Top caterers reveal their secrets to...

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Tomislav MartinovicFine dining meets casual warmth at this chef’s new venture


THE NUMBERS GAMETop caterers reveal their

secrets to success

Cool changeThe hi-tech future of

refrigeration

Ramsay reviewed

Our diner’s verdict of Gordon Ramsay

at home

No.663 July 2010

foodservice ■ accommodation ■ beverage ■ management

ONE OF my previous localpubs was a place where thebistro meals were so hugeyou spent the first couple ofseconds wondering how youwere going to eat it withoutthe food spilling over theedge of the plate. My friendsand I soon worked out onemeal and an extra platewould do for two. I won-dered why they piled thefood so high so when nightafter night the waiters wouldbe sent struggling back tothe kitchen with plates thatsometimes looked likethey’d been hardly touched,

even though the poor recip-ient of the meal had had el-egant sufficiency. So muchwaste, of food and the op-portunity for the operator tomaybe increase his margins.

We would all have beenquite happy to pay the sameprice the pub was asking butfor a lot less food.

But it’s not just the cheapand cheerful local that hastheir portions oddly out ofkilter with the way society isgoing. A bunch of friendsand I were almost, and Imean almost, struck dumbby the size of some of the

dishes we were confrontedwith recently at one of Syd-ney’s coolest local restau-rants. Giving new meaningto the term hearty comfortfood, the plates overflowedwith slow-cooked lamb hereand gorgeously roastedchicken there. After a valiantattempt enough lamb andchicken to serve another per-son headed back to thekitchen.

Being girls we had to godesserts but they too arrivedin portions so big there weresaucer eyes as we looked atthe mega quantities ofrhubarb crumble and vanil-la bean ice cream, chocolatepudding and profiteroles. In-stead of squeals of delightthere were groans of, ‘Whathave we done’.

I guess like the pub I men-tioned earlier regulars at the

restaurant would get used tothe sizes and order accord-ingly but I would have quitehappily paid the same pricesfor half the amount of food,and added an entree as well.

Isn’t it time foodserviceoperators serving up mealsbigger than a house actedmore responsibly? I applaudthe businesses who areadopting the strategy of of-fering the option of differentsized meals on their menus.Maybe then the majority ofus could still enjoy the pleas-ure of three courses withouteither feeling we are about tohave a Monsieur Creosotemoment, or are wastingvaluable food.

Editor’s Note

6 NewsYoung chef grabs $10,000.Australians making dininga way of life.Queensland chefs representAustralia at Bocuse d’Or.

8 Mystery dinerOur diner roams afar —into Gordon Ramsay’sLondon flagship.

10 WorkplaceAre you getting the mostout of part-time staff?

12 Secret ingredientsQ&A with top regionalchef Michael Ryan.

14 WineWine makers get cleverwith marketing.

16 Hospitality chefTomislav Martinovicbelieves in fine food servedcasually.

31 BurginTop tips for boostingdessert sales.

contentsFeatures

ON THE COVER:

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THE NUMBERS GAMETop caterers reveal the

in secrets to success

Cool changeThe hi-tech future of

refrigeration

Ramsay reviewed

Our diner’s verdict of Gordon Ramsay

at home

No.663 July 2010

foodservice � accommodation � beverage � management

On the cover of this month’s issue isthe dynamic young chef TomislavMartinovic who is busy making a bigname for himself at his neweponymously named restaurant.

In our profile of Martinovic in thisissue he says he set up the restaurantafter studying trends in the diningpreferences of Australians. He sayshe’s aiming for a casual experience,but with fine dining quality food andservice, which he believes is the wayAustralians want to go.

"I try to keep it simple, unpre-

tentious, casual,” he says. “And I thinkthe key word for us is unintimidating.

"The number of customers whohave come in over the past fivemonths and just gone, 'Wow, I feel sorelaxed and comfortable here, yet theservice is amazing'.

“It's just as professional as youwould get in most restaurants, eventhe top restaurants, but it's not inyour face...it's genuine and you don'tget that fake PR smile that you get atQantas sometimes.”

Turn to page 16 to read more.

Rosemary Ryan

21 Crank up the volumeCatering for a crowd is aspecialised and growingarea of foodservice. We getsome tips from some of theleaders in the field.

25 The cold factsA look at the latest trendsshaping commercialrefrigeration fromenvironmental issues toclever kitchen planning.

4 hospitality | july 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

EDITOR

Rosemary Ryan

Ph: (02) 9422 2880

[email protected]

JOURNALIST

Danielle Bowling

Ph: (02) 9422 2667

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

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Ken Burgin

Tony Berry

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Fax: (02) 9422 2863

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[email protected]

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news


Culinary competition

YOUNG chef Soren Lascelles isproving he is an up and comer towatch after grabbing the $10,000first prize at the recent CHEF Aus-tralian 2010 competition.

Lascelles, who is sous chef at War-ren Turnbull’s Sydney two hatterAssiette, blitzed the field of chefscompeting in the live cook off heldon the floor at the recent FoodserviceAustralia 2010 Expo. It was a tidywindfall that Lascelles said he willput to good use on a planned trip toItaly in a few weeks time.

The win came just over a week af-ter the 29-year-old was also namedas one of the shortlisted young starsin this year’s prestigious ElectroluxAppetite for Excellence Young Chefof the Year competition.

Lascelles said he only found outabout the CHEF competition at thelast minute. Held over two days ofthe show, the event gives chefs an

hour to prepare and serve four dif-ferent dishes using a list of requiredingrediensts—bavette (flank steak),

red curry paste, maple syrup, pepper-corns and Caesar dressing.

“You had to use bavette so I didone dish that was seared bavettewith sautéed mushrooms andJerusalem artichokes puree,” Las-celles said. “Another dish was aThai red curry with bavette and forthe Caesar dressing I did a Nicoisesalad with sautéed bavette, and thelast was a peppered steak with a sal-ad of fennel, radish and zucchiniflowers.”

“I tried to use nice simple flavoursbut showing a few different tech-niques in each of the four dishes. Af-ter doing a few competitions you re-alise you need to keep things simple,but still incorporate some techniquesdifferent styles of dishes that showoff your skills as a chef.”

$10,000? Not bad for an hour’s workIPad takesthe orders

A national culinary competition proves lucrative for this talented young chef.

Eyes on successful future: Assiette sous chef Soren Lascelles.

hospitalitymagazine.com.au

MOST READ STORIES

1Is your business Australia’sfavourite place to eat?

2Former cafe owner finedalmost $20,000

3Perry takes steakhouseconcept to Perth

4Appetite for Excellence’s top14 revealed

5Cairns cafes fined $33,600for underpayments

Source:hospitalitymagazine.com.au21-25 June, 2010

THE concept of the humble sandwichwas taken to a whole new level whenaward-winning Melbourne chef AdamD’Sylva demonstrated the culinarypotential of the lunchtime staple.

D’Sylva from Coda restaurantcompeted against sandwich loversfrom around Australia to win theinaugural Great AustralianSandwichship competition. His fellowentrants came from across thefoodservice industry, from restaurants

and cafés, to a deli and a bakery. Eachhad to produce sandwiches in threecategories—toasted, creative andwraps. D’Sylva—whose favouritesandwiches are the toasted cheeseones out of his Mum’s old jafflemaker—said he based his winningcreations on his restaurant menuusing fillings such as salmon gravalaxand quail san choy bow. “I thought,well these work as dishes, they willprobably work as sandwiches.”

D’Sylva is sandwich king

THE Apple iPad has only just ar-rived in Australia, but some ear-ly adopter hospitality operatorswere quick to cash in on the hypeand incorporate the new technol-ogy into their businesses.

As the first iPads went on salehere, the Rydges Hotel in NorthSydney rolled out the new tabletcomputers as a replacement to itspaper menus in its 50-seat Mun-do Global Tapas restaurant andin the hotel's bar. The iPads arehanded to diners as they are seat-ed. The custom made app allowsthem to browse the online menuincluding tasting notes and pic-tures of the dishes, and then placetheir order online straightthrough to the kitchen.

At the same time, the Pizza Ca-pers restaurant chain also an-nounced staff across its 75 storeswill soon be wielding iPads totake customer orders at thecounter, in the queue and in thedining area.

Rydges North Sydney food andbeverage manager Fareid Taherisaid several months of work wentinto the application to ensure thatit worked seamlessly for guests.“We now don't have any moreprinted menus, we've taken themout of the restaurant and we arenow completely digital.”

The judges in this year’s ElectroluxAppetite for Excellence Awardshave announced the talented groupof finalists in this year’scompetition.Young Chef—Danika Heslop (Quay),Soren Lascelles (Assiette), DanielCrossman (Pearl), Todd Moses(Circa the Prince), Blake Thornley(Lizard Island), Emma Shearer (TheManse), Robert Withnall (The GlobeRestaurant & Wine Bar).Young Waiter—Louise Tamayo

(Becasse), Morgan Frazer (FinsRestaurant), Joshua Elias (Attica),Emma Davis (Mondo Organics),Aaron Christian (Georges OnWaymouth), Jayde Hanley (CountryClub), Joshua Smith (Black CowBistro).Young Restaurateur—ThomasMoore (Grazing), Carl Kenzler(Ritual Restaurant), Nick Holloway(NuNu), Kim Coronica (RichmondHill Cafe & Larder), Hadleigh Troy(Restaurant Amuse).

Appetite for Excellence finalists

7hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | july 2010

news

Brisbane chefs contest Bocuse d’OrBRISBANE chef Russell Clarke and apprentice chefMathew Lee have been selected to representAustralia at the Bocuse d'Or International cookingcompetition to be held next year in Lyon, France.

The duo from the Brisbane Convention andExhibition Centre (BCEC) won the opportunity tohead to the prestigious competition in a gruellingfive-hour cook off against four other teams held inBrisbane.

The Australian selection competition was judgedby a team of 30 international and Australian judgesincluding the visiting two-Michelin star French chefEmmanuel Renaut and some of Australia's mostrespected chefs such as Alain Fabregues, JacquesReymond and Philippe Mouchel.

