Have You Got 2013’s Best Café?

15 July 2013

Have You Got 2013’s Best Café?

The NZ Café of the Year is back

Fire up the hob and prime the espresso machine – the Café of the Year Award is back for 2013 with new ingredients, new regions and a new smartphone app.

Last year’s highly successful search for New Zealand’s best café reaped entries from more than 400 establishments from July to November competing for the inaugural title.

And with more than 3,000 cafés now operating from Cape Reinga to Bluff and higher trade awareness, the competition in 2013 is bound to be even tougher.

Cafés can now register online and café-goers will soon be able to vote for their favourite by smartphone as well as text, online and Facebook.

The Restaurant Association of New Zealand is again managing the judging and Image Centre Group is again responsible for bringing the award to life.

Mike Hutcheson, Executive Director, ICG says, “We really want to dial up the heat on enthusiasm for entries this year – both in terms of culinary creativity and having more café’s believe they’re in with a chance.

“New Zealand has a strong café culture – we want to make sure the very best can show just how good they are.”

The regions for the 2013 awards are the three metropolitan areas of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, the North Island north and south of Taupo and the whole of the South Island.

The new smartphone app for both Android and iOS is being released to coincide with the opening of voting on 2nd September. Café-goers can find entered cafés, vote for their favourite and view the café recipes. For guaranteed inclusion in the smartphone app, cafés need to register before the 19 August.

Eighteen finalists will be chosen on the basis of the most votes gained in each of the six regions with the finalists judged by an expert panel to find the café of the year. The judges are provided by The Restaurant Association of New Zealand and event supporters are Heinz Wattie’s and Goodman Fielder.

The judges visit the finalist cafés and score them on appearance, atmosphere, staff, meals and the overall dining experience. Judges this year are Mark Gregory and Kerry Tyack.

The ingredients list has been expanded this year. Each café entering the award must have at least one dish on its menu containing Wattie’s canned fruit and veg products and Goodman Fielder’s Meadow Fresh or Tararua products.

The winning café is announced at the beginning of December and its owners drive home a brand new Fiat 500S.

Café-goers who vote also go in the draw to win a regional prize of $1,000 to spend in the café of their choice. There’s also a grand prize of $5,000 for one lucky consumer to spend at his or her favourite café.

To enter, cafés must register at www.nzcafeoftheyear.co.nz by 18 October. The awards are run by Auckland-based powerhouse ICG.

*The ingredients list for the 2013 Café of the Year Award is:

• Watties canned products
o Corn
o Beetroot
o Tomatoes
o Peaches
o Pears
o Black Doris Plums

• Goodman Fielder products
o Meadow Fresh Cream
o Meadow Fresh Custard
o Meadow Fresh Yoghurt including Naturalea
o Tararua Buttermilk
o Tararua Cultured Range (Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, Cottage Cheese, Cream Fraiche
Ends

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