MasterChef's Ray McVinnie helps raise the bar

MASTERCHEF: Ray McVinnie will be back in Rotorua to present a Raising the Bar workshop on August 22. PHOTO/FILE

Television MasterChef Ray McVinnie is heading back to Rotorua to help the city's businesses "raise the bar" when it comes to service standards.

Mr McVinnie will present a day-long workshop and discuss where Rotorua is excelling in service and how believing in yourself, your staff and your business will make the difference to your bottom line.

He will also discuss what Rotorua does well, what it could do better and "what it will take to believe in ourselves as a city".

He said good service did matter and will explain what it feels like when you receive exceptional service.

The Raising the Bar campaign was officially launched in June at a function held at the Rotorua District Council.

Raising the Bar is an initiative being run by a group of passionate Rotorua business people who want to help Rotorua become the best place in the country for friendly, efficient and high-level service.

Group spokesman Heinz Fett said quite a lot of people had expressed interest in Raising the Bar so the group was also organising a meeting to be held at the Pig and Whistle from 5.30pm on August 6 to discuss how they could progress the initiative.

"Some of our members have been to Taupo to visit a similar group there who have given us some really good ideas.

"It also reinforces the fact we are not doing this in isolation and the same issues have been raised in other parts of the country."

Mr Fett said more workshops were being planned for the first weeks of September, October and November, with more details to come.

RSVP for the Ray McVinnie workshop by emailing brigitte.nelson@rdc.govt.nz, or head to www.rotoruachamber.co.nz to register.

The cost is $50 for the first person and $25 for each subsequent person from the same business.

The workshop will be held at the Princes Gate Hotel on August 22 from 8am to 11.30am, followed by an open forum from 12pm to 2pm.

Anyone interested in Raising the Bar can contact Kay Clarke at kay@stayandplaynz.com.