really showed me the value of proper training and working in a place that is functional and like a family," he said.

There is no change to the menu planned for now, which focuses on all things beef, and uses some of Tasmania's most premium cuts, including mouth-watering Robins Island wagyu, and dry-aged organic sides and trims.

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