F&B Magazine column

Get it off your chest

How often have hospitality operators complained about compliance costs? The answer is often and with lots of justification. The hospitality industry is faced with more compliance costs than almost any other sector. There are regulations around the service of food, regulations controlling the service of liquor, and the pedantic array of regulations around gaming, to name just a few.

The amount of regulatory compliance faced by hospitality is highlighted by the recently released publication, Your Guide to Hospitality Legislation produced by the Hospitality Standards Institute in partnership with the Hospitality Association. This guide covers 35 acts and regulations all creating a bureaucratic nightmare.

The industry has the opportunity to detail unnecessary compliance and make constructive suggestions. The Hon Lianne Dalziel has announced a review of compliance costs in the hospitality sector. This is to be a bottom-up approach with the major input come directly from hospitality operators. Instead of the traditional approach of expecting the various associations in the sector to make comprehensive submissions, the Government are inviting individual hospitality operators to have input through the Ministry’s website http://www.businessconsultation.govt.nz/. There is also some general information on the review http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/ContentTopicSummary____19894.aspx which could be useful.

It is vital that every hospitality operator who has ever had a concern about compliance costs takes the time to go onto this site and specify your concerns and suggest a solution. The suggestions could and should range from the very small to the very large, to the simple, to the complex. For example, why is it necessary to have a liquor licence renewed after the 1-year probationary period when the authorities have plenty of opportunity to remove a liquor licence if the operator is not complying with the Sale of Liquor Act.

This is a huge opportunity for the hospitality industry. Get those concerns and suggestions off your chest and in front of the Government. The industry has complained enough and now we have the opportunity to do something about it! Get it off your chest at http://www.businessconsultation.govt.nz/.

26 June 2006

Bruce H Robertson

Chief Executive