FOR THE Harwood Hotel, the quality of their food is their number one priority for customers.

And that commitment to quality comes everywhere from the owners, the chef down to the plate carrier.

"Everyone has a piece of pride, and the plate runner has as much say as the chef in what they're taking out being up to scratch," Harwood Hotel publican Mike Smith said.

"We really pride ourselves on that quality."

Like many licensed premises, COVID shutdowns have forced the hotel to make major changes, but even in a switch to delivered meals, they weren't willing to sacrifice the standard.

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"We had not even 24 hours notice to shut down, and we went okay - how do we do home delivery," Mr Smith said.

"Our point of difference was to give everyone the same options, not a different menu."

Starting first within their area, they began delivering to their local area around Harwood, Chatsworth and surrounds.

"But we had it big out on social media, and we started getting calls asking would we come to Palmers Island, would we come to Townsend.

"And we thought yeah it wasn't a big deal to expand, and I wanted to make sure all the staff had a job, and we did the best we could.

"And people are still getting it delivered now. It's become part of our business model."

Mr Smith said part of the secret of their success was their commitment to local produce and freshly sourced ingredients.

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"The quality of the food is number one," he said. "We source as much as we can from locals - our prawns are local off one trawler at Iluka - most of the fruit and vegies come from our local area.

"We try to let everyone know where our food comes from, and it's really good quality."

Mr Smith said there was a range of popular dishes, including the garlic prawns, which was an example of a local dish.

"The surf and turf is popular and our burgers are pretty cool, but there is a wide range," he said.

"It often depends what is coming into season, and right now the oysters are sensation - we're just going through dozens."

Mr Smith said it was about good quality food and customer service, and in these times, allowing their customers to feel safe.

"We've done a lot of work on the COVID safety plan - we have a concierge to organise," he said.

"We're still restricted with the people we can have, but we often get comments from people about how we're going out of our way, and people appreciate feeling safe when they come to eat."