\u201cI can\u2019t dress it up to say that it\u2019s been the easiest time,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHospitality, as a sector, [has] been hit hard with rising costs and for the less pedestrian traffic around and about with the economic situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she said a glimmer of light was on the horizon, as people were slowly returning to the CBD.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are getting to the end of winter and a little bit over the colder weather, looking forward to springing into action with spring in September,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very much looking at … supporting the hospitality industry … [and] looking at other places who have built such a good events and activations around having a hospitality month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at Wellington and Wellington on a plate … we really wanted to highlight, showcase and acknowledge that we have some fantastic hospitality here and how can we just present it in a different way out to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Love Bites was also about having a bite of something new, Williams said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really wanted to see some creativity come out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great challenge for our eateries to create one irresistible bite that leaves people wanting more.\u201d<\/p>\n
From bougie bites to nostalgic nibbles and a sample of snacks from around the world, Williams said 32 venues, from bakeries to fine-dining establishments, have accepted the challenge.<\/p>\n
The Love Bites are not existing menu items and won\u2019t stay on the menu.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have so many great eateries in our city, Love Bites is a great way for people to enjoy them [all] one bite at a time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A series of events will also be held, including Recipe Book Bites, for those wanting to know how to get a cookbook published, and Waikato Museum is opening its doors to show some hidden culinary treasures.<\/p>\n
Love Bites runs from August 1 to 31. For more information and a list of what the special bites look like and where to get them, visit lovethecentre.co.nz\/love-bites\/.<\/p>\n
Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI can\u2019t dress it up to say that it\u2019s been the easiest time,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHospitality, as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[85430,642,4057,16640,138,26637,6928,5232,2837,81902,2082,6288,8531,15557,2454,23807,2882,111,139,69,4499,1962,23644],"class_list":["post-552727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-85430","tag-august","tag-behind","tag-bites","tag-business","tag-buzz","tag-celebrating","tag-create","tag-during","tag-eateries","tag-for","tag-hamilton","tag-hamiltons","tag-hospitality","tag-industry","tag-initiative","tag-love","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-small","tag-special","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552727","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=552727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}