RESTAURATEURS have hit out at the Good Food Group over the cancellation of this year’s April in Guernsey promotion and competition. The group said that this year’s restaurant competition had been deferred, citing a general lack of enthusiasm.
But the winner of last year’s competition, Dean Hodkinson of L’Escalier, said that the popularity of the event and input by restaurants had gone from strength to strength.
‘I feel like they have pulled it out from under our feet. I think the April competition is a great thing because it gives us the chance to experiment with food and attract new customers. If you didn’t get involved in the April competition, your business would suffer,’ he said.
The group also said that the £500 cost to entrants no longer stacked up, but Mr Hodkinson said that it had been a good investment for his business.
‘Financially it’s very rewarding because you get new customers throughout the year and dishes that end up on the permanent menu are highly influenced by the competition. A select few were not happy about the way it’s been conducted, but the competition last year was well received by most restaurateurs because it was made cheaper,’ he said.
Last April 44 establishments entered the competition to showcase the best of their cuisine for the month.
Mr Hodkinson believed that the money which would have been used for April in Guernsey was being invested into the wrong areas.
‘The thing that concerns me is that the money invested in the competition will go into the seafood festival which is not beneficial to restaurateurs. There are only a handful of people who will benefit and all the other restaurants will suffer from it,’ he said.
Tony Leck of The Pavilion is a huge supporter of the competition which was this month set to mark its 11th year.
‘It’s a shame that a competition which has been going for such a long time has been cancelled. When it started it was a week-long event and now it is a month long, a major event on the calendar, and now it’s not even going to happen,’ he said.
Mr Leck said that regular visitors to the island had already expressed their disappointment at the loss.
‘You see visitors return year after year and they have already mentioned the fact that it’s not happening this year,’ he said.
Restaurateurs have suggested that if the competition were run as a festival, many would still want to get involved.
‘The formula could be changed, but if you spend so many years building it up, it’s such a waste to watch it fade away.
‘I think it’s been great for raising the standards of food in the island,’ said Mr Leck.
Chairman of the Good Food Guernsey Group Paul Luxon said that the termination of the competition was down to the lack of interest on the part of restaurateurs and had nothing to do with budget cuts.
‘Over the last few years the interest in April in Guernsey has diminished. The majority didn’t feel the promotion had any life left in it and that it was very expensive to host. With all these things, there is a shelf life,’ he said.
Mr Luxon said that one problem was that some people wanted it to be a competition and others did not.
‘The consensus was that it had run its day. We seriously considered running it this year despite the feedback and we did invite restaurateurs to put together a proposal to organise their own event. Our job is to encourage good food in Guernsey and stimulate interest. We are not there to make restaurants busy,’ he said.
Mr Luxon said that the promotion and competition could go ahead next year - if there were demand for it.
‘There is no reason to say it won’t come back if people want it to. We are very happy to listen to anyone’s ideas. The more ideas the better,’ he said.
Article posted on 6th April, 2006 - 12.00am
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