Chef’s e- commerce venture proves a satisfying side dish

To get out of debt, chef Martin Bosley has been forced to come up with new ways of creating revenue streams outside the running of his namesake restaurant.

The award- winning chef fell on hard times during last year’s winter, when Wellington diners tightened their purse strings.

Bosley said business had been picking up but it would be at least another 18 months before the Oriental Pde eatery was back in the black.

To bring in extra funds, he will be selling condiments, cookware and high- end home delivery gourmet meals through a website called Bos- ley’s Pantry. ‘‘ It’s definitely forced me to think a lot differently, more like a businessman than a chef, restaurateur or host,’’ he said.

The website is a joint venture with a business partner who helped to fund the ‘‘ several thousand dollars and a lot of time’’ development of the website, sharing the profits from online sales.

‘‘ We had to really shift our thinking around here in terms of the dynamics, because it was such a departure from running a restaurant,’’ Bosley said.

‘‘ Restaurants are fixed income: there are 10 tables, you can seat 40 people, that’s it. Bringing another revenue stream like this in is fantastic.’’

The website sells bottles of his ‘‘ cult classic’’ Palm Sugar dressing, used on salads at the restaurant, and brown Marty’s Sauce, perfected at the City Market he co- founded. ‘‘ That’s the sauce I put on the bacon sandwiches that are pretty famous down at the markets.’’

The lemon syrup is from an old family recipe. Mediterranean and Asian spice mixes and his Nam Jim sauce, ‘‘ the perfect balance between sweet, sour and salty’’, will be introduced in coming weeks.

Bosley said margins online were ‘‘ good’’ because he manufactured and sold the products directly for the same price that Wellington gourmet food stores had them on the shelf for.

Sleeve- style labels secured with a rubber band and hand- dated with batch numbers conveyed the ‘‘ cottage industry’’ feel that he wanted to communicate.

In about two months he will launch online ordering for overnight home delivery meals for two, including oxtail, duck, lamb shanks and the chocolate terrine he has had on menus for decades.