Best Bites

2022 Best Bites Awards

Business Category results

Restaurant

Winners:

• Bronze (joint) – Unica Cucina E Caffe, Capel Sound
• Bronze (joint) – Stumpy Gully Dining, Moorooduc
• Silver – The Kitchen, Bistro, Bar and Courtyard, Tootgarook
• Gold – Foxeys Hangout, Red Hill

Finalists:

• Rosebud RSL, Rosebud
• Rye Hotel, Rye

Café

Winners:

• Bronze – Two to Tango, Somerville
• Silver – Blue Mini Cafe-eatery-emporium-events, Rosebud
• Gold – Commonfolk Coffee Company, Mornington

Finalists:

• Corner Pantry, Somerville
• Elements Eatery, Rosebud
• Miss Moose Tuckshop, Somerville
• Lilo Café, Mornington

Farmgate

• Gold – Mock Red Hill, Red Hill

Takeaway outlets

• Silver – The Hive Loukoumades, Rye
• Gold – Spudalicious, Hastings

Health and education 

 Winners:

• Bronze – Tyabb Village Children’s Centre, Tyabb
• Silver (joint) - Hastings Childcare and Community Kinder, Hastings
• Silver (joint) - Crib Point Early Learning Centre, Crib Point

Finalists:

• Westernport Childcare Centre & Kindergarten, Hastings
• Rosebud Early Learning, Rosebud
• Toorak Caterer’s, Mount Eliza
• Kidz Shed, Hastings

Retail

 Winners:

• Bronze – La Casa Nostra Deli, Rosebud
• Silver – Ritchies Mount Eliza, Mount Eliza
• Gold – Be Fit Food, Mornington

Finalists:

• Mornington Peninsula Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery, Flinders
• Mt Eliza Village Fruits, Mount Eliza

Areas of Excellence category results

Smoke free and alcohol management

Winner:

• The Hidden Kitchen, Tootgarook

Highly Commended:

• Crib Point Early Learning Centre, Crib Point
• Tyabb Village Children’s Centre, Tyabb

Nutrition and healthy eating

Winner:

• Blue Mini Cafe-eatery-emporium-events, Rosebud

Highly Commended:

• Toorak Caterer’s, Mount Eliza

•   Hastings Childcare and Community Kinder, Hastings

Access and inclusion

Winner:

• It’s A Burger, Rosebud

Highly Commended:

• Tyabb Village Children’s Centre, Tyabb
• Commonfolk Coffee Company, Mornington

Energy and water efficiency

Winner:

• Paradigm Hill, Merricks

Highly Commended:

• Commonfolk Coffee Company (Energy), Mornington
• Tyabb Village Children’s Centre (Water), Tyabb

Waste and recycling

Winner:

• Via Battisti, Mount Martha

Highly Commended:

• Toorak Caterer’s, Mount Eliza
• Lilo Café, Mornington

The Best Bites program is coordinated by the Best Bites Advisory Committee. Members are drawn from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, Peninsula Health, the Disability Advisory Committee, and other relevant organisations with knowledge and experience in the program areas of access and inclusion, nutrition, tobacco control, and sustainability. The committee are guided by Terms of Reference(PDF, 123KB) .

Community members and organisation representatives interested in joining the Best Bites Advisory Committee, can express their interest by  emailing us.

You can contact the program via email bestbites@mornpen.vic.gov.au, or phone 1300 850 600 for more information.

The Best Bites Food Guide features the most outstanding food businesses on the Mornington Peninsula in the five areas of nutrition, tobacco and alcohol, waste and recycling, energy and water efficiency and access for all.

To qualify for the Best Bites program, food businesses must attain 95% compliance with their annual Shire Food Safety Assessment.

It's free to be involved, and simply requires a short on site assessment to be carried out.

Once assessed across one or more of the five areas, businesses are included in the Best Bites Food Guide - in print and online.

The Guide, which lists more than 100 local food businesses serving safe, healthy and sustainable food, is available for free from Shire customer service centres, local food businesses, visitor information centres, libraries and the most up-to-date version is maintained online.

Download: Best Bites Food Guide 2022(PDF, 10MB)

Businesses can nominate to be included in the next edition of the Best Bites Food Guide by completing a nomination form to arrange an assessment.

There are lots of resources to help businesses achieve excellence across the five areas of the Best Bites program. More information about the Best Bites Food Guide and the Best Bites program can be found at mpbusiness.com.au/best-bites.

As part of the Best Bites program, the Best Bites Food Awards showcase excellence in local food businesses.

Businesses that are in the Best Bites Food Guide can nominate for the awards, and are assessed on how well they are achieving the following:

• Providing of safe and healthy food;
• Using environmentally sustainable business practices;
• Providing accessible and inclusive premises; and
• Minimising harm associated with alcohol consumption and tobacco use

There are different nine business categories including :

• Café
• Restaurant
• Takeaway outlet
• Tourist Accommodation (for example, bed and breakfast, accommodation with a dining room)
• Health & Education (includes child care, school canteen, aged care, etc)
• Farm gate: includes primary producers with a retail frontage
• Food manufacturer (for example, bakers, cheese makers, home based businesses, etc)
• Retail (for example, butchers, supermarket, delicatessens, etc)
• Community Group (for example, sporting clubs with canteens)

Nominees in each of these categories are judged by an independent panel to determine the award finalists, highly commended and winners.

Judging takes place over winter and spring, with the Awards announced in late Spring.

See our previous Best Bites Food Awards results or find out more about entering the Best Bites Food Awards and the Best Bites program.

Best Bites Judges

An independent judging panel drawn from Peninsula Health, Disability Advisory Committee, Mornington Peninsula Shire and relevant industry associations/groups assesses the entrants across a wide ranging criteria. Judges are drawn from organisations such as

• Peninsula Health Community Health
• Western Port Biosphere Reserve
• Disability Advisory Committee
• Heart Foundation
• Sustainability Victoria
• Victorian Farmers Federation - Peninsula Branch
• Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

The judges for each Best Bites business category have great knowledge and experience in the program areas of access and inclusion, nutrition, tobacco control, and sustainability. All of the judges are volunteers who kindly donate their time and expertise to support Best Bites. Without their support the Best Bites Awards would not be possible.

You can contact the program via email bestbites@mornpen.vic.gov.au, or phone 1300 850 600 for more information.

There are a large number of great online resources available to businesses to help them learn more about the Best Bites program. Be inspired by other local businesses delivering excellence across the Best Bites categories, find new resources to upskill staff, and give your business a higher community profile using the Best Bites program.