Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
Michael Hopkins has been the owner of Three Little Pigs, one of the most renowned dining experiences on the mountain, for coming up on four years now. Join him as he shares with us the surprising secrets of just what makes it so special.
by Kyle Hitchmough
What made you want to open Three Little Pigs?
Essentially, I got bored of corporate work and decided I wanted to run something locally on the mountain that was close to home. This was the best option at the time.
Do you find there are any dishes that are more popular than others?
We’ve got three house specialties, which are our famous slow-roast pork belly, the salt and pepper prawns, and our calamari. They’re all locally sourced ingredients. The pork is specially grown for us in Byron Bay because we go through such high quantities and we have it in a very specific way. It’s not what most people would perceive pork belly to be, it doesn’t have just the tiny piece of meat and then a massive amount of fat. Our fat content is actually quite minimal compared to most. It’s a very specific process.
What goes into your role as owner here?
Social media setups and everything in the morning, coming in to heaps of messages on the phone about bookings, setting up the restaurant, organizing the kitchen, cleaning everything that we’ve used, get ready for lunch, ordering stock… there’s a lot involved.
What do you think gives Three Little Pigs a unique identity among other restaurants on the mountain?
We’re a very different model to what most on the mountain are. We’re very focused on regulars, whereas others are tourist-driven. There’s nothing wrong with that model, it’s just not the model we went with. 70% of my business is regulars. We see the same people. We have people who sit at the same table every single week. It’s a different business model, so we see the same demographics.
Are you a local? What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?
Yes, I am. It’s generally a pretty good community, pretty supportive and open.
What do you enjoy most about working here?
Probably the people, honestly. We’ve got so many regulars that we’ve got to know quite a lot of them as friends. It’s that constant recognition of the same people and the regulars we’ve got coming in all the time.
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Or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com, and follow me on Twitter @realcasualrvws.