Clarke and Lee travelled to Geneva last month toobserve the European competition there as part oftheir preparation. They will then fly to Lyon inJanuary to contest the world title.

Clarke said the chance to represent his countryand the BCEC at such a high level competition was

a huge personal achievement. "It is a wonderfulopportunity to utilise Australian produce andshowcase the strong support Australia has for theculinary arts and just what we are capable of inAustralia," said Clarke.

Consumer insights

AUSTRALIANS continue to makeeating out an important part oftheir lives, according to the lateststudy into consumers’ dininghabits from BIS Shrapnel.

The data, collected in April,found that eating out continues togrow and become more firmly en-trenched as a way of life for Aus-tralians with 42 cents in the dol-lar of our food budgets spent oneating out.

In a typical month 86 per centof Australians aged 16 and overare foodservice consumers with 80per cent enjoying eating out for asit down meal. “That virtuallymakes the entire population food-service customers,” said BISShrapnel’s Sissel Rosengren.

On average, consumers arespending $79 a month eating outfor a sit down meal, and $57 amonth on takeaway food. Whenthey are out for a sit down mealthey spend an average amount of$30.

Thirty to 39-year-olds are thegroup spending the most eachmonth on sitting down to a mealat a foodservice outlet ($96), fol-lowed by 50-59-year-olds ($87).

The dining out spending habitsalso increase with income. Thoseearning less than $100,000 spendan average of $47 a month eatingout for a sit down meal while forthose earning $100,000 the figureis $122. For takeaway, it’s peopleaged 29 to 49 who are the biggestconsumers. Within that group 40-49-year-olds spend the most allo-cating an average of $75 a month.

The study revealed too thatbreakfast as a dining out occasionhad fallen away as a result of theglobal financial crisis. “Breakfasthad been on the increase prior tothe global financial crisis—it wasthe fastest growing meal seg-ment,” said Rosengren. “But thathas declined with the economicdownturn.”

Rosengren said that while thereis now steady growth, the foodser-vice market remains “patchy” andpredicts outlets that offer con-sumers value for money are theones that will do best. “The win-ners in terms of the economicdownturn have been the fast foodchains, the clubs and also lowerend restaurants, so the suburbanChinese and Italian.”

Eating out is theAustralian way Perry takes brand west

Neil Perry is extending the RockpoolBar & Grill restaurant concept toPerth’s Burswood EntertainmentComplex. Scheduled to open inFebruary, it will be the third RockpoolBar & Grill for Perry and businesspartners, Trish Richards and DavidDoyle. While Perry will oversee thekitchen and restaurant at Rockpool Bar& Grill Perth, he’s appointed DanMasters as head chef. Masters iscurrently sous chef at Rockpool andhas worked in the kitchens of LeGavroche in London, and The FrenchLaundry in California. Perry andpartners are also working on theopening of a Melbourne Spice Temple,which is set for October on the site ofBistro Guillaume at Crown. BistroGuillaume will close and then re-opennext year in the Brasserie by PhilippeMouchel space. Mouchel is nowpreparing to open a new restaurant inconjunction with George Calombaris’The Press Club Group.

$20,000 for underpaymentThe former owner of a Brisbane caféhas been fined $19,800 over theunderpayment of two workers. TheFederal Magistrate's Court in Brisbanehas imposed the penalty against ErickBerges, who was the sole owner anda manager of the Picasso Pizza andPasta restaurant on Albert Streetbefore it closed last year. The decisionfollows a prosecution by the Fair WorkOmbudsman after it discovered twoemployees at the restaurant had beenunderpaid almost $15,000.

Is yours Australia’sfavourite place to eat?The annual awards that giveAustralian diners the chance to votefor their favourite places to eat aregearing up again. The I Love FoodAwards are Australia's biggestpeoples’ choice restaurant awardswith voting starting on July 14. Thisyear there are 26 categories whichencompassing both cuisine and foodtype. The results of the competitionare collated into an online eat-outguide at lifestylefood.com.au. As well,the winning business gets $5,000 cashand a fully funded television adcampaign on the LifeStyle FoodChannel valued at more than $20,000.

in briefDiners lovesocial mediaONE IN six Australian diners usethe social networking site Face-book to discuss and rate their din-ing experiences, according to thelatest American Express Dining In-sights survey.

And when it comes to youngdiners the trend for using socialmedia to talk about dining expe-riences is even stronger with morethan 20 per cent of 18-34-year-olds saying they regularly Tweet,Facebook or blog about restau-rants and dining experiences.

“Positive word of mouth has al-ways been coveted as the best typeof marketing, but with social me-dia, word of mouth has becomeimmediate and the potential audi-ence is enormous,” said AmericanExpress vice president merchantservices, Geoff Begg.The survey also found:• One in four Australians turn toonline sources to decide on a newplace to eat out.• When Australians find a place toeat that they like, 15 per cent willcomment about it on Facebook,with an increase to 29 per cent inthe 18-34 age group.• Approximately 1 in 20 willTweet about it, with an increase toone in ten for the 18-34 year oldage group.

Lyon bound: Russell Clarke (right) and Mathew Lee.


review

WE ALL know who he is, and at the time that Iam seated in his beautiful restaurant in London,Gordon is busy at the opening of his new Mel-bourne eatery. Yet this ship is as steady and sereneas you could expect of a finely tuned, five starcruiser. There’s no ranting. Certainly no swearing.It is all very, very pleasant (not that I expected any-thing else).

The room is small; intimate, with little morethan a dozen tables and nearly that many floorstaff. We’re trying not to ‘room gaze’, but thereare clearly some high powered lunches going onand a couple of very lovely Chelsea ladies are hav-ing a ‘dessert-a-thon’. It’s all very elegant and, atthe time we were dining, London’s only restaurantwith three coveted Michelin stars.

There’s no undue grandeur to one of the world’sbest restaurants. It’s located in a small group ofshops in the inner London suburb of Chelsea.We’ve booked using the handy on-line service thatmanages the people flow and allows great visibil-ity to restaurant availability across the Ramsayportfolio of restaurants.

Unconcerned by the midday slot, we assumethat the timing will take care of itself and a leisure-ly lunch will be in order. And so it was. We werewarmly greeted by the maître’d and shown to ourwindow table. The menu offers three courses for£45 or £90, five courses for £105 or six for £120.They read so beautifully I could have smacked mycredit card into orbit on a whim. Common senseintact, we choose the £45 affair. The sommelierhad walked us along the wine list. We select a se-

ries of glasses through the meal rather than a bot-tle; he makes suggestions and we follow. All good.

There is humour in the superb presentation ofthe frog’s leg. Upon a perfect 5mm diced potatoand leek sits a crisp, egg shaped leg, deboned andthen reformed, crisp crumbed and fried golden,with the bone poking out the top. Around this ispoured a ‘pond green’ soup of leek and potato. Itcombines great colour, theatre and flavour ele-ments to provide a fantastic entry to our Ramsayexperience.

I’m a sucker for salt cod and order the brandadewith Noir de Bigorre ham. It has a generous dol-lop of smooth cod and whipped potato circled bythis glorious ham from rare bred French pig, witha poached quail egg atop. A couple of charred redpeppers for colour and small rocket salad restedbeside this beautiful dish. The bride has chosenthe tortellini of crab and tiger prawn. One hugetortellini appeared centred on a leaf in the bowlsurrounded by perfect squares of tomato flesh ina parsley, chilli and lemongrass consommé. It wasart as food and tasted fantastic.

London has turned on freezing weather for usand we are delighted to find proper winter farein the mains. Beef Cheek for the beloved and Pork4 Ways for me. The braised ox cheek is a slowbraised delight with vegetables, polenta and mas-carpone. The veg is cut ‘paysanne’ style. Delicate,and an excellent foil for the hearty ox cheek thatfalls apart with tender joy. The pork is a selectionof loveliness rested on a bed of choucroute (Al-satian sauerkraut) with caramelised apple on the

side. Moist, pink fillet slices sat with a fat squareof roasted smoked ventrèche (belly), a Morteausausage (smoked sausage from Jura in France)and a thick chunk of black pudding. It’s all su-perb and accompanied by ever present staff prof-fering terrific bread, filling glasses and just be-ing attentive.

Dessert continues to impress. Banana parfaitwith passionfruit and salted caramel ice-cream ar-rives as a block of chocolate coated parfait witha drizzle of passionfruit sauce underneath and theice cream on top. It’s sweet, salty, creamy andcrunchy. The pear tarte tatin with walnut ice-cream comes piping hot on a squiggle of caramel.As soon as it hits the table a waiter appears witha microplane and shaves some excellent stiltonacross the tart. The heat immediately melts thecheese and its aroma lifts from the plate. Fabu-lous. Smells amazing and tastes better, but we arenot done

A spiky contraption arrives covered in silverballs that turn out to be chocolate truffles. Thisis followed by Ramsay’s signature strawberry ice-cream balls. Coated in white chocolate, they ap-pear in a silver dish which releases a blanket ofsmoke across the table from the dry ice.

As a meal finisher, it is an absolute killer. Youwalk out feeling like you have dined as a king.

mysterydinerRestaurant Gordon Ramsay

Where: 68 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3 4HP

What: Gordon Ramsay’s three Michelin star flagship restaurant

Category: Fine dining

The detailsOwner: Gordon RamsayHead chef: Clare Smyth

Open: Monday to FridayLunch: 12noon-2.30pmDinner: 6.30pm-11pm

Prices: Three courses: £45 or £90Five courses: £105.Six courses: £120.

Verdict: Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is all youshould expect from one of the worlds bestdining rooms. The package is a delight. Wechose the cheapest lunch option and weretreated with the utmost respect and left tolinger over our adventure. A trip into thekitchen to meet Clare (the head chef) was theicing on a brilliant cake. It was all I wanted itto be and more. Flawless.

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workplace


THE HOSPITALITY sector hastraditionally engaged 50 percent of its workforce on a cas-ual basis, while 33 per cent ofemployees are full-time and only17 per cent are part-time. Butone way to soften the financialimpact of the transition to mod-ern awards, and to build a reli-able workforce, is to offer casu-als permanent part timepositions.

