Hospitality Business February 2021

STATE OF THE NATION 2021 | ALBERT ROUX'S KIWI LEGACY | TOP FOOD SAFETY TIPS

www.hospitalitybusiness.co.nz FEBRUARY 2021 Vol.8 No.1

iVario Pro

The new performance class.

Reimagined. Reinvented.

NEW ZEALAND’S LARGEST HOSPITALITY AUDIENCE

Contents REGULARS 6 DIGEST 2021 industry events & news to note.

8 RESTAURANT NEWS New openings & hospitality initiatives.

LEADERS FORUM

PEOPLE 18 Chef of the Month: Toby Stuart.

From London to Marlborough.

20 M ichelin Chef Albert Roux’s Kiwi Legacy.

The NZ connection.

FEATURES 10 COMMERCIAL KITCHENS Equipment & trends for 2021.

23 TRAINING How to encourage secondary school students into the hospitality industry.

24 FOOD SAFETY Top tips for kitchen cleanliness

26 2021 LEADERS FORUM

26 06

A State Of The Nation report highlighting the challenge we face this year from key leaders including Minister Stuart Nash, and Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff.

28 18

10

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 3

Editor February 2021 Vol. 8 No. 1

Uncertain roadmaps a good start Kimberley Dixon kdixon@intermedianz.co.nz 0274 505 502

As Hospitality Business goes to press we have yet again been sent a curve ball in the form of COVID-19 in the community, released twice this time from an MIQ quarantine hotel. As health officials and border workers scramble to find the sources and strive to reduce the community harm by reviewing hotel procedures, it can be difficult to remain optimistic as many of us have been jolted back to the reality of the virus. However, New Zealand still leads the world in the way we have managed the pandemic and a quick review of global deaths and hospitalisations certainly backs this up.

Our February issue contains a State Of The Nation feature from key industry leaders with both important advice and sage reflections of our current position. 2021 will not be easy for the hospitality and tourism industry, yet it is good to know associations such as the Restaurant Association of New Zealand are working on an industry roadmap with the Government to produce workable solutions.This year has also marked the passing of one of the world’s greatest chefs, Albert Henri Roux, OBE. We take a look at his career and his Kiwi legacy (pages 18 -21), from two angles – our Chef of the Month, Toby Stuart gained valuable exposure to and within the Roux empire, and leading chefs/tutors at AUT’s School of Hospitality & Tourism learned valuable life and work skills from Chef Roux.

Enjoy our first edition for 2021 in which we also look at cloud kitchens and commercial kitchen innovations; food safety and food trends.

And finally as a reader asked via our website www. hospitalitybusiness.co.nz , make it easy for your customers to scan the QR code. Don’t hide it on the counter or out of easy sight. Have more than one and encourage patrons to do the “team of five million” thing.

Or go further and offer discounts for patrons who use the QR Scan, like the entrepreneurs of Ohiri’s Black’s bar who incentivised patrons to scan with a 10 percent discount on purchases at their Southland operations for participating!

Kia Kaha

Kimberley Dixon

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www.hospitalitybusiness.co.nz On the Cover: BURNS & FERRALL RATIONAL, the market leader in multifunctional foodservice technology, have launched the iVario® product line to the New Zealand market, joining the 2020 release of the iCombi® Pro.

Explore the range at rationalnz.co.nz

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4 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

Are pirates stealing your customers?

There are bars and sports clubs out there right now stealing Sky content and in turn, stealing potential customers from you.

If you have concerns about a venue showing Sky Content without a legitimate commercial license, email us on piracy@sky.co.nz and we will investigate. Please note, you will remain anonymous throughout the process.

We treat piracy seriously.

Digest In association with Hospitality Business’ online newsletter www.hospitalitybusiness.co.nz

Calling Young Chefs Applications are now open for young New Zealand chefs to plate up their best beef and lamb dishes in the hope of becoming the very first Beef + Lamb Young Ambassador Chef.

For twenty-five years, Beef + Lamb New Zealand has been shaping the careers of chefs around the country by selecting those who are creating and serving incredible beef and lamb dishes in their restaurants to be Ambassador Chefs.

To celebrate this milestone, Beef + Lamb New Zealand is offering a one-off opportunity for a young emerging chef to put their culinary skills to the test and join the 2021 Ambassador Chefs - Tejas Nikam, Paddock to Plate Waikato; Phil Clark, Phil’s Kitchen; Jack Crosti, Mela and Norka Mella Munoz, Mangapapa Hotel.

Beef + Lamb Foodservice Manager, Lisa Moloney says the winning young chef will be someone who is hungry to learn more and take up opportunities to be mentored by some of New Zealand’s top chefs.

“We see the young chef as someone who can showcase their passion for cooking with New Zealand beef and lamb and use this opportunity to grow their culinary skills to tell the paddock to plate story in an exciting and innovative way.” says Moloney.

Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chef, Phil Clark of Phil’s Kitchen started his career at the tender age of 15 and says he is looking forward to the opportunity to give back to the industry and encourage young chefs to get creative in the kitchen.

“My advice to any young chef is to take your time and get the foundations right – there is no rush. Spend time working under great chefs and learn as much as you can and the rest will follow.”

Applications are now open and close at midnight on Friday February 12th. Young chefs will need to present their best beef and lamb dishes with three finalists being invited to a cook-off event in Auckland in March 2021.

Sebel set to open mid 2021 Hospitality Training Trust Grants Open Applications are now open for the Hospitality Training Trust’s 2021 grants. Grants can range from $500 to $20,000 and all applications are viewed on their merit to see how they will benefit the hospitality industry through relevant training and education.

For the past decade the trust has helped fund individuals, businesses and charities wanting to make a difference in the hospitality industry. Some of the many recipients include Hospitality New Zealand, Manukau Institute of Technology, Dine Academy, Onehunga High School and Soul Bar & Bistro.

“The Trust began in 2011 to advance training New Zealand,” says Bruce Robertson, Chair of the Hospitality Training Trust. “We used funds that had originally been taken by the Government of the day as the Tavern Tax, to encourage the building of tourism accommodation. We didn’t want the funds that had been dedicated to the hospitality sector to be diluted, so we set up the Trust to protect the funds as an asset for the industry.”

Anyone in the industry can apply and Robertson says they deliberately keep the parameters as loose as possible in order for everyone to have a chance. “if you have a project that will make a difference to the hospitality sector we would like to hear from you.”

Visit the website – www.hospitalitytrainingtrust.org.nz and complete the online application form. Applications close on April 18, 2021 with successful grants announced late May 2021.

6 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

Opening in mid-2021, Accor’s new-build, The Sebel Wellington Lower Hutt, will overlook the Hutt River, a short drive from Wellington International Airport.

Built in partnership with Hutt City Council’s project for the New Civic Centre, which includes a new 800-seater Events Centre adjoining the city’s historic Town Hall, the apartment-style hotel boasts 60 fully serviced studios and one bedroom apartments.

It will provide a modern and convenient place for business and leisure visitors to stay while attending conferences, exhibitions or events. Complete with a restaurant and bar, Biscotti, this new hotel is designed to ’embrace The Sebel brand standards’, with warm, stylish and homely furnishings to make guests feel welcome Meanwhile the Mercure Auckland Queen Street is a 96-room hotel spanning eight stories. The hotel, which is expected to open its doors to guests in late quarter one 2021, will also feature a restaurant with street frontage and a boardroom, and is located at the top-end of Queen Street. The building is evolving from an office conversion, and will find new life as a hotel .

DIGEST

Cheese Awards Under New Judge

Sparking Hope in Dark Times Pantone has announced its two colours for 2021. They are Ultimate Gray and Illuminating, a combination of dull, familiar gray and the bright yellow of lemon skin.

It’s a choice for the past year of quarantine, a time in which we had to insulate ourselves from the world and curl up in monochrome blankets at home: “It’s a dependable gray,” as Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Colo Institute, told the New York Times.

“The gray of cloudy skies, sidewalk cement, comfortable bed linens, gravity blankets, or low-light screens—the colour evokes our collective experiences over the past year. It’s a depressing summation: During nine months of quarantine, we’ve certainly arrived at the “ultimate gray,” a state of mind—mush—as much as the colour of a product. Grayness means ambiguity and irresolution. Neither black nor white, it doesn’t point toward an ending, just the continuation of an indefinite period. With coronavirus cases still mounting in the United States, that’s certainly where we’re at.”

Though the colour of the year is meant as a trend forecast, an evidence-based finding on which hues are newly popular for interior designs in both residential commercial settings such as restaurants, the 2021 picks seem clearly metaphorical, more of a marketing message than a trend.

How many businesses have been shut down because of the pandemic. But that’s not particularly marketable. (The architectural trend of all-plywood interiors now seems both prescient and depressing as it represents boarded up shop fronts.)

Feature

NZ Champions of Cheese Awards 2021 will be held at Ignite Colleges on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 February 2021 under new Master Judge Jason Tarrant. Medal winners will be named on 16 March with the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards Gala Dinner planned for Hamilton on May 5 2021.

The Awards are owned and organised by the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) and NZSCA chair Neil Willman said they celebrate the best NZ cheese as well as helping improve quality by providing benchmarking and feedback to cheesemakers. He says the Awards play a key part in the Association’s promotion of local cheese.

Tarrant is the first New Zealander to head the judging for the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards following the eight-year reign of Australian, Russell Smith. Last year another Australian, Scott Bolch was announced as Smith’s successor however, the current Covid-19 travel restrictions mean Bolch is unavailable.

In 2020 the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards recognised three Supreme Champion Awards and this will continue for 2021. As will the Chef’s Choice Award, which was also introduced this year.

