Top Chefs Battled It Out on the Soccer Pitch at the Second Annual Hospitality Cup

While the Zuckerberg versus Musk cage match never eventuated, a more highly anticipated battle took place this week at Ultra Football in Abbotsford. Monday April 8 saw the return of The Hospitality Cup, a one-day soccer tournament where Melbourne restaurants and wine bars, and one media company – Broadsheet – battle it out to take home gold.

Jean-Baptiste Dumas, who works front-of-house at France-Soir, founded the cup – a celebration of the local hospo community – after discovering that many of his colleagues shared a passion for the game. The inaugural event was held in 2019, with St Kilda’s Stokehouse taking out the competition. This this year, after a Covid-related pause, it returned bigger than before. The cup supports the Big Issue’s Community Street Soccer Program, which provides free weekly soccer sessions, including equipment, dedicated coaches and support staff, in communities across Australia.

The 2024 comp saw teams fielded by returning champions Stokehouse; Baia di Vino; DOC Gastronomia; France-Soir; Grazia; Grossi Florentino; Hardimans Hotel; Hector’s Deli; Mulberry Group; Reymond Group’s Bistro Gitan, Frederic and L’Hotel Gitan; Scott Pickett Group; Tipo 00; Toorak Cellars; Riserva Wine; Trader House’s Cumulus Inc, Gimlet and Cutler & Co; Vue de Monde; and, of course, Broadsheet.

Among the spectators at the sold-out event was food-world royalty Jean-Paul Prunetti of France-Soir, whose arrival elicited a respectful bow from one competitor, and Vue de Monde executive chef Hugh Allen, there in a baseball-cap disguise to support his team.

The day kicked off in the cafe, where teams gathered, sussed out the competition and fuelled up on Melbourne hospitality’s breakfast of champions – plain croissants and pains au chocolat from Bread Club.

This was followed by the group stage, where five-a-side teams faced off in a series of six-minute games. As the teams warmed up, the action intensified. One Mulberry Group player was overheard telling his team to “put the rules out the window” while watching DOC take on Grossi Florentino.

At times it got rough on the field. “They’re butchering the beautiful game – it’s just wrestling,” said one passionate fan said from the sidelines as Riserva took on Trader House. Two Broadsheet players walked off the field in bloodied jerseys after competing against Reymond.

In a great battle of sandwich versus pizza (read Hector’s Deli versus DOC), the Hector’s team won the unofficial prize for best-dressed, in bright red jerseys that read “Lunch Time” – but DOC won the game.

One particularly culinary-minded player was heard to say, “Instead of oranges, we should have had caviar.”

The semi-finals a showdown between Baia di Vino and Reymond Group, and DOC and Vue de Monde. It was Italy versus France in the final, as DOC faced players from Reymond Group, with DOC eventually taking home the 2024 cup. To some, it was a satisfying outcome. To others, it was a defeat more devastating than when the Tillies went down at last year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup.

@thehospitalitycup