Hotel & Catering Review - April 2017

APRIL 2017

FoodService Academy Bord Bia & Musgrave MarketPlace Promote Pioneering Foodies

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CALLING ALL SPONSORS NOW Entering it’s 29th successive year, the Gold Medal Awards are Ireland’s only independently adjudicated and site inspected awards for the Hospitality and Catering sectors in Ireland. Held in association with Hotel & Catering Review, they reward and recognize best in class, excellence and innovation throughout the industry

JOIN US ON TUESDAY, 26TH SEPTEMBER 2017 INCREASE

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your corporate presence by supporting and encouraging the industry by sponsoring a category and attending.

with influential decision makers at this prestigious black tie event that includes a gala dinner and presentation ceremony.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact: Hilary O’Shaughnessy, Sales, Marketing & Sponsorship Manager Email: hilary.oshaughnessy@ashvillemediagroup.com Mobile: +353 (0)86 3808 177

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APRIL 2017

FoodService Academy

Go to issuu.com/ ashvillemedia for the online edition

APRIL 2017

Bord Bia & Musgrave MarketPlace Promote Pioneering Foodies

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Cover Image: (l-r): Bord Bia’s Maureen Gahan, Keith Symes, Wicklow Rapeseed Oil, Sheena Forde, Musgrave MarketPlace, and Tracey Kelly of Rosie & Jim.

CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE

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COVER STORY

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SUPPORTING IRELAND’S FOOD INDUSTRY

The FoodService Academy programme offers...commercial and marketing expertise and ...invaluable customer insight for the companies involved.”

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NEWS

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ON THE

MOVE

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KEY TO THE

DOOR

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INTERIOR TRENDS

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Education & Training Irish tourism gets into recruitment and upskilling mode.

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Sheena Forde, Trading Director, Musgrave MarketPlace.

REGULARS

Technology Avvio CEO Frank Reeves on the key players in the online distribution space.

Supply Line Essential product knowledge for hoteliers, restaurateurs & caterers.

Food Heroes We report on the national and international chefs who will be taking the 2017 festival season by storm.

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A Quick Chat With Loughlin Druhan Adare Manor, Limerick

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Editorial & Production Manager: Mary Connaughton Editorial Assistant: Orla Connolly Art Director: Alan McArthur Creative Director: Jane Matthews Stock Photography: Thinkstock.com Infographics: www.flaticon.com Production: Nicole Ennis Sales Director: Paul Clemenson Managing Director: Gerry Tynan Chairman: Diarmaid Lennon

Published by: Ashville Media, Old Stone Building, Blackhall Green, Dublin 7.

Tel: (01) 432 2200 ISSN: 0332-4400 All rights reserved. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is accurate. The publishers cannot, however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions. Reproduction by any means in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. © Ashville Media Group 2017. All discounts, promotions and competitions contained in this magazine are run independently of Hotel & Catering Review. The promoter/advertiser is responsible for honouring the prize.

Editor’s

VIEW T

he High Court recently awarded €20,000 in damages to a woman who banged her knee against the leg of a table while sitting down to dinner in the restaurant of the Mullingar Park Hotel. Reacting to the award, the Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Adrian Cummins, said it would have serious ramifications for the restaurant sector, with insurance costs likely to go through the roof and the sector being severely penalised.

Earlier this year, Insurance Ireland, the Small Firms Association (SFA) and the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) said that the Book of Quantum, an analysis of court awards for personal injuries, shows that awards are too high.

The umbrella body for the insurance industry also said that rapidly rising premiums paid by hoteliers and others was a direct result of court awards for injuries, which it believes are out of line with Britain and the rest of the EU. The SFA recommended a move to a ‘care not cash’ approach, replacing financial payouts with the provision of rehabilitation until the claimant has recovered.

Apart from rising insurance costs, excessive local authority rates remain one of the most pressing issues facing hoteliers. In addition, if a new and controversial ‘sunshine tax’ is implemented, businesses would have to pay an annual fee of €125 for each outdoor table and four chairs, €635 for street signage, and an additional €100 for licensing. These new laws could put the brakes on the booming outdoor café culture that has emerged in Dublin, Cork and Galway, something that international tourism guides have highlighted as a reason for visiting our major cities.

Local authorities must act now to introduce cost efficiencies that will allow them to reduce rates and charges, and the issue of rising insurance premiums has to be addressed. The tourism boom could turn to bust if Irish hospitality continues to be crippled by excessive costs that are outside its control.

www.hotelandcateringreview.ie @HC_Review

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info@hotelandcateringreview.ie

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Editor: Maev Martin Email: maev.martin@ ashvillemediagroup.com Telephone: 01 432 2271

To sign up to our online newsletter please go to www.hotelandcateringreview.ie

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NEWS GLUTEN-FREE MADE SIMPLE FOR CHEFS

NEW BRAND FOR TIPPERARY TOURISM

ns e Ross, nd.

(l-r): Mark McCarthy, Business Development Chef, Unilever Food Solutions, Fergal O’Sullivan, CEO at the Coeliac Society of Ireland, and Jim Reeves, Customer Director Ireland at Unilever Food Solutions, at the launch of the new guide.

Unilever Food Solutions launched its Gluten-Free Guide in association with The Coeliac Society of Ireland and showcased the newly launched Knorr Jelly Bouillon, which is available in beef, chicken or vegetable variants. Industry research carried out among 165 Irish chefs by Unilever Food Solutions in association with the Irish Hotels Federation and the Restaurants Association of Ireland in July 2016 found that 70% of Irish professional chefs saw an increase in demand in gluten-free dining over the past two years. However, chefs stated that they seek recipe inspiration and a better understanding of coeliac disease. Unilever Food Solutions launched the guide as a result of the gaps identified in the research. It is available to download free of charge at ufs.com/glutenfree. The guide, which is the first of its kind to be produced in Ireland, has been designed to promote simple steps on how to safely manage gluten in a professional kitchen.

IRELAND NO 3 IN THE WORLD FOR TOURISM MARKETING

Tipperary Tourism launched its new brand identity, ‘Tipperary, Time to Take it all In’ at the Rock of Cashel last month. The initiative has been developed

by Tipperary Tourism, a joint task force of members of the tourism industry from across the county, supported by Tipperary Co Council. The aim is to showcase the abundance of visitor experiences that Tipperary has to offer, from ancient sites to historic landmarks, vibrant activities, authentic cultural trips, fun-filled family adventures, gourmet treats and contemporary hospitality offerings. A new suite of marketing materials is now available from Tipperary Tourism and every tourism provider in the county is encouraged to get behind the new branding and use the new marketing collateral to market Destination Tipperary.

The World Economic Forum’s biennial report, the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017, ranks Ireland at number three in the world, out of 136 countries, for ‘effectiveness of marketing and branding to attract tourists’. Ireland has moved from number five in the world, when the index was last compiled in 2015, to number three, ahead of countries including Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and France. Tourism Ireland has developed a significant digital footprint in recent years, particularly on social media. The organisation has almost 3.9 million active fans on Facebook and is now the fourth most popular tourism board in the world on the social networking site. It is the number four tourism board in the world on Twitter, with almost 400,000 followers, and is number three on YouTube, with over 31 million views.

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IRISH BREAKFAST AWARDS 2017

The Georgina Campbell Irish Breakfast Awards 2017, in association with Fáilte Ireland, were launched on April 10th.

The new awards will be held at The InterContinental Hotel in Dublin on April 26th. They are designed to highlight the importance of the Irish breakfast to international visitors to Ireland and domestic travellers. The awards also aim to support the use of Irish food and quality produce as part of the Irish breakfast on offer. When seeking out the best Irish breakfast experiences, assessors are looking for quality in all aspects of the experience, including service. ‘A sense of place’ is particularly commended.

Irish breakfast at Cork’s Ballyvolane House.

Pictured (l-r): John Healy, Abbey Tours Ireland, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and Kevin Keogh, DER Touristik.

IRELAND’S THIRD MOST IMPORTANT MARKET Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany on April 6th when he took time to support Tourism Ireland’s promotional efforts, meeting with some of the leading German tour operators who programme and sell holidays to Ireland. Germany is the third-largest source of visitors for Ireland and our most important non-English-speaking market. Travel to Ireland has grown significantly in the last six years, increasing from 399,000 German visitors in 2010 to a record 650,000 visitors in 2016, an increase of +63% since 2010. The German market is worth almost 400m annually to our economy and to Irish tourism.