The announcement of trophy winners will be at a four-course gala dinner – featuring a selection of winning cheeses - at Sky City Hamilton on Wednesday 5 May 2021. NZSCA is expecting 300 guests from throughout the country at the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards 2021. Online entry is via the NZSCA website https://nzsca.org.nz/

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NEW OPENINGS

Winning Formula at Riverside Market A vibrant central Christchurch hub.

I

n just over a year Christchurch’s Riverside Market has scooped three major awards and is being heralded for greatly bolstering business in the city centre as popularity and crowd numbers continue to swell.

An innovative concept created by three prominent Christchurch property investors Kris Inglis, Mike Percasky and Richard Peebles, Riverside Market now boasts an amazing array of 80 tenants, offering everything from fresh fruit and produce, to artisan foods, delicious tailor-made meals, drinks and deli-style items.

Tenants pay anything from as little as $25,000 a year to lease a site in what has become a fun, very busy, vibrant central city hub drawing in crowds of 20,000 or more on busy Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

More than 10,000 people visit the market on any average day. Kris says they had 270,000 people through the main doors during October last year.

“In the last four months of 2020 it’s been booming,” he says. “The greatest thing is we didn’t suck customers from the surrounding central city businesses.

Instead their trading went up with hospitality operators on neighbouring Oxford Terrace reporting a 20 percent increase since Riverside Market opened and nearby Cashel Mall retail numbers up by 10 to 30 percent,” he says. “It really has helped to create a more

vibrant, interesting and active inner city experience.”

It’s all about accommodating all different food offerings and not all operators starting out can sustain a seven-day a week operation or afford the full rent, so the trio launched Riverside Collective as part of the market as well.

Twenty smaller boutique-style businesses that are getting established and growing their brand and sales are based here and pay anything from $50 to $175 a week for their space, which includes allotted shelf display or chilled storage. These operators share a one day a week staffing roster, regularly offering on-site tastings and product displays of everything from local honey and oils to nuts, crackers, vegan dishes, sauces, cakes and pastries.

The main market is a 100 percent hospitality offering – Riverside Farmer’s Market and its incredible variety of super fresh local food with many stallholders offering the option to buy fresh and have it cooked on site to their liking.

‘The Butcher’s Mistress’ is a full gate to plate experience selling fresh cuts of local Rangiora-raised meat, offering the full story about how the animals have been raised and grazed, and processed on-site at the owners’ processing facility.

Customers can select cuts and have them

8 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

grilled on site by star chefs Ryan Henare Mitchell and Elliot Prouting.

Their colourful breakfast cook-ups – omelettes, bacon and eggs through to the delicious briskets, steak, sandwiches and lamb chops, seasoned with plenty of personality and local flavour, are proving to be a big hit. At The Little Fish Co. fresh fishmonger Andrew Brown does the same. He uses his connections with fishing boats, quota and processing plants to ensure the fish land fresh at the market daily. Andrew offers a fresh fish and chip offering during which customers can select from half a dozen fish species and have that grilled or battered right before their eyes.

Charing Cross Cheesery cuts direct from the wheel, selling a huge selection of 15 to 20 different local cheeses, offering tastings and delighting fans with its tasty cheese toasties.

Veggie Guy Bobby – Peter Veon – not only keeps hundreds of customers in fresh fruit and vegetables, but also supplies on-site tenants daily. He’s becoming renowned for having some of the freshest and cheapest local produce in the city which is building a strong daily shop following, says Kris.

Peter is now expanding to offer a fresh salad bar and other dried food products.

Partly covered and partly open air, there’s an incredible atmosphere formed around this exciting new

NEW OPENINGS community hub, on the banks of the Avon River opening out onto Friendship Park. Free live entertainment is a regular added attraction and the management now has a master liquor licence to cover every tenant, which Kris says makes it much easier to police and control.

Each tenant shares the costs of managing this and it makes for a more relaxed and intermingling crowd.

Riverside Retail Lanes offers crafts and other local products including clothing and homeware, even a tattoo artist.

Upstairs above the hustle and bustle of the market is Castro’s Latin American restaurant with its authentic fit-out – home to many a Latin American-style party. Adjacent are Kaiser Brew Bar and Midnight Shanghai – a Chinese dim sum restaurant run by slick operators Andy Shiau and Mia Zhao. The Cantina, a massive upstairs bar area, can easily cater for 250 people for functions but is a welcome haven for those wanting to sit and relax with a drink during their shopping.

They’ve thought of everything here.

The Riverside Kitchen, also upstairs, is a cooking school and operator Kirsten

The Little Fish Co. connects with local suppliers.

Ferg’s Bar 44 Shotover Street, Queenstown 9300 Tel : 03 441 1207 Fergsbar.com

Ferg’s Bar, which opened in July (2020) in central Queenstown’s already famous downtown ‘Ferg’ foodie precinct, has proved a welcome addition to the Ferg family, infusing some fresh post-lockdown business optimism into the resort.

Situated right next door to the Fergburger Group’s existing hospitality offerings,- the original and internationally-hailed Fergburger, Fergbaker and Mrs Ferg Gelateria,- the stylish new Ferg’s Bar brings the Ferg business family count to four.

The new venue was 85 percent complete before last year’s lockdown. General Manager Steve Bradley says it was a logical move to finish the new venue, not only as a complement to the other three businesses, but also as a boost to the local economy. Ferg’s Bar is open seven days from 7am until 2am, providing 20 welcome jobs in the resort.

The custom-built fit-out’s classy, featuring beautiful timbers, copper and brass, with a classic back-bar and a full length granite bar inlay.

Neighbouring Fergbaker provides freshlybaked croissants, brioche, Danish, sourdoughs,

Fox has built up such a following that the school is booked out several months in advance. From corporate functions to birthday parties and kids’ parties where they make sushi and bake cakes, Kirsten is a cooking dynamo.

She regularly brings in celebrity chefs for cooking demonstrations after which audiences get to sit down and enjoy the meal.

“There’s now a vibrant fresh new ambience when you come into the city centre,” says Kris. “People are wanting more of an experience when they go shopping.”

While the main lockdown hit all of the tenants hard, Kris, Mike and Richard went out of their way to take a hit and offer discounted rent relief during the lockdown and for several months after. “We probably went a bit beyond what we had to do but we wanted to ensure they could keep staff and keep the tills running even if in a limited take-away style.”

In another initiative born during lockdown, the Riverside Market Box was launched – a ‘My Food Bag’-style home delivery of fresh produce for meals, packed with fresh fish, meats, fruit, vegetables, bakery bread,

cheeses and sweet treats from the likes of Bennetto Chocolate, Izmir Delight, Kimbella’s Candy. This is all sourced and packed fresh every Tuesday morning then delivered. “We started it during the Covid-crisis to help support local businesses and get fresh product out and it’s now growing a local following,” says Kris.

Also the investors of the successful Little High Eatery co-operative-style food concept in Christchurch, the trio is pleased they took a punt on both ventures as it’s paying off.

With a Canterbury Hospitality Outstanding Innovation award, Property Council of New Zealand Best Retail Development in New Zealand award and a National Master Builders quality award all nailed within the first year, Kris, Mike and Richard are proud of what they’ve achieved. “We were up against the best new hospitality and retail developments in the country – including 277 Westfield Mall in Newmarket,” says Kris. “That’s a $300 million re-development so we are just small time compared with that, but the judges came down three times and felt Riverside had a really good energy and that we were doing something really positive to revitalise the city centre.” n

sliders and baguettes for the extensive breakfast menu.

The morning line-up includes everything from whitebait fritters, green chilli pulled belly bacon, fried eggs, tomato ragout, avocado and corn salsa, feta and a warm tortilla, to coconut rice porridge and scrambled tofu.

There’s even a Morning Pick Me Up cocktail menu.

Full all-day tapas-style shared plates star lamb shoulder sliders, duck and ginger dumplings and rabbit and pork croquettes, to name a few. Ferg’s Bar then moves on to a late night tapas menu. Group executive chef Chris Bindon alters the menu seasonally, always aiming to provide some of New Zealand’s best produce, including Bluff oysters, or course. Ferg’s also serves a wide range of classic and contemporary cocktails, alongside an international wine list with The Bloody Mary a favourite that’s enjoyed right from 8am onwards. n HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 9

COMMERCIAL KITCHENS 2021 QT’s Esther restaurant features a country-style kitchen, allowing for theatrical food preparation.

Theatrical Preparation on Display

S

uccessful 2021 commercial kitchens are embracing a combination of form, function and sustainability with design at the forefront as displayed at the QT Auckland. Creating the right magical ambiance also requires matching the menu to the fit out.

At QT Auckland’s newly opened Esther, the country-style kitchen, allows for the theatrical preparation of produce and seafood, with an open hearth, gold Marana Forni discoball wood-fired oven, and a Molteni oven in a custom hue of green.

Esther displays a host of vintage found objects as mindful decoration to evoke memory and conversation. A casual collection of vintage metal work benches, vases, urns and ceramic kitchenware are inspired by Chef Sean Connolly’s grandmother and how she used to bring joy to the family dining table.

With a mix of traditional techniques and New Zealand ingredients, standouts from Connolly include the custom lamb tomahawk, the vibrant Te Anau saffron linguine, barrel-aged feta

Matching the menu to the fit out. at the centre of a Greek salad; an everchanging selection of freshly caught daily seafood, and to finish the feast six farmhouse puddings.

Guests also walk away with a seed packet by Clevedon-based tomato growers, Curious Croppers, to remember their dining experience.

QT Auckland General Manager Doron Whaite says, “From fashion to art and music, no detail was spared in bringing QT’s signature service to life here in Auckland. Throughout the hotel, including Esther and Rooftop at QT, there are so many carefully considered components to discover, all pointing to a central narrative of unearthing hidden treasure.”

