{"id":495925,"date":"2026-06-26T03:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/495925\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T03:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:28:18","slug":"new-restaurant-association-head-calls-for-stronger-hospitality-voice-ahead-of-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/495925\/","title":{"rendered":"New Restaurant Association head calls for stronger hospitality voice ahead of election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RestaurantRestaurant Association chief executive Nicola Waldren said she wants a Government that works with the sector. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a family affair for Waldren, whose father Neville Waldren was the founding chief executive of the organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really how I came to be part of the industry and how I came to the association in the first place,\u201d Nicola Waldren said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t ever my intention. I think I came to help out one day and they\u2019ve found it difficult to get rid of me ever since. But I think that love for the industry really came from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waldren has worked for more than 20 years in various roles at the Restaurant Association, with time spent as a membership communications manager, and later general manager of the organisation.<\/p>\n

With her family connection and deep ties to Bidois, Waldren said she\u2019d like to be in a position to build on the legacy created by her predecessors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that is really important is that our industry continues to be recognised and respected by decision makers. I think that\u2019s something that Marisa really built up over many years, and that\u2019s one of the biggest priorities for me to continue with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bidois, with her counterparts at Hospitality New Zealand, was successful in her bid for a dedicated ministerial role, with Louise Upston taking on the portfolio alongside tourism as the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a positive development, Waldren said, with key changes for the sector occurring over this Government\u2019s term, including to visa rules, Easter holiday liquor sales restrictions and the imminent arrival of the Michelin Guide, to which the Government has dedicated $6.3 million to bring to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"RestaurantRestaurant Association chief executive Nicola Waldren said the organisation was doing what it could to support businesses. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

However, despite the changes, the experience of hospitality owners across the country has been mixed.<\/p>\n

Data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) showed that 2025 recorded the highest number of liquidations in 15 years and the largest number of company removals in nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

For the hospitality industry, recorded liquidations in March 2026 were up 49% compared with the previous year, with 399 recorded, according to the Centrix April Credit Indicator report.<\/p>\n

Waldren said it was hard to see so many businesses close over the last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt often is that build-up of what we\u2019ve been going through for a number of years. There comes a point where you can\u2019t wait for the better times to come, and some decisions do have to be made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really devastating because for hospitality owners it\u2019s their life and soul that they\u2019ve put into their businesses. We employ a lot of people, so that\u2019s large teams that are affected and families\u2019 livelihoods. It\u2019s definitely hard to see and hear those numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waldren said members had described the start of the year as a time of sales growth, reflected in the organisation\u2019s data which showed total spending increased by 6.5% to $4.26 billion over the first quarter of 2026 compared to the previous corresponding period.<\/p>\n

However, there is a clear regional difference in that performance, with Queenstown-Lakes growing by 21.9% compared to Nelson, which had spending fall over the first quarter by 13.1%.<\/p>\n

But despite the lift in overall spending, it hasn\u2019t resulted in higher earnings, according to Waldren, with energy, insurance, food and other operating costs eating into bottom lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the world events this year have imposed cost changes that we really weren\u2019t planning for this year. Even where there\u2019s been sales growth, it hasn\u2019t necessarily translated into better margins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is some change that we can see happening, we just really need to see that more fully across the industry and across the country. That\u2019s our hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the number of hospitality businesses that have closed, the number that have opened over the past year is also relevant, with 3555 opening their doors according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s nearly 10 times the number that have liquidated, and something Waldren believes highlights the opportunity that still exists in the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things that makes the industry so incredible and so diverse. There\u2019s always exciting new openings and New Zealand is spoilt for choice in the options that we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that\u2019s really important in terms of our role and the Government\u2019s role of creating an environment or settings that really do encourage people to want to open businesses and grow within the industry. We\u2019re really invested in helping tell the story about why it\u2019s an important industry to join.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opportunity presented by the arrival of the Michelin Guide is precisely this, with Waldren describing its introduction as a game-changer for the industry.<\/p>\n

She said New Zealand has always had world-class businesses and chefs, but Michelin was an internationally recognised and respected benchmark the sector needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other really important thing is that this isn\u2019t a once-off. We\u2019ve got a big opportunity this year, but I\u2019m really interested to see how we can leverage that and build our culinary tourism story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got an opportunity next year and the year after that, so this is the start of something really quite exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Michelin Guide\u2019s June 30 launch event will reveal whether any local restaurants have been awarded the coveted one-, two- or three-star status.<\/p>\n

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Restaurant Association chief executive Nicola Waldren said she wants a Government that works with the sector. Photo \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2840,3017,3110,138,1559,115,2841,10668,5903,2082,106,15557,2454,9933,12018,117,111,139,69,1118,6777,1881,2539,8610,116463,248203,42699,1961,11548,248202,6202,379],"class_list":["post-495925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-across","tag-ahead","tag-association","tag-business","tag-called","tag-calls","tag-country","tag-economic","tag-election","tag-for","tag-head","tag-hospitality","tag-industry","tag-later","tag-listen","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-performance","tag-recovery","tag-restaurant","tag-sectors","tag-splits","tag-stopstart","tag-stronger","tag-this","tag-voice","tag-whoever","tag-wins","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}