SHARP DROP IN BRITISH VISITORS ALARMS INDUSTRY The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) recently warned that the impact of Brexit is already damaging Irish tourism. The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) confirms that British tourist arrivals to Ireland are down six per cent for the period December to February. This represents 49,200 fewer British visitors compared to the same period last year. “Looking at February alone there is a very worrying decline of 22%,” says ITIC Chairman Paul Gallagher. “If that level of decline continues for the year it would mean 850,000 less arrivals from Britain to Ireland and this would impact up to 10,000 jobs. The Government has been asleep at the wheel, despite the Irish tourism industry urgings, and corrective action is needed now. Other export sectors have received support and yet tourism, which employs 220,000 people throughout the country, is being taken for granted by the Government”. ITIC has been calling on the Government to reverse recent cuts and provide an immediate 12m boost to tourism budgets to consolidate UK market share, diversify into new markets, and provide a package of supports to tourism businesses. ITIC points out that Brexit will have a particularly negative impact on Dublin and the border regions.

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SODEXO IS VERIFIED FOR ORIGIN GREEN Sodexo Ireland is now a verified member of Origin Green, Ireland’s first food and services provider to be accepted into the Bord Bia initiative, the only sustainability programme in the world that operates on a national scale. To achieve verification, Sodexo Ireland has committed to a sustainability programme that covers four key areas: sourcing practices, reducing operational waste, health and nutrition and corporate social responsibility, with clear targets set for 2020. To date, a total of 560 companies have signed up to the Origin Green programme, all fully committed to putting 100% of Ireland’s food and drink exports on the road to sustainability.

AFTERNOON TEA WITH A TWIST

UNIQUE TRAINING FROM UCC COFFEE IRELAND Margot Slattery, Country President, Sodexo Ireland, and Tara McCarthy, Chief Executive, Bord Bia at the official announcement of the company’s acceptance into the Origin Green sustainability programme.

The five star InterContinental Dublin has reimagined afternoon tea with its new ‘G&Tea’ menu. Guests are welcomed with a choice of gin cocktails served in a glass teapot, including the Crafted Cocktail, a version of the classic G&T but infused with a selection of flavour elixirs, or the Tanqueray Infused Earl Grey Tea, with hints of pimento peppercorn and lime peel. Savoury bites include the Foie Gras Lollipop, Caesar’s Taco and slow-cooked pork belly finger sandwiches with fig marmalade.

These are followed by a sweet selection of Tanqueray Gin panna cotta, tonic foam and cucumber caviar, Ginger Cosmo Cone and gin macerated Irish strawberries with vanilla Chantilly and light éclair. Dressed Tanqueray No. Ten cocktails have also been specially created to further enhance the taste experience.

UCC Coffee Ireland launched what it describes as a ‘measurable training programme’ called Coffee Works on March 22nd to help customers consistently deliver exceptional coffee, regardless of scale. Through its Coffee Excellence Check, the programme is able to accurately measure performance across individual sites and entire estates, identifying areas for improvement. The output of the check then informs a tailored approach to practical, hands-on training, which is delivered through interactive courses, supporting materials like handbooks and videos, and continued site visits to ensure that standards are consistently high and continuously improved. Coffee Works training includes three new interactive courses - Becoming a Barista, Journey Through Coffee, and Manager Critique, as well as SCA accredited diploma courses. Coffee Works can be delivered onsite or at UCC’s Coffee site in Portlaoise. Coffee Works is delivered by UCC Coffee’s coffee training team which includes SCA accredited baristas. The team spend over 36,000 hours testing, preparing and tasting coffee every year. These courses are exclusive to UCC Coffee customers and are included as part of the service with the UCC Coffee partnership.

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NEW TRADE SHOP FOR HUGH JORDAN Catering supplies specialist Hugh Jordan has opened a new trade shop on 1 Chancery Court, Bride Street, Dublin 8, which will stock everything for catering and hospitality businesses, from crockery and cutlery to glassware and equipment. Already in stock is unique front of house products, including Irish, handmade reactive ranges, Churchill crockery, Mason Cash bowls, and Pastel enamel. For the back of house, especially chefs, customers will find an extensive selection of knives, chefwear, utensils, high quality kitchenware, bakeware, cookware and food storage units. Barware and cocktail equipment is also available, including copper, stainless steel and gunmetal black pouring bottles, and serving trays, as well as vintage style glassware. (l-r): Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Simon Coveney, Alan Murphy, Sales Director, and Robert McGovern, Managing Director, Kings Laundry.

KINGS LAUNDRY ANNOUNCES 100 JOBS FOR CORK Kings Laundry announced 100 new jobs at its Cork facility on March 20th. There are also 80 seasonal positions available in Cork and Dublin for the coming summer. The new permanent positions bring the total workforce at Kings Laundry to over 550. The company also announced that it is investing a further €2m in its new facility in Little Island in Cork, which opened in June 2016 following a €12m investment and the creation of 40 jobs. “2016 was a very successful year, we saw an increase of 18% in our turnover and we’re expecting this to increase further by over 20% this year,” says Alan Murphy, Sales Director at Kings Laundry.

“This is down to winning significant new business across the country as well as driving efficiencies within our service offering. We operate the most modern and energy efficient facilities in Europe and have the capability of servicing 1.5 million pieces of laundry per week in Cork, allowing further room to grow.” Kings Laundry also invests €5m each year in new linen and sources all its own raw materials in Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey.

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Author Ami O’ Grady and Minister Micheal Ring At The Tasty Tourism & Tours launch.

TASTY TOURISM AND TOURS Minister Michael Ring officially launched the ‘Tasty Tourism and Tours 2017’ publication at Pygmalion Restaurant in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin last month. As ‘Tasty Tourism and Tours 2017’ moves into its second year in production, the guide book invites the reader to experience a wide variety of tasty food and includes cultural adventures to make their taste buds tingle. All of this is enjoyed with a variety of warm welcome benefits, including 20% off tours, two for one tours, a glass of prosecco at selected restaurants, and garden tours with 50% off entry. The book also includes recipes from The Happy Pear, Ballymaloe Cookery School, culinary author Domini Kemp, and food expert Dylan McGrath from Rustic Stone.

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Zsolt Zsidek and András Tóth of Yew Tree Restaurant with the Kerry’s Best Hotel Restaurant award.

Event organizer and PGA professional Michael Gallagher with Paul Ruegg, Senior Marketing Executive, Flogas, at the sponsorship announcement.

FLOGAS SPONSORS IRISH JUNIOR OPEN Flogas has been announced as the title sponsor of the Irish Junior Open Series for 2017 and 2018. Since its foundation in 2015 by PGA Professional Michael Gallagher of Clandeboye Golf Club in Newtownards, Co Down, the Series has grown to become the second largest of its kind in Europe, with 1,500 competitors expected this year. The Series kicks off on July 14th and is open to male and female competitors aged between 6 and 18 years competing in different age categories. The winner of the Junior Golfer of the Year title will be presented with the Gary Player Trophy. Irish hopefuls will find themselves teeing off against competitors from the UK, Spain, Belgium, Dubai and the US.

MUCKROSS PARK HAS TOP RESTAURANT Muckross Park Hotel’s Yew Tree Restaurant was recently recognised for its service and culinary excellence, winning Kerry’s Best Hotel Restaurant at the Irish Restaurant Awards. “We are delighted for the restaurant and kitchen teams who are committed to enhancing the standard of service each year,” said Muckross Park Hotel General Manager, Sean O’Driscoll.

“This accolade is a testament to their outstanding work.” Muckross Park Hotel & Spa has also made it on to the McKenna Guide’s 100 top places to stay in Ireland this year and has been listed in Georgina Campbell’s Ireland Guide 2017.

