31 AUG - 3 SEP 2026 | Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

Industry News

Fine Food Australia is the nation’s leading trade event connecting foodservice and hospitality professionals with the latest products, trends, and innovations shaping the industry. Discover industry news, delivering expert insights on operational excellence, emerging trends,  and practical strategies to help your business thrive.

The Future of Cocktails

Written by Hilary McNevin. Mixed drinks and cocktails in bottles and cans are nothing new, but lockdown life has stirred huge demand for top-shelf ingredients and exotic combinations in the liquor-to-go market. We might not be able to visit our favourite venues, but we can have small bottles filled with grown-up concoctions delivered to our door, and we like it.

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Food Leaders Campaign for Vaccinations with a Lesson from NYC

By Wendy Hargreaves Australia’s hospitality industry is pushing hard for more people to get vaccinated to bring an end to crippling lockdowns. As NSW government ministers pin their hopes on a “freedom plan” to open bars and restaurants for vaccinated patrons, Australia’s top chefs are mounting their own campaign to boost vaccination rates and move beyond the lockdown merry-go-round. Put a Jab

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How to Get Noticed by Food Writers: a Journo’s Guide

Written by Wendy Hargreaves. Journalist Richard Cornish has heard every PR pitch in the book when it comes to food and drink. The award-winning author has been writing about Australian food and drink for almost three decades, amassing a cult following for his weekly column in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Richard has also co-authored best-selling books with MoVida’s Frank Camorra

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How Australia’s Packaging Industry is Dealing with the Pandemic

We all know lockdowns have challenged hospitality over the past 18 months. But the pandemic has taught us that Australians love ordering takeaway, perhaps now even more than ever. So, with takeaway containers seemingly in high demand, how is the packaging sector faring? The packaging industry is a diverse group of businesses, with national and state suppliers and manufacturers relying

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The Australian Culinary Federation announces a new partnership between Australian Culinary Federation Young Chefs & Simplot Australia Pty Ltd.

ACF young chefs are established in all ACF regions & are mentored by leading chefs in their state or territory. Simplot is also working with the ACF to help raise young chefs’ profiles in Australia and promote the advantages of belonging to an industry-based association. Simplot is one of the country’s largest suppliers in the foodservice industry and they have

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Dark Kitchens Shine a Light on Future Profitability for Restaurants

Given diminishing returns, shrinking margins and skyrocketing rents, it’s no wonder some restaurateurs have been on the lookout for a new way to bolster their bottom lines. And so, when service on-demand food apps such as Deliveroo, Menulog and UberEats arrived on the scene, the market was ripe for change and disruption. Enter the dark kitchen. Also known as ‘ghost

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Travelling on a Plate

Written by Sofia Levin.  With international travel on hold, Australians are turning to restaurants and cafes for a taste of life overseas. Culinary travel journalist Sofia Levin talks to a new generation of cooks finding business success in their own culinary heritage. “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?” I hear this question all the time – at restaurant launches,

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The Bottom Line: 10 Expert Tips to Blitz Tax Time

Christine Green is the founder of Restaurant Bookkeepers, one of an emerging number of financial services companies specialising in the hospitality industry. After 25 years of operating a design and procurement consultancy building commercial kitchens, Green saw a need for hospitality owners to get on top of their bookkeeping, document flows and business models. “I love being involved in other

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How Butchers are Helping to Carve Up the Market

While Australia remains one of the world’s great consumers of meat – about 110kg per person a year, compared to a global average of 44kg –  our tastes are changing. There was a time when beef was the king of meat, but beef consumption in Australia has dropped by 41 per cent since 2000, just behind lamb, which has plummeted

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