Always striving to be better has been key to Cucina’s success, says restaurant owner Yanina Tacchini.

Yanina and chef husband Pablo had their hard work recognised in Dunedin on Sunday night, at the Otago Hospitality Awards, held at Vault 21.

Cucina Restaurant and Bar won three awards - Outstanding Restaurant, People’s Choice, and the Supreme Establishment award.

Cucina was a finalist in five categories, while the Tacchinis’ other restaurant Del Mar was in the running for one.

This is the first time the awards, run by the Restaurant Association of New Zealand, have taken place, and Yanina says it is good Otago hospitality providers had the chance to get together and network.

“We met lots of restaurateurs and chefs, and front of house, and it's just nice to talk with them, you know. And definitely all of us are going through the same things right now, you know, it's quiet, it's winter.” 

Last year was tough for the industry, and things are still “really hard”, she says.

“But we are all in the same boat . . . it’s nice to see that some people are still positive, and understanding why we’re doing this. 

“We do this, you know, for the people and because we love hospitality and looking after people and just finding that excuse for people to catch up around food.”

Yanina and Pablo attended the event with some of the staff from both Cucina and Del Mar, but had “zero expectations”.

“We just said, ‘oh, let's dress up nice’, because it was like a nice thing for all of us. ‘We need to go, we have to do it’, but it was amazing. It was great.”

The Ōamaru group received a warm welcome and were told how much people love what they are doing and look up to them, Yanina says.

“Everyone was so welcoming . . . We're a small town, you know, we sit 50 people at once. Like, we are a small restaurant, and it's just really nice that even the big restaurants and the big people . . . we are someone for them, you know, so it was really nice.”

Finding out they won the People’s Choice award was “really cool”, but getting the two “big ones” was completely unexpected, and they did not have acceptance speeches prepared.

It will be eight years in October since the Tacchinis started running Cucina, and they are always trying to improve.

“You always want to do better,” Yanina says.

“I think part of doing this, part of keeping yourself alive, is always be doubting yourself and this is what we are. We always could do better, you know.”

The couple has three children, and Yanina said after Covid, she made a decision to step back from being on the restaurant floor and spend more time with them.

But stepping off the floor did not mean stepping back from the restaurant and putting in hard work to establish a good team of staff who they trust, is paying off.

“I still keep bringing all the ideas . . . I work 24/7 . . . which means that we keep, you know, being on the map and we keep growing.”

Yanina says she and Pablo are thinking “very hard” about what the next step is for them. 

“We need to keep growing . . . we're still on the visualising stages at the moment, but definitely. We can't stay with only what we have, we need to keep growing . . . it's about creating, creating more spaces. Creating, creating.”