LOUTH STUDENT IS IRELAND’S TOP CHEF

Andrew Reddan, representing Dundalk Institute of Technology, was crowned Knorr Student Chef of the Year 2017 last month after a thrilling cook off hosted by Cork Institute of Technology. Not only did Andrew overcome a challenging theme set out by Knorr, but he also successfully fought off the challenge of 10 other rising stars to claim the top prize, which includes a culinary experience in New York. The theme of this year’s competition was ‘provenance, the story behind the menu’, and the judging panel comprised Unilever Food Solutions’ Business Development Chef, Mark McCarthy, special guest judge and winner of the National Chef of the Year by the UK’s Craft Guild of Chefs, James Devine, Fergal O’Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of the Coeliac Society of Ireland, and Ann O’Connor, Chef Lecturer, Cork Institute of Technology. Students were challenged to create a starter using Irish seafood and a main course celebrating Irish beef. They were also asked to demonstrate an understanding of the challenges of culinary sustainability, food waste management and allergen awareness. Andrew impressed the judges with his starter of Irish seabass and Carlingford mussel ragout with lemon and curd and mint risotto. For his main course, he served a ‘tasting of beef’, which comprised seared sirloin, cheek croquette, and bone marrow crumb with caramelised celeriac purée.

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BUSINESS TOURISM

GLENLO ABBEY LAUNCHES ‘WHITE GLOVE PACKAGE’

BOOM IN CORK

Business tourism in Cork delivered €11.5m to the local economy last year and 20 conferences are already confirmed for this year, securing a further €12m for the local economy. This hugely lucrative sector of the tourism industry was celebrated at an event in Cork on March 6th, which was jointly hosted by Cork Convention Bureau and Fáilte Ireland. The purpose of the event was to showcase the importance of business tourism to the Irish economy, and to recognise that Cork is the top performing region outside of Dublin for attracting international conferences and events. “International business tourism is worth €340m to the Irish economy and supports almost 10,000 jobs throughout the country,” said Ciara Gallagher, Head of Business Tourism and Events, Fáilte Ireland. “We have set ourselves a target of winning €157m worth of new business tourism for Ireland in 2017. Fáilte Ireland’s ‘Meet in Ireland’ initiative is designed to support and mentor conference ambassadors as they bid for, and host, international conferences. We have never had more Cork-based ambassadors involved in our ‘Meet in Ireland’ programme, and our team has never been more active in this region.”

Galway’s Glenlo Abbey Hotel recently announced details of its ‘White Glove Package,’ which includes two nights in luxurious surroundings with full Irish breakfast each morning. In addition, residents can avail of the following: a chauffeur drive from Galway train station/bus station or arrive by car and avail of valet parking, a personal butler for the duration of their stay, afternoon tea in the Ffrench Room overlooking the estate on a day of choice, and a private screening of ‘Gone with the Wind’ in the Abbey Movie Theatre. They can choose between a one to one golf lesson with golf pro Gary Madden or one to one falconry lesson with resident falconer Jurgen Hick. They can also avail of a private booth for dinner in the Pullman Restaurant, which comprises two former carriages of the Orient Express. The two-night White Glove Package costs from €445 per person sharing.

The Presidential Suite at Glenlo Abbey.

MORRISON MANAGER IS LEADER OF THE YEAR Patrick Joyce, General Manager of the Morrison Hotel on Dublin’s Ormond Quay, was recently announced as the winner of the prestigious ‘Leader of the Year Award for 2016’ across the DoubleTree by Hilton brand for Europe, Middle East and Africa. This highly prestigious accolade recognised Patrick’s work as the best of the 98 hotels in the DoubleTree by Hilton brand in the EMEA region.

‘Leader of the Year’ is ranked on a series of internal performance measures focused around training, overall guest experience, and quality assurance, along with direct guest feedback as to their satisfaction and loyalty via Hilton tracking surveys.

Patrick Joyce, winner of the Leader of the Year Award for 2016.

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A new name for Fresh Produce Pallas Green is dedicated to sourcing and supplying the widest range of produce from dedicated C

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CM

MY

CY

CMY

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producers and growers in Ireland and beyond. With Pallas Green our customers get best in class buying, produce knowledge, logistics and service coupled with competitive market pricing available throughout the seasons.

DUBLIN T: Callsave 1850 804166

CORK T: (021) 496 8088

WEXFORD T: (053) 914 7447

E: sales@pallas-green.ie

E: orderscork@pallas-green.ie

E: orderswexford@pallas-green.ie

www.pallas-green.ie

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Commercial

PROFILE

LARGEST TRAVEL TRADE EVENT ATTRACTS KEY BUYERS

AS HUNDREDS OF BUYERS ARRIVED IN IRELAND FOR THE ANNUAL MEITHEAL EVENT, FÁILTE IRELAND ACTIVATED ITS DOMESTIC MEDIA CAMPAIGN FOR IRELAND’S ANCIENT EAST, PUBLISHED ITS NEW TOURISM IMPACT BULLETIN, AND REVEALED THAT VISITOR EXPECTATIONS OF IRELAND WERE MET, AND IN MANY CASES EXCEEDED, IN 2016.

MEITHEAL 2017 HUNDREDS OF

OVERSEAS BUYERS ARRIVED IN IRELAND LAST MONTH TO ATTEND MEITHEAL, IRELAND’S LARGEST TRAVEL TRADE EVENT. 12,000 face to face meetings took place between 360 Irish businesses and almost 280 buyers from 19 countries across two days.They all had the same objective, to deliver more tourists into Ireland in 2018 and beyond.

As well as doing that much business, the overseas buyers, who came from key markets including Great Britain, the US and Mainland Europe, had the chance to experience Dublin, Ireland’s Ancient East and the Wild Atlantic Way, both before and after the workshop.

Pat Liddy tells buyers the story of Dublin as they explore the city by foot

Woodlands House Hotel get busy selling the Wild Atlantic Way Buyers hit the Sligo Food Trail with the Fáilte Ireland team

Paul Keely, Fáilte Ireland, Minister of State for Tourism & Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, TD and Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland oversee the 12,000 meetings at Meitheal

Taking in Ireland’s Ancient East – buyers enjoy Lullymore Heritage Park, Co. Westmeath Holycross Abbey were showcasing their part of Ireland’s Ancient East.

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IRELAND ON SHOW

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host of international media gathered in Dublin to get first-hand experience of the St Patrick’s Festival and to enjoy the sights and sounds of Dublin city and county while they were here. The group of over 20 media were hosted by Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland and reach a potential audience of over 164 million worldwide across print, broadcast, online and social media. Following St Patrick’s Day, they also had the chance to explore Limerick’s King John’s Castle and to meet some of the marching bands before viewing the 47th Limerick International Band Championship.

International Media at St Patricks Day Parade, Dublin 2017.

TOURISM

OVERSEAS HOLIDAYMAKER SURVEY

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ake a bow! The results from Fáilte Ireland’s latest Overseas Holidaymakers Survey are in and it turns out that visitor expectations of Ireland were met, and in many cases exceeded, in 2016, with value for money perceptions holding steady.

People, scenery and culture were important factors in delivering so many customers and generating growth. Holidaymakers also continue to rate Ireland as value for money, with 61% saying they found ‘good’ or ‘very good’ value in Ireland, which was on a par with the 2015 performance.

IMPACT BULLETIN

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áilte Ireland marked the beginning of the tourism season by publishing a new Tourism Impact Bulletin, which highlights the economic importance of tourism. Brush up on your tourism statistics and find out how much of an impact you are having on Ireland’s economy by downloading the full bulletin on www.failteireland.ie

Get the full Overseas Holidaymaker Survey results on www.failteireland.ie

SPRING MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR

IRELAND’S ANCIENT EAST

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áilte Ireland launched their latest domestic marketing campaign for the Ireland’s Ancient East at the end of March. The new campaign builds on the ‘Great Stories Stay With You Forever’ creative rolled out in 2016 highlighting the brilliant holiday experiences and stories to be discovered in Ireland’s Ancient East. Over the next two months an integrated, cross-channel campaign will be seen on national television (including RTE, TV3, Channel 4 and E4), in national print, along with support across PR, social media and digital channels.

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Ireland’s Ancient East Advert

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COVER STORY

IRISH FOOD

Sustainably grown seaweed, whiskey flavoured popcorn, and Cork’s finest gluten-free chilli sauce are just some of the innovative products selected to join this year’s Bord Bia and Musgrave MarketPlace FoodService Academy.

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he FoodService Academy programme aims to help participants grow sales within the foodservice, or out of home food, market. The initiative also offers the opportunity to achieve growth within Musgrave MarketPlace’s foodservice business, supplying over 6,000 customers each week, ranging from hotels and restaurants to pubs and nursing homes.

