Potentia Solutions Leisure, the burgeoning Brisbane hospitality group known for Soko Rooftop and Claw BBQ, has announced its most ambitious project to date with Latin American-inspired restaurant Azteca set to open at Queen’s Wharf Brisbane as part of the high-profile development’s staged opening from August. 

Delays for Queen’s Wharf due to construction pressures, while its part-owner The Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) awaits a decision on its ability to hold a casino licence in Queensland, gave the Potentia team more time to explore creative options for the new venue, and secure Zac Sykes as head chef.

Most recently Sykes helped open Brisbane Italian restaurant Executive 203 with executive chef Ben O’Donoghue last year, and has previously led Merivale venues such as The Fish Shop in Potts Point and the Coogee Pavilion, as well as Matt Moran’s North Bondi Fish and Brisbane Japanese izakaya location Boom Boom Room with executive chef Jake Nicholson.

The head chef is expected to focus on bringing food from different parts of Latin America with Asian influences and a light Australian touch to the offerings at the https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/126-seater Azteca, using the freshest, locally sourced seasonal ingredients. 

Potentia’s founder and CEO Ross Ledingham tells Business News Australia that discussions around the venue at Queen’s Wharf started in 202https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/1 and it has been a “labour of love for some time”.

“When a great, landmark, one-in-a-lifetime opportunity like the Queen’s Wharf casino comes along, you have to jump at it,” says Ledingham, winner of the 2023 Australian Young Entrepreneur Award – Hospitality & Tourism and an Australia’s Top https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/100 Young Entrepreneurs lister.

“This will be our most elevated dining experience – it will be the higher end of everything that we do, which is why we’ve taken that extra time we’ve had through the delays of the properly finetune everything, from the hand-carved wooden wall that we’re putting in to close off a private dining room, to the waterfall walls on the other walls to give it that tranquil feeling with all the greenery.”

Azteca joins the growing list of dining experiences destined for The Star Brisbane, including Black Hide by Gambaro and Italian Cucina Regina which will be alongside it on the terrace, as well as Sokyo Brisbane, celebrity chef Luke Nguyen’s Fat Noodle, Sky Deck’s Aloria, Babblers and Cicada Blu, live entertainment venue LiveWire, and a sports bar.

“We looked at a number of sites in the property…there are four prime positions at the front of the property on the waterfront,” he says.

“Our view looks directly at Lina Rooftop (another Potentia venue), so it stands out,” he says. 

“Although it’s a little bit smaller than the other three that are available on the terrace, the reason we chose it is if you’re coming across the bridge from South Bank and you’re looking to head up to the beautiful skydeck, you have to walk past the front of Azteca, and if you’re coming in from the street in the city then you’ve got exactly the same thing there too.”

This won’t be Potentia’s first time embarking on a Latin American food venue, with Soko Rooftop involving the Peruvian-Japanese fusion known in Peru as Nikkei, and Mexican restaurant Carmen Tequileria in Fortitude Valley – the inner-Brisbane suburb where the company’s journey began with another Latin American concept, the now discontinued Argentinian barbecue venue Evita. 

The upcoming opening is one of many in the pipeline for Potentia, which Ledingham says is also set to take the Soko concept to Sydney next year, open a second Claw BBQ at Carindale Westfield in September and also franchise the brand to other locations, and bring a new multi-purpose dining district to Brisbane’s southside that will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with restaurants, a venue function space, indoor kids’ play area, production kitchen, coffee roastery and petting zoo.

Related story: Potentia’s rise as the hospitality powerhouse behind some of Brisbane’s hottest new venues

Amidst cost-of-living pressures on the consumer side and inflation on the supply side as well, Ledingham says a decision was made this year to not increase prices even though wages have gone up and the company is also sponsoring staff visa’s to work in Australia in order to fill its workforce requirements, with an estimated 600-strong team.

“We’re driving a lot more social events, corporate events, family events, which has really been a great move for us. We launched our wedding platform in Lina last year with a mindset of selling for people who are having weddings this year, which is now starting to come to fruition,” he says.

“We’re doing a production kitchen and changing the way that we are approaching a lot of things to adapt to the current market.

“It feels like COVID days again, in the sense of if you’re not watching and adapting every single day, you’re on the verge of making a wrong decision and it costing you dearly.

“We’ve got to look forward, and not look down and worry about what’s around us. We’re just going to keep firing away.”