Save 14 per cent per hourIf you’re currently employingcasual employees to work longhours on a regular basis, theyare getting the “best of bothworlds” as they are getting thejob security of part-time em-ployment yet remunerated as acasual. The Hospitality IndustryGeneral Award 2010 (HIGA)and the Restaurant IndustryAward 2010 (RIA) provide ca-sual employees with a 25 percent loading as compensationfor forgoing leave entitlementsand other entitlements of full-time and part-time employment.However, the additional cost ofleave entitlements to a wage billis approximately 11 per cent perannum. This means, you’re pay-ing an extra 14 per cent to anemployee engaged casually.

Avoid those expensive overtimeprovisionsThe Hospitality Industry Gen-eral Award 2010 (HIGA) andthe Restaurant Industry Award2010 (RIA) entitle part-time em-ployees to overtime penalties for“all time worked in excess of thehours agreed upon”.This breaks away from the tra-ditional application of overtimepenalties to any hours in excessof 38 per week. This clause al-lows you to agree upon a pat-tern of work and only pay over-time if variations are not“agreed upon”.

This offers great flexibility tobusinesses that experience sea-sonal fluctuations in demandbecause you can now offer a

pattern of work that reflectsyour business needs. For exam-ple, you could offer a part-timeemployee 15 hours per week inwinter, 20 hours per week in au-tumn and spring and 45 hoursper week in summer. Providedyou reach a mutual agreementand this is recorded in writing,overtime penalties are notpayable for the additional hoursworked in summer.

From an employee’s perspec-tive there’s a bonus too. Lots ofemployees want the opportuni-ty to earn extra cash over sum-mer but are restricted from do-ing so because businesses can’tafford overtime penalties. Nowyou can offer the extra hourswithout the financial strain.

Build a reliable workforceAn employee engaged on a part-time basis has the obligation togive notice if they wish to ter-minate their employment.

The length of notice requiredincreases with job tenure. Intheir first year of service theymust give one weeks notice andthe National Employment Stan-dards have extended the oneweek requirement to apply tothe probationary period as well.If the part time employee fails togive notice, you can withholdmonies to the value of the re-quired notice period, for exam-ple, if they don’t give one week’snotice, you can withhold oneweek’s pay.

This is a financial incentivefor them to be committed toyour business. On the otherhand, casuals can quit withoutnotice, which may mean you areforced to resort to expensivetemping agencies to fill a shift atthe last minute.

How do I convince my staff toconvert to part-time?This is not a one-sided argu-ment; there are many benefitsfor employees as well including:• Guaranteed hours each weekallowing them to make long-term financial commitmentsthey previously couldn’t make.• First preference to shifts be-cause casuals will be used as the“supplementary workforce” tofill the gaps that couldn’t befilled by permanent staff. Thiswill appeal to those with busyschedules outside of work.• The benefit of annual leaveand personal/carers leave, whichis invaluable to employees withchildren or other caring respon-sibilities.• Job security because employ-ers are obligated to ‘perform-ance manage’ part-time employ-ees (who have completed theprobationary period). This of-fers much needed protection inthe uncertain economic climate.

This information was suppliedby the IR team at Restaurant &Catering Australia. For more in-formation call (03) 9421 3775.

Permanent part timers better for businessMoving your staff from being employed as casuals to a permanent part

time status can deliver benefits to your bottom line.


newsextra

secretingredients

newsextra

Michael RyanProvenance restaurant, Beechworth, Victoria Seasonal vegetables and house made tofu are at the top of the produce

and ingredients charts at the moment for this acclaimed regional chef

and restaurateur.

Give us a brief history of your career?I studied science at AdelaideUniversity, majoring in Chemistryand then at the age of 27 I switchedto cooking. I did a commercialcookery cert at TAFE in Adelaide,then went on to work in variousrestaurants in South Australia andVictoria, and overseas. I opened myown restaurant, Range inMyrtleford, with my partner JeanetteHenderson in 2005, and we are nowat our second restaurant,Provenance in Beechworth

What do you like to eat when you’renot working?If I am cooking, something simple; ifI am dining out, somethingchallenging.

What’s your favourite restaurant?Unfortunately, working as much as Ido and living in regional Australia, Idon’t get to go to as manyrestaurants as I would like to and sotend to try a new restaurant eachtime I go out. So my favouriterestaurant would be the last goodrestaurant I went to, whichever thatone may be.

What’s your pick of the menu there?So no pick of a menu (see above),however the most recent dish that Ikeep thinking about is the dish ofSouthern rock lobster, sea lettuce,prosciutto and quinoa at the RoyalMail’s Mugaritz dinner.

What’s your favourite dish on youurmenu?The cauliflower dish. I like cookingvegetables and I love making themthe star of a dish, creating differenttextures and achieving differentflavours via different cookingmethods. It is vegetables and theirseasons that drive all my menudecisions.

What’s your favourite ingredient at

the moment?It is one that tends to polarisepeople, but I am pretty keen on tofu.I am making my own momen tofuand am experimenting on kinugoshitofu. I went to a restaurant last timeI was inTokyo specialising in tofuand it was something of arevelation.

What do you think is the most over-rateed ingredient on menus at themoment?It is not so much an ingredient asterminology. Soils, paints, et al. Tellit like it is.

What’s the most indispensablepiece of equipment in your kitcchen?Obviously would have to be myknives. If I had to I guess I could getby without my kitchen toys, butwould really rather not.

Your most expensive flop?Choosing to lease a coffee machineon a rental agreement (not a lease

to buy agreement) through a certainlease company (who I would love toname) with really bad terms. It wassort of organised by our then coffeesupplier, but is still my fault for notreading the fine print and notlooking at other options.

What do you think will be the nextbig foodservice trend?I’m pretty wary of trends. You needto be aware of them, but if they’rebeing reported on you know theyare already over.

Whaat’s your hot tip for Australianrestaurateurs and chefs forsurviving the economic crunch.Aim high, do your best, take noshortcuts and customers willrespond.

You’ve just been handed $2 million.How would you spend it on yourbusiness?Revamp my kitchen and build somemore guest rooms. Having

accommodation is such awonderfully synergistic addition to acountry restaurant and the fourrooms we have at times are notenough.

What do you think is the key toretaining staff and keeping themmotivated?Pay well, offer training, showrespect.

What’s your dream hospitality gig?Five months in one location (mayberegional), five months in anotherlocation (somewhere OS), twomonths off. It would be great forkeeping things interesting.

Vent your spleen. What annoys youabout this business?The constant scrutiny. I can’t thinkof any other business whereanybody and everybody has anopinion on how your businessshould be run. I know it is part ofthe restaurant landscape and I candeal with it, but sometimes peopledo cross the line.

What would be on the menu at yourlast supper?Some of my favourite dishes—thereare too many too mention. Butregardless of what is served, itwould mean little and be far lesstasty without good company, andgood wine.

If youu weren’t a chef you’d be…?…an architect. I’m very interested inhow a structural form and space canaffect a person’s behaviour anddemeanour.

Find Michael Ryan’s recipe for hisamazing butter sauteed cauliflower,cauliflower and chickpea puree,jamon gel, mustard sabayon,polenta shortbread crumbs dishpictured here by heading to ourwebsite hospitalitymagazine.com.au


imbibe

IF YOU were travelling around Australiaspending the kids’ inheritance and youpulled up at a caravan park for the night,it’d be a real talking point if you opened abottle of Grey Nomad wine, wouldn’t it?

South Australia’s Pirramimma Wines be-gan making the Grey Nomad range forNorthern Territory caravan parks last year,but when people started coming to itsMcLaren Vale cellar door asking for thewine, it was inspired to sell it there as well.

Now, the cleverly labelled bottles ofSauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and SparklingBrut are proudly displayed at the cellardoor alongside hats with the same GreyNomad logo. The hats sell for $17.50 butif you buy a dozen bottles of wine, you getthe hat for free. Twin packs of the winesold like hotcakes at Christmas.

When there are so many wines in themarketplace, how do you make people no-tice yours? You could be lucky and do aYellowtail—emulating the company thatbought a wine label from a designer andcreated a hugely successful global businessaround it. For the rest, particularly forsmall family companies like Pirramimma,it’s a case of always trying to come up withfresh ideas, new concepts and novel mar-keting strategies.

One company that’s truly engaged itscustomers is Barossa Valley producer,Langmeil, which preserved a piece ofBarossa history with its Orphan Bank proj-ect. When a 140-year-old vineyard fromwhich Langmeil was sourcing fruit for itspremium Shiraz was about to be lost to ahousing development, Langmeil and thegrower came up with a unique alternativeto ripping the vines out and burning them.

During 2006 and 2007, they transplant-ed more than 300 of these ancient vines tothe property on which the Langmeil win-ery stands. It is now known as the Lang-meil Barossa Orphan Bank Shiraz vine-yard. Sales and marketing manager JamesLindner said that because it was such anexpensive, time-consuming process tomove the vines one at a time— a two-kilo-metre round trip— Langmeil sought finan-cial assistance. Thus a group called the Or-phan Bank Parents was born, with each‘parent’ paying $500 to buy a vine for tenyears. Many of the vines were bought astributes to friends who had died, or forgrandchildren, or just for people who loveand embrace the wine industry.

In return, the customer receives a $50

Wine marketers work smarterClever wine marketers are thinking outside their traditional strategies to capture the attention of the

drinking public and delight them with their products, writes Christine Salins.

Brand on the move: A

truck provides a mobile

billboard for the

Coonawarra wine

region.

‘When a140-year-oldvineyardwas aboutto be lost...[they] cameup with auniquealternativeto justripping thevines outandburningthem.’

bottle of Orphan Bank wine each year andis invited back every vintage to pick his orher vine. “In 2010 we had over 180 ‘par-ents’ at the winery to enjoy the picking dayand they sat down to a full lunch spreadat the winery’s expense,” said Lindner.“The total group of parents is close on 320people and we ensure we look after themextremely well as custodians to this bril-liant little treasure of the Barossa.”