Public spaces bursting with local flair An iconic presence at the doors of QT Auckland, guests are greeted with theatrical flair by a Director of Chaos armed with insider knowledge for guests to navigate the City of Sails. Dressed in an empowering ensemble by local fashion

Timed for accuracy

At 10 KFCs owned by Jody Luihn in Morrisville, North Carolina, fryers and pressure cookers communicate with the same system as the cash register.

The fryer signals when the shortening is hot enough, times the cooking of the chicken and reports when 32 new pieces are available for sale.

Once the pieces are fried, a screen advises how long they have been held and when to discard them. It rates the store on selling pieces while they’re fresh and dings it for selling pieces that aren’t. “Because you’re managing the cook cycle and the hold times closer, you run out of chicken less,” Luihn says. “The chicken is hotter as well, and the customers notice that.”

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Design, form & function play key roles in commercial kitchen success.

label Maggie Marilyn and a custom makeup look by Alpeh, Directors of Chaos and the front-of-house team are the starting point of the QT Hotel experience.

Inside QT Auckland, a visual feast unfolds with an ode to the oyster. An emphasis on first impressions, eyes are drawn to a lobby statement piece by New South Wales artist Minka Gillian. The hanging sculpture creates a joyful and intriguing world through found materials, while on the opposite wall, a beautiful composition by NYC-based digital artist Jennifer Steinkamp plays slowly on a large-scale LED screen.

No area left untouched, visual stories of the mythical sea come to life in the lift cars and bathrooms, with bold bespoke wallpaper created by graphics collaborator, Toben. n

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Airex’s innovative and sleek line-up will fit seamlessly into any commercial setting, in retail, commercial kitchens, cafés, in either front or back of house applications.

Providing outstanding food safety standards, hygiene and high-quality components, Airex sets a new standard for refrigeration and display within the food service market.

COMMERCIAL KITCHENS

iVario Pro No One-Trick Pony

I

multifunction cooking system can cook 15kgs of pasta in 22 minutes, 45 kgs of beef fillet stroganoff in 20 minutes, and 120 litres of rice pudding in 70 minutes. Searing steak or seafood? It heats up from stone cold to 200°C in a staggering 2.5 minutes.

“There’s nothing else in the world that will do that.”

Not surprisingly, RATIONAL is expecting the new model iVario Pro to be highly popular.

“It’s ideal for anyone doing production style food, multiple meals, heat to eat, airline catering, large hotels, or even the new Government-approved school lunch programme. We know that kitchens are a tough place to be but this sort of thing can really make your day go a whole lot smoother.”

And when combined with the iCombi Pro (launched in New Zealand late last year complete with 2-year warranty) there is little else needed.

RAT IO N

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ate or

“It can boil, fry, deep fry, sous vide, confit and pressure cook, offering maximum versatility, while saving time and space.”

“Between the iCombi Pro and the iVario Pro there is no cookery challenge that we cannot complete – you’ve got pretty much every cooking method taken care of.”

There are four different iVario Pro models to choose from (ranging from the giant Pro XL which has a single 150 litre pan, to the smallest, the 2-XS which has two 17-litre pans and is ideal for a la carte restaurants). And to ensure chefs get the most out of their new multifunctional cooking system, Tom and fellow RATIONAL chef Will Mordido provide customers with onsite training and equipment set up, along with ongoing support.

“We don’t just deliver a box on your doorstep accompanied by some ‘how to’ YouTube videos. After the iVario Pro has been installed we leave customers for a week or so to familiarise themselves with the equipment and then we come in to deliver a couple of days of intense training. We’ll ask what your menu is that day and physically show you how to get the same result or better by using our product. We teach you how to simplify your entire cooking operation.”

It’s fair to say that RATIONAL’s ground-breaking iVario Pro technology will quite literally change the daily lives of the chefs who use it.

Adds Tom, “I’ve been out of the commercial kitchen for six years now – but if I’d had technology like this I’d probably never have left.” n

om Thwait f NZ T e s.

Che

t cooks up to four times faster, uses up to 40 percent less energy and achieves flawless results every time.

The pinnacle of multifunctional cooking systems, RATIONAL’s new iVario Pro looks set to be a game changer for Kiwi chefs and caterers.

Just launched in New Zealand – with the first system installed this month at Feilding High School – RATIONAL Corporate Chef NZ Tom Thwaites says the iVario Pro will revolutionise the way production kitchens operate.

“There truly is no other product like this in the world market, let alone in New Zealand,” says Tom, who heads RATIONAL NZ’s application and training division.

“The iVario Pro is not just a onetrick pony – it’s the world’s leading multifunctional cooking appliance, replacing virtually all conventional cooking appliances. It can boil, fry, deep fry, sous vide, confit and pressure cook, offering maximum versatility, while saving time and space. Commercial kitchens are getting smaller. If you can achieve a lot more out of one piece of equipment, then it’s going to be transformational.”

Not only that but this state-of-theart product features built in Wi-Fi for the ultimate in Connected Cooking (check on your dish from your phone or laptop and get full visibility on HACCP data, programming and usage details), and cutting-edge ergonomics that make kitchens safer and more efficient - including everything from height adjustment and easy empty functions to a function that lowers food into the pan when it reaches the right temperature and lifts it out again when it’s cooked. No skill or supervision required!

“When chefs come into our RATIONAL Cook Live Demonstrations and experience this technology for themselves, you see a lightbulb go on in their heads – you literally see them thinking ‘how could we ever do without this?’. Equipped with patented functions iVario Boost and iCooking Suite, you can create high quality food with minimal supervision and labour. It basically does everything for you!”

RATIONAL is the world’s leading provider in hot food preparation equipment, and this latest version of its

Cutting-edge and efficient ergonomics.

This stateof-the-art product features built in Wi-Fi for the ultimate in Connected Cooking HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 13

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Cloud Kitchen concept flourishes in Christchurch Providing savings for smaller hospitality operators.

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cool new shared ‘cloud’ kitchen concept is proving popular among small hospitality operators in Christchurch, with leases for 16 of the 20 fully fitted out kitchens snapped up weeks before completion.

Developer Mike Percasky says they’ve been so popular that he’s hoping to have multiple cloud kitchens opening in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch by the middle of 2021. The first two or three Christchurch

kitchens were finished by Christmas 2020 and the whole Christchurch complex is expected to be completed early this year.

Cloud prep kitchens are a big trend overseas and Mike’s creating 20 fully-equipped commercial kitchens, complete with appliances and a large communal cool store, all in a warehouse he had available.

These have been leased for anything from three to five years with others being rented by day in eight-hour slots. “A lot of smaller

COMMERCIAL KITCHENS

The growth in Uber Eats has encouraged a lot of restaurants to sign up and they now realise it’s quite a lucrative part of their business.

operators, who maybe produce the likes of sauces and jams, don’t need use of a kitchen all week,” says Mike.

It’s a huge saving for smaller hospitality operators who can rent these 20sqm to 30sqm spaces in the 1200sqm development, saving about $100,000 to $150,000 setting up a new kitchen, he says.

It’s a kind of commune for cooks and provides a great opportunity for smaller operators to form a little community and bounce ideas off each other. “It gives tenants that space to experiment with different ideas,” says Mike.

With the huge upturn in Uber and other food delivery apps many operators want to rent space just to cover this extra workload.

Mike, also a co-owner of Riverside Market and Little High Eatery in Christchurch, says many tenants were finding their kitchens were getting too busy at night so they want the space for food app delivery work. He’s even developed a wait lounge for Uber and other food delivery drivers with coffee and a toilet

available for them to use. He’s hoping this will also help speed up those deliveries.

“About half of my tenants are looking to use the kitchens for Uber Eats,” says Mike. He also has a food truck operator taking space. “They’ve all grown out of their home kitchens or find it expensive to comply with council consent regulations. Some are in between that phase and committing to their own commercial venue.

We’ve been blown away by the demand.”

He’s expecting Uber Eats and other food app deliveries to grow further during the next five to 10 years and beyond as the younger population, used to ordering things on their phones, mature. “There’s been a huge uptake in the use of Uber Eats and food apps,” he says.

“Lockdown has given it a push and accelerated that uptake by a year or so, introducing a lot of users who would probably not have engaged otherwise,” says Mike. “Our tenants have noticed a big increase in demand. It’s encouraged a lot of restaurants to sign up and they now realise it’s quite a lucrative part of their business.” n

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CHEF OF THE MONTH

Chef of the Month

Toby Stuart From London to Marlborough.

T

them in touch with Marlborough Lodge where Toby found he had a definite synergy.

“I put a proposal to the owners about the style I’d like to portray in the restaurant and asked for more outside dining space,” he says. Formerly popular with the five-star, overseas luxury lodge market, with Toby’s help Marlborough Lodge transformed its offering to adapt to the now predominantly Kiwi market.

“We got rid of the white tablecloths and the formality,” says Toby. “We have beautiful 6.4ha of grounds here and they’ve given me a great space to work

“This is the best produce you can get in New Zealand, cooked simply with care, love and passion.”

– Toby Stuart

Toby Stuart helped over s ee

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18 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

in and invested a lot of money, and for that I’m very grateful.”

The 50 to 60-seater with its three distinctive dining areas is proving very popular, especially for drop-in, alfresco lunches. “I wanted it to be busy and open to the whole of Marlborough, to unlock the property a little bit so we worked on the offering to keep it reasonably priced and fun,” says Toby.

He’s opted for a more relaxed feel of dining, where it’s not frowned upon to pick up the mussels or clams and eat with your fingers, to unlock all of the delicious juices and flavours.

“Corn season is in full swing at the moment, so we simply grill that in the Mibrasa Charcoal oven and then serve it with homemade rosemary

ou

ucked away in sunny Marlborough at the newly rebranded ‘The Marlborough’, is a British chef with a very impressive pedigree who has relaunched Harvest Restaurant with a new direction and concept.

