Hospitality Honours - Celebrating Success In 2020

While 2020 has been a year of challenge and change, amid the hardship and headaches have been extraordinary tales of creativity, resilience and social enterprise. To celebrate the big ideas, bold moves and successes, great and small, we present the Gourmet Traveller Hospitality Honours List.

- Michael Harden & Jordan Kretchmer

HOPE DELIVERY

Neil Perry officially retired from Rockpool Dining Group in July but remains in service thanks to his Hope Delivery initiative. The social enterprise launched in March, creating restaurant-standard meals for those in need – from the homeless and unemployed to migrant workers ineligible for JobKeeper and JobSeeker. Partnering with OzHarvest to distribute meals, as well as handing them out to people in the street in Sydney and Melbourne, Hope Delivery has shared more than 200,000 meals since it launched – and is still going strong. As Perry told GT in September: “A restaurant belongs to the community, and part of being in a community is taking care of people who are less privileged.” Perry has certainly stepped up to the mark, both manning the pans to cook for Hope Delivery and working the phones to raise funds to keep the initiative going.

ADAM LISTON + SHOBOSHO

It was an impassioned social media call out from Shobosho head chef Adam Liston that helped prompt the Shobosho team into two community-focused cooking projects. The team took over lunch service duties at Adelaide’s WestCare Centre, where many of the cooks were 60-plus and unable to keep volunteering during lockdown. Liston’s team also temporarily transformed Shobosho into Dr Sho, using their culinary skills to prep nourishing meals exclusively for healthcare professionals. While the restaurant has returned to regular trading, Liston reflects on the difficult time and how his team rallied together, positively. “It was rewarding,” he says. “We didn’t do it for fame, we just wanted to keep busy.”

JESSI SINGH