Two Sutherland Shire hotels of the Feros Group have won top prizes in the 2016 Australian Hotel Association’s NSW Awards for Excellence.
Huxley’s at Caringbah has won best specialty /emerging bar, and the Taren Point Hotel won Best Casual Dining Venue City Southern.
Huxley’s was a joint winner in its category with Bar Florian, Port Macquarie.
Feros Group also was highly commended for its Ugly Pizza restaurant which is under the same roof as Huxley’s.
Huxley’s is an American-styled bar that was inspired by a trip to New York by Feros Group chief executive officer, Chris Feros and his team who visited several sports bars and restaurants in the Big Apple.
“The objective was to recreate that amazing vibe and atmosphere in a venue in Sydney and to do so we focussed on staying true to the principles of the American sports bar,” Mr Feros said.
“This is, a New York-style fit-out with comfortable booths you can dwell in all day, American diner food with a southern twist, great service, live sport from around the world that can be viewed from every seat in the house and of course great American and local beer.
“Our philosophy was simple, deliver an authentic New York style sports bar in the heart of the Sutherland Shire that allows customers to watch live sports from every seat and experience a great vibe and atmosphere.
“Our objective was always for Huxley’s to be the place for locals to come and watch sport, a place they can hang out with their mates and family, watch the big game, enjoy great American diner/southern food with an American beer or two to wash it down!
“We’ve been overwhelmed with the community response and the way locals have embraced the new venue since it’s opening in December 2015.
“We’d like to thank all of our customers who have embraced our two new venues, Huxley’s and Ugly Pizza, and also continue to support our existing venues across the shire including Taren Point Hotel.
“We’d also like to thank our entire team, these awards are a credit to their hard work and focus on delivering a great experience for our customers.”
More than 600 nominations were received for the awards across a record 42 categories for the awards which were presented at The Star Event Centre on November 29 in front of a crowd of about 1200 industry and business leaders.
AHA NSW CEO John Whelan said the annual awards night was about recognising the effort the state’s venues and their 75,000 staff members put in each and every day.
“The Awards for Excellence really are about rewarding innovation, quality and excellence of service at hotels right across NSW,” he said.
“The nominees are a ‘who’s who’ of the hotel industry in NSW and the awards honour the best in the business.”