Meanwhile, Coonawarra winemakersare taking their message to the road as partof their strategy to put their wines oneverybody’s lips. The Coonawarra Vi-gnerons Association has created a giantmobile billboard by taking out advertis-ing on a truck owned by a Mt Gambierfreight company. Although they have noidea what the truck will be hauling, theyexpect it will be seen around Australia forthe next ten years. “To my knowledge, noother winery is doing this,” said the pres-ident of the Coonawarra Vignerons Asso-ciation, Michelle Stehbens. “It’s about 50per cent of our marketing budget for theyear, so it took a while to get members onboard. We’re always trying to find a newmarketing angle.”

While Coonawarra is raising its profileas a region, a group of winemakers fromaround the country has got together tospread its message abroad. Australia’s FirstFamilies of Wine was launched in Augustlast year by 12 winemaking families whorecognised a need to raise the profile ofpremium Australian wine internationally.Brown Brothers, Campbell’s, d’Arenberg,De Bortoli, Henschke, Howard Park, JimBarry, McWilliams, Tahbilk, Taylors,Tyrrell’s and Yalumba have committed tocollectively spend nearly $1 million domes-tic and international activities. They also

recently won a Promoting Australian Pro-duce grant of almost $430,000, which willbe used to help them enter emerging mar-kets in Asia and established markets inNorth America.

On a smaller scale, six Canberra wine-makers have joined forces to promote andsell their wines under a single umbrella.The Canberra Wine Collective was an ini-tiative of John and Sarah Collingwood, ofFour Winds Vineyard, who invited like-minded, boutique vineyards TallagandraHill, Gundog Estate, Yarrh Wines, WilyTrout and Maipenrai to come on board.

They commissioned a local joiner to cre-ate eye-catching wooden stands that havebeen installed in local supermarkets andliquor stores to display their wines. JohnCollingwood said the wines had deliber-ately been kept at $17 or under to encour-age people to sample the wine.

The response from retailers had beenpositive with the stands taken up by 22stores in the first month alone. SarahCollingwood said that because customerswere increasingly asking local stores if theysell local product, the stores had been quitereceptive to the idea.

“There has been great support for thecollective not only because the wines aregreat value, but because people are look-ing for produce that’s local and has notclocked up large amounts of food miles,”she said.

Maipenrai’s Brian Schmidt is thrilled tobe part of the collective. “One of the thingswe don’t do well is to market to Canberrapeople, and this does that effectively.”

Sarah Collingwood said there are hopesto expand the idea more into NSW.

“I’m hoping it will go down to Mel-bourne and up to Queensland,” she said.

‘Therisotto isfinishedwith someprawnsand a littlebit of soyreductionand thensomeseaweed,so it's kindof headingtowards asushi roll,but itworks.’


hospitalitychef

HEOMISLAV

experienceChef Tomislav Martinovic is aiming to combine an unpretentious dining experience with top quality—and

sometimes surprising—food on the plate for his customers, writes Danielle Bowling.

What do Matt Moran, HestonBlumenthal and GuillaumeBrahimi all have in com-mon? Apart from being culi-

nary champions and running high profilerestaurants, these three all played a keyrole in making Tomislav Martinovic thechef he is today.

In January this year, Martinovic openedthe first restaurant he’s owned 100 per centon his own—Tomislav. It’s located in Syd-ney's Darlinghurst and is the result of morethan a decade of world travel and workingin a number or restaurants, learning frommany of the hospitality industry's best.

Martinovic's long and impressive CV in-cludes an apprenticeship at Matt Moran'sPotts Point restaurant, Moran's; head chefon an 180-foot private super yacht travel-ling around the Italian coast working forAustralian businessman Solomon Lew; aseven-month spell with Brahimi at Benne-long; and a trip to Europe working in theUK's three Michelin-starred Fat Duckalongside Heston Blumenthal.

Martinovic also opened a gastro pubcalled The Greyhound at Battersea in Lon-don in 2004 with a friend. He was laterhead-hunted as a chef consultant at Japan-ese restaurant, Koi, in Woolwich, a posi-tion which saw him flown to Japan for two-and-a-half weeks with the task of eatingin as many different restaurants as possi-ble before returning to Australia andspending the next eight months or so im-mersed in the cuisine.

The opening of Tomislav, the restaurant,has therefore been a long time coming. “Itwas probably four years ago when I re-alised that I really wanted to open a restau-rant on my own, obviously in Sydney, be-

ing my home town and being close to myimmediate family. That was probably thebiggest inspiration,” Martinovic says. “Ithink it just developed and evolved overthe past 12 years of cooking. It was alwaysin me to open my own place, it just took awhile for me to mature and realise that thiswas the right time.”

After leaving the UK in 2008 and return-ing to Sydney, Martinovic says all he didfor the next two years was eat out. Thiswas when he realised fine dining in Aus-tralia was “slowly being nudged out” andbeing replaced by a more casual experi-ence, but with the same great quality foodand service.

And this is what Tomislav restaurant isall about. “I try to keep it simple, unpre-tentious, casual and I think the key wordfor us is unintimidating,” Martinovic says.“The number of customers who have comein over the past five months and just gone,'Wow, I feel so relaxed and comfortablehere, yet the service is amazing'. It's justas professional as you would get in mostrestaurants, even the top restaurants, butit's not in your face ... It's genuine and youdon't get that fake PR smile that you get atQantas sometimes."

Despite his extensive experience in theindustry, making the transition from chefto restaurateur, business owner and chefall at once was difficult, Martinovic says.“The trick is to find that balance betweenfocusing on the business and just cooking.I’m realising slowly that I can’t come intothe kitchen at 10am, cook all day and thentry to focus the business around it.

“I’ve got to pull away from the site andactually give myself two or three hoursevery morning where I’m focusing on the

business. And when I do finally walk intothe kitchen, whether it be at 1 o’clock inthe afternoon or 4 o’clock, I literally putmy chef whites on and it is just about whatI’m cooking over those stoves.

“That’s the easiest part of the day andthe part that I love. It’s where I can just letgo of everything and just focus on thoseprawns or focus on that risotto or that icecream and nothing else comes into play.”

Tomislav’s tips

TFAVOURITE FOOD-RELATED BOOK?Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’sCompanion and Noma Cookbook.

FAVOURITE RESTAURANT?Pierre Gagnaire Paris, Quay restaurant,A Tavola.

FAVOURITE PLACE TO SHOP FORFOOD AND INGREDIENTS?The Borough markets in London—alively, wholesale food market. Some ofmy favourite ingredients includeScottish langoustines, wild salmon,mutton and goose eggs.

FAVOURITE MEAL EXPERIENCE?Restaurant in The Dark, London. Therewas total darkness throughout thewhole meal. It surprised me to see howthis made the other senses kick in. Mynose, ears and memory startedworking overtime. The darkness madeyou really focus with the nose in orderto have a chance at identifying themeal.


hospitalitychef

The restaurant seats 42 and is doing upto 55 covers on a Saturday night. Marti-novic classifies his menu as modern Aus-tralian, but says he does his best to ensureall the diners can relate to his food, oftencreating a sense of nostalgia through theuse of ingredients that people might recog-nise from their childhood or their culturalheritage. He says while it can be difficultto cater for the plethora of cultures Sydneyis made up of, with the restaurant scenehere "a bit all over the shop", if you sub-tly incorporate flavours from other cul-tures into your dishes, then your menu willhave a great balance to it.

“We're using a Pakistani rice at the mo-ment, and the risotto is finished with someprawns and a little bit of soy reduction andthen some seaweed, so it's kind of head-ing towards a sushi roll, but it works,” hesays. “As long as it's clean and not over thetop then it works.”

Despite his experience in other cuisinesand his own Croatian heritage, Martinovicsays he’s making an effort to offer a num-ber of typically Australian dishes. “I knowthis might sound silly but I get inspired bythe supermarket,” he says. “We have atuna dish on at the moment, and I have myversion of that old Kraft cream cheesespread that most of us used to eat as kids.There's also the caramel dessert that's in-

spired by the texture of yoghurt.”In the next couple of weeks, Martinovic

is planning to add kangaroo to his menu—a move that scares him for two reasons.Firstly, he says he will be taking a chancebecause kangaroo is not yet widely used onmenus, so diners might not embrace it, andsecondly, he has never cooked it before.

“It's Australian, it's wild, it's gamey andthat's the attraction for me,” he says. “ButI've never cooked kangaroo. I think I'vetasted it once 12 years ago in the HunterValley, but that's it.”

This is all part of Martinovic's approachto cooking—never get too comfortable. Inthe six months that Tomislav has been upand running, he has changed the menuthree times already.

In keeping with Martinovic's "unintim-idating" approach to dining, Tomislav hasan open kitchen so guests can see him atwork and perhaps appreciate the dish infront of them a little bit more.

“At times diners can be sitting reallyclose to the kitchen, so they can see exact-ly what's going on, and sometimes theyprobably hear a little bit too much, but sur-prisingly, most of the guests love the the-atre about it—dinner and a show—whichis an advantage for us,” he says.

“I'm a relatively quiet guy during serv-ice, there's not a lot of coarse language or

Cheesecake1 pod Tahitian vanilla250g cream cheese50g yoghurt100g filtered water50g sugar6g honey400g digestives600g butter

Melt the butter and add tocrushed biscuits. Beat the creamcheese in mixer with paddle attachment. Once soft combine allother ingredients. Add to siphon canister and charge twicewith nitrogen gas. Leave to rest in the fridge for an hour.Shake canister and release cheesecake mix from siphon.

Rhubarb sorbet200g raw sugar100g water50g grenadine1kg rhubarb

Combine all ingredients, vacuum pack and poach at 70C for 10minutes.Blend and pass through fine chinois.Pacotize for 24 hours at 22C and then churn.

Tomislav Martinovic’s vanillacheesecake with rhubarb sorbet

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hospitalitychef

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aggression or throwing of pans, but at thesame time it is a pretty heated kitchen andthat can happen, but again surprisinglypretty much all of our guests love the factthat that goes on, even though I try to min-imise it.”

