Australia’s cafes and restaurants are world-leaders in innovation and operations, and as consumer confidence hums once again, the future of our food scene is bright. From the makers of Fine Food Australia, Hospitality Unites is a 2-part event dedicated to uniting and supporting both the Victorian and National food scene in its recovery post-COVID.

The event will host a one-day Live Summit (Monday 21 June) at Half Acre, Sth Melbourne, focusing on trends, insights, and meaningful business advice for the Melbourne based Hospo industry.

The Live Summit is set to kick off with a Business Breakfast – an ‘In Conversation’ style panel discussion hosted by Wendy Hargreaves, Founder of Bread + Butter Media and former Journalist, Broadcaster and Food Commentator, and featuring Salvatore Malatesta (CEO & Creative Director – St Ali), Kerry Osborn (Co-Founder & CXO – Mr Yum) and Nicholas Stone (Founder & CEO – Bluestone Lane).

Since launching the rejuvenated format of the event, the team at Hospitality Unites have also partnered with the team at Principle of Hospitality Podcast to curate Summit Workshop sessions specifically tailored to deliver meaningful conversations and strategy to those running restaurants and cafés in Melbourne – depending on what stage of recovery they may be in – an emerging business, rebuilding or innovating in 2021.

The Summit Workshops will be held from 10am – 6pm and all proceeds from the ticket fee to attend any of the Workshops are being donated on to StreetSmart Australia, a charity tackling homelessness in Australia.

The Live Summit will be wrapped up by the After Party function, simply a chance for attendees to network and celebrate both the future of the industry and toast the hard work put in over the last year or so.

The free Virtual Summit the following day (Tuesday 22 June), hosted again by Hargreaves, is set to take the focus online and nationwide addressing broader topics affecting the industry across Australia in a series of keynotes, panel discussions, and product showcases. Topics to be discussed include the State of the Nation, Road to Recovery, Food Sustainability and more.

Hospitality Unites also recently announced the welcoming of Major Partner, Mr Yum, to the initiative in 2021 who, as a business leading a digital evolution in hospitality, are set to contribute innovative insights to the growing agenda.

More detailed agendas and speaker details are available on the HU website here, where you can register to attend the Live Sumit, Virtual Summit, or both.

Hospitality Unites was launched as a platform in mid-2020. Born out of the COVID-19 crisis, it is an initiative of Fine Food Australia dedicated to all things foodservice. The goal is to help provide the industry with the information, inspiration, tools, and solutions needed to successfully operate – whatever stage of recovery a venue may be in – re-building, recovering, re-engineering. www.hospitalityunites.com.au

 Fine Food Australia is Australia’s premier food industry event and the largest food trade show in the Southern Hemisphere. This trade-only event is in its 36th year and the next event will be held from 6 – 9 September 2021 at the International Convention Centre in Sydney. www.finefoodaustralia.com.au