Colombo restaurateurs launch City Restaurant Collective
Agroup of restaurateurs in Colombo launched the Colombo City Restaurant Collective (CCRC) to add vigour to the thriving food and beverage industry and also to promote the industry by sharing best practices.
The launch, which was held in Colombo last Thursday, brought together a number of key restaurateurs in the city and other shareholders in the industry.
Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga speaking at the launch said the food and beverage industry has gained momentum in the recent past and that it goes hand in hand with the tourism industry.
“On point of view of tourism, it is very important that these restaurants have come together to maintain a good standard. Things are picking up now after the terrible attacks on Easter Sunday. We hope the situation will be better in October. Unfortunately, we have an election coming up but it has no affect on the food and beverage industry. We recently had the Bohra conference, which brought about 35,000 people. So many other conferences are also to be held in the future and they will bring in business to the restaurants,” he said.
CCRC President Harpo Gooneratne, CEO and Founder of Harpo’s Cafes and Restaurants, said one of their objectives is to achieve the knowledge hub status within the F&B industry by maintaining high quality.
“We also target to be the apex body that represents the food and beverage industry, establish contact internationally and locally, assist young restaurateurs, network with government officials and set standards to the industry,” he said.
He said the new association consists of two kinds of membership: the restaurants which are registered at the tourist board and the others who are not registered with the tourist board.
Meanwhile, CCRC Patron Chef Gerard Mendis, who is also Chairman of the Chef Guild of Lanka, said he was confident that CCRC would not only help members take advantage of new trends and opportunities but also help address various challenges faced by restaurateurs in managing bureaucratic regulations and considerable overheads while sustaining competitive pricing and high quality.
The executive committee of the CCRC are, Patron Chef Gerard Mendis, President Harpo Gooneratne, Vice President Dharshan Munidasa, Treasurer Amrita De Saram, Secretary Khaleel Muzammil, Assistant Secretary Dinesh Wijesinghe and Committee Members Saurabh Udeshi and Hisham Cader.