The reverse is also an advantage forMartinovic, who enjoys seeing diners' re-actions when their meal is put in front ofthem or when they take their first mouth-ful. The open kitchen also allows him tokeep an eye on the service standard of hisrestaurant—something he sees as the keyto any successful establishment. Not thatservice is something that Martinovic of-ten worries about. He is very grateful forhis small, but efficient team, which com-prises three chefs, a restaurant manager,Gavin Day (ex Bistro Moncur and LightBrigade), an assistant restaurant manag-er and two part-time wait staff. Askedwhat he was looking for when he was hir-ing, Martinovic says it all came down toinspiration. “Someone that would get in-spired by the experience, by the food, in-spired by me, and wanted to be a part ofpotentially a pretty good restaurant oneday,” he says.

“Because that attitude, regardless of ex-perience, re-inspires me to give back tothem. Surprisingly, just by word of mouthwe attracted the right kind of people, notonly in the kitchen but front of house too.

“The part that touches my heart is thatmy restaurant manager and assistant camein for dinner on separate occasions andjust loved the food and wanted to be a partof the experience. I remember Gavin sit-ting in the restaurant and we had a chatand the guy had tears in his eyes becausehe was so moved by the food.”

Being friendly and accommodating isn'tsolely the role of the wait staff, he says.

Martinovic loves that because of the openkitchen diners often come up to him aftertheir meal to thank him, giving him thechance to speak with them and understandwhat today’s Sydneysiders are looking forin a restaurant.

He believes putting a face to the dishesonce again adds to that relaxed, comfort-able atmosphere that Tomislav exudes,something fine dining restaurants often failto provide. “I feel that casual dining is abit more accessible and, generally, Aus-tralians don't grasp the whole fine diningthing,” he says.

“One of the reasons I think we're doingso well is that personalised service. A lot ofthe top fine dining restaurants are pretty bigand I've got a lot of customers here that, forexample, would enjoy the fine diningrestaurants but miss that chef and that guy10 years ago when he first started.”

While today Martinovic is enjoying theresult of his many years of hard work, hesays he would never become complacent.He believes diners can tell straight away ifa chef has put everything he or she's gotinto a dish.

“People can taste the love,” he says.“They can taste the effort, the hard workthat's gone into each and every dish oreven the side order or a dessert. One hun-dred per cent commitment behind eachand every dish [is what you have to give].”

Tomislav Martinovic’s

scallop risotto.


The majority of event catering com-panies would say that you don'tneed to spend an exorbitant

amount of money to host a great function.Having said that, the events industry is onewhere if you ask how much an event willcost, it's like asking how long a piece ofstring is. The more you spend, the moreyou get and while there will always be amarket out there for events—whether theybe corporate function, exhibitions, birth-day parties or weddings—the buoyancy ofthe industry is very much determined bypeople's willingness to spend.

Hatem Saleh, managing director of Mel-bourne's Atlantic Group[v], which in 2009took out Restaurant and Catering Aus-tralia’s Wedding Venue Caterer of the Yearand Overall Caterer of the Year awards,believes last year's economic crisis madepeople much more conservative in howthey organise their events.

Saleh says that while the bill for a cock-tail-style event might be cheaper than thatof a sit-down, three-course meal, peopleare more interested in getting the most outtheir money and so, in increasing numbers,are choosing the latter option.

“Less and less you see stand-up black tiefunctions these days, and I think that when

a client is trying to work out what is go-ing to get them the best return for their in-vestment, they want what is going to cre-ate an effect and have a real impact withthe people they’re entertaining.”

Atlantic Group[v] caters for events rang-ing from charity functions, catwalk eventsand product launches to weddings, engage-ments and birthdays with anywhere be-tween 20 and 2,500 mouths to feed atevents held across its four venues.

Saleh says that while clients are keen toensure every element of their event is justhow they want it, food is probably thenumber one priority these days. “It's food,food, food,” he says.

“Followed by the rest of the stuff thatmakes a fantastic event, which is of coursegreat service and a great ambience. I thinkit's a complete offering now, but there’s abig shift towards food that’s spot on.”

Executive chef for Atlantic Group[v],Dan Shanks, says catering for a sit-downevent is a completely different project tocatering for a cocktail party. Apart fromthe obvious difference in meal sizes, the lo-gistical differences between the two arealso considerable.

“When you're doing a sit-down mealfor, say, 1,000 you can be producing 1,000

meals or 2,000 meals when you're doingentree and main,” Shanks says. “But ifyou're doing a cocktail party for 1,000people where you're doing 10 differentitems, you can be doing 10,000 differentthings, so the logistics of it all totallychanges.

“Cocktail parties usually entail morehands. They often involve more detail andyou really need to look at the smaller, fin-er things, whereas with sit-down meals youcan get a fair bit of the bulk done a fewdays out. With cocktail it more has to beput together on the day.”

Shanks says that, until recently, clientswere more interested in “elaborate, fan-cy-designed” foods, but the global finan-cial crisis forced chefs to go back to basicsand to use less expensive ingredients moresimply. He says this shifted people's enthu-siasm back to more traditional, homelydishes. “We had to put a lot more workinto the food and it became a little bit moresimple,” Shanks says.

“I guess what we really found, after therecession, was that people really enjoyedthat. Simplicity does sell and a lot of peo-ple now would prefer to have a beautifulpiece of meat with a really simple side thana piece of meat done four ways with a rack

‘Peoplenow wouldprefer tohave abeautifulpiece ofmeat with a reallysimple sidethan a pieceof meatdone fourways with a rack anda confit.’

catering

The numbers gameVolume catering is not for the faint of heart with so many details to get exactly right and increasingly higher

expectations from customers. Danielle Bowling got some tips from the best in the business.

The numbers gameWedding catered for by Gastronomy.


catering

and a confit.”Sydney’s Gastronomy pro-

vides catering at venues includ-ing the Museum of Contempo-rary Art, Government House,the Royal Botanic Gardens,Darling Park and the OverseasPassenger Terminal. Generalmanager, Miccal Cummins, sayshe’s noticed that weddings,which, up until recently, werefavouring a cocktail-style arenow moving towards more tra-ditional sit-down dinners.

However corporate events,particularly product launchesand fashion house events—which form the majority of Gas-tronomy's events at the mo-ment—are sticking withcocktail.

Understanding what the clientwants is perhaps the most im-portant part of event catering,Cummins says. The style of theevent, the decoration and the en-tertainment can vary dras- tical-ly according to what the event istrying to achieve and the type ofpeople that will be attending.

At the fashion house events,for example, it's all about ap-pearances. “So we've spent a lotof time on the way that we pres-ent things, even with things assimple as an ice bucket,” Cum-mins says. “Obviously there arelots of caterers who do greatfood, so then the leading edgehas to be the presentationmatching the client's [re-quests].”

Chef demonstrations are alsobecoming more popular, butagain, this depends on the typeof event that is being held. Cum-mins says this form of entertain-ment lends itself to, and is al-most always used for, corporateevents.

Executive chef at GastronomyCyril Miletto offers clients arange of different menus as ex-amples of the types of food thatthey can have at their event.Clients can also request certaindishes, flavours or themes forthe menu. Miletto says a trendhe’s seeing is more requests foringredients to be sourced fromlocal suppliers and be sustain-ably produced. “We have peoplesometimes that are asking us tocreate dishes that are only fromlocal producers,” he says. “Ithas to be 100 per cent within

A sample of whatthey’re serving up atAtlantic Group [V].

CanapésTuna tartare withsashimi dressing anddancing bonitoQuenelle of beef tartare with truffle remoulade en crouteNV Jansz Premium Cuvee, Tasmania

EntréeTea smoked salmon with shaved fennel salad, crème fraise andhorseradishPrickly ash spiced quail with green mango salad and red nahmjihm2006 Kooyong Estate ‘Clonale’ Chardonnay, MorningtonPeninsula, Victoria

MainCrispy skinned hapuka with prawn and prosciutto bubble andsqueak and lemon beur blanc2006 Scorpo Pinot Noir Rose, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

Roast beef fillet with horseradish skordalia, wilted water cressand organic lemon wedge2006 Tyrrells ‘Rufus Stone’ Shiraz, Heathcote, Victoria

Dessert canapésOrange blossom pannacotta with citrus salad and candied zestWarm chocolate brownie with marmalade mascarpone andchocolate sauce2006 Vasse Felix Cane Cut Semillon, Margaret River, WesternAustralia

On the menu

Soft shell taco from Atlantic Group [v].


catering

50km of the city, or something, and some-times it's quite difficult to do.”

“In terms of seafood, it's all about sus-tainability. We're also using beef from theHunter Valley, grass fed beef. And sincewe've been serving that I have to say we'venever had so much praise for the qualityand the tenderness of our beef.”

Unlike Atlantic Group[v] and Gastron-omy, Brien Trippas, managing director atTrippas White Catering, says the morelaid-back, cocktail events are more popu-lar at the moment. Trippas believes thistrend is being driven by the fact that peo-ple are so time poor these days. They likecocktail events where they can arrive lateand leave early—something not so easy at

a sit-down, three course meal event.The shift towards more casual events

has been particularly obvious over the pastcouple of Christmases, Trippas says, ascompanies have felt the need to either cutcosts or give the impression that they arebeing frugal with their spending. “We'vefound that, particularly around Christmas,instead of doing big corporate parties wenow do smaller tables in our public din-ing facilities,” he says.

“So instead of your organisation saying,'Lets go and book out the Botanic Gardensrestaurant tonight', they'll say, “Your de-partment can go and run a table and yourdepartment can go and run a table. So ourChristmases have become focused on do-

ing large tables at lunch time rather thanexclusives at night.”

Clients are also becoming more adven-turous with the menus, Trippas says, andthis has had a positive effect on chefs whoare then forced to experiment more andproduce more creative dishes. “I think peo-ple are being a lot more adventurous withwhat they do. But we sometimes need totemper that with, 'Yes, but we can't get

‘It's acompleteofferingnow butthere is abig shifttowardsmaking thefood spoton.’

Fresh ingredients from Gastronomy.

Test tube palate cleansers from Atlantic Group [v]..


catering

200 of those out at once'. And so weneed to tell [customers] that there aresome operational issues, and we haveto educate them a bit better. But Ithink they're being a bit more adven-turous, and so are we.”

