Waikato restaurant and bar takes out top honour at national hospitality awards

Hamilton restaurant and bar Smith and McKenzie Chophouse has been named as the Supreme Champion at this year’s prestigious Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.

En-route to taking out the supreme award at the awards ceremony in Christchurch last night (November 3), Smith and McKenzie Chophouse also won the Best Restaurant category, and was a finalist in the Excellence in Marketing category.

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Bruce Robertson said it was highly encouraging to see the overall winner of the awards go to a regional venue outside of the bigger cities.

Mr Robertson said it had been quite some years since the diversity of winners and their regional locations had been so widely spread throughout the country. Other winners at the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence included country pubs and lodges in remote locations, five-star hotels, and even a trendy ‘underground’ style bar.

“The incredible array of winners this year truly reflects the broad reach of the hospitality industry, and the importance this commercial sector plays within the wider New Zealand economy,” Mr Robertson said.

“Smith and McKenzie Chophouse and the other winners reflect an incredible amount of passion and commitment to their businesses, and ultimately to their customers. They rightly deserve to be recognised as the best in their class, anywhere in New Zealand.”

The Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence are judged on a comprehensive range of business-focussed criteria – such as marketing strategies, training programmes, profitability, operational procedures, and customer service.

As part of the thorough assessment programme undertaken on all entries in the awards, venues are personally visited by the panel of judges to ensure the validity of the entry, and to verify all information and data put forward. 

For a full list of winners and finalists, click here to go to our website.