The Restaurant Association has welcomed the release of the Ministry for Regulation’s Hospitality Sector Review, describing it as an important step towards a more efficient and proportionate regulatory system for hospitality.
Download a copy of the Hospitality Review Final Report and recommendations.
The Review sets out 24 recommendations across food safety, alcohol licensing, fees and levies, information sharing, transport, planning and building requirements. Together, they provide a practical pathway towards regulation that better reflects risk, recognises strong compliance performance and works more efficiently for both businesses and regulators.
For the Association, the release represents significant progress on issues we have raised on behalf of the industry for many years. The call for a dedicated regulatory review gained further impetus through the 2024 Hospitality Summit, and we have remained closely involved as the Review has progressed. Ministry officials also worked directly with industry representatives at the 2026 Summit as the recommendations were developed.
The strength of the Review is that it moves beyond identifying problems and puts forward practical changes. These include simpler food and alcohol licensing processes, longer verification periods for high-performing businesses, more proportionate fees, better sharing of information and a single portal for council applications.
If adopted and implemented well, the recommendations could reduce the time operators spend navigating regulatory processes while allowing councils and regulators to focus their resources where they will make the greatest difference.
The 24 recommendations at a glance
The recommendations are divided into quick wins intended to be delivered by mid-2027, short-term changes proposed by the end of 2027 and longer-term reforms for 2028 and 2029.
Quick wins by mid-2027
- Move appropriate hospitality businesses into lower-risk food safety categories with fewer requirements.
- Develop a much simpler hospitality-specific template Food Control Plan with fewer record-keeping requirements.
- Review and simplify the operational policies and guidance provided to food safety regulators.
- Allow hospitality businesses to accept donations towards courtesy transport costs without triggering passenger-service requirements.
- Repeal the outdated Hotel Association of New Zealand Act 1969.
- Upgrade the Compliance Matters website so businesses can more easily find and understand their regulatory obligations.
- Issue national guidance to help regulators consistently assess excessive noise under the new national requirements.
Short-term changes by the end of 2027
- Remove annual or two-yearly food registration renewals and introduce a simpler nationally set application form.
- Improve food verification practices, including allowing high-performing businesses to be verified every two years.
- Allow food trucks operating in multiple regions to be verified by one council, with that verification recognised by other councils.
- Scale the food business levy according to annual revenue and centralise its collection.
- Establish clearer and more comprehensive principles for setting council food safety fees.
- Appoint a properly resourced steward with overall responsibility for the alcohol regulatory system.
- Significantly simplify alcohol licence renewals, including longer renewal periods for some licences.
- Clarify and simplify first-time alcohol licence applications, including clearer criteria and a simpler application form.
- Introduce training requirements for licence holders, people serving alcohol and alcohol regulators.
- Give regulators more proportionate tools for addressing minor non-compliance, including Improvement Notices and Notices of Direction.
- Allow District Licensing Committees to merge and introduce clearer membership, training and remuneration requirements.
- Recalibrate alcohol licensing fees, including removing annual fees, substantially reducing renewal fees and introducing inspection fees.
- Review the building consent exemption threshold for temporary marquees.
- Develop guidance for councils on using discretionary building consent exemptions for temporary marquees.
Medium- to long-term reforms through 2028 and 2029
- Replace the current alcohol licence types with a coherent risk-based framework covering licence requirements, fees and expected monitoring.
- Create a nationwide alcohol information system covering licences, manager certificates, compliance, performance, alcohol-related incidents and health effects.
- Establish one information and application portal for council regulatory applications. The Review’s preferred approach is for central government to establish and maintain a portal used by all councils; an alternative is to require councils to develop their own integrated systems.
From recommendations to action
Alongside its 24 formal recommendations, the Review identifies opportunities for further work, including reconsidering restricted trading rules for Easter, Christmas and ANZAC Day and undertaking a fuller review of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
Many of the recommendations also align with priorities in the recently released Hospitality Summit Report: Serving Success 2026, including more proportionate, risk-based alcohol licensing, fairer fees and better coordination across government.
The recommendations have not yet been adopted. Ministers will consider which recommendations to accept and determine the next steps, with the Government’s forthcoming Hospitality Action Plan expected to provide a coordinated framework for priority hospitality initiatives.
The Restaurant Association will continue working with Ministers and officials to maintain the momentum and ensure the detailed reforms deliver practical improvements for hospitality operators.
More information
Download a copy of the Hospitality Review Final Report and recommendations