“We're doing things like osso buc-co and lamb shanks, which we nev-er did before because it was too hard.There's also the fact that we're ac-cepting a challenge now more thanwe would have done before. I thinkour technique is more sophisticated.”

Trippas says the secret to succeed-ing in the event catering industry issimply to listen to the client and re-spect their wishes. It's easy to up-sellwhen organising events, but the lastthing a catering company wants isfor a client to realise after an eventthat they spent an extra $10 or $20a head on something that wasn't re-ally necessary.

“Try to boil it down to the essenceof what the client is after,” Trippassays. “If they're after a gorgeous par-ty with lots and fluff, then give themlots of fluff, but lots of people, par-ticularly our corporate clients, needto be seen to be fairly miserly by theirclients, and therefore we have to re-spect that.”

The Gold Coast Convention Cen-tre in Queensland caters for any-where between 10 and 5,000 peopleat events that range from fine diningdinners to car shows, concerts andbull-riding shows.

Catering for large groups withouthaving people leave hungry or hav-ing excess food is all about logistics,says executive chef, Michael Fletch-er. Fletcher says he’s also noticed anincrease in the number of informal,cocktail events, and says these are theevents where preparation and organ-isation in the kitchen is paramount.

“Canapes take the most time.Cold canapes especially—they're abloody nightmare because they'vegot to look good and if you're mak-ing six or eight thousand of them,then a lot of time goes into it.

“What we find normally is that ifyou've got 500 people you don'tneed 500 cold canapes of each selec-tion, because as soon as the hot onescome out they forget about the cold.So you mix it up, and you'll do 70per cent of the cold and 150 per centof the hot, or more, because that'swhat people tend to flock to.”

An important considertation too ishow easy a dish is to eat. Can it beeaten in one bite, or a maximum oftwo? Is it going to make a mess of aperson’s clothes? Can you eat it andhold a drink at the same time?

Yes, feeding thousands of peopleall at once can be stressful, Fletchersays, but it's a buzz that you can't getworking in a restaurant kitchen.

“This is just a totally differentgame and every day is different.You're talking to a vast variety ofpeople, from all walks of life. It'sgreat. It's a whole different world.”

An event at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.

Antipasto from Gastronomy.


When it comes to the equipmentin a commercial kitchen thatneeds to be reliable and operat-

ing at its optimum, refrigeration has to beat the top of the list for hospitality busi-ness operators. From two door cabinetfridges to cool rooms, if a piece of refrig-eration equipment is not running efficient-ly then the business will suffer—from in-creased running costs to food wastage.

Refrigeration is one of the commercialequipment categories now coming underincreasing scrutiny as governments andmajor hospitality operators demand equip-ment that is more energy efficient, and alsomore environmentally sustainable. Energyaudits by foodservice operations are todaybecoming common practice, which is in-creasing demand for highly energy efficientrefrigeration equipment.

The result is that the equipment beinglaunched by some of the top refrigerationequipment manufacturers today is usingup to 70 per cent less energy than similarequipment ten years ago.

‘Iteliminatesthe needfor chefs tobe runningaroundtrying to getingredients.From achef’s pointof view it’sgreat.’

Also affecting developments in the in-dustry are increasing demands by foodser-vice operators for clever new refrigerationequipment that will help streamline the op-eration of a busy commercial kitchen andhelp operators get the most out of theirkitchen, as well as use space to optimumeffect.

On the rise too is the trend for refriger-ation in foodservice businesses to take ona high profile position as part of the inte-rior design of an operation, creating adrawcard with displays of the quality freshproduce and other products being usedfrom meat and seafood to cheese, patis-serie and wine.

RegulationThe coming 12 months will see the resultsof the Federal Government’s ongoing com-mercial refrigeration standards strategycalled “In From the Cold” start to take af-fect as the planning and consultation phasecomes to an end and the implementationof some of the recommendations begins.

The strategy includes plans to tightenup, and make more user friendly, theMEPS (Minimum Energy PerformanceStandards) system that will make it easierfor buyers of refrigeration equipment tochoose the most cost-effective brands.

The strategy will also focus on educat-ing foodservice operators about the valueof upgrading to some of the latest refrig-eration equipment to their businesses’ bot-tom line.

Separately there is also work going onby a joint government and industry teamto also develop an industry benchmarkstandard that will let purchasers easilychoose equipment that will have the leastimpact on the environment. Expect toeventually see an index called TEWI avail-able along with the price tag of a piece ofrefrigeration equipment. It stands for To-tal Environmental Warming Impact and isone of a number of different indices al-ready being used in markets overseas.

Refrigeration distributors say that al-ready some sectors of the market are de-

COOL CHANGEEfficient modern refrigeration is at the heart of every well run hospitality operation. And they cann also be good

looking. Rosemary Ryan looked at some of the latest commercial refrigeration trends cooming through.

COOL CHANGEEfficient modern refrigeration is at the heart of every well run hospitality operation. And they can also be good

looking. Rosemary Ryan looked at some of the latest commercial refrigeration trends comming through.

The wine ‘wall’ hangs over the bar at the Hilton hotel.


refrigeration

manding that these indicators are suppliedto them when investing in equipment.

Scots Ice sales manager Tony Brownesays leading refrigeration manufacturersare investing heavily in ensuring their lat-est equipment is in line with demands formore enviro-friendly technology. As well,he says, major refrigeration companies,like Polaris, which Scots Ice represents inAustralia, are also working on providinginformation to customers relating to theseries of new indicators that reflect the es-timated potential environmental impact ofparticular refrigeration equipment.

As well as TEWI, there are indices likeODP (Ozone Depletion Potential index)and GWP (Global Warming Impact index).“We are just starting to see requests forthese sorts of indices coming through fromcustomers here,” says Browne.

Browne says the latest new models fromPolaris, the TN and the BT, include a rangeof improvements that help to reduce theirenergy consumption and their environ-mental impact. As well as incorporating“greener” insulation materials and refrig-erants, developments in refrigeration thatare making equipment more cost-effectiveincludes the use of smaller, more power-ful fan motors, double-glazing on glassfronted cabinets and increased insulationwall thickness, as well as LED lighting.

Browne says the thicker insulation in thelatest models—up from 60mm to 70mm—has reduced the energy the equipment uses.“It means less refrigerating power is re-quired and that is less energy,” saysBrowne. “They are able to reduce energycosts by 25 per cent which is a daily ben-efit for operators.”

National products manager of giant re-frigeration manufacturer SKOPE, BradyWiseman, says technology advances havealso seen the development of smart con-trols that help to reduce power consump-tion by controlling how hard the refriger-ation needs to work. “For example thenew SKOPE SK series can be programmedso that during quiet times, like overnight,the cabinet will go into sleep mode and willstart up again to ensure the contents areback to the core temperature when the es-tablishment opens,” Wiseman says. “Thecabinet doesn’t shut off completely but re-leases less refrigerant so it isn’t runningconstantly 24 hours a day.”

Wiseman says SKOPE has a major focuson developing equipment that is more en-ergy efficient and that also has a reduce en-vironmental impact. “A SKOPE cabinetmade today can use around 70 per cent lessenergy than a cabinet made ten years ago.”

Streamlining kitchensOne of the trends coming through that’sinfluencing the choice of refrigeration is a

Refrigeration technology protects Press Club assetsWHEN the Press Club Group set out to refurbish itsflagship operation, The Press Club restaurant, therefrigeration system was a key part of the strategybecause of the crucial role it plays in the successfuloperation of the business, says group partnerGeorge Sykiotis. “We are a very busy restaurant,we have a lot of product, and we have a veryparticular stance when it comes to the quality ofproduct that we keep,” says Sykiotis.“If you just look at wine alone, we have about threequarters of a million dollars just of wine on site andso that has to be looked after very, very well.”

Issues such as reducing food wastage, rigorousfood safety systems and energy efficiency were allconsiderations when it came to ensuring theoperation was fitted out with the best solution inrefrigeration systems.

The refrigeration selected was all custom madeto make optimum use of the space available andranges from cool rooms to a series of refrigerateddrawer systems right in the heart of the kitchen.

Ergonomic design, the smooth running of thekitchen, as well as precise food safety proceduresare behind the decision to install the drawer unitsthat are built in underneath grill plates in thekitchen. “The best thing about these is you have abig grill plate and below that you have twodrawers,” says Sykiotis.

“So let’s say in the fish section right underneathwhere you are cooking you can pull out thedrawers and there is the fish. You take the fish andput it straight onto the cooking surface and off yougo. You minimise handling and you minimise anypossibility of cross contamination. All this sort ofthing is really coming into play now when you aredesigning kitchens.”

“You need to have good accessibility of product.

And we look at economy of motion. If you can grabsomething that’s right at your fingertips rather thanwalking ten steps for it there are less things thatcan go wrong.”

Having refrigerators that are so easily accessiblein the kitchen are good for food safety proceduresas well, says Sykiotis. “Having the drawers rightthere, guess what? Nothing is out on the benches.So at the end of service you’re not throwing awayanything,” he says.

Elsewhere a series of different cool rooms havebeen custom built, all to specific requirement forspecific purposes.

“We have four different cool rooms for differentpurposes to keep the contents at their optimumlevel, says Sykiotis. “For raw vegetables the coolroom sits at four to six degrees and that means youget longer life out of your vegetables.

“Then in another cool room, which we call prep,you have finished products that are ready to beprocessed—fish that’s been cut and cleaned, meatthat’s been marinaded, anything about to be used.That one is set at about usually between two andthree degrees.”

The busy and recently refurbished The Press Club kitchen.

Drawer refrigeration at Crown by Markforce.


"Scots Ice commenced business in the year 2000and now, after a decade of successful tradingand distribution of some of the world's bestfoodservice equipment, we have entered thenext phase of our service to the hospitalityindustry," said managing director, John Gelao.

This new direction includes a broader productrange. Scotsman Ice Machines are thecompany's leading product, and initially its onlyproduct. Scotsman is the largest manufacturer ofice makers, with more than one millionmachines installed around the world, and whileScots Ice has always enjoyed the popularity ofthis product, it now offers a wide range ofkitchen appliances, all of which aim to increasethe efficiency and productivity of kitchens acrossthe country.

