James Beck, of Bistronomy in Napier, was named the The RA Lexis Comply Hub Local Hospo Hero award winner. Photo / File
James Beck, of Bistronomy in Napier, was named the The RA Lexis Comply Hub Local Hospo Hero award winner. Photo / File
The Hawke's Bay hospitality has proven to be durable in the face of Covid-19, with the winners of the Hawke's Bay Resilience Awards.
At a time when many in the hospitality industry were having to decrease staffing, Jeremy Bayliss - the man behind PAK Asian Kitchen, Westshore Beach Inn, Rogue Hop, Napier Brewing, Econo Lodge - not only managed to keep his team of 36 but even increased it to 45.
For his efforts, his team nominated him for the OneMusic Outstanding Community Spirit award, which he took home last night.
His recognition of their work, commitment to training and work life balance, charitable nature and determination to keep his team employed this year named as examples of his exceptional character.
Chef and Malo restaurant owner, Bert van de Steeg, was inspired by the lockdown to bring fine dining experiences right to people's homes. Photo / File
Other Hawke's Bay restaurateurs James Beck, of Bistronomy, and Bert van der Steeg, of Malo, were instead recognised for their innovative response to Covid-19.
As the country prepared to come out of lockdown, Beck began to look for a way to put his takeaway menu in front of as many people as possible.
Knowing others would want to do the same, he rallied the industry together and created the Hawke's Bay at Home platform.
Close to 1000 hours went into initially launching the project, with everyone working for free, Beck said.
With help from director of marketing consultancy KIN, Alice McKinley, the platform grew to include more than 100 restaurants, cafes, bars, brewers and wineries within the space of a few days.
For this effort, Beck was named the RA Lexis Comply Hub Local Hospo Hero award winner.
Bert van de Steeg, of Malo, won the Eftpos NZ Outstanding Innovation award. Photo / File
Head chef and owner of Malo restaurant, van der Steeg went in the opposite direction, looking to bring the fine dining, restuarant experience into people's homes.
He launched an in-home private chef dining experience which can "host a relaxed family-style dinner or a degustation experience to impress your guests".
He won the Eftpos NZ Outstanding Innovation award.
Marisa Bidois, chief executive of the Restaurant Association which helped present Monday's awards, said they had been overwhelmed by some of the stories they'd heard.
"[...] of people and businesses around the country with amazing community spirit; those who have innovated and changed; and those who have found silver linings in the most challenging of times"
She hoped the awards would inspire the Hawke's Bay community to support the local hospitality industry.
"It has never been more important for diners to get out and try the fantastic array of local dining spots."
