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LAMBERT WINS THREE IN A ROW
For the third year in a row, New York-based New Zealand chef Matt Lambert has been named Best Ora King Ambassador International. Lambert founded Michelin starred restaurant The Musket Room in New York in 2013. Best Ora King Ambassador for New Zealand went to South African-born Nick Honeyman from Auckland. Auckland’s Thomas Barta from Harbourside Ocean Bar and Grill took out the New Zealand award for Best Ora King Dish, alongside Elijah Holland from Sydney winning the Best International award.
FERGBURGER NAMED BEST BURGER
Queenstown burger joint Fergburger has been named one of Lonely Planet’s “best and bizarre” burger experiences. Dubbed the “funky” eatery by the guide, they also said that the establishment serves “protein-heavy fodder to fuel you up for any number of bungee jumps, jet-boat rides and zorbing forays”. Among several recommendations, the Fergburger’s lamb burger came out tops.
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MARS BEST WORKPLACE
Mars NZ has been named NZ’s best workplace. Mars, which has won the category for Best Medium-Large Workplace seven times since 2007, beat almost 200 organisations to receive this year’s top award in New Zealand’s longest running and largest measure of employee engagement. “Mars NZ has been a leading light for organisations looking to improve performance through engaged people for many years now,” said Leighton Abbot, senior consultant, IBM Smarter Workforce. This year over 30,000 employees from 193 NZ organisations representing private and public sectors participated in the survey.
NEW INDUSTRY CATERING STANDARDS During the recent V8 racing event at Pukekohe, thousands of motor industry personnel, corporate and private guests were treated to a brilliant catering experience to match. Auckland-based company Collective Hospitality catered only for pit lane hospitality programme last year, however 2015 saw the company being awarded the full event contract over a well-respected international catering company. This included all hospitality over all sites. “New Zealand has a world class, innovative restaurant scene,” said general manager of Collective Hospitality Martin Smith. “For example there is brilliant shared-dining but catering has fallen behind restaurants in that regard. Collective Hospitality brings the best of the New Zealand restaurant business and adapts the systems and process to suit corporate catering.”