Not only does Scots Ice have a comprehensiverange of foodservice equipment, but daily pick-ups by its national transport carrier andovernight air-freight of spare parts ensures thatdeliveries to all areas of Australia are made asquickly as possible.

The company's warehouse and a newlyconstructed showroom and office facility islocated in Sydney's Clyde, and both existing andprospective customers are welcome to visit andsee Scots Ice's product range in action.

"The showroom has fully operationalequipment on display including cookingequipment; combi ovens; refrigeration; blastchillers and freezers; food holding cabinets anddrawers; pizza ovens and icemakers. This meansthat we can demonstrate and 'trial cook' food

Seeing is believing at ScoA new showroom and a more comprehensive product range are two exciting changes that Scots Ice has

undergone recently, as part of its efforts to provide the hospitality industry with the best kitchen and catering

equipment.

Advertorial

Scots Ice Australia productsnow include:

• Scotsman Ice Machines/flakers

• Baron gas/electric cooking equipment

• Baron combi ovens/steamers

• Polaris refrigerators/blast chillers

• Renova banquet carts/warming

drawers/regeneration ovens

• Firex heavy-duty mixer kettles/boiling pans

• Pizza Vera counter-top pizza ovens

www.scotsice.com.au


ots Ice

products for our customer's specificneeds prior to the purchase of theequipment to ensure that thecustomer gets the right piece ofequipment for the right purpose,"Gelao said.

Scots Ice's executive chef andNSW sales manager, Tony Browne,attends these demonstrations,ensuring that customers receive theright advice before making apurchase, and promising continuedassistance on how best to use andcare for the equipment once it hasbeen installed in the customer'spremises.

"We will also be conductingdealer sales training and technicalsupport training programs hereduring the coming months, toensure that all our distributors andservice agents are kept fully up-to-date with all the features andbenefits of our products," Gelaoexplained.

2010 has been a big year for ScotsIce. Apart from the construction ofits new showroom and its increasedproduct range, a new Victorian salesmanager, Peter Wilson, has alsobeen appointed in order to develop

the company's dealer supportnetwork in the souther states.

Scots Ice will also be talking tocustomers and explaining thebenefits of its kitchen equipment atSeptember's Fine Food Expo inMelbourne.


refrigeration

greater emphasis on clever planning of thedesign of commercial kitchens. Thoughtis going into how to make them most effi-cient workplaces, and also how to optimisethe use of sometimes very limited and pre-mium space.

Growing use of under-counter fridgesand refrigerated drawers is part of thetrend, says Moffat’s Scott Graham. Mof-fat recently supplied a series of Waldorf re-frigerated drawer units built under stovetops in the newly refurbished kitchen ofMelbourne’s The Press Club.

“It’s one of the more common trends weare seeing at the moment and that is refrig-eration built into cooking equipment,”Graham says. “So for example you willhave a grill plate and you will actually haverefrigeration underneath. So if the chef iscooking steaks (or whatever) rather thanwalk to a main fridge he can just reach into

the fridge right there and can just put itstraight onto the grill plate.

“It cuts down on movement around thekitchen so for a busy kitchen it’s very prac-tical. From a chef’s point of view it’sgreat—they’ve just got everything at theirfingertips. It’s also making good use of thespace—they can say well I don’t need anoven under that piece of equipment, but afridge could be handy.”

The use of the smaller fridges built intothe cooking bank also eliminates frequentopening and closing of larger fridges andcool rooms, says Graham.

Refrigeration as designThe growing trend to bring refrigerationout into a front and centre position in hos-pitality and foodservice businesses is alsohaving an affect on its design, say the ex-perts. Once just the back of house work-

horse, refrigeration is becoming an archi-tectural feature of some businesses.

Chris Kenny—of commercial kitchendesign and construction experts Markforce—says there’s been strong demand for spe-cially designed refrigeration to be installedas key features of restaurants and bars.

Kenny, whose company has worked onkey accounts including the recent refur-bishmend of The Press Club in Melbourneas well as across different operations at theCrown complex, says it means refrigera-tion that looks good is important.

“Things like frameless glass doors onfridges,” he says. “They have no visibleframe so all you are seeing is glass—itlooks really smart,” says Kenny. “We usea glass called star fire glass. It’s so clear youalmost can’t see the glass. It has a veryclean affect.”

The growing consumer interest in freshproduce is also leading to operators bring-ing refrigerators containing fresh foodfrom fruits and vegetables, to meat,seafood and cheeses out front where cus-tomers can see them.

At the new Hilton South Wharf hotel inMelbourne refrigeration as a design fea-ture has been used spectacularly. A temper-ature controlled wine ‘wall’ housing 2500bottles of white and red wine is suspend-ed from the ceiling and accessible from agantry that runs above the hotel’s Sotanowine and tapas bar. Meanwhile, a four me-tre high charcuterie refrigerated ‘tower’which is laden with meats and cheeses is afocal point of the tapas bar where dinerscan sit and choose from around 30 differ-ent meats and about 40 or 50 differentcheeses, all stored at precise temperaturesin the refrigerators.

The Hilton South Wharf’s director ofbusiness development, Rupert Hallam,said the wine and charcuterie units areboth design features that create consider-able wow factor at the hotel but are alsopractical storage solutions for valuableproducts. “With the charcuterie tower,people are really drawn to it,” says Hal-lam. “The wine wall as well is a big talk-ing point. It certainly has a wow factor. It’sgreat to be able to put [the wine] on show.You don’t want it stuck in the darkestdepths and bowels of a city hotel want toshow it off. It is practical as well as some-thing special about the hotel.”

Hallam said the Hilton is part of theMelbourne Convention and EntertainmentCentre complex, which has a six star greenrating. “All of the environmental aspectsof the hotel are becoming more vital whenit comes to securing pieces of business be-cause a lot more companies these days aremore environmentally aware and theywant their team members a re staying in anenvironmentally aware hotel.”

‘With thecharcuterietowerpeople aredrawn to it...and pickout thecheeses andmeat theywant. It is a bigdrawcard.’

Wow factor: The Hilton’s charcuterie tower.


management

Getting the sweet returnsLike to be able to convince more of your diners to go the final step at the end of a meal? Here are Ken

Burgin’s top tips for boosting dessert sales at your place.

THE LACK of dessert sales in mostrestaurants and cafes is positivelyun-Australian. Considering howprofitable they can be, this poor re-sult needs to be fixed quickly. It’susually the result of unattractivechoices, poor sales skills or pricesthat are too high relative to maincourse items.

Desserts create the final impres-sion, and there's money to be madewhen you mix sugar, air and waterwith flavouring. Here’s an action list

for improving dessert profits:Improve the range you offer.

Make sure you are covering moretastes and cravings—chocolate,fruit, ice cream, citrus, creamy, pud-ding, non-dairy, pastry, an Asianflavour (like coconut), liqueur, hot,cold or frozen.

Smaller options. Design sweetmouthfuls for treats and mid-mealbreaks. Many cafes still offer bighunks of cake or hefty muffins, andthe result is no sale at all.

'Almost healthy' desserts. Thinkof those customers who want treatsbut have a diet to consider. But theyshould be interesting enough foreveryone to want. Good desserts canbe made without gluten and sugar.

Cocktail 'desserts’. Put these onyour menu when the time is right—Mudslides, Chocolate Martinis anda host of other creamy, sweet bev-erages. Try offering petit-fours as adessert option to share for the busi-ness lunch trade.

Better menu design and layout. Ifdessert prices are more than 40-50per cent of the main course pricesthere will be price resistance andsales will fall. For example if mainmeals are $25, don't price dessertsat more than $12.

Use 'words that sell'. Goldencaramel, Grand Marnier cream,dark chocolate, toffee crunch, toast-ed almonds, flaky pastry, juicy mel-on, tangy lemon, seven-layer espres-so cake—the right words add colourand promote hunger. Create somedesserts with your own name—CaféTroppo's 'Troppo Trifle' soundsmuch more exotic than just trifle. Becareful of terms like 'bitter' choco-late or 'sour' cherries, and foreignterms that may not be understood.

A sable and a tuille are delicious, butdo your customers understandFrench?

Serve desserts tall instead of flat.It creates more excitement and visu-al interest. Chocolate mousse in amartini glass looks much better thanspread in a traditional bowl, or par-faits in small, thin lager glasses.

Serve puddings in individual dish-es when possible. Use ramekins oroffer the custard, chocolate sauce orcaramel in a small jug for the cus-tomer to pour themselves.

Make your plates and bowls in-teresting. Coloured plates and bowlscan add interest. All sorts of shapescan be found at the two-dollar shopsand Asian suppliers.

Watch garnish costs and avoidclichés. Fresh strawberries and mintleaves look great, but how much dothey cost? Make your own straw-berry coulis with frozen berries, sug-ar and a blender.

Boost staff selling skills. Staffshould have tasted all the dessertsand be able to recommend their ownfavourite and the best-selling item.The more product knowledge theyhave, the more they will sell. Shorttraining sessions can cover choco-late, gelato and ice-cream making,how a cake rises, meringue—thechemistry and wizardry of what thecooks create. Planned sales scriptsand action will help those less con-fident—like offering dessert beforesuggesting coffee, and having choic-es ready for people who may be ‘toofull’ or feel their friends would notapprove—one dessert with threespoons is better than no sale at all.

Keep desserts top of mind. Re-mind customers about your treatsfrom the first moment. Make sure

they are mentioned on the mainmenu (with large tempting photos),and on the blackboard menu, andare on display in a cabinet. Qualityfood photography is well worth theinvestment.

Then watch the sales results bytracking five Key Performance Indi-cators (KPIs):

Strike rate: The number of salescompared to the number of cus-tomers. Lunch time will be more dif-ficult, but you should be aiming forat least one in three customers or-dering dessert or a sweet treat.

Per-head spend on desserts: relat-ed to the strike rate. Your POS orcash register should have a separateDessert department, then divide to-tal sales by the number of cus-tomers.