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COVER STORY “Foodservice in Ireland offers major opportunities for suppliers providing innovative products and solutions to meet changing consumer needs,” says Maureen Gahan, Bord Bia’s Foodservice Specialist. “We are delighted to roll out the second year of our ‘FoodService Academy’ initiative, supporting our belief that food businesses should increasingly look to the foodservice sector as a viable route to market. Now worth €7.5bn and forecast to grow to over €9bn by 2020, this route to market is delivering real growth and value for Irish food and drink companies.”

Sheena Forde, Trading Director, Musgrave MarketPlace, says that the programme follows on from the success of last year's FoodService Academy and that of the SuperValu Food Academy. “We are now looking forward to the second year of our programme to support Irish foodservice producers through Musgrave MarketPlace,” she says. “A number of the participating companies are Food Academy graduates, so we are proud to be in a position to help grow their businesses by introducing their products to our foodservice customer base. As the largest and fastest growing wholesaler in Ireland, we are ideally placed to understand the needs of the foodservice market and, as an Irish family business, we are delighted to work with small Irish companies, many of which are family owned, to give them a head start in the market. The FoodService Academy programme offers a combination of commercial and marketing expertise and will provide invaluable customer insight for the companies involved. We would like to acknowledge the excellent support of Bord Bia throughout the development of this programme. Their shared passion for supporting Irish food business has been evident throughout.”

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW Ten food and drink companies have been selected for the 2017 programme.

Coordinated by Bord Bia, the FoodService Academy will take place over four months and comprise both workshops and mentoring.

Representatives from Musgrave MarketPlace will participate in the workshops, sharing invaluable practical insights and experience to help the companies better understand areas such as supplier set-up, food safety requirements, and distribution models, as well as sales and marketing support.

Participants for the 2017 programme were confirmed following a ‘Meet the Buyer’ event that took place earlier this year at Musgrave MarketPlace’s recently upgraded 75,000 square foot Ballymun store. Companies had the opportunity to meet with and present their products to Musgrave MarketPlace Trading Managers, Category Managers and Leinster-based sales representatives.

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Meet

THE PRODUCER For more information on any of the suppliers, or for general queries, please contact Maureen Gahan, Foodservice Specialist, Bord Bia. M: 087 668 6129 E: maureen.gahan@bordbia.ie

MUNGO MURPHY'S SEAWEED COMPANY

Harvesters of sustainably grown seaweed from Connemara.

Cindy O’Brien M: 087 905 1956 E: abalonechonamara@gmail.com W: www.mungomurphyseaweed.com

REBEL CHILLI

Alternative range of gluten free, fresh chilli sauces.

Paul Moore M: 087 245 1925 E: paul@rebelchilli.com W: www.rebelchilli.com

NATASHA'S LIVING FOOD

Suppliers of a vegan and raw food snack range.

Natasha Czopor M: 087 974 3455 E: natasha@natashaslivingfood.ie W: www.natashaslivingfood.ie

ROSIE & JIM

100% gluten-free plant producing whole chicken fillets in breaded coatings.

Tracey Kelly T: 01 460 5900 E: businessdevelopment@rosieandjim.ie W: www.rosieandjim.ie

FRESH SOUP COMPANY

Meath-based manufacturers of a range of soups and sauces, free from preservatives, artificial colours or flavours.

Ronan Carr M: 086 855 1931 E: ronan.irch@iol.ie W: www.thefreshsoupcompany.com

NUTMOST

MSC VENTURES LTD

Producers of a range of fresh pestos, pastas and pizza doughs, based in Glanmire, Co Cork Sorcha McDonnell M: 087 410 4508 E: s.mcdonnell@msc-ventures.ie W: www.msc-ventures.ie

POPSY DAISY

Producers of a range of activated nutbased snack products.

Andrew Wynne M: 087 986 3170 E: hello@nutmost.ie W: www.nutmost.ie

Producer of gourmet caramel popcorn using the best quality ingredients from local producers.

Maureen O’Donnell M: 085 707 4899 E: info@popsydaisy.ie W: www.popsydaisy.ie

CLARAFIELDS

WICKLOW RAPESEED OIL/ SUSSED NUTRITION

Caramel sauce manufacturer based in Co. Offaly.

Tommy Hogan M: 086 064 0629 E: tommy@clarafields.com W: www.clarafields.com

A range of standard and flavoured culinary oils made from rapeseed grown on a farm in Co Wicklow.

Keith Symes M: 087 611 9486 E: keiths@sussed.ie W: www.wicklowrapeseedoil.ie/ www.sussed.ie

#FSAcademy

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TECHNOLOGY

WHAT’S NEW

IN HOSPITALITY

BE MORE MOBILE From mobile-only booking rates to apps that serve as a room key, mobile devices have engrained themselves in many parts of hospitality. For consumers, 2016 was the year that mobile graduated from a device for browsing hotel rooms to becoming a relevant platform to purchase. A recent report called Phocuswright European Online Travel Overview, Eleventh Edition, 2016, predicted that mobile bookings in Europe’s travel industry would leap from 21bn in 2015 to 35bn in 2017, an increase of 66% over two years. The implications are clear. Hotels and other acommodation providers must now optimise their websites for mobile bookings, or risk losing potential guests. Key to this is an understanding of mobile shoppers, who are typically less patient than guests browsing a hotel website from their desktop computer.

To hook mobile shoppers and intice them to convert, hoteliers and accommodation providers must make the booking process as fast and targeted as possible. Pages and content should be filtered to target key information and reduce loading times. The page layout also needs to be intuitive with larger buttons and familiar icons.

BE MORE COMPETITIVE Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) such as Booking.com and Expedia will continue to play a vital part in the distribution mix

TECH for hotels. According to the Phocuswright European Online Travel Overview, Eleventh Edition, 2016, report, OTAs now account for around 18% of the global hotel industry’s revenue, an increase of four percent from 2010. Feeling the pinch from the recent rate parity rules across Europe, Germany predicts that OTA bookings will fall by four per cent in 2017, while direct bookings are expected to increase by three per cent. That’s according to an article entitled ‘What’s Going to Happen to OTAs in 2017?’ from eHotelier 2016.

Avvio believes that the OTAs will continue to invest in mobile, and their first-party booking apps, to facilitate booking in as few steps as possible. With a number of highprofile acquisitions under their belt (including Expedia’s purchase of Homestay, a sharing economy company similar to Airbnb), OTAs are likely to renew their focus on competing with, not just hoteliers, but with providers of alternative accommodation as well.

Limerick-based Avvio has been providing book direct services since 2002 and now works with over 450 accommodation providers worldwide.

Co-founder and CEO Frank Reeves talks to Hotel & Catering Review about key players in the online distribution space, the sharing economy, and technology that is becoming part of the mainstream.

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BE MORE VISIBLE Google has continued to emphasise the importance of mobile by re-introducing functionality that allows Google AdWords users to make separate bids on keywords, depending on whether the visitor is searching on mobile, tablet or desktop. Google is also expanding the reach of its ads by showing them as part of local searches on Google Maps. Businesses that aren’t listed in the top three ad positions on the first search page can still be listed on Google Maps. However, without metasearch connectivity to their direct channel, this business will go straight to the OTAs. Google also stepped further into the travel industry in 2016, with the launch of the Google Trips app, and their Hotel Prices API (or Google Hotel Finder), which allow guests to book hotel stays from selected partners without having to leave Google’s search engine page. This channel is currently included in Avvio’s Metasearch offering, alongside others, including TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak and Skyscanner.

BE MORE FLEXIBLE For hoteliers and other accommodation providers, grasping the opportunities presented by the sharing economy could be the difference between success and bankruptcy. A study entitled ‘The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Estimating the Impact of Airbnb on the Hotel Industry’ by Boston University found that each 10% increase in supply on Airbnb causes a decrease of 0.37% in monthly hotel revenue. The study also found that lodgings catering specifically for business travellers were more negatively impacted than budget hotels. As a result, many hotels in affected areas have responded with lower prices. However, it is not all positive for alternative accommodation providers - tighter restrictions on hosts by authorities may prove to be a vital boon for the rest of the hospitality industry. Airbnb is looking to offset the current trend of government blockades by diversifying its portfolio with the acquisition of alternative payment company ChangeCoin. The accommodation sharing community, which last year surpassed its 100 millionth guest, is also looking to go beyond merely being an accommodation provider, by orchestrating their users’ entire experience while they travel. The purchase of Trip4real in September 2016 means that Airbnb users are able to browse local activities, such as cookery lessons or tours, in a similar way to how they currently look for accommodation.