Currently enjoying a new more peaceful lifestyle after years of making the big time in London, experienced British chef Toby Stuart hails from London’s best. For a number of years Toby was firstly a chef, then a consultant chef to the Roux family and its vast empire of first class restaurants. Toby helped the Roux family oversee its operations.

This included assisting with the food and beverage operations at British tennis star Sir Andrew Murray’s luxury, grand Scottish manor hotel, Cromlix; hunting and fishing lodges across the Scottish Highlands and the Langham Hotel in London, to name just a few.

Now head chef at Harvest, Toby brings a wealth of experience and culinary flair to the role after last year’s lockdown forced his previous Marlborough employers at Rock Ferry Wines, to close. Toby was to oversee ambitious redevelopment plans as executive chef and his wife, Sabina Bronika-Stuart, had also taken on a role as restaurant manager there.

The London couple had taken a relaxing, wine tasting holiday around Marlborough and fell in love with the area. After 18-plus years working in London they moved across the world to settle there, bringing something new to the local restaurant scene.

All was going well until the global Covid lockdown hit, says Toby. They’d just bought a house so a friend put

The Marlborough Lodge has transformed its restaurant, Harvest, to adapt to the now predominantly local market.

“There’s no stiff upper lip or four different kinds of cutlery anymore.”

Gregarious Toby Stuart brings a wealth of experience from London’s finest restaurants to The Marlborough.

salt, smoked paprika butter and Italian Parmesan Reggiano - a 36-month matured Parmesan cheese,” he says.

“People can just dig in with their hands. There’s no stiff upper lip or four different kinds of cutlery anymore.”

Charcoal cooking is a big feature at Harvest and a method widely used in Michelin star restaurants, where Toby has more than done his time during his 24-year career, four years of which he spent in France. He’s clocked up time in five 1-star restaurants, a 2-star and a 3-star Michelin star restaurant, the legendary Maison Troisgros, widely acknowledged as one of the best restaurants in the world.

Not bad for a boy from rural Suffolk who started out at the Cliveden Hotel,

formerly the private residence of the Astor family, at 18. “My mother was a good cook, but she was handicapped and unable to stand for long periods so I used to help cook,” says Toby. “I used to watch Gary Rhodes, a young and passionate UK TV celebrity chef and that sparked an interest in me. I enjoyed the process of cooking.”

He got a part-time job at the local pub then trained to be a chef. “I just got into it and I guess I had a passion and flair with food. I liked the artistic aspect and the challenge of hard work,” he says.

Toby completed a two-year hospitality management course in his spare time while working as a chef, heeding the advice of a senior chef who guided him to look beyond the walls of the kitchen

and towards the bigger picture of the restaurant as a whole.

“I always had ambition and wanted to work in Michelin star restaurants.”

His first taste of working for British cooking celebrity Gordon Ramsay came at the Michelin 2 star, Aubergine, when Toby was only 17. “I did a month’s work experience, which gave me a good snapshot of the industry at the top, pressure cooker style. I loved it so much I decided to commit and do it the best I could,” he says. “I think I just had tenacity and decided I wanted to go for it.”

Marlborough may be much slower pace than London but it’s now Toby’s happy place. He hasn’t only fallen in love with the region but its exceptional produce. “This is the best produce that you can get your hands on in New Zealand, cooked simply with care, love and passion,” he says. “We use Mills Bay green shell mussels, cooked briefly over charcoal embers with garlic and parsley butter, which has won over lots of converts who are now nuts about them. We’re gaining quite a reputation for our mussels as they’re packed with flavour prepared over that high intense heat, cooked so quickly.” He learned charcoal oven-style cooking from renowned Argentinean chef Francis Mallmann and South American experts during a stint in Uruguay.

Tim Barnett supplies Toby with fresh, ocean-speared butterfish using his ‘zero by net or line’ policy. “We receive this less than a day after it’s caught and again it’s cooked briefly in the charcoal oven with seaweed butter, Jersey Benne potatoes, local asparagus, iceberg ragout and sauce mousseline, which is a Hollandaise sauce lightened with whipped cream.”

Toby’s also becoming famous in Marlborough for his soufflé desserts where much of his experience with the Roux Family’s influence shines through. ■

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 19

OBITUARY

Albert Henri Roux OBE & His Kiwi Legacy Keeping the Roux connection growing.

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ne of the world’s culinary greats and most high-profile restaurateurs passed away on January 4 at the age of 85 and the legacy of Frenchborn Albert Henri Roux OBE lives on around the world, even here in New Zealand.

Albert can be credited for influencing some of this country’s best chefs and that influence continues to flow on through the generations with three AUT School of Hospitality and Tourism lecturers all having worked under Roux’s careful gaze.

Hospitality Business’ February issue Chef of the Month, UK-born and trained Michelin star Chef, Toby Stuart of Marlborough’s Harvest Restaurant, also held high honours in the Roux family restaurant empire, after first cooking a restaurant lunch for Albert’s business partner and brother, Michel.

Le Gavroche in London, arguably the brothers’ most famous restaurant, became the first British restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars in 1982.

Albert Roux had a profound influence on British dining habits and became renowned for revolutionising Britain’s staid, old-fashioned culinary scene.

Le Gavroche, named after the character in the Les Miserables story, was credited with turning London’s culinary scene from one devoid of innovation into one of the world’s most intriguing gastronomic melting pots, according to the Associated Press (AP). From Le Gavroche’s launch, a loyal clientele that included many of the icons of the swinging ‘60s frequented the restaurant. The brothers took turns in the kitchen and dining room, seeking “to achieve a global reputation for service and the quality of their cuisine”, says AP. Throughout the years well-known chefs, such as Monica Galetti, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and Marco Pierre White, also earned their stripes at the restaurant that continues to serve classic French haute cuisine in the well-heeled Mayfair neighbourhood.

Le Gavroche, which lost one star in 1993, is now run by Albert’s son, Michel Jnr, and is still considered one of London’s most coveted places to dine. According to AP, Michel Roux Jr said his father was a mentor for so many in the hospitality industry, and “a real inspiration to budding chefs, including me”.

Albert and brother, Michel, were awarded honorary OBE medals at a ceremony at the Foreign and Commonwealth offices in central London in 2002.

Leading Kiwi Chef, Toby Stuart cooked lunch for Albert’s son Michel Jnr while the famous family was filming yet another television cooking show in the restaurant where he worked.

“They’d just launched Roux at Parliament Square and the chef was leaving so he asked me if I’d like to work for them,” says Toby. He stayed for two and a half years, earning three rosettes during that time and making it into Restaurant Magazine’s Top 10 UK Chefs to watch.

These accolades put Toby into the top 10 percent of UK chefs in 2010, and during this time he was introduced to the Roux family. “Albert came in quite often to keep an eye on us, taste the food and check it,” he says. “There was a high-profile clientele with Parliament nearby.”

Toby stayed in touch with the family after leaving and later taught at the Roux’s Cactus Cookery School.

“Michel Roux Jnr pulled in real chefs from his restaurants and we taught various specialist cookery classes to the general public.” The school won Cookery School of the Year with Food and Travel Magazine in the UK in 2016.

“That kept the whole Roux connection growing and then I opened my own consultancy, Boutique Cuisine and ultimately the Roux family became my best client,” says Toby. He went on to consult for the Roux’s 12 restaurants, including pop-up restaurants.

“Albert then asked me to oversee the Roux properties in Scotland. I could be cooking for a plush, private household in Chelsea or Kensington one day, setting up for a cooking demonstration from Michel Roux Jnr on another and flying up to Scotland to oversee a menu change at one of their 5-star properties,” he says.

Chez Roux ran the official hospitality suite ‘The Gatsby Club’ at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

20 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

“…offering good and honest country cooking.

The kind of place you can go to eat without ringing the bank for permission…”

Albert Roux

Albert Henri Roux OBE

“I could be serving 1000 a la carte lunch covers a day from a temporary kitchen in a marquee, all under the Roux banner.

I was working directly for the Roux Family as part of the company’s consultancy team,” says Toby.

“We also had pop up restaurants at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Henley Music festival, so we would travel around the country quite a bit which was interesting and fun.”

Toby says there’s still a distinct French influence in his cooking after spending four and a half years working under Albert’s watchful eye, his palette and philosophy of food was an inspiration.

John Kelleher – Senior AUT Lecturer It’s been 30 years since School of Hospitality and Tourism senior lecturer in professional cookery John Kelleher worked for Albert Roux at Le Gavroche, which opened in 1967. “There was always a head chef in charge, but Albert would be running the service floor as the owner and you couldn’t ever slip one past him or you’d get a bit of a rollicking,” says John.

As a young 21-year-old Kiwi chef looking for work, John knocked on the back door of Le Gavroche in London and Albert greeted him. “He said go and see my son, Michel, who runs Roux restaurants, and I worked there while gaining work experience at Le Gavroche, which fast-tracked me into a job there,” he says.

LEGACY “It was like a United Nations kitchen with Japanese, French, British, Italian and American chefs. I looked after the stocks, sauces and then Albert sent me to his French-deli called Boucherie Lamartine in Pimlico, London.”

Here the likes of truffles and vegetables arrived fresh from the Paris markets.John learned great discipline working for Albert – how to be on time, in uniform and work cleanly.

“He said to me, ‘Always be one step ahead of me’, which means thinking ahead and getting what you need out in preparation, an ability to foresee what’s going to happen,” says John.

“When it’s all called out in French you understand how important it is to listen in a kitchen and know what’s happening all around you,” he says.

“When I worked in the butchery section at Le Gavroche I started very early and Albert would come in and give me a friendly little punch in the stomach, like a ‘Good on ya, Kiwi’ gesture,” says John.

Michel Roux Jnr always called me ‘Kiwi’. “Albert was a superstar back then in the 1970s and 80s. The Michelin 3 star was world renowned as one of the best. I felt honoured to work for him.”

