BLIA NZ YAD member receives hospitality awards

Andy Hsu, a member of the FGS YAD received an award for “Outstanding Performance in Food and Beverage Operations” which is sponsored by the Restaurant Association of New Zealand (RANZ) on the 16th of February. The award was presented by the CEO of the Association, Steve MacKenzie.

The award was possibly given on the basis of his performance in the university course “Applied Food and Beverage Management (Restaurant)” along with his extra-curricular activities in the two competitions.

The first competition was the Auckland Regional Culinary Fare in July 2010, organised by the RANZ and hosted by Auckland University of Technology (AUT). He competed in two events; the first was “Wine and Beverage Service” – Silver Medal and the second was “Table Setting, Clearing and Crumbing Down” – Silver Medal. The medal award system is based on scores. Entering the arena with 100points, the judges will deduct points according to the marking schedule which may include tidiness of uniform, precision tableware placement (straight lines etc), consistency in personal conduct in the arena, health and safety practices, ability to interact and provide good customer service and also silver service skills. Competitors include other institutions such as North Shore International Academy (NSIA) and industry professionals like SkyCity.

The second competition, the New Zealand Culinary Fare was held in August 2010. This is a national competition organised by the RANZ and hosted at the ASB Showground of Auckland. The competition named “Training Team of the Year” consists of 1 restaurant serviceperson (Andy) and 2 training chefs in Andy’s team, all representing the AUT team. Other hospitality institutions across New Zealand such as Southern Institute, Manukau Institute of Technology as well as the Joint Catering Service of the New Zealand Defense Force also participated. Competition includes the training chefs producing 4 portions of three course meal in a given time and the restaurant serviceperson serving it to 3 invited guests at specially set table along with full silver service. The chefs and restaurant services are judged separately with the kitchen holding the only gold medal, and restaurant services receiving silver medal as the best (no gold were awarded this year). The combined score of the AUT team was the highest hence receiving the award and trophy for “Training Team of the Year 2010”.

Other involvement he had in 2010 includes working as functions assistant in AUT’s Hospitality and Tourism department which includes a fine dining “Four Seasons” restaurant venue hired out for corporate functions as well as internal university functions; there has been a commercialization process in 2010 in the training restaurants “Four Seasons” and also “Piko”. He has been involved in the commercialization process and is now working in the commercial sector of Piko café restaurant as well as Four Seasons fine dining restaurant/venue. The commercialization process meant that the commercial sector and academic sector will run parallel in these two establishments and part of Andy’s job as a commercial staff is to assist the lecturers and help lead the students in the learning of restaurant operations.