Complementing this move is the launch

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of Airbnb Trips which allows travellers to book dining reservations and even flights in the future. 2017 will no doubt see Airbnb focus more on becoming not just an accommodation provider, but a marketplace for local experiences.

BE MORE CHATTY If you have ever used personal assistants on your mobile such as Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana, you’ll have an insight into how artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots are beginning to become part of our daily lives.

Whether booking flights on your behalf, or providing technical support, chatbots allow 24/7 availability to enable customers to help themselves, at relatively low cost to the business. As consumers tend to stick to using a small number of apps on their phones, some popular apps already allow businesses to integrate their own chatbots and communicate to users. In April 2016 Facebook Messenger, the 11th most popular free app, launched their chatbot system for business. Marriott hotels launched its Rewards chatbot last year, and Edwardian Hotels in London created ‘Edward’ to help quickly respond to customer queries.

Amazon has recently introduced Alexa, an in-home personal assistant which has also been introduced in all rooms at the Wynn Las Vegas to control various hotel features.

The use of AI, like chatbots, is set to rise in the coming years. AI can also open new purchase channels for prospective guests who may want to book without leaving Facebook, or provide booking reminders in

lieu of traditional pre-stay emails. We will undoubtedly see chatbots and other forms of AI rise in importance over the coming years, as their services become more trusted.

BE MORE PRUDENT Metasearch brings together rates and availability from across several different sources - namely OTAs and the hotel’s website - to compare the prices across these channels in one place. Where paid metasearch has previously been based on a cost per click model like Google and Bing PPC, the advent of services like TripAdvisor Instant Book has led to metasearch platforms taking a cut on booking value and moving them closer to an OTA model. OTAs and hoteliers will need to think carefully about which channels they will allocate their budgets to, and be prepared to drop channels that are not delivering a good return on investment. In the second half of 2016, Avvio found that Google hotel ads grew in popularity, with the traffic and revenue generated outperforming TripAdvisor and Trivago.

BE MORE CREATIVE User experience is a vital part of web design and, based on feedback from Avvio clients, 2017 will see a greater focus on minimalistic layouts than ever before. Web design will be easy to navigate for guests, combining a good use of striking imagery, clean typography and user-orientated design. Dublin’s 5-star Dylan Hotel (see above) offers a brilliant example of this design.

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TECHNOLOGY

#About Avvio Avvio’s partners include Classic British Hotels, Dalata Hotel Group and Cheval Residences. Apart from its booking platform, Avvio has inhouse design and digital marketing agencies who provide website design and digital advertising services. Avvio also has Premier Partner status with Google across search, display, video and mobile advertising.

BE MORE LOYAL User personalisation will continue to be a sought after feature for hotel customer relationship management systems (CRM) in 2017. Coupled with a CRM, a personalisation module allows your website to gather information about visitors as they journey around your site and provides opportunities to upsell as they book, adding personalised touches to future communications. Personalised messaging can be developed from customer behaviours and insights to make you stand out from the crowd, and help turn one-off customers into loyal guests.

BE MORE ACCEPTING While online payment methods like PayPal have been around for years, there has been a rapid increase in the use of alternative payments via smartphones and in-app purchases, such as Android Pay, Google Wallet and Apple Pay, offering convenient in-store and online payments. While the hospitality industry has been slow to take up this new technology, changing opinions have led to agile companies like Expedia,

Priceline and Airbnb now accepting Apple Pay. Barring a few early adopters, the ‘wait and see’ attitude of 2016 is likely to continue into 2017 as hoteliers observe which, if any, new payment methods become popular enough to go mainstream.

BE MORE DIRECT 2017 is the year that the book direct movement will capitalise on the support it received from international chains like Marriott and Hilton. Early in 2016, Hilton, the world’s second largest hotel chain, lodged their ‘Stop Clicking Around’ campaign, focusing on the benefits of booking direct, highlighting their loyalty programme and exclusive direct-only rates.

And it worked; in Q3 of 2016 Hilton reported that 28% of their web distribution mix was now through direct channels, their highest ever recorded. Direct booking benefits are not just for large international chains, who can go head to head with the OTAs. Independent hotels and smaller groups can also reap the benefits of booking direct while maintaining a working relationship with OTAs.

FOR HOTELIERS AND OTHER ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS, GRASPING THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED BY THE SHARING ECONOMY COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND BANKRUPTCY.

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Commercial

PROFILE

DESTINATION IRELAND

SHINES ON GLOBAL STAGE AS TOURISM IRELAND WINS GOLD AT THE TRAVEL MARKETING AWARDS, THE ORGANISATION CONTINUES TO PROMOTE IRELAND WITH INNOVATIVE AND VARIED PROMOTIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE, INCLUDING THE US, MAINLAND EUROPE, BRITAIN AND CHINA.

GAME OF THRONES CAMPAIGN

WINS GOLD

Tourism Ireland’s Game of Thrones campaign has won another award. This time it was for ‘Best Use of Social Media’ at the annual Travel Marketing Awards, which took place recently in London. Beating off stiff competition from Thomson Holidays, Cruise.co.uk and Turismo de Canarias to claim the title, the award was presented to representatives of Tourism Ireland at the ninth Travel Marketing Awards, one of the most prestigious events in the travel and tourism marketing calendar in Britain. Tourism Ireland’s Game of Thrones campaign was also shortlisted in the ‘International Campaign of the Year’ category. Tourism Ireland’s 2016 ‘Doors of Thrones’ campaign to attract visitors to Northern Ireland reached an estimated 126 million people around the world, with the campaign’s short films being viewed 17 million times, generating coverage worth about 13.5m. To date, the campaign has racked up over 20 awards and accolades from the marketing and advertising industry across Europe. This summer, Tourism Ireland will join forces once again with HBO for a new Game of Thrones campaign to promote Northern Ireland around the world.

The campaign is timed to coincide with the seventh season of the hit drama TV series, which is set to premiere in mid-July.

PROMOTION SCORES ‘HOLE IN ONE’ IN US As the 81st US Masters got underway in Augusta recently, Tourism Ireland launched a new golf campaign in the US. The campaign included a new 30-second ad which aired to an estimated 6.5 million households on the hugely popular NBC Golf Channel. And a further 1.2 million people saw messages about golf in Ireland online on Golfchannel.com. The TV ad will also air in the US later this year, around other Major championships, and around relevant TV shows. Tourism Ireland aims to build on its successful ‘Home of Champions’ campaign, reminding golfers across the US about Ireland’s fantastic golf courses where our champions, including Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke, honed and perfected their skills.

Tourism Ireland is also promoting our superb golf courses on Ireland.com and through social media.

Darren Quinton and Claire Brosnan, both Tourism Ireland, with the award for ‘Best Use of Social Media’ for Tourism Ireland’s Game of Thrones campaign at The Travel Marketing Awards in London.

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Commercial

PROFILE

TOURISM IRELAND LEADS SALES MISSION TO CHINA Tourism Ireland, together with 15 Irish tourism companies, is preparing to blitz four major cities in China as part of its 2017 sales mission to grow tourism from China. The sales mission will target top Chinese travel agents and tour operators in the key cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Travel agents continue to play an important role in China, with travellers preferring to use a travel agent for a number of reasons, including convenience, language barriers, visa preparation and knowledge gaps. The objective of the upcoming sales mission is to engage with Chinese travel professionals who are currently selling Ireland, or who have strong potential to sell the destination, and to encourage them to extend their Ireland offering, or to include Ireland for the first time, in their brochures and programmes.

Kate Wilde, JacTravel, Jim Maher, Select Hotels of Ireland, and Linda Duncan, Tourism Ireland, at the British Tourism and Travel Show in Birmingham.

IRELAND TAKES CENTRE STAGE

IN BIRMINGHAM

Fourteen Irish tourism companies joined Tourism Ireland at the British Tourism and Travel Show at the NEC in Birmingham. The show is an annual event for the travel trade in Britain, attracting nearly 3,000 coach tour operators and group travel organisers, including leading travel companies such as British Airways Holidays, Coachholidays.com, and JacTravel. The two-day event provided a valuable opportunity for the participating Irish companies to meet, and do business with, key players in the British travel trade. The aim was to encourage the tour operators and travel organisers to introduce Ireland into their programmes for 2017 and beyond, or to extend the programmes in which Ireland already features.

