About 80 people gathered on Monday at a Producer to Provedore Industry Development Day at Newman Senior Technical College.

Mr Golinski was the guest speaker.

His advice to the industry was to take pride in local produce, enjoy developing relationships between the producers and chefs and develop a regional identity.

Mr Golinski drew on his experience as a food and culinary tourism ambassador in the Gympie area.

“I love having that connection to the food and where it comes from,” he said.

Mr Golinski said the reaction from Port Macquarie was overwhelmingly positive.

The Sunshine Coast chef led a workshop exploring how to build links between suppliers and overcome challenges with produce availability and seasonality. 

He also discussed creating menus around local produce and ideas for marketing and promoting a local food focus.

Sandi Cleary from Blushing Blueberries said the event provided inspiration.

“It is motivational to have Matt here and know there are people like him that are passionate about supporting local growers, local food and promoting that in the regions,” she said.

Necia Waghorn from Marketplace Events said she hoped the day would be a step forward in creating a stronger working platform that made the producer to provedore ethos a lot easier to achieve.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council embraced the day as part of the Tastings on Hastings festival.

Mayor Peter Besseling said the event was an opportunity to connect people with a focus on what value could be added to benefit all industry players.