Individual food cost percentageand margin for each dessert: Set abenchmark figure and keep track ofit with a recipe card or recipe soft-ware. Try to keep the cost percent-age for each item and across therange below 20 per cent. This willusually be better if you make themin-house. For a quick figure, workout the total cost of a week's dessertsupplies and divide this by thedessert sales. Ideally, it should be lessthan the 20 per cent cost target.

Sales per staff member: This willreveal who has the talent but mostimportantly who could do with a bitof coaching. Consider a bonusscheme offering a reward for thenumber sold—it really works

Ken Burgin is a leading hospitalityindustry consultant. For more information visit profitablehospitality.com or call 1800 001 353.

‘Have choices readyfor people who maybe ‘too full’ or feeltheir friends wouldnot approve—onedessert with threespoons is better thanno sale at all.’


Hygiene horrorsThe ‘she’ll be right’ mate attitude Australians pride themselves

on shouldn’t extend to foodservice hygiene, says our columnist.

HERE’S A true story from the front line. Itbegins with a female diner at a city restau-rant making a visit to the clearly labelled fe-male toilet. The door is shut and the occu-pied sign is on. And so she waits…and waits.

Meanwhile, all sorts of noises can beheard from behind the door: banging andclattering and things being moved. What-ever is happening within is no ordinary com-fort stop. It sounds more like a completemake-over.

Eventually the door opens and an apolo-getic male member of staff emerges carry-ing boxes and cartons of foodstuffs. Our din-er enters and finds, right next to the toilet,more boxes plus plastic cartons of frozenfood. When she’s finished doing what shewanted to do, the staff member returns andremoves those cartons too.

When later asked about the shenanigansin the ladies, our diner is told it provides ac-cess to the restaurant’s food storage area. Allthe clattering and banging was the staffmember sorting and fetching supplies. Askedif he thought this was appropriate or hygien-ic, he gave one of those “whatever” shrugsthat implied that was simply how thingswere—take it or leave it. It was an exercisenot normally seen by the restaurant’s patronsand anyway, his manner implied, where’s theharm? It was a classic “out of sight out ofmind” incident.

Foodservice has, of course, been notoriousfor living a double life, in many ways like theworld of theatre—all glitz and glamour outfront, and a mire of grime and grottiness outthe back. Any kitchen-hand has a storehouseof tales that would turn the staunchest stom-ach of diners quarantined from the realitiesof what lies behind those swinging doors.

All of which is why the heightened effortsof local and state authorities in the realm offoodservice hygiene are to be applauded. Itseems hardly a week goes by without anoth-er report of an outlet being fined or penalisedfor infringing increasingly stringent effortsto keep food safe and healthy.

And in this benighted country where everystate jingoistically decides to do its own thingrather than think in the national interest, itis NSW that is really leading. It’s setting anagenda that should define the proceduresand policies of a national program to weedout those who jeopardise the reputation ofthe foodservice industry by putting patrons’health at risk.

Maybe the other states and territories arebeing equally as diligent as NSW but theyappear to be far less forthcoming about re-

vealing the miscreants or the extent of theirfindings. And the media does little to helpas it tends to report only those “headline”cases of known restaurants or where kitchenmisdemeanours had a large-scale effect.

Public awareness cannot be left to dependon the media’s spasmodic reporting of warn-ings, fines and penalties. This is too haphaz-ard a means of raising alertness to the dan-gers that lurk within—and tends to let thefringe operators escape the only penalty thatcounts: customer boycotts of their servicesand their products.

The double whammy of naming andshaming is the only way to go. The neatlyphrased “scores on doors” scheme and theNSW Food Authority’s register of offendersshould not exist only within that state’s bor-ders but be applied from coast to coast.

Anyone who has suffered the evilswreaked by just one rotten oyster knowshow gut-wrenching ‘off’ food can be. It takesso little to cause so much bodily harm, yet,as our cautionary tale of the food in the toi-lets demonstrates, there’s still widespread ig-norance of what’s required to keep food andcustomers safe. “She’ll be right, mate,” saidthe cook as he wiped a finger across his nos-tril and dipped it in the sauce for a taste.“She sure will,” agreed the waitress, runningher hands through her hair before arrang-ing the bread rolls headed for table four.

Small imagined incidents, but they do ac-tually happen on a far too regular basis andthe grotty appearance of so many who han-dle our food does little to engender confi-dence in much of the foodservice industry.

Our customers tend to be highly suspi-cious of what goes on behind the scenes butthey are powerless to do anything more thaneat and hope for a healthy outcome. It’s upto those of us who own and operate foodser-vice outlets to ensure food handling meansmuch more than a short course certificate atthe local TAFE.

It is also way beyond time for a nationalapproach to foodservice hygiene. And in caseyou were wondering, our diner did let the lo-cal authority know about the food store inthe toilet. But she won’t be returning tocheck on the outcome; she is just one morelost customer.

doctorhospitality

management

I work in a nightclub and the noise levels are veryhigh. What is the safe level?NSW Workcover says noise levels ‘should not exceed aneight hour noise level equivalent of 85 dB’. Heavy traffic isusually 80dB and normal conversation about 60dB. If youhave an iPhone, download one of the noise measurementapps (search for decibel) and measure the noise level.This is not a scientific instrument, but gives a guide towhat’s happening in the business. Then show the boss.You obviously should be offered hearing protection (likeearplugs). You may also want to talk to the localWorkcover office. Or you may want to start looking foranother job.

We have a waitress who now has scary new tattooson her lower arms. It’s not a look we encourage.How do we handle this?What’s your policy now for tattoos, piercings, bright-coloured hair and heavy jewellery? Do you have auniform option for staff that includes a long-sleeved top?Just because your grooming rules are conservativedoesn’t mean the place is old-fashioned. Tattoos are nowmore socially acceptable, but you can still keep yourstandards as long as they’re in writing, apply to all andaren’t seen to be retrospective. Then it’s her choice as towhether she meets your standards. Talk to your industryassociation for more guidance.

Our new restaurant will need 20 new staff. I’mworried about the huge interviewing task involved.What are you suggestions?Now’s the time to hold some short group informationsessions, where you can explain the vision andopportunities on offer, plus pay and conditions. Watchhow the participants engage in the process, and you willpick up useful information. Those who are interested canfill in an application form at the end, and stay for aninterview. Or you may decide to contact those you haveshort-listed. Some will leave without applying. That’s fine,as self-selection means there are no hard feelings orawkward refusals if you did offer them a position thatthey don’t really want.

Our wine notes and briefings seem to be wastedon staff with sales showing no improvement. Doyou have some tips for how can we can make thismore effective?You probably know who the interested ones are—theycan help to motivate others. A good way to start is bygiving staff the task of choosing the wines of the month,based on a regular wine-tasting and evaluation session.This really gives them ‘ownership’ and responsibility forresults. Help them become familiar with wine vocabularyand how to explain the taste of the wines they enjoy themost. Add to this some old-fashioned retail sales trainingand keep track of results through the POS. Once a “wineculture” develops within the staff, rather than beingimposed, the results will be much better.

Got a question? Send it to the doctor via Hospitality‘seditor at [email protected]


whatsnew

shelfspace

1 New way with salmonfrom premium NZ brand.Regal King Salmon’s newSmoked Salmon Pastrami is aversatile new product that’shandy for everything fromcanapés to salads. Premiumking salmon is cold smoked,then coated with a classic NewYork-style pastrami crust ofthree cracked peppers, andthinly sliced. It recently wonthe Best New Product award atthe International ChefsCongress Innovator Awards inNew York, which attractedindustry leaders from aroundthe world such as HestonBlumenthal and Marco PierreWhite. See regalsalmon.co.nz

2 Multi functional newCombiStar. Angelo Po hasreleased its latest CombiStarFX Series combi steamersrange delivering extra featuresaimed at maximising theefficiency of the equipment.Extras included in theCombiStar FX SeriesMultifunction Ovens is the newSmokerStar that allows you to

‘home smoke’, both in hot andcold heat. There’s also apasteurisation feature thatallows pasteurisation in the jaror vessel. For more head toangelopoaustralia.com

3 Gluten-free flavour.Cerebos Food Service hasunveiled gluten-free versionsof its Fountain sauces rangeincluding Soy Sauce,Worcestershire Sauce andBarbecue Sauce. They’ve alsobeen given the thumbs up onquality by chefs. Peter Reid,head chef at Caloundra RSL insouthern Queensland, said thesauces, plus other gluten-freeproducts from Cerebos were agreat aid to his plans to makehis kitchen gluten-free.“Because the quality is thesame as the standard productsI’m able to change overcompletely to the gluten-freevarieties and use them for allmeals.” Call 1300 365 865.

4 Easier cake portions.Cutting cake is now, um, apiece of cake, thanks to the

new Magisso Cake Server. Thewinner of the 2010 Red Dotdesign award, the productsimplifies the task of cuttingand serving cake and deliversa consistently portioned slice.See vincent2.com.au

5 Organic biscuitindulgence.Young Organicshas unveiled a range ofcertified organic biscuits.Packaged in gift boxes as wellas individually wrapped, therange includes White Magic(White Chocolate andMacadamia), Almond Crunch(Milk Chocolate and AlmondBiscuits), Choc Heaven(Chocolate Chip and PureVanilla), and Triple Fudge(White and Dark Chocolate).See youngorganics.com

Clarification: We got thedimensions a little wrong forthe Handi-Tray product in ourJune issue. The cleverbeverage serving tray isactually 13 inches in diameterand three inches in height. Seejbisi.com for more.

5

1 2

4 3


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JULY15-18 Hospitality + Hospitality Furnishings,Melbourne; See the latest furniture designs,fabrics and finishes from local and internationalmanufacturers for residential and commercialhospitality markets. See furnitex.com.au

AUGUST17th Australian HACCP Conference,Melbourne:This is the premier discussionforum for all food industry professionalsinvolved in food safety. Head tohaccptown.com.au for the details.

SEPTEMBER13-16 Fine Food Australia, Melbourne:Thisgiant four-day trade event returns to Melbourne.More than 1,000 exhibitors will showcase theirlatest food, beverage and hospitality productsand equipment. See foodaustralia.com.au

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