New Strategic Direction for Restaurant Association

New Strategic Direction for Restaurant Association

Auckland, 22 December 2014 – The Restaurant Association of New Zealand, the industry organisation for restaurants, cafes and other members of the hospitality sector announced that it is stepping away from running the New Zealand Culinary Fare - an event it has proudly staged for more than 20 years - to pursue a new member-focused strategy.

CEO Marisa Bidois says that the Restaurant Association’s focus has changed.

“We strongly believe in the future of the Culinary Fare, and will continue to support it, but most of our effort and energy will now be devoted to supporting our members, who are business owners.

“During 2014, we staged a number of new events. The success of these has given us the opportunity to look at the areas our members would like us to focus on.

“With this in mind our efforts will be devoted to educating and supporting hospitality business owners to be successful and helping to encourage the overall growth of our sector, which currently generates annual revenue of $7.6 billion and employs around 107,000 people*.
“We believe we have found a new partner and champion to continue the NZ Culinary Fare. The New Zealand Chefs Association (NZChefs) will be running a new look event alongside the Food Show in August 2015.

“The Restaurant Association looks forward to supporting and working closely with NZChefs on the competitions both next year and beyond.”

The Restaurant Association’s Education Trust also currently invests large resources in training the future leaders and stars of the industry through its Apprentice Programme that it runs in conjunction with Service IQ.

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