Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Despi O’Connor congratulates Blue Mini’s Tracey Fleming, TreAnd’s Line Thye and Spudalicious’s Darren Monahan on their successes in the awards.
Rosebud’s Blue Mini Café has been named the overall winner of the 2021 Best Bites People’s Choice Awards. Three Mornington businesses – Phat Yaya’s, Homeground Café and Lilo Café – were highly commended, as were R&K Café in Bittern, TreAnd at Baxter Valley Estate, and Spudalicious in Hastings.
All winners and nominated businesses will be featured in this year’s 2021 Best Bites Food Guide, which will be published later this year. The online guide, an initiative of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, lists Peninsula food businesses that score more than 95 per cent in their food safety assessment and provide excellence across one or more of the Best Bites categories.
More than 120 customers nominated their favourite food business in this year’s awards. A panel of seven independent judges representing the council, Peninsula Health and the Disability Advisory Committee then assessed the nominees based on how well their customers felt they performed in such categories as food safety, healthy eating, sustainability, reduction of tobacco/alcohol, and access for all.
Mayor Despi O’Connor said: “After a challenging year for the hospitality industry, it’s nice to acknowledge the hard work these people do every day.”