TARGETING

GROUP TOUR

BUSINESS Su Fong Gan, Newbridge Silverware, Alison Johnston, Kildare Village, and James Kenny, Tourism Ireland, at a briefing for Tourism Ireland’s 2017 China sales mission.

SHOWCASING IRELAND’S

ANCIENT EAST

Tourism Ireland has teamed up with Stena Line and Rosslare Europort to promote Ireland’s Ancient East and, in particular, counties Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny. A joint campaign, supported by Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny County Councils, is under way, highlighting ease of access via the Stena Line ferry service from Fishguard to Rosslare. The campaign includes online ads on popular websites, radio ads (on stations in London, the Midlands and South Wales) and ads on Facebook. As well as highlighting ease of access, the ads are encouraging British holidaymakers to ‘Drive Over To Ireland’s Ancient East.’

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The prestigious Embassy of Ireland in Paris was the venue for a recent B2B tourism event called Irlande à Paris. The networking event, organised

by Tourism Ireland, involved 70 leading French group travel operators meeting, and doing business with, 18 Irish tourism companies.

ABOVE: Irish tourism companies with Fiona Dunne (back, second left), Caroline Phelan (back, third left) and Séverine Lecart (back, centre), all Tourism Ireland, at the Irlande à Paris B2B workshop.

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ON THE MOVE

Move

On the

LOUGHLIN DRUHAN

DONAL COX

PETER STACK

NEW POSITION DIRECTOR OF CULINARY

NEW POSITION GENERAL MANAGER

NEW POSITION MANAGING DIRECTOR

EMPLOYER ADARE MANOR

EMPLOYER ROCKHILL HOUSE

EMPLOYER AMARIS ASSET MANAGEMENT

Chef Loughlin Druhan has been appointed to head of Adare Manor’s team of over 100 culinary and stewarding professionals.

“Chef Loughlin’s mission is to elevate the dining experience and ensure that the cuisine, service, ambience and value come together with an interpretation that is both modern and fresh,” says Dominika O’Sullivan, Recruitment and Human Resources Executive, Adare Manor. Loughlin’s previous posts include Director of Food & Beverage of Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, Executive Chef of Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, and Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton in Dubai, Cairo and Bahrain, as well as other positions at leading hotels and restaurants in the US, Ireland, the UK and France. He has also held positions at the K Club in Ireland and La Rochelle restaurant in France.

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Rockhill House has appointed Donal Cox as General Manager. The Georgian country house in Letterkenny, Co Donegal is currently undergoing a renovation and is on schedule to open later this spring. Co Fermanagh native Donal Cox is a graduate of Thames Valley, London. His professional career began as Head Waiter in banqueting at the Castle Hotel Windsor. He has worked in the industry in Co Donegal since 1990, managing the Mount Errigal in Letterkenny for many years and spending time as General Manager in An Chúirt, Gweedore, when it first opened. Donal ran his own café and restaurant businesses in Letterkenny, before joining Lough Eske in 2011, where he became Operations Manager.

Donal has also worked on secondment to Lough Eske’s sister Capella property in the Caribbean.

Amaris Hospitality has appointed Peter Stack as Managing Director of Amaris Asset Management. Peter is currently Head of Asset Management for Amaris Hospitality where he managed the Group’s Accor portfolio, including the re-branding of 11 hotels to the Mercure brand. Peter previously held a Regional Operations Manager role for Jurys Inn in various regions such as UK North, where he was responsible for 15 hotels and, more recently, in London, for the re-branding of Jurys Chelsea and Jurys Islington hotels to Hilton Doubletree, and for Jurys Heathrow to Hilton Garden Inn. Peter has completed an Executive Masters in Hospitality and Tourism Leadership at Strathclyde Business School and the Hotel Real Estate Investments and Asset Management programme with Cornell University. He is a graduate of the Shannon College of Hotel Management.

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ON THE MOVE

RONAN DOUGLAS

ANDREW PHELAN

TOMMY BUTLER

NEW POSITION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

NEW POSITION GENERAL MANAGER

NEW POSITION EXECUTIVE CHEF

EMPLOYER FAITHLEGG HOUSE HOTEL & GOLF RESORT

EMPLOYER HERITAGE HOTEL

EMPLOYER RADISSON BLU ROYAL HOTEL, DUBLIN

Ronan Douglas has been appointed Business Development Manager of Faithlegg House Hotel & Golf Resort in Co Waterford. Since graduating from Waterford Institute of Technology with a degree in Business and Legal Studies, he has held positions throughout the corporate and not for profit sectors.

Faithlegg House Hotel recently completed a refurbishment of 28 classic rooms, the boardroom and Adelaide Blake suites, and work on their master suites will begin in the coming months.

Ronan recently contributed to the development and establishment of GIY’s National Food Education Centre in Waterford and Grow HQ. He also works with the educational charity Junior Achievement, which creates a culture of enterprise within classrooms across Ireland to help young people realise their potential.

Andrew Phelan has been appointed General Manager of the Heritage Hotel in Killenard, Co Laois. Andrew began his career as Food & Beverage Manager at Mount Juliet Estate in 1989. In 1995 he moved to Scotland to work at the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort & Spa at St. Andrews where he became General Manager.

Andrew then returned to Mount Juliet before setting up Detail Marketing & Project Management in 2004, working on a variety of projects, including Castlemartyr, St Andrew’s Golf Hotel, and projects for Diageo at The Guinness Storehouse, and the Smithwicks Experience. He became General Manager at Castlemartyr Resort in 2009.

In 2014 he joined Lough Erne Resort as General Manager before moving to Farnham Estate as General Manager in January 2016.

Tommy Butler has been appointed Executive Chef at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Dublin.

He completed his BA in Culinary Arts from DIT in 2005, and during his studies he held positions in The Four Seasons Hotel and Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin. Following graduation, he completed a stage in Paris at the one Michelin star Sofitel – Portes de Sevres, and spent two years working in kitchens across Australia.

On his return to Ireland, he worked at Sous Chef level in hotels in Cork and Wexford before taking up the position of Head Chef in the Clarion Hotel in Cork city. After three years, Tommy was promoted to the Executive Chef role.

Most recently, he held the position of Executive Chef at the Talbot Hotel in Stillorgan.

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ON THE MOVE

GARRET MARRINAN

NICK MULLEN

ANN RUDDEN

NEW POSITION GENERAL MANAGER

NEW POSITION DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL GOLF

NEW POSITION BOARD MEMBER

EMPLOYER GIBSON HOTEL

EMPLOYER MOUNT JULIET ESTATE

EMPLOYER INTERTRADEIRELAND

Dalata Hotel Group recently announced the appointment of Garret Marrinan as General Manager at the Gibson Hotel, Dublin. Garret takes up the General Manager role at the hotel following its recent acquisition by the Dalata Hotel Group. He joins the hotel with over 25 years’ experience in the hospitality industry in the US, UK and Ireland.

Garret most recently held senior management roles within the Choice Hotel Group, including the role of General Manager at the Clarion Hotel Cork and Clarion Hotel Liffey Valley Dublin.

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Mount Juliet Estate has appointed Nick Mullen, Director of Global Golf and Consulting at International Sports Management, to the Board as a nonexecutive Director. Nick Mullen joined ISM in 2013, having previously overseen the development of the golf talent division at Blake Sports Group, a New Jersey-based athlete representation firm. In 2015, he assumed his current role, with overall responsibility for the golf division of ISM. A graduate of Griffith College, where he received a Bachelors Degree in Law and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Business Management, Nick is also a member of the Board of Directors of Lemongrass Restaurants, and advisor to Great Oaks Venture Capital, a New York-based VC fund.

The North South Ministerial Council has appointed Ann Rudden to the board of InterTradeIreland. Ann founded Áine Hand Made Chocolate in 1999 and creates chocolates which are sold all over the world. Áine Hand Made Chocolate has won 21 Great Taste Awards, including eight gold medals, and has also been endorsed by food guru Rick Stein and the influential Bridgestone Guide. Ann Rudden is a member of the Cavan Economic advisory forum at Cavan Council and holds a BSc in Bakery and Management from Dublin Institute of Technology.

