OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION – Natalie Ng, Door Knock, Sydney
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Each year at the Bartender Magazine Australian Bar Awards an individual is recognised with the award for Outstanding Contribution. This award pays tribute to someone who has made a marked difference to the bar industry through their passion and dedication, and who has had an outsized, positive effect on the industry. And we are so pleased to announce that this year’s recipient is the very deserving Natalie Ng.
“I never thought I would have the honour of receiving this award,” said Nat on hearing the news. “This industry has swept me off into many directions. Whether it was being behind a bar, being a BA or managing/training a team, I’ve learned so much from many of the past recipients of this award and I am truly humbled now to be standing in their shadow. This industry has given me so much, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Natalie is the co-owner and operator at Sydney underground bar Door Knock and thanks to her infectious enthusiasm for the industry she is likely known to most of you reading this. But hospo wasn’t always a given for Nat, who was a qualified radiologist and working in a hospital. Thankfully for us, that life wasn’t for her and she has spent close to two decades honing her hospitality skills working with everyone from Merivale to Cafe Pacifico, Sweet & Chilli and Diageo.
In the last year, she has truly shown her mettle supporting her beloved staff and the wider community through COVID. She continues this today with daily food drives during Sydney’s current lockdown.
“I never thought I would have the honour of receiving this award,” said Nat on hearing the news. “This industry has swept me off into many directions. Whether it was being behind a bar, being a BA or managing/training a team, I’ve learned so much from many of the past recipients of this award and I am truly humbled now to be standing in their shadow. This industry has given me so much, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
This story will appear in the July issue of Australian Bartender magazine, along with the rest of the finalists in the 20th Annual Bartender Magazine Australian Bar Awards. To book your tickets to the Bar Awards or find out more about the Sydney Bar Week line-up, click here.