An elderly Japanese businessman friend brought John a bottle of Le Gavroche-label whisky back in the late 1990s which he has treasured all these years. Upon hearing of Albert’s death last month, he planned to pop it open for a toast with fellow AUT school lecturer Geoff Scott, who also worked for Albert Roux back in the day.

AUT Senior Lecturer Geoff Scott Geoff worked for Albert at Le Gavroche for a year during 1989 and 1990. Albert was still the owner but also head chef and in the process of passing the business on to Michel Jnr. “It was quite a stressful time with heightened pressure as Michel Roux Jnr also had a new baby at home and Albert was in the process of relinquishing the role,” says Geoff, who was 21 at the time.

“It was hugely different to the 40 hours a week I’d worked in a relatively safe environment at the Regent Hotel in Auckland

New Zealand – quite a dawdle by comparison. We worked 70 to 75 hours in five days for about 45 pence an hour!”

Geoff recalls a few good dressing downs from Albert. “He liked to keep us on our toes.” Let’s just say Geoff never forgot not to squeeze a lemon directly into a dish using his hands, instead remembering what Albert shouted across the kitchen, ‘Use a sieve!’.

“I always use a sieve to this day.”

He says he learned strength and determination, as well as perfectionism and professionalism from Albert. “Those two qualities were certainly paramount,” he says. “He had an enormous influence on so many chefs and bestowed very, very high standards on us. Those were set and never compromised.”

Albert’s technique and nod to the classics has been passed on from generation to generation.

AUT Senior Lecturer Gilles Petit Another School of Hospitality and Tourism senior lecturer, Frenchman Gilles Petit worked for the Roux Brothers from 1986 until 1988 in their pastry production kitchen in London.

Gilles, from the Champagne area, worked with a team of chefs supplying most of the Roux brothers’ restaurants and eateries.

“Back then they were really popular and big in England as they were on TV a lot.”

Their first book was printed at the time, The Roux Brothers on Pâtisserie, which Gilles says featured all the recipes used in the Roux restaurants and what they were preparing in the pastry production kitchen.

He has late Kiwi Roux chef Kate Ray to thank for moving to New Zealand. She was a Chef at Le Gavroche then at their pastry production kitchen.

“Albert had quickly recognised that she had great potential and was always ready to give people a go,” says Gilles. “If you delivered he would give you a go.”

“I was there for two wonderful years and had a blast; six or seven of us, French, English, German, Australian, myself and Kate, who I got on really well with,” says Gilles.

Albert would pop in from time to time to check on everything. “He always came to each of us to say, ‘hello, and shake our hands. He seemed to be a humble man, always talking, very enjoyable to talk to.”

When Gilles was thinking of leaving Albert heard about it and called him into his office. “I walked in and he cracked open a bottle of champagne and proceeded to offer me opportunities in the company or back in France in roles he thought I’d be good at,” says Gilles.

“Champagne was to Albert as water was to everyone else,” he laughs. “He was French through and through.”

In 1989 Gilles moved to New Zealand to work as a pastry chef for Kate. n

Albert Henri Roux OBE – 1935-2021 Born in 1935 in the village of Semur-enBrionnais in the central French region of Burgundy, Albert Henri Roux began his culinary career at 14 as an apprentice pastry chef. The family moved to Paris to run a charcuterie after World War II where both Albert and his brother forged their passion for cooking.

Upon leaving school, he initially intended to train as a priest at the age of 14. However, he decided that the role was not suited to him, sought other employment, and instead trained as a chef. His godfather worked as a chef for Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, and arranged for Roux, at the age of 18, to be employed working for Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor.

In one notable incident whilst employed by the Viscountess, Roux managed to jam oeufs en cocotte in a dumbwaiter, which were due to go to Harold Macmillan, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Otherwise, his apprenticeship at the Viscountess’ family home, Cliveden went without problems. He moved on to work at the British Embassy in Paris and became a private chef for Sir Charles Clore. He was then called up by the French Armed Forces to serve his military service in Algeria, where he cooked on occasion for the officer’s mess.

Once he left the military, he worked as a sous chef at the British Embassy in Paris, before returning to the UK to become private chef to Major Peter Cazalet where he worked for the British cricketer, jockey and horse trainer for eight years.

In 1967, Roux and his younger brother Michel opened Le Gavroche, on Lower Sloane Street in London. It became the first restaurant in Britain to win a Michelin star, the first to win two, and, in 1982, the first to win three. The restaurant became a favourite of the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

In 1984, he and Michel set up the Roux Scholarship to enable up and coming chefs to get a start in the industry.

During his time in the kitchen, he trained several chefs who went on to gain Michelin stars of their own, including Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Pierre Koffmann, and Sat Bains Roux spoke highly of Gordon Ramsay: “I recognised straightaway that Gordon would go a long way.”

Of all his protégés, Roux no longer got on with White, and said in an interview in 2010, “We don’t talk. No, he is a truly talented man – and a man who used to call me his godfather – but he has got a chip on his shoulder”.

His son Michel Roux, Jr. still runs Le Gavroche, which has two Michelin stars.

[9 Albert Roux died in London on 4 January 2021, following a long illness. n

Additional Sources:Wikipedia, AP

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 21

TRENDING

Global Food and Drinks Trends for 2021 Consumers focus on wellbeing and value.

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onsumer market intelligence agency, Mintel, has announced three key trends for the global food, drink, and foodservice industries, including analysis, insights, and recommendations centred around the ‘now’ (next 12 months), the ‘next’ (18 months+), and the ‘future’ (five+ years) of consumer behaviour: • Feed The Mind: Innovative food and drink formulations will offer solutions for mental and emotional wellbeing that will create a new foundation for healthy eating.

• Quality Redefined: Brands will be challenged to respond to new definitions of trust, quality, and ‘essential’.

• United By Food: Food and drink brands can balance a person’s need to feel unique and special with the desire to be part of communities of like-minded individuals.

Looking ahead, Daisy Li, Associate Director, Mintel Food & Drink, discusses how shifts in consumer behaviour related to wellbeing, value, and identity will inspire formulation, packaging, marketing, and more in the years to come: Feed The Mind In 2021 and beyond, expect to see food, drink, and foodservice brands offer moments of respite through product rituals and formulations that enhance stress relief activities. As the singular focus of avoiding COVID-19 fades, people will make more serious commitments to reduce the health risks associated with unhealthy eating, become more interested in mindful and intuitive eating, and seek proof and incentives through the use of technology.

“The COVID-19 global pandemic has made consumers recognise that wellbeing is a vital

concern. In the coming years, consumers will be looking for more products and services that offer mental and emotional health benefits.

“Functional formulations and emotionally engaging multisensory products will help food, drink, and foodservice brands command a larger share among a myriad of mental and emotional health options. We predict that innovative food and drink formulations will help people learn how diet can impact mental and emotional health, which will lead to new interest in psychology-based approaches to healthy eating.”

Quality Redefined Expect to see consumers look for approachable upscale meals for special ‘hometainment’ occasions. Expect to see brands and retailers launch appropriately priced products with ethical or environmental claims and consumers increase their expectations for contactless retail that will expand to include experiential services. Over the next five years and beyond, brands and operators that invest in seamless retail and equitable access to healthy food will come out on top.

“When it comes to value, pandemic-shocked consumers are seeking a return to what is essential. Consumers are now focused on minimal consumption and getting the best returns from their purchases.

“As markets reopen, the pace of life will get busier and consumers will expect time-saving, hygienic, and adventurous convenience food, drink, and foodservice. In the next few years, brands will also be challenged to respond to new definitions of quality and ensure ecommerce is accessible to shoppers of all socioeconomic levels. The focus on getting the best value for

one’s money will motivate brands to be more transparent about product price by providing details about the ingredients, processes, and people that are reflected in a product’s price.”

United By Food In the next 12 months, food, drink, and foodservice companies will encourage people to use their brands as a form of selfexpression and a way to reconnect with their pre-pandemic identities. Expect to see social commerce develop as a new way for brands to capitalise on building communities that will, in turn, give brands actionable ways to give back and use their resources, reputation, and reach to help consumers take action on important causes.

“Consumer understanding of the community has been strengthened by COVID-19.

Recognising the importance of connection and support, consumers will organise in likeminded communities for socialisation and camaraderie. Food, drink, and foodservice brands can take advantage of their positions as common interests and passions to which consumers can tie their identities and actively bring individual fans together. Bound by the brand(s) they have in common, communities will expand people’s social circles and introduce collective ways to make a difference.”

About Mintel Mintel is believed to be the world’s leading market intelligence agency, covering 38,000 product launches a month and every day asking thousands of people for their opinions. They track consumer spending across 34 markets. n

Kiwi Companies Create Collagen Beverage A collaboration between two Kiwi exporters has developed a new worldfirst beverage,- a shelf-stable collagen and artesian water blend.

The new Adashiko Collagen Refresh water is believed to be the first in the world to contain pure collagen and pure water - with no preservatives, no flavouring, colours or other additives and is set to introduce nutraceutical beverages to the hospitality industry.

The company already has interest from customers in export markets

around the world as it looks to capture a share of a $2 billion global collagen RTD category.

Luci Firth, Adashiko CEO, says the new beverage is designed to rejuvenate the premium bottled water industry.

“The bottled water category in the hospitality industry typically consists of unflavoured still and sparkling varieties and has seen little innovation for some time.

“Many New Zealanders will struggle to pay for bottled water and with

22 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

so little value added by suppliers, restaurateurs and bar owners are left to compete head-on with tap water, while still having to cover the cost of supplying it.

“The addition of a functional water product to this category means they will now be able to offer a competing product which they can justify retailing at a premium price point,” she says.

Firth says the neutral-tasting, odourless collagen water can also be used as a mixer for cocktails. n

TRAINING

Secondary Students Key To Future

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A crucial market for industry rebuild.

ew Zealand’s tourism and service sector industry training organisation (ITO), Service IQ and Go with Tourism, have announced a partnership to attract secondary school students into tourism and hospitality careers.