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18/04/2017 10:05

DOOR

KEY TO THE DOOR

KEY TO THE

Openings, Closures, Refurbs and Acquisitions

PROFITS TRIPLE AT BEANNCHOR

Pre-tax profits at Belfast hospitality group Beannchor tripled to more than Stg£9m last year, according to recently filed accounts. The company, which is controlled by the Wolsey family, also boosted sales from Stg£18.5m in 2015 to £19m in 2016, and posted a four per cent rise in turnover, from Stg£18.5m in 2015 to Stg£19m. Beannchor’s portfolio includes 50 hotels, restaurants and bars, including Little Wings Pizzeria and the Merchant Hotel. It opened its new 43-bedroom Bullitt Hotel in Belfast last year.

The company employs 482 people.

GOURMET BURGER KITCHEN REOPENS MCGETTIGAN LAUNCHES DUBLIN’S NEWEST ADDRESS The McGettigan Hotel Group recently announced the opening of their newest hotel in the heart of Dublin’s business district, The Address at Dublin 1. The Address has 80 club rooms and a McGettigans Cookhouse & Bar, as well as access to an exclusive corporate Club Lounge, which boasts triple aspect views of the city. “Each room features in-room smart technology, the only hotel in Dublin with this technology,” says Helen Devlin, General Manager of The Address. “This one touch device controls in-room lighting, climate, and entertainment, with a direct connection to housekeeping, 24-hour concierge, and in-room dining. The new Club bedrooms are furnished with king size pillow top beds, extendable work desks, marble bathrooms with rainforest power showers, and Espresso machines.”

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Gourmet Burger Kitchen on South Anne Street in Dublin 2 re-opened on March 10th. The South Anne Street premises was the latest of the GBK restaurants in Dublin to receive a makeover as part of Gourmet Burger Kitchen’s €3.5m refurbishment plan. The design enhances and reveals the building’s existing features, exposing raw brickwork and renovating the remaining Victorian shop front and sash windows, while adding luxury details and modern touches to create a classic burger bar. The front area of the ground floor features pale stained oak wall paneling with brass inset tables. Exposed, original stone and brickwork with high level planting is the predominant feature at the rear of the restaurant. The upstairs dining area features dark stained timber panelling, mid-century style furniture, and fluted banquettes.

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KEY TO THE DOOR

INUA ACQUIRES HILLGROVE HOTEL

The atrium at Lillie Square

The Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan has been acquired by iNua Hospitality for an undisclosed sum from its long-standing proprietors Colm and Audri Herron. The group’s purchase of the hotel represents its sixth acquisition in the last three years. Apart from the Hillgrove, the company has the Muckross Park Hotel & Spa in Killarney, the Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel, and the Radisson Blu Hotels at Little Island in Cork, Limerick and Athlone in its portfolio.

The hotel is being sold as a going concern, with all of its existing management and employees continuing to be employed with the business.

NEW HOTEL FOR ARMAGH The Killeavy Castle Estate in Co Armagh is to be redeveloped as a hotel and spa as part of a multi-million euro investment by Mick Boyle, owner of Jaramas Investments NI. He is opening a 40-bed hotel on the estate in late 2018, creating 80 jobs, with support from Invest Northern Ireland, which is providing funding of 1.1m. The project will involve the restoration of Killeavy Castle for use as a guesthouse and meeting venue. A marquee will be built for events adjacent to the castle. A former walled garden on the estate will be restored with a café while nature treks and walks will be developed alongside Slieve Gullion Forest Park.

PRESTIGIOUS CONTRACTS FOR MCCUE CRAFTED FIT McCue Crafted Fit has secured two prestigious contracts to fit out the public area interiors of London’s latest five-star hotel in an iconic Grade II listed building at Ten Trinity Square, as well as a section of the exclusive Lillie Square, London, which comprises apartments, penthouses and townhouses. Lillie Square also has a 20,000 square foot private residents’ club, complete with five star facilities and amenities, and 24-hour security. Located next to the Tower of London and featured recently as the MI6 office in Skyfall, Ten Trinity Square is a hotel, spa, private member’s club and exclusive residences. McCue’s portfolio of work features other luxury hospitality clients, including the Lancaster Hotel, The Savoy Hotel, Claridges Hotel, and The Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard.

PREM GROUP TO MANAGE CARNEGIE COURT HOTEL

Prem Group has been appointed to manage the Carnegie Court Hotel, Swords, in a five-year agreement announced on March 20th by the hotel’s owners, David and Mary Grant. The 36-room hotel, which is home to the Harp Bar, will continue to operate as usual with all existing staff. Jim Murphy, Chief Executive, Prem Group, said that the Carnegie Court Hotel was a welcome addition to their portfolio.

In addition to its guest accommodation, bar and restaurant, the three star hotel offers sizeable conference and banqueting facilities and a popular nightclub, as well as extensive car parking facilities.

SELECT WELCOMES TALBOT

The team at the Westgrove Hotel in Naas, Co Kildare.

Select Hotels of Ireland recently welcomed its newest members to the group, The Talbot Collection, bringing the number of independently owned hotels in the Select Hotels group to 30. The Pettitt family started in the retail trade 70 years ago and the group now operates The Talbot Hotel properties in Wexford town, Carlow and Stillorgan. During 2014, they added The Oriel House Hotel and The Midleton Park Hotel.

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EDUCATION & TRAINING

Future Proofing HOSPITALITY As the new International College of Hotel Management in Killarney prepares to welcome its first students in September, future hospitality stars got their chance to shine at the Student of the Year competitions.

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T Tralee and The Gleneagle Group have joined forces to create a new International College of Hotel Management which will accept its first students in September 2017. The college, which is modelled on the Swiss hotel management education system, is the first of its kind in Ireland and is backed by a major international education group with similar colleges in Germany and Austria.

It will offer higher education programmes in hotel management to mainly international students. The courses will combine practical on-the-job training with classroom and online learning and are designed to equip students with the varied skillset required for a successful career in the hospitality industry. “The opening of the International College of Hotel Management in Killarney represents an excellent opportunity for IT Tralee,” says Dr. Oliver Murphy, President of IT Tralee. “We have had some notable successes in the internationalisation of our programmes, with almost 400 international students attending our Tralee campus annually.

This experience, coupled with our extensive range of tourism and hospitality programmes, will help ensure that the new college benefits from our international education experience. This venture is a key development in our pathway towards the attainment of the Munster Technological University (MTU) status in partnership with CIT.”

(l-r): Philip Waring, Rational, Noel McMeel, Lough Erne Resort, Lewis Robertson, SERC, Runner-up, Student Chef of the Year Competition, Kieran Cleverly, SRC, Runner-up, Food Service Student of the Year 2017, Janice Gault, NI Hotels Federation, Marco Marro, The Merchant Hotel, and James McGinn, Europa Hotel. Seated: Anita Rushe, SRC, Winner, Student Chef of the Year 2017, and Nicola McKiver, SWC – Winner, Food Service Student of the Year 2017.

Patrick O’Donoghue, CEO of The Gleneagle Group, said that Killarney is the home of Irish tourism. “There is a wealth of knowledge and experience here,” he said. “This college will harness the intrinsic expertise of the locality and the excellent academic offerings of IT Tralee to produce a world-class suite of courses. Our ancestors established a centre of learning on Inisfallen, which attracted scholars from across Europe.

Now, centuries later, we will once again welcome students from around the world to Killarney.” Mary Rose Stafford, Head of School of Business, Computing and Humanities, acknowledges the longer term benefits that the college will bring at regional and national level.

“The programmes will be unique in terms of how they are taught,” she says.

“Programme delivery will focus on workbased learning and distance learning, as well as traditional lectures and practical demonstrations. Students living and studying in Killarney will contribute to the economy of the town and will

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EDUCATION & TRAINING Andrea Armero, Tralee, Maeve Rotte, Waterford, Amy Walsh, Killarney, Kathryn Coffey, Killorglin, and Nandi Tshikota, Tralee, from the Institute of Technology, Tralee, with Joe Dolan, President, Irish Hotels Federation at the Tourism & Hospitality Careers Roadshow at the INEC.

