Dinner gift cooked up for needy

Mark Gregory and Ben Bayly want diners to help feed the needy. Photo / Michael Craig

Celebrity chefs and restaurateurs have banded together to ask diners to help feed needy Kiwis this Christmas.

Household names including Simon Gault, Ben Bayly and Peter Gordon have pledged their support for DineAid, an initiative set up by acclaimed New Zealand chef Mark Gregory, who was moved by the plight of almost 100,000 low-income Kiwis believed to be living on the breadline.

Participating restaurants and cafes encourage customers to donate a minimum of $2 per table at the end of their meal. All the money raised in November and December is given to food banks.

The participating restaurant's include The Grove in downtown Auckland and its head chef, My Kitchen Rules star Ben Bayly.

"It is sad so many people are struggling for enough to eat when restaurants and cafes have 50,000 seats a night available in Auckland alone," Bayly said.

"This obviously creates intense competition, so it is nice people in the business can put rivalries aside and come together for a good cause."

At this time of year it was not unusual for people to spend $150 per head dining at The Grove. "We are only asking for a contribution of $2 a table, which is small change compared to what companies are prepared to spend on staff for a Christmas treat," he explained.

"We are basically acting like tax collectors. But that $2 goes a long way to help feed someone who otherwise might have had nothing."

Gregory said the fundraising drive was still $15,000 short of its $100,000 target. "This week we will write to 20,000 businesses asking them to host their Christmas hospitality at a participating DineAid restaurant," he said. "In the run up to Christmas, what is $2 to add to the bill at the end of a fantastic meal?"

For a list of DineAid restaurants, visit www.dineaid.org.nz