Starting in term one 2021, ServiceIQ’s teaching content will be supported by the Go with Tourism Education Programme.The Education Programme is a government-funded initiative to build the tourism workforce, and was launched in July 2020 to provide New Zealand youth with accurate and wideranging information about careers in tourism.

The Programme is conducted by Regional Coordinators who visit secondary schools across the country to deliver specially curated lessons.

The partnership between ServiceIQ and Go with Tourism will strengthen services offered to both students and teachers, says Matt Stenton, Programme Director for Go with Tourism.

“By collaborating we can avoid duplicating resources and programmes within the classroom, amplify our offering and widen our reach. It’s a beneficial partnership to all involved.”

Doug Pouwhare, General Manager – Talent Supply & Transitions at ServiceIQ, says that the work conducted by both ServiceIQ and Go with Tourism is hugely complementary, especially for secondary students. “We supply comprehensive classroom resources for hospitality and tourism training that mirror workplace learning, plus gateway programmes where students can gain real-world experience. Everything we create and deliver has the student, their NCEA credits and post-school career in mind.”

Secondary school students have been identified as a crucial market for the tourism industry rebuild. In the next 2-5 years, tourism will hope to recruit this generation of workers to fill the skills shortage gap.

Both Stenton and Pouwhare believe educating students on the wide range of career

pathways available in tourism will be key to attracting them.

“When you say ‘tourism’ to many New Zealanders they think ‘camper vans’ or ‘tour guides’,” says Pouwhare. “Yes, those are part of tourism, but the wider visitor experience involves many more job opportunities, which includes the many facets of hospitality and retail, as well as aviation.”

“People believe the myth that tourism is solely made up of entry-level roles,” says Stenton. “They forget that you progress from those roles and build a successful career thereafter, much quicker– in fact – than many other industries.” n

The Hospitality Training Trust (HTT) was set up to encourage and support training in the sector.

Hospitality Training Trust – 2021 Grants Each year the Trust provides grants to associations, companies or individuals for projects that will further the aims and criteria of the Trust around building excellence across the hospitality sector.

If you have a project that will make a difference to the hospitality sector, we would like to hear from you.

Applications close 18th April 2021. Approved grants will be notified late May. Visit the HTT website and complete the online application form https://www.htt.org.nz/grant-applications/

FOOD SAFETY IMPORTANCE

Food Safety is Everyone's Business

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Safety training courses available for staff.

ew Zealand has a global reputation for a high standard of quality and safety in food, and those in Aotearoa’s food sector work hard every day to protect this.

With an increased focus on having a strong food safety culture, food safety becomes everyone’s business. If correct food safety principles are not applied at any point in the food supply chain or during food preparation, the consequences can be catastrophic, compromising the safety of customers and causing potentially irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation. With recent COVID-19 developments, a strong food safety culture is now even more critical for the hospitality sector.

Most businesses are fully aware of these risks and have good procedures in place to ensure staff are well trained in food safety and the effective application of food safety principles to safeguard their customers and their business. Having staff that understand

food safety hazards and are committed to a food safety culture is key. When a business embraces a food safety culture, it can be the difference between a few people following checklists because ‘they have to’ and the entire staff being onboard, responsible, and contributing to the food safety system every day. When this happens, maintaining food safety for customers and being ‘audit-ready’ every day, becomes easy.

AsureQuality’s nationwide team of food safety specialists understand the challenges that food businesses face and are committed to helping them achieve a strong food safety culture. The AsureQuality Academy has been operating as an internationally recognised Private Training Establishment (PTE) for over 27 years and holds a Category 1 status with NZQA. They offer a wide range of food safety training courses suitable for staff at all levels across the entire food sector; from cafes and Quick Service Restaurants to New

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This course was created by AsureQuality’s food safety experts to support customers in meeting requirements of the Food Act 2014 and ultimately to keep their customers safe.

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FOOD SAFETY

Be sure.

Top Tips to Food Safety Success Keep sick workers away from food.

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well-run commercial kitchen means maintaining the utmost cleanliness and safe conditions for your food preparation. If you were to accidentally contaminate an area with Salmonella or other dangerous bacteria, your customers and employees could get very sick.

You also need to know how to pass any checks done by the local health department, so your restaurant or food service operation can operate with full certification. This also gives you, the owner,peace of mind.

A commercial kitchen can sometimes be so hectic that it can be hard to ensure everything is done properly. However, it’s your duty and the duty of your entire staff, to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

Promote hand washing The most important food safety tip is hand washing. This means you provide a dedicated hand washing station for your employees. This will minimise cross-contamination and let your employees have clean hands before touching any food, whether it be meat or vegetables.

Even the smallest amount of bacteria can make someone sick if it’s on a piece of food, so hand washing is key. All of your staff should wash their hands for at least 20 seconds under running water after soaping up well.

Don’t let sick workers prepare food If your workers are sick send them home and encourage workers not to turn up if they have suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea. If they do they put your customers’ health at risk. You shouldn’t need food safety tips to tell you if your employees are sick, keep them away from the food.

Wash food properly Make sure your staff wash fruits and vegetables properly. Even if a vegetable will be peeled or skinned, it must still be washed. If you don’t wash them, you risk spreading bacteria from the outside of the produce to the inside as you prepare it. A colander will make the task easier, as long as it is only used for fruits and vegetables, and not any other ingredients, such as pasta or raw meats.

Cook to the right temperatures If one food safety tip is imperative, it is knowing your food item’s safe temperature zones. Is your food being cooked to the right temperature? You should make yourself and all of your kitchen staff are aware of the guidelines and the way their testing equipment functions. Any type of meat being prepared and cooked in a commercial kitchen should be checked with a meat thermometer for proper temperature. For different types of meat, you should use different meat thermometers. This will prevent contamination of cooked meats by raw meats.

Know the Danger Zone and The Two Hour Rule The danger zone is a term used by the food safety industry to refer to the range of temperature where bacteria will multiply rapidly, often in as little as 20 minutes. The danger zone is temperatures between 4.4 degrees Celsius, (40 °F) and 60 degrees Celsius, (140 °F); here is where Salmonella and other harmful bacteria can develop in perishable food. n

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STATE OF THE NATION

LEADERS FORUM

Road Mapping A Bumpy Future The shape of the hospitality industry may change forever as a result of the events of 2020. By Marisa Bidois – CEO Restaurant Association of New Zealand.

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eeing revenues rise and fall over the year and watching our hospitality members try to get back on their feet under the most challenging and uncertain of conditions has fuelled our work at the Restaurant Association. 2021 will see that focus continue as we assist the industry to recovery from a year like no other. We are all too aware that preparing for future operational success will need to be conducted carefully and with a plan to continue to adapt in the future if necessary.

Targeted support will be crucial for the industry’s recovery The year ahead will present many inevitable challenges, including fewer

tourists and international students, low consumer confidence, rising unemployment and reduced access to skilled labour. Support from the Government will be crucial for the industry’s survival and we will continue to strongly advocate for Government to provide the targeted assistance that is required for the industry’s sustainability and recovery.

We were pleased to see some targeted support come through via the partnership with MSD and the Springboard initiative, however more assistance is needed. Throughout 2020 we were calling for a number of urgent actions, including rent relief and small business grants to assist those businesses most affected to

26 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

address the economic challenges of 2021 While we are currently enjoying no community transmission, in 2021 a new outbreak in New Zealand is still a major concern for members. The majority of our industry is made up of small owner operator businesses that cannot sustain ongoing closures and restrictions without Government support for wages, leases and other costs. To front foot any potential returns to heightened alert levels, the Restaurant Association has presented a proposal to Government of alternate guidance and measures at each alert level. This will enable businesses to operate whilst still maintaining the health and safety of customers, workers and visitors to the premises. In our

STATE OF THE NATION challenging to recruit for skilled staff, particularly as businesses again needed to increase their teams for the busy Summer season. A recent Restaurant Association survey showed that 78 per cent of hospitality businesses trying to recruit skilled workers are finding it difficult to do so.

Our staffing shortages are one of the biggest stressors for operators as businesses can’t always operate to full capacity.

Often there is a need to reduce operating hours, and in extreme cases, businesses have had to close due to the lack of staff.

Until this year around a third of the industry has been made up of a migrant workforce living in New Zealand on temporary work visas.

Covid-19 has now made it necessary to reset the employee pathway as these workers are now largely inaccessible to us. The Association already has a number of recruitment and retention programmes underway, such as HospoStart and a new Springboard training programme, which will roll out in 2021, both in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development.

We would like to see more employerled training opportunities supported by the Government, with the Association expeditiously recalibrating work plans to include the building of long-term capability and improved resilience training across our industry.

“In 2021 we will continue to lobby and advocate to ensure the voices of our industry are heard regarding key legislative policy and changes.”

By Marisa Bidois – CEO Restaurant Association of New Zealand

proposal we make recommendations for fiscal support to be tied to each alert level to provide our businesses with the ability to plan, knowing what assistance will be available.

Ensuring those in positions of influence are hearing the voice of the industry In 2021 we will also continue to lobby and advocate to ensure the voices of our industry are heard regarding key legislative policy and changes. Some of the most pressing issues for our industry include immigration reform, vocational education, minimum wage increases, fair pay, merchant fees and more.

Despite the challenges presented

by Covid-19 in 2020, it remained

The road ahead is going to be a bumpy one, but there are also opportunities.

Operators identify New Zealanders supporting local businesses and building deeper relationships with customers and our communities as two of the most significant opportunities for their businesses over the next 12 months.

To help build connections with customers, the Association supports the work the Government is doing to rework New Zealand’s food story.

