Cafe culture to the fore at national hospitality awards

Media release from Hospitality NZ

Cafe culture to the fore and country hotels resurgent at this year's national hospitality awards

The emergence of New Zealand’s café culture and a resurgence in the popularity of country hotels within the Kiwi hospitality scene have both come to the fore at this year’s Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.

The supreme title at the awards was taken out by a café in New Zealand’s southernmost city, while three rural hotels have taken out other accolades in the annual nationwide competition.

The Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence were announced in Queenstown on Thursday 26 September. The Supreme Champion award was presented to The Batch Café in Invercargill, while accolades were presented to country pubs in the townships of Matakana just north of Auckland, Chatto Creek near the Central Otago township of Alexandra, and Kumara on the West Coast of the South Island.

Winners were announced in 16 categories and encompassed a vast geographic spread of hospitality businesses throughout the country. The winners in the 2013 Awards for Excellence are:

Supreme Champion

The Batch Café, Invercargill.

Best New/Redeveloped Bar/Restaurant

Matakana Village Pub, Matakana, North of Auckland.

Best Country Hotel

Chatto Creek Tavern, Central Otago.

Excellence in Host Responsibility

Christchurch Casino.

Excellence in Training and Staff Development

The Batch Café, Invercargill.

Best Restaurant

Pumice, Hamilton.

Excellence in Gaming

Yardhouse, Hamilton.

Best Accommodation Hotel

Rydges Wellington.

Best Environmental, Sustainable and Ethical Practice

Ascot Park Hotel, Invercargill.

Best New/Redeveloped Accommodation Hotel

Theatre Royal Hotel Kumara, West Coast.

Excellence in Customer Service

Portlander Restaurant, Wellington.

Best Café

The Batch Café, Invercargill.

Best Bar

St Johns Heineken Bar, Wellington.

Excellence in Marketing

Portlander Restaurant, Wellington.

Best Music Entertainment Venue

Studio The Venue, Auckland.

Best Lamb Dish Under $25

The Clare Inn Irish Pub, Auckland (Slow roasted lamb shoulder rack with choux potatoes, smoked tomato ratatouille and mint pesto).

Best Beef Dish Under $25

No.1 High Street, Auckland CBD (Steak and egg – grilled beef tenderloin with sautéed kowiniwini potato, baby spinach and enoki mushrooms, fried quail egg, merlot and demi glaze jus).

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Bruce Robertson said it was the first time that the Supreme Champion award had been presented to a café. Traditionally, the accolade had been bestowed on bars, accommodation hotels, and large restaurants.

“This achievement by The Batch is a reflection that café culture in New Zealand has well and truly come of age. Kiwis have known for more than a decade that our coffee is among the best anywhere in the world, and now a café has battled it out with some of the biggest players in the country’s hospitality sector to deservedly take out the top title,” Mr Robertson said.

“We’ve also seen the growing resurgence of country pubs in New Zealand gathering momentum in recent years. Not only are country pubs the hub of the local community, as they always has been, but they are now also becoming veritable tourist attractions in their own right.”

Mr Robertson said that from an industry perspective, it was extremely encouraging to see the list of winners spread so broadly across New Zealand.

“We have award winners in the big cities, the provincial centres, and in remote rural locations. From a consumer’s point of view, that shows they can take confidence in the quality of hospitality establishments accessible virtually anywhere in New Zealand – and in some places it creates the enjoyable dilemma of just where to stay or visit,” he said.

Entrants into the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence were judged over a six week period by a panel of independent industry professionals who assess every competitor on a range of commercial and operational criteria – including staff training and human resources, customer service, marketing and promotional activities, and the demonstration of business growth.

For more information go to www.hospitalitynz.org.nz/Events

ENDS

© Scoop Media