(l-r): Dr William Sheehy, Gleneagle Group, Patrick O’Donogue, Gleneagle Group CEO, Dr Oliver Murphy, President, Institute of Technology, Tralee, and Mary Rose Stafford, Institute of Technology, Tralee .

undertake their work placements in hotels throughout the region. We hope to gain the support of regional hotel providers and we will be encouraging them to benefit from the availability of highly trained and skilled personnel for placements.”

While the first students are expected to join the college in September 2017, the full degree programme will be on offer from September 2018 and will be an honours bachelor degree (NFQ Level 8) in hotel management.

Meanwhile, February 1st was an action packed day at Southern Regional College, as hospitality students from across Northern Ireland gathered for the second NI Regional Colleges Hospitality Student of the Year competition, supported by Bunzl McLaughlin, the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation, and Dillon Bass. Students from Belfast Met, North West Regional College, South West College, South East Regional College and Southern Regional College competed to be named ‘Student Chef of the Year 2017’ and ‘Food Service Student of the Year 2017’. Their challenge was to work in a chef and food service partnership to create a three course meal, design a table setting, and serve a panel of judges. The creativity of students was noted by judges Noel McMeel, Executive Chef, Lough Erne Resort, and Philip Waring, Development Chef for Rational. Passion and creativity were also on display in the dining room as guest judges were served an aperitif on individually themed tables under the watchful eye of hotel gurus, James

McGinn from the Europa Hotel and Marco Marro from The Merchant Hotel. Guests marked contestants on their food, service and understanding of the menu.

The winners were announced at an evening gala awards dinner, which kicked off with a drinks reception supported by Dillon Bass, followed by a seven course menu prepared, cooked and served by Southern Regional College’s Level 2, Level 3 Professional Cookery, Foundation Degree Hospitality, Level 2 IT and Adult Access students.

Compered by James McGinn, the gala dinner was attended by representatives from the competing colleges, industry stakeholders, and supporters. The event honoured and rewarded the achievements of all the students, with competition participants receiving a goodie bag of gifts sponsored by the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation.

The category winners were: Student Chef of the Year 2017 - Anita Rush (Southern Regional College); Runner Up - Lewis Robertson (South Eastern Regional College); Food Service Student of the Year 2017 Nicola McKiver (South West College); Runner Up - Kieran Cleverly (Southern Regional College).

#Careers Roadshow

WE HOPE TO GAIN THE SUPPORT OF REGIONAL HOTEL PROVIDERS AND WE WILL BE ENCOURAGING THEM TO BENEFIT FROM THE AVAILABILITY OF HIGHLY TRAINED AND SKILLED PERSONNEL FOR PLACEMENTS.”

Over 250 students from schools across the south west gathered at the INEC in Killarney on February 8th for a Tourism & Hospitality Careers Roadshow where they got a flavour of the variety of careers available in the tourism and hospitality industry and the career paths they can take to get started. Organised by the Irish Hotels Federation in association with the Irish Hospitality Institute, IT Tralee, Cork IT and Regional Skills, the initiative is part of the industry-led careers programme launched last year for 15 to 18 year olds. The Tourism & Hospitality Careers Roadshow in Killarney was the first in a series of events planned for across the country over the coming months. It was run in close collaboration with local tourism and hospitality businesses, many of whom were present to give the students a personal insight into training and working in the sector.

Students and lecturers from IT Tralee and Cork IT were also on hand to talk about the various tourism and hospitality courses that are available. Speaking at the event, IHF President Joe Dolan said that tourism and hospitality businesses in Ireland need to recruit over 6,000 entry-level employees each year across all areas of their operation.

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SUPPLY

LINE ESSENTIAL PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

COSTA SYSTEMS & AURES TECHNOLOGY

UPGRADED POS FOR BRAMBLES CAFÉ Brambles Café Group is rolling out new point-of-sale hardware from Co Meath-based Costa Systems in its 24 outlets. “Brambles’ owners wanted all of their 24 sites connected via a cloud-based system,” says Costa Systems’ Owner Cornie McGinley. “The software solution we have installed can be accessed locally and via the cloud from anywhere at any time.” A total of 40 contemporary Yuno touchscreen terminals from Aures Technologies have been installed across the Brambles’ network. Costa Systems also supply Brambles with a software solution for front-of-house and backoffice operations.”The Yuno is suitably powered to bring out the best in our software, Costa Xpert POS,” says Cornie. “Both software and hardware combine to deliver a very rapid interface at point-of-sale.”

For more details, see www.costasystems.ie

TORK

KENWOOD

PUTTING NEW MIXERS TO THE TEST Kenwood is unveiling its new and improved kMix collection this month. The range of food preparation and breakfast appliances is available in a new colour palette and includes the kMix stand mixer, hand blender, blender, hand mixer, kettle, and the new kMix toaster. As part of the Kenwood kMix relaunch, the brand is also reinventing national dishes in a global recipe swap initiative. This activity sees well known chefs and influencers re-imagining traditional dishes from a wide range of countries. In Ireland, chef Gary O’Hanlon has put the new kMix Collection to the test, taking on the challenge of giving a traditional Portuguese salt cod dish an Irish twist.

For further information on the new range, visit www. kenwoodworld.ie

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NEW NAPKIN COLLECTION With more and more restaurants choosing to opt for splashes of colour to create fun, peaceful, or inviting ambiences to attract customers, operators are being advised to consider their napkin hue in order to enhance the experience they wish to create. Tork has introduced four new coloured napkins to its Xpressnap range. The new colourways of orange, lime green, black and brown complete the range of six colours for hospitality operators, complemented by white and red. The new two-ply premium Xpressnap napkins can support a customer’s meal occasion or a restaurant’s theme.

More details are available at www.tork.co.uk or www.tork.ie

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MATTHEW ALGIE

COFFEE ROASTER TO DISTRIBUTE SYNESSO Specialist coffee roaster, Matthew Algie, has been appointed as the official UK, Ireland and European distributor of Synesso artisan espresso machines. The Synesso MVP range has been designed to adapt to a wide range of users, enabling them to switch quickly between manual mode, manual programme mode, or volumetric mode. Its advanced software makes it possible to set and save recipe parameters in seconds. Matthew Algie chose London Coffee Festival (April 6th to 9th) to officially launch the Synesso MVP range. Customers in Ireland will also be able to view the Synesso in action at Matthew Algie’s Coffee School in Dublin.

To find out more, visit www.matthewalgie.com

CRAVE INTERACTIVE

DIGITAL DIRECTORY WITH TV CONTROLS Crave Interactive claims that its latest product, Crave Directory, combines the eight inch Crave T-Mini tablet with a slimmed down version of the Crave guest service software platform to provide a lowcost means for any hotel to take their services digital. Standard features include digital menus, directory, concierge, TV controls, bedside alarm, news, weather, restaurant bookings, and guest messaging. Crave Directory also includes integrated TV controls via the tablet through its in-built infrared capabilities. “Not only are TV controllers unhygienic and difficult to maintain for hotels, the batteries and controllers often go missing,” says Crave Interactive Founder and CEO Gareth Hughes.

“Crave’s TV control software provides a much better user experience and saves hotels hassle and money.”

For further information, visit www.craveinteractive.net

EURO CATERING

THE CUBE CREATOR Euro Catering is now supplying the high capacity and low footprint Brema ice machines. The smallest under counter model, the CB184A, fits within a footprint of 355mm x 470mm and is 595mm tall. It produces 25kg of ice in 24 hours. The largest machine in the range produces 98kg of ice in 24 hours. The machines’ sprayer-system technology creates a clear, hard 13g cube for use with mixers and whiskey on the rocks, or even in chilled smoothies and very on-trend milk. The Brema GB601A is an ice flaker that can produce flaked ice for food displays, banquets and buffet bars.

For further information, visit www.euro-catering.co.uk

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INTERIOR TRENDS

NoLIta, Georges St, Dublin

Interior DESIRE

BRASS BRUBECK WALL LAMP,

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Style Tip

Create a series of engaging spaces that make the most of the interior and encourage exploring, lingering, eating and socialising.

Graham O’Donnell from O’Donnell O’Neill Design discusses NoLIta bar and restaurant, the newest addition to the night scene on Dublin’s Georges Street.

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Graham O’Donnell

GOLD PLATED BRASS CHANDELIER,

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DIAMOND SHAