Bistronomy owner and chef James Beck argues the proposed funding cuts to tourism will halt momentum already gained in Hawke's Bay. He chats to Mark Story.
What's your main objection to the proposed cuts to tourism?
I think it is very short-sighted. I don't see my business as essentially a tourism
business, I am in the business of feeding people and a great number of my clients are locals. But I undoubtedly benefit from the great work done by Hawke's Bay Tourism in attracting visitors to the Bay. I hate business. I wish I could just cook beautiful food and that would be enough. But I know, as well as anyone else in business knows, that you have to keep pushing. If you stop pushing you go backwards. The last five years have seen a great push from myself and my colleagues spurred by the potential that the team at Hawke's Bay Tourism have seen in us as a collective. It's actually incredible, the FAWC movement (created by Tourism Hawke's Bay) is now the biggest food movement in the country. However, there are plenty of other regions ready to take our place and happy to spend the money to do so.
What percentage of your customers are tourists?
I would say that over the summer period 60-70 per cent of my customers are tourists, both international and from around the country.
Many have said tourism shouldn't get a handout as other industries don't, what do you say?
I don't think the tourism industry should get a handout. Stuff them! I am in the hospitality industry I don't need tourists. I just spent $35,000 with a local refrigeration guy putting a walk-in chiller and freezer in to my restaurant. Seriously, he thinks the same thing I do - stuff them, I mean, he is in the refrigeration industry. He spends all summer helping local restaurants cope with the extra demand put on their refrigeration units by the extra demand and makes a killing at the same time. Why should he help the tourism industry? Really my refrigeration guy should spend some money with Hawke's Bay Tourism the same way that myself and any other business in the entire region do that are remotely connected to tourism. I recently heard an argument that the tourism industry shouldn't have a handout because the jobs they are providing are low-skilled, minimum wage. Rubbish! At Bistronomy we are living wage employers, and I know there are many other employers in my industry providing young people with sometimes the only option they have to grow and shape their career.
Some have suggested unless we shore-up the Bay's environment there'll be no tourism – do you agree?
I absolutely agree that we need to protect our environment. Anyone who knows me and the business I have developed locally over the last nine years will know this is a key tenet of my business practice and philosophy. I can't quite work out where the "it's either tourism or the environment" argument has come from. Surely the two are mutually inclusive. I mean, HRBC doesn't just spend money on tourism and conservation does it? Correct me if I am wrong - I'm pretty sure there are a fair few years worth of funding that have disappeared into the Ruataniwha Dam hole, and other places.
Is there a compromise/would you accept a smaller cut in funding?
You're asking me this as if I am a big player in tourism. I'm not. I run a great little restaurant that happens to benefit from the great work that Hawke's Bay Tourism has done to promote our region. Go ahead HRBC, cut the funding, I will still have a great little restaurant - one of the top 12 in the country. I guarantee though, that our region will suffer. The tourist dollar won't stop but it will slow down. All the little local businesses that rely on that little top-up, those extra coffees sold, that extra Art Deco hat sold, that extra bottle of milk, packet of chips, etc, will lose. Then, we will have to start all over again from square one. I only hope the talented folk from Tourism Hawke's Bay are there to pick up the pieces.