What Winning a R&CA Hostplus Award for Excellence Does for Your Business

Editorial | R&CA Awards for Excellence

Australia's restaurant and catering industry came together last year to celebrate its best operators at the 2025 R&CA Hostplus Awards for Excellence, with national winners announced across more than 30 categories spanning every state and territory.

It was a night that deserved to be celebrated. The Australian hospitality industry is navigating one of the most challenging trading environments in recent memory. Cost-of-living pressures have changed how and how often Australians dine out. Input costs remain high. Staffing remains a genuine operational challenge. Against that backdrop, the operators who entered the 2025 program prepared their submissions, opened their businesses to independent assessment and stood on that stage, did something that takes real commitment.

From a French restaurant in Canberra taking out Restaurant of the Year, to a Sydney event venue claiming Caterer of the Year, to a Queensland casual dining operator earning the top national honour in their category, the 2025 results reflected the depth and diversity of Australian hospitality at its best.

The national finalist list featured more than 200 businesses, representing every segment of the industry. Fine dining and family restaurants, breakfast cafes and premium caterers, pub kitchens and winery restaurants, aged care and corporate catering operations all competed on equal terms.

For the operators named, it was a moment of genuine industry recognition. For those watching, it is a benchmark worth understanding, particularly now that the 2026 program is underway and state finalists are currently being announced.

The Major Awards — What They Meant

Restaurant of the Year went to Les Bistronomes in Campbell, ACT, a French restaurant that also took Gold in the European Restaurant category. For an intimate operation competing against restaurants from every major city in Australia, that result was a significant national statement.

Caterer of the Year was claimed by Doltone House Sydney Town Hall, a venue that has built a strong reputation for large-scale event delivery without compromising on quality. Recognised in both the Wedding Caterer category and the major award, their consistency across the board is what distinguishes national winners from strong state performers.

Casual Dining of the Year went to Italia Lane in Fortitude Valley, Queensland. Casual dining represents the largest segment of the Australian hospitality industry, and this recognition is a reminder that the program values operators across every format, not just those at the premium end.

What It Means Beyond the Business

Awards recognition does something that a good week of trade cannot replicate. It tells a team that the work they do every day in a physically demanding, often underappreciated industry has been recognised and acknowledged at a national level.

For the kitchen hand who has been showing up through a difficult winter. For the front-of-house team member who has maintained professionalism when customers are feeling the pinch and taking it out on service. For the owner who has been quietly absorbing cost increases rather than passing them all on. National recognition lands differently for those people. It matters.

Hospitality communities in regional areas feel this particularly strongly. When a local restaurant or café is named among the best in the country, the whole town notices. It brings pride to a community that has often watched the hospitality businesses it depends on struggle through tough conditions.

This is why the R&CA Hostplus Awards for Excellence exist. Not just to benchmark businesses, but to recognise the people behind them and the communities they serve.

Why Being a Finalist Matters

Being named a national finalist places a business among the best operators in the country. Last year's finalist list spanned more than 200 businesses, from Hanuman Restaurant in Alice Springs to Blue Manna Bistro in Dunsborough, from The Q Train in Drysdale to Tali Wiru at Ayers Rock Resort.

The program's geographic breadth is deliberate. These awards do not favour capital cities or well-resourced venues. A regional café in Jindabyne, a pub kitchen in Boonah, a winery restaurant in the Barossa Valley — all assessed on the same criteria, all competing for the same recognition.

For operators outside metropolitan areas, that national visibility carries genuine commercial weight. And for the teams working in those venues, it carries something equally valuable.

The Business Case for Entering

Operators who have been through the awards process consistently point to the same outcomes.

Staff pride and retention. Industry recognition means something to a team. In an environment where attracting and keeping good people remains one of the sector's most pressing challenges, that sense of collective achievement should not be underestimated. People want to work somewhere they are proud of.

Customer confidence. Displaying award recognition, whether Gold, Silver, Bronze or finalist, gives customers a clear signal about the standard of experience they can expect. In a market where consumers are making more deliberate choices about where they spend, that signal carries real weight.

Supplier and partner relationships. Recognised businesses attract stronger supplier conversations, partnership interest, and media attention. It positions an operation as one worth investing in.

A meaningful benchmark. The entry process requires operators to articulate clearly what they do well and where they want to improve. In a year when many operators are having hard conversations about the sustainability of their business, that clarity has genuine value.

2026 Entries Are Progressing

The 2026 R&CA Hostplus Awards for Excellence program is now underway, with state finalists currently being announced. National winners will be determined from those state finalists, continuing the program's tradition of identifying the best operators in the country through a rigorous, independent assessment process.

If your business was not part of the 2025 program, now is the time to pay attention. The industry needs its best operators to be visible. State finalist announcements are the first step toward national recognition, and the businesses that enter are the ones that get found.

We wish all finalists the best of luck for this year's awards program.

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