Restaurant group chief: Some eaterie awards can be bought
“There are plaques out there, you just buy them and they send you a plaque and they put it on the door and there’s no inspection. I just came from a premises in Kerry, he’s open a month and he has three plaques on his wall. He hasn’t had an inspection.”
All of the best known commercial awards firms claim inspections are carried out and no cost is associated with inclusion in guides or on websites. Plaques are made available — for a fee — to premises that have passed inspection and been recommended.
The RAI runs its own awards scheme, in which inspected premises are given feedback designed to help them to improve. There is no cost associated with participation, however, at the later stages of the competition, participants will have to provide a voucher for dinner for two for the inspector, who visits anonymously.
Richy Virahsawmy of Richy’s Bar and Bistro in Clonakilty, Co Cork, is critical of the number of commercial awards programmes being run here.
