Cookery has been a huge part of my life. Starting at a young age cooking for a shearing gang for 3 weeks (taking time away from school) at just 13, I have worked at nothing else since.

With wife Glenise and our family we currently operate Paddington Arms (Gastro Pub) in Invercargill, Southland’s most awards winning eatery which the family have operated for almost 22 years.

Back in time we employed the boys on a part time basis – they now roster me on a part time basis, an opportunity I am very much enjoying. In addition I also assist Beef + Lamb NZ and the Alliance Group Limited as consulting chef.

I feel very fortunate to still be able to work the pass and have no less passion for the culinary arts than I did when I entered this most satisfying profession 50 years ago.

Over the years in conjunction with our sons and their wives we have operated six other outlets in Invercargill – three contract catering, two licensed restaurants and an entertainment centre. During that period we employed more than 80 full time staff, 20 permanent part time staff along with several casual team members.

To succeed with five operations on five differing premises and styles we adopted a management style of a good working chef, allowing team members to maximise their potential through their own drive and passion with our guidance – with praise for the accomplishments and a quick bandaid and encouraging advice for any slip up’s. A style we as a family still adopt today.

As co-writer of the original culinary guidelines for judges and competitors in New Zealand and instigator of the first judging seminars, I recognise what a tremendous job has been done in lifting the standards of our judging for N Z Chefs members. It would be my intention to continue with the lifting of the standards by offering the opportunity for all our registered judges to move up one level including the international levels of WorldChefs. Having achieved the highest level of judging with WorldChefs in the past I would hope to see other NZChefs rise to the same level.

Murray Dicks recent appointment as our WorldChefs Continental Director is a position I am very familiar with. As such I feel it is an appropriate time to support Murray in his role in the Pacific while giving something back to the Industry that has given everything to me.

It has been great to see the NZ Chefs as a group evolve, develop and mature over recent years and I very much look forward to be part of its further development in the near future and ‘sharing a passion for all things culinary’ with your all.

Graham Hawkes (Hawksy)
Life member of NZ Chefs
Member of NZ Chefs Hall of Fame
Honorary Member of WorldChefs
Inaugural recipient of HNZ Hospitality Industry Personality Award

New Zealand-born, Philip Johnson has become one of Australia’s most celebrated chefs, honing his skills in Australia, London and New Zealand before settling in Brisbane which he now calls home.

Philip opened his landmark bistro, e’cco, in 1995 and very quickly made a name for himself with his win of the 1997 Remy Martin Cognac/Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year award, a stunning achievement for Philip, but also a coup of Queensland.

Philip conducts numerous cooking classes, demonstrations and guest chef appearances, both nationally and internationally. He has also donated his services to many charities, working alongside a stellar line-up of industry peers to raise much needed funds for many worthwhile causes, including the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Bestest, Mission Australia, AEIOU and The Leukaemia Foundation.

As one of Australia’s leading chefs, Philip has contributed recipes to a multitude of book publications. He featured as a weekly columnist for The Courier Mail’s Good Life supplement from 2002 until 2008. Then he featured in Brisbane lifestyle magazine, Brisbane News from 2009 until 2012. This year Philip began as a weekly columnist in the Qweekend supplement of the Courier Mail.

Philip has also authored six of his own cookbooks. They all include a wonderful collection of recipes that are distinctively Philip Johnson – unpretentious food, simple yet stunning – and a reflection of the ideas and beliefs that have made e’cco the success it is today. His latest offering, Eating In, was released in August 2010 and what Philip considers his best work yet.

New Zealand Office and Administration Manager. Anna Harding is a Regulations Officer at the University of Auckland. She received her BA in political science from the University of Otago before heading overseas to become a manager of English speaking teachers for HESS International Education group, in Taiwan in 2004.

Upon her return to New Zealand in 2007, Anna took a research and logistics position with the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute offsite facility just south of Rotorua where she worked alongside academics and clinicians researching the field of foetal growth and development. While with the Liggins Institute Anna managed the logistics and day to day running of the facility office and lab.

After moving to Auckland in 2011 she held positions in three departmental offices within the University of Auckland’s before taking up her current position as the Regulations Officer with the University of Auckland’s Academic Programmes office where one of her main functions is to oversee the University’s process for the negotiation and approval of new academic developments through the national Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP).

Anna’s role within the Board to to manage and run the administration for the other Board members and to facilitate and manage the day to day operations.