Fine Food Australia is the premium foodservice trade show that alternates between Melbourne and Sydney each year. It features a selection of international food distributors as well as equipment manufacturers and distributors.
As is now tradition for FCSI Asia Pacific, the team hosts an industry gathering on the first morning to kick off the show. For the second time we met at The W Melbourne for a networking breakfast with around 55 in attendance.
Guests ranged from Professional Member consultants to Allied representatives. We acknowledge our sponsors who supported us:
- Platinum Sponsor – Moffat
- Gold Sponsor – Botinkit
- Silver Sponsors – Comcater, Monika, UNOX
- Bronze Sponsor – Meiko
FCSI APD took a table at the annual dinner, hosted by the National Association of Foodservice Equipment Suppliers (NAFES) on the Monday. The dinner, held at Zink at Federation Square, saw a number of significant industry leaders recognized for their years of service.
FCSI Senior Associate, Allister Sarris of Sarris Design held one-on-one design resolving sessions in ‘The Takeaway suite’, where restaurant owners could book time to meet an independent designer.
On Tuesday, Rachel Meryment, certification manager of HACCP International joined as a guest speaker of FCSI to speak about, ‘The rise of electronics and digital systems in food safety – the benefits and pitfalls‘ – as part of the Talking Trends program. This was followed by an FCSI cocktail party at Fine Food within a meeting room overlooking the exhibition floor.
Finally on the Wednesday, Glenn Flood, as the facilitator of the session titled ‘Bond Between Design & Chef‘, challenged the designer and the chef to tease out the friction that arises during the planning of a restaurant kitchen. Executive chef, Stephen Nairn of the renowned LK Group did not hold back, as Andrew Brain FCSI, director of Foodservice Consultants Australia, discussed the challenges of feeding the chef’s expectations to the design team. We expected fireworks and we weren’t disappointed.
Andrew Brain FCSI
