Southland businesses take 4 accolades at hospitaliy awards

Media release from Hospitality NZ

Southland businesses take out four accolades at national hospitality awards

An Invercargill café has become the first café in New Zealand to take out the top honour at the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence winning the Supreme Champion accolade.

The Batch Café took out the title when the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence were announced in Queenstown last night. En-route to the top award, The Batch Café won the Excellence in Training and Staff Development category and also won the Best Café category.

Fellow Invercargill hospitality business the Ascot Park Hotel also won the Best Environmental, Sustainable and Ethical Practice category at the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.

Winners were announced in 16 categories and encompassed a vast geographic spread of hospitality businesses throughout the country.

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.

Mr Robertson added that from an industry perspective, it was extremely encouraging to see Southland so well represented amongst the list of winners – which stretched as far north as the Bay of Islands.

“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, even our southern-most city – 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/Awards for Excellence

ENDS

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