The hospitality sector is an important part of this story and in 2021 the Association wants to continue to ensure that we are included in these conversations. We are seeing a rise in conscious consumerism: where customers are driven not by prices or flavours alone, but the origins of their food. Every rohe in Aotearoa has its own food identity. We see pride across

the country in locally grown produce and food experiences with whakapapa interwoven back to the region.

We need to carve out intrinsically Kiwi dining experiences that speak to our culture, our whenua and our produce with an accompanying narrative of pride that we relentlessly repeat, through every channel available to us. Targeted investment into telling these community stories will broaden the tourist experience and support the unique nature of manaakitanga in Aotearoa.

The Restaurant Association aims to continue to be positioned to be part of the discussion on behalf of the industry to promote domestic and international tourism.

Creating an Industry Roadmap for the Future The implementation of the Association’s Hospitality Roadmap is a key focus for 2021, which we will work on collaboratively with different parts of our sector and the Government to create a concise pathway for rebuilding and repositioning the sector for the future.

The Roadmap sets out our action plan for the industry for the next three years which includes the following: • Create workable solutions for legacy issues faced by the hospitality industry.

• Continue to work on partnerships between industry and government.

• Support the development of fit for purpose, adequately funded education and training options that produce ready to work, productive, career focused workers.

• Recreating our national narrative to improve perceptions around our industry as a career.

Now, the single most important issue for the hospitality industry is the sector’s recovery. In planning for the immediate future, operators will need to fiercely protect their cashflows, be ruthless with expenses, be imaginative marketers, and be hygiene experts, all whilst retaining the heart of New Zealand hospitality that the industry is renowned for. It will be no easy job but the Restaurant Association is laser focused on assisting the industry to become stronger and more resilient. Our restaurants and cafés and bars are not only places to experience our incredible food and beverage products but also places to find the joy in human interaction and experience. Our operations offer an antidote to the turmoil going on around us - and this is exactly what the world needs right now. ■

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 27

STATE OF THE NATION

LEADERS FORUM

Mayor of Auckland, Phil Goff.

28 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

STATE OF THE NATION

Long Term Challenges & Successes Ahead While COVID-19 has created a range of challenges for Auckland, 2021 is still set to be a bumper year for the city, Mayor Phil Goff writes.

A

year ago, we were looking forward to 2021 being Auckland’s biggest year ever.

We were gearing up to host a slew of national and international sporting, cultural and business events that were expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors to Tāmaki Makaurau from around the world and showcase our city on the global stage.

Unfortunately, before the Year of Auckland kicked off, the COVID-19 pandemic threw the world into chaos.

As I write this, global deaths have just passed 2 million and confirmed cases have reached more than 94 million.

In New Zealand, we are fortunate that a strong health response—widely supported by the public—has meant that we have avoided a widespread outbreak, which would have overwhelmed our healthcare system and potentially cost thousands of lives.

We have been able to enjoy summer essentially free from restrictions within our borders.

While the overall economic effects have been less severe than initially feared during the early months of the pandemic, many businesses have suffered, particularly in the tourism and hospitality sectors, which have been especially hard hit by the lockdowns and lack of international visitors.

The pandemic has also had a significant impact on council revenue.

Around 60 per cent of council income comes from non-rates sources such as concerts and visitor attractions, operations at Ports of Auckland and dividends from Auckland Airport shares. All these sources of income have taken a big hit from the lockdowns and border closures, with forecasts indicating that the losses for council could be up to $1 billion by 2024.

In response, we have been significantly cutting expenditure and reducing staff numbers to make the council a leaner and more adaptable organisation. Recognising the pandemic’s impact on travel and tourism, we suspended the

Accommodation Provider Targeted Rate; we also offered rates postponement for residential and business ratepayers financially impacted by COVID-19.

The longerterm financial impacts will require further tough decisions in our upcoming 10-year Budget— the Recovery Budget—which is out for public consultation from 22 February until 22 March.

We need to find more savings and efficiencies while continuing the investment in transport, housing and environmental infrastructure that our city needs and providing the essential services that Aucklanders rely on. We also need to address the challenges posed by climate change, which will be even more severe than the COVID-19 crisis if we do not act now.

While it’s important to tackle these challenges, we should also celebrate the successes our city has been able to enjoy. Our COVID-free status meant that tens of thousands of people from across Auckland and throughout New Zealand turned out to watch the Christmas races and the PRADA Cup, with more expected for the America’s Cup races starting in March. Millions more watched broadcasts screened in more than 100 countries, and the crowds, fantastic weather and beautiful location will have been a stunning advertisement for Auckland to those watching from around the world.

Vibrant new public spaces are opening across the city, including Te Komititanga, the people-friendly civic square next to Britomart Station; the upgraded Galway Street precinct,

Ūrunga Plaza on the Amey Daldy Park and the Daldy Street Linear Park near the waterfront. The Chief Post Office building entrance to Britomart is due to open in March and Te Wānanga— the new downtown public space between Princess Wharf and Queens Wharf— will open later this year.

In the longer term, the City Rail Link, which is now well underway, will transform Auckland’s transport network when it opens in 2024. It will move the equivalent capacity of three Auckland Harbour Bridges or 16 extra traffic lanes into the city at peak times, carrying more than 54,000 people into and around the city, slashing train travel time for passengers and freight and reducing congestion for those who do choose to drive.

These and other projects are transforming our city into a more people-friendly place, a destination in its own right that is more enjoyable to spend time in and which will draw visitors from around Auckland, New Zealand, and— eventually—around the world.

Undoubtedly, Auckland is facing challenges that we could not have predicted a year ago. But we are continuing to invest in the important infrastructure that our city needs to be a truly world-class place to live, work, visit and invest in. This investment is helping to stimulate economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and, when the national borders reopen, will ensure we are able to resume our role as New Zealand’s global city and our gateway to the world. ■

“The longerterm financial impacts will require further tough decisions in our upcoming 10-year Budget—the Recovery Budget—which is out for public consultation from 22 February until 22 March.”

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 29

STATE OF THE NATION

Remembering the Heart of Hospitality Our industry is renowned for innovation and change

By AUT Head of Hospitality and Tourism School, Dr Warren Goodsir.

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hat’s one of its many strengths. As I write this we are enjoying a community free of COVID-19, having contributed to a Christmas shopping spree that set new spending records, attended and participated in bookedout festivals that swelled holiday spots and filled cafés.

We could be forgiven for thinking that COVID-19 has come to its end.

Yet, beyond those summertime allures and despite the promise of a vaccine, COVID-19 continues to unfold in mostly unsettling ways.

COVID-19’s impact has, as we well know, caused widespread disruption to the tourism and hospitality industries.

Balance sheets remain shredded and hospitality business owners and employees, like everyone else, wonder ‘what’s next’?

While we cannot predict the future, a few themes remain constant over time and will stand our industry in good stead for the uncertain year ahead.

The first and most obvious one is how good we, as New Zealanders in hospitality, are at innovation and

adaptation. That innovation became a timely exemplar and tasty newobvious in the lockdowns when dining options. businesses who usually relied on These attributes are manifest in inhouse dining adapted to contactless the recent spate of new hospitality takeaways and other ways of openings, despite COVID-19’s threat, connecting with local communities and the return to Aotearoa New to keep the cash registers ringing. For Zealand of some of our best chefs. some creative hospitaliers, COVID-19 Those openings and chef returns became just another challenge. For reflect the Kiwi attribute of ‘punching others it was a devastating experience above one’s weight’, by making positive that this summer-season of spending strides in the face of adversity. locally helps to address.

Within that amalgam, hospitaliers Secondly, COVID-19 has realised are walking a fine line by balancing the abundance and primacy of New the business need for profitability Zealand products and produce, alongside a wider view, incorporating challenging perceptions of luxury social and community wellbeing. imports. Many chefs have long known It could be the greatest lesson from this, but consumers are now looking COVID-19, that delivering hospitality, and buying local – something that can in hotels, restaurants, bars, and café, only be good for our industry. or by remote delivery, is really about Additionally, consumer desire to creating meaningful connections within eat locally prompts exciting communities. That’s something Kiwis food that blend cultures in are good at, and a characteristic not new and exciting ways. only to be proud of, but one that will The popularity of see us through the good, and more “… 2020 saw classes fusion Korean food difficult times, with good grace. recorded and delivered in Auckland, and Institutions like AUT, and online so students could the rest of the its School of Hospitality and country, provides Tourism, have not been engage in self-paced learning. immune to COVID-19’s impact.

Like industry, AUT has fostered The university has endured a sense of student and staff redundancy-based restructuring, community, something that and the number of international students has plummeted. Like the touches upon hospitality’s hospitality industry itself, AUT basic ethos…” has experienced significant financial difficulty. However, like industry, we continue to innovate. Much of 2020 saw classes recorded and delivered online so students could engage in self-paced learning. Like industry, AUT has fostered a sense of student and staff community, something that touches upon hospitality’s basic ethos: the care of others.

LEADERS FORUM While 2021 began in a promising way, with a vaccine on the horizon, one thing we can all celebrate and rely upon, should things turn down, are our basic Kiwi attributes of innovation, determination and looking out for each other. Whatever this year brings, let’s all consider the base of hospitality. Let’s all care for one another. ■

30 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

STATE OF THE NATION

Optimism Despite the Dark Clouds I cannot think of any part of the economy that wasn’t affected in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns of 2020.

By Hospitality New Zealand CEO, Julie White.

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ome parts were obviously hit a lot harder than others, with hospitality and tourism (very often inextricably linked) at the very top of that list.

For many businesses and people in those two sectors, Covid-19 has been devastating. You can’t turn off the tap of four million overseas tourists a year and expect anything else. There was never any way our small population could replace the hundreds of millions they brought in.

There have been many business closures and many job losses, many unlikely to return. We have lost some wonderful, clever, hard-working people.

And I fear the pain is not done with yet. Because while most of the economy is getting back to normal, the recovery for two industries has been very slow and continues to be so.

Despite expectations the absence of further community outbreaks leading into Christmas and the summer holidays would signal the start of the way back, the reality is something else.

As I write, in the middle of January, so far summer has not been the silver bullet most were hoping for. On top of that, the hoped-for trans-Tasman bubble flagged for March was dealt a blow by the arrival of the new variant in the community in Australia.

The international tourism hotspots Auckland CBD, Queenstown and West Coast are most at risk.

But we are an optimistic bunch, and as much as the 2021 horizon looks like a version of 2020, there is a glimpse of more optimism.

That comes in the form of a trans-Tasman bubble and the global vaccine rollout.

I have no doubt a bubble will happen, it’s just a matter of when. The key is in the hands of the Government and the balancing act of the health response and economic recovery it must perform off the back of the new variant. The importance to our prosperity of an open Tasman cannot be overstated.

As for the vaccine, remember last year there was doubt we would have a vaccine within two years, let alone just months, and its rollout, not just here but around the world is key to survival in so many ways.

Fingers crossed and let’s all keep doing the right Covid things.

In the meantime, resilience will be key this year for hospitality operators, starting with a Covid BCP (Business Continuity Planning).

The new normal is constant change and adapting, and working with assumptions and uncertainty. Adapting to maximise the peak seasons will be as important for business owners as will be scaling back operations during the softer periods.

Increasingly important are strong supplier relationships and support to control upward cost pressures from supply chain issues. For hotels that have MIQ business, the new 5-star rating assurance for guests will be cleaning standards.

There will need to be greater focus on domestic marketing

“The new normal is constant change and adapting, and working with assumptions and uncertainty.”

and a deeper understanding of these markets to capture bookings – a one-size-fits-all approach will not have the cut-through – as well as on revenue generation and balance sheet management, including new ancillary revenue initiatives, supplier contracts, stock control, improved productivity, and doing more with less.

Hospitality NZ has been involved in two recent initiatives that will go a little way to easing the pressure on business.

I would like to think our submissions to the Government helped in some way to extend visas of vital sector workers for an additional six months, and we will continue to push for further changes. The industry-led Hospitality Springboard programme kicked off and we believe it will be key to attracting, retaining and upskilling more Kiwis into hospitality as the borders remain closed to our usual migrant workforce.

Building a workforce for the future will be an all hands on deck approach, not a quick fix but well worth the investment for the sustainability of our industry. ■

Hospitality New Zealand CEO, Julie White

LEADERS FORUM

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 31

LEADERS FORUM

The seafood allegory has some resonance for my next challenge – the tourism industry. - Stuart Nash 32 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

STATE OF THE NATION

We Must Stay On Top Of The Virus

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This time one year ago, the New Year dawned with an ominous warning for a vital sector of our economy.

By Minister for Economic and Regional Development, Forestry, Small Business and Tourism, Stuart Nash.

’m not referring to tourism, but to our $2 billion a year seafood export industry.

In my former role as Fisheries Minister, the first major challenge in 2020 was the collapse of our rock lobster industry. Chinese New Year celebrations were abruptly curtailed as a mysterious new virus swept out of Wuhan and terrified the population in one of our most important export markets. Our premium crayfish, a valuable part of our brand identity for discerning consumers, was off the menu as traditional Chinese New Year family gatherings and internal travel was cancelled for millions of people.

Then our borders closed too.

For the record, our seafood exports took a big hit in 2020, down more than five per cent, and are forecast to fall by around one per cent this year. But in 2022, they are expected to increase by more than ten per cent. Risks remain, especially getting product to China, the destination for one third of our seafood exports.

The seafood allegory has some resonance for my next challenge – the tourism industry.

2021 will still be dominated by COVID19. The virus is mutating. Our job is to make sure that everything we do – including tourism and broader economic policy – has a single focus.

We must stay on top of the virus. That requires ongoing vigilance not just from government, but from businesses and the wider community. In short, from the team of five million.

We are working very hard to make travel bubbles or safe travel zones a reality. The vaccine is only one part of it. The immunisation programme marks the beginning, not the end. The virus will not simply disappear after one round of the vaccine. We need widespread vaccination across the population to achieve the desired level of immunity.

Our plans for safe travel zones with Australia have been set back by the community outbreaks in some states. That re-sets the clock. It is a bottom line to require 28-days free

of community transmission. We are working closely with Australian government to ensure we have the best information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

We are also under no illusion about the potential risks of the eventual safe travel zone with Australia and our Realm countries in the Pacific. Freer travel from there will ultimately mean fewer staying in our managed isolation hotels. This will free up spaces for more people to return – and they will be from higher risk countries.

Additional offshore measures including pre-departure testing will help us prepare for the increased risk such arrivals will bring to our facilities and to incoming flights.

We are in a good position with no community cases, but we continue to take very specific steps to further strengthen our borders in response to what we see overseas. Strict protocols will remain in place. We regularly review our settings and make changes where they will make a difference.

Growing travel restrictions are being imposed in countries that host airport hubs and by airlines themselves – which block routes to New Zealand for the overwhelming majority of travellers from higher risk countries.

There are some bright spots on t he horizon.

In early January the international credit rating agency Fitch affirmed our AA+ rating and praised the Government’s policy framework. It said the robust public health and economic response to the global

“Our priority remains to keep people safe, accelerate the economic recovery, and help to get more businesses back on their feet.”

COVID-19 pandemic enabled New Zealand to weather the economic shock exceptionally well by global standards.

The economic bounce back was a result of our decision to act swiftly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We supported 1.8 million workers through the Wage Subsidy Scheme and invested billions in infrastructure, training and creating jobs. We invested heavily in both the promotion of domestic tourism and direct support to tourism businesses to help drive the economic recovery.

While there are vaccines being rolled out in countries seriously affected by COVID-19, the world is by no means out of the woods yet. There is still a huge amount of global uncertainty in the face of new strains of the virus and continued struggles in many countries to contain COVID19 domestically.

In short, we have a very big year ahead of us. Our priority remains to keep people safe, accelerate the economic recovery, and help to get more businesses back on their feet.

It is hard, it requires a clear focus, and it is a team effort. Tourism and hospitality businesses are doing their part by encouraging customers to scan QR codes, promoting good hygiene practices, and telling workers to stay home if sick.

We are hopeful and optimistic, but a lot of work remains ahead. ■

Stuart Nash, Minister for Tourism.

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - FEBRUARY 2021 33

STATE OF THE NATION

COVID-19 Demonstrated the Importance of Tourism to New Zealand

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Tourism recovery through 2021 will be a challenging process.

By Chris Roberts, CEO Tourism Industry Aotearoa.

s the summer holidays draw to an end, many people are wondering how tourism has fared. The most optimistic among us will be hopeful that the surge of domestic travel over the Christmas break has done enough to buoy the industry until our borders safely open.

And it’s certainly true that Kiwis have taken on the challenge this summer, getting out and supporting local.

The traditional Kiwi summer holiday spots seem to have done well, with domestic travellers drawn to our beautiful beaches and lakeside towns.

Visitor numbers have been as good or even better than usual in some regions.

The new alternative ‘island trips’ have all been booming – Stewart Island, Chatham Islands and Great Barrier Island reported “With border record numbers of visitors. restrictions in Parts of the country where New Zealanders place, the missing don’t traditionally COVID-19 has international visitor spend go for their summer perversely served holidays have struggled, will be another $1.5 billion to demonstrate though. Fiordland and the importance of per month for February Westland need more tourism to New and March. In all, a support. The main Zealand. With centres have also been borders closed, we’ve $6 billion hole in quiet with no international experienced what the summer.” visitors and city folk heading loss of visitor demand off to their baches. Auckland actually feels like around the has been attracting a few yachting country: to regional economies; enthusiasts for the America’s to the many thousands of tourism Cup racing, but not significant businesses; and to all those numbers. people who have lost their jobs Despite the contribution in tourism or in the sectors that LEADERS FORUM of Kiwi holiday makers, there support tourism. is no making up for the loss of It’s not all doom and gloom. international visitors, who last We don’t know when, but we know summer spent over $3 billion during there will be an end to the pandemic.

December and January.

TIA has a progressive and ambitious Tourism operators have focused on view of the future of the tourism giving Kiwis a great holiday experience industry in Aotearoa. We firmly but are looking nervously ahead to believe New Zealand can lead the world in sustainable tourism. the rest of a dwindling season. The number of Kiwis on holiday is slowly The onus falls on us all to not only reducing and will fall significantly after work to revive the industry, but to Waitangi weekend. bring it back better as a world-class and With border restrictions in place, genuinely sustainable tourism industry to enrich New Zealand and New that missing international visitor spend will be another $1.5 billion per month Zealanders’ lives. for February and March. In all, a $6 An industry that delivers what billion hole in summer. communities want, that is best for our 34 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

Chris Roberts, CEO Tourism Industry Aotearoa

land and our people, and will be the best it can be for future generations.

TIA is pushing the initiatives contained in our Election 2020 Tourism Action Plan, which sets out how the Government can work with the industry to revive and revitalise tourism in Aotearoa.

We were pleased to have the new Tourism Minister Stuart Nash speak to the 300 delegates at Tourism Summit Aotearoa shortly after the November election. We look forward to working with the Minister and other Ministers to tackle the key priorities.

Tourism recovery through 2021 will be a challenging process, no doubt with more surprises to come. To be successful, the rebuild must consider inclusion, economic value, community values, cultural connection and climate change perspectives.

Hopefully you’ve all been remembering to look after yourselves and were able to catch a break of your own this summer—whether that meant travelling to a different region or spending time with loved ones at home.

Whatever the year has in store for us all, I’m looking forward to supporting the tourism and hospitality sectors through this uniquely challenging time. ■

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