Client Story: Lake House
How Lake House pioneered destination dining with the right partner
An hour-long drive northwest of Melbourne, Daylesford rests among mineral springs, wooded hills and long-established farmland, and has become a destination where wellness, creativity and exceptional dining meet. At the heart of this is Lake House, the family-run hospitality retreat that has guided the town’s rise as one of regional Australia’s foremost culinary destinations.
Forty years ago, though, the town was a quiet rural outpost on the map for potato farming and its mineral springs but definitely not known for fine countryside dining. Alla Wolf-Tasker and her partner in business and life, the late Allan Wolf-Tasker, saw this as a canvas.
Watch this video to hear how Lake House and Pitcher Partners Melbourne have worked closely over the years, building a relationship defined by trust, honesty and complete transparency.
A bold beginning
Alla had just returned from France, where she had fallen in love with the idea of destination dining. These were places shaped by local produce, craftsmanship, community and the character of their region. Australia had nothing like this at the time, recalls Alla.
The city’s fine dining scene was “sort of overblown,” she says, and the countryside had almost nowhere to eat. Out of this absence came the seed of Lake House.
Alla and Allan took a bold step and purchased a neglected paddock in Daylesford. They spent four years working every weekend to build the restaurant they imagined. When Lake House finally opened its doors in 1984 as a 45-seat weekend only venue, it marked the beginning of something extraordinary.
And as Lake House evolved, it drew on trusted advisors to strengthen the business over time.
Finding the advisors
In the early years, the business relied on the same tax advice that had served Allan well in the past. As Lake House grew, the advice no longer matched the complexity of the restaurant and things needed to change. A long-standing friend stepped in with firm guidance, urging them to “get someone really good, really good, and don’t mess around with this.”
Several names were suggested and they chose Pitcher Partners. “The support has been enormous,” Alla says. It was the beginning of a partnership that would support every major milestone that followed.
Melanie Dawes, Partner at Pitcher Partners, began working with Lake House in 2003. Over the years, she and Alla have built a relationship defined by trust, honesty and complete transparency, guided by a shared commitment to the business
For Alla, having Melanie as what she calls “the adjudicator” means she’s really part of the family. “Melanie has helped us through some really tough times. You do need someone in your corner,” Alla says.
Like all good things, the relationship developed over time. Alla admits that in the early days she would storm out of meetings unsure of the advice she was hearing. “But she (Melanie) did know,” says Alla. She also adds that Melanie could resolve the issues that genuinely required attention, offering the financial and operational guidance that keeps a hospitality business steady for decades.
Rhythm and discipline
Behind Lake House’s creativity is a disciplined operational engine. The family, led by Alla and supported by her daughter Larissa, works closely with Melanie to maintain a rhythm of regular review, careful planning and focused attention on the numbers. They review weekly trading results against forecasts, examining kitchen margins, wages and overheads to ensure the business stays on track. This structure frees the family to focus on hospitality, design and innovation, knowing the business foundations are strong.
Melanie also reviews each of the key business functions and shares insights across other industries she works with, helping Lake House make informed decisions for their long-term benefit.
Importantly, the relationship reaches far beyond Melanie alone. Alla values the personal connection and the breadth of capability available across Pitcher Partners, which has supported the business through different stages of its growth.
Lake House is now one of Australia’s most renowned and awarded hospitality businesses, celebrated in The Age Good Food Guide every year since opening, and remains family-run, independent and true to the vision that first inspired its founders. Alla calls it “a bit of an enigma”, as only a few family-run restaurants in Australia have reached their fourth decade with such a strong reputation and continued ambition.
What gives Lake House confidence for the future is not only its history but the steady support behind it. “Melanie has given us a good, clear direction and she brings in support from across the firm whenever we need it,” Alla says. “We feel confident enough for them to be the expert people that we go to.”
Melanie holds deep admiration for Alla. “She is hardworking, creative and has contributed so much to the community. She and Allan put Daylesford on the map. They followed their passion and created something remarkable. Alla is the soul of the restaurant.”
Through the toughest period
In 2019, Lake House opened Dairy Flat Farm, a long-held dream that brought Alla’s farm-to-table philosophy full circle. The 38-acre regenerative property in nearby Musk features six private suites, extensive vegetable gardens, a vineyard, established olive grove, and an orchard of 350 heritage fruit trees. Within months, the pandemic arrived, testing the ambitious expansion at its most vulnerable moment. For Melanie, the period was a defining moment in the partnership. “COVID was a real turning point. We were speaking on a daily basis as the situation evolved.”
With Melanie’s support through the daily uncertainties that followed, the estate has flourished into everything Alla envisioned, a working farm supplying Lake House with rare and interesting produce, a bake house producing all the restaurant’s slow-fermented sourdough and viennoiserie, and a destination offering immersive experiences from farm tours to baking classes. Today, Dairy Flat Farm thrives as the centrepiece of Lake House’s culinary vision, welcoming guests who seek both the authenticity of productive farm life and the luxury of hotel-style comfort.
The relationship grew deeper through those conversations, as they stood beside each other during unprecedented times.
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