President's Message April.2020
Dear Members and Friends,
Since many of us last met during the HKCA annual Swiss Fondue Night in January, our world has changed dramatically. We are now at a critical point in the history of Hong Kong. Our food industry now faces challenges unlike anything we have ever seen since the earliest days of the Association. Hundreds of restaurants have been forced to close, and thousands of culinary jobs are at risk. Locals and visitors alike avoid dining out to maintain social distancing, while restaurants, clubs and hotels struggle to survive and adapt.
However, Hong Kong has always overcome every challenge and weathered every storm, no matter how seemingly insurmountable. Through every outbreak, every crisis, no matter how uncertain or dire the situation may seem at the time, the place we call home has always come back stronger and more dynamic.
In the early days of the pandemic, our HKCA National Culinary Olympic Senior and Junior Teams covered themselves in glory by taking Silver in four different categories in IKA, the International Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart, Germany in February. Our team was also to represent Hong Kong and all of Asia in the Global Chefs and Hans Bueschkens Young Global Chefs challenges at the WorldChefs Congress in St. Petersburg, Russia in July, but sadly the congress has since been cancelled due to the global pandemic. It is likely that the competition will be postponed to Spring, 2021.
Annual General Meeting
Traditionally the Hong Kong Chefs Association’s Annual General Meeting and Gala Dinner is held in April each year. It is an event which brings all of us together as one family to celebrate our successes over the past year, to report on our progress, and plans for the years to come. However, considering the current COVID-19 pandemic and the escalating number of cases in Hong Kong, out of an abundance of caution we have decided to postpone the HKCA AGM until June of this year. We do not take this decision lightly as we feel an obligation to ensure that association activities do not place the health and safety of our members and friends at risk. We will continue to monitor the situation and will decide on if a virtual or actual AGM should be arranged, hopefully before end of June. We will send to our professional members the audited financial report and the Association annual report 30 days in advance of the AGM. Details of arrangement will be communicated in due course.
Membership
Given the unprecedented disruption to our industry, with chefs’ jobs at risk, we are committed to ensuring our members receive every consideration during these challenging times, and so here is what we are offering to our members:
Status Extension: We want you to be able to continue enjoying your member status that you earned over the years. With that in mind, we will extend all recently- or soon-to-be-expired memberships (from January 2020) until June 2020. For those members who have paid their membership dues from January until now - all professional and young professional membership terms will be extended for six months, while associate and corporate membership in good standing will have their terms extended for three months automatically. We will further review the situation in June.
Membership Type |
Membership Status |
Status Extension |
Professional Member Young Professional Members Associate Member Corporate Members |
Expired between Nov 2019 and April 2020 |
Membership term extended to 30th June 2020 |
Renewed between Nov 2019 and April 2020 |
Membership validity extended for six (6) months |
|
Young Chefs Club Members |
Membership will remain valid through to end of studies |
* Individuals or groups whose membership expired before November 2019 should apply as new member applications.
Member and Community Activities
The pulse of the whole community beats as one to overcome COVID-19 and its devastating impact in Hong Kong and around the globe. As we all watch the daily news of this unprecedented event, we keep thinking what we can do to assist and bolster the industry and community caregivers who are on the frontlines of these challenges. To that end, we are working with partners who offer ingredients support on the possibility of creating joint programs that can aid in the urgent fight of the pandemic and bring positive energy to the community. We welcome your ideas and support to co-crate these programs and will enlist your support in the next communication with our drafted program.
Until the day when we and our loved ones can all venture forth safely, may we all find the strength, wisdom, and courage in one another needed to meet the challenges that we face.
Warmest culinary regards and best wishes,
Francis Lo
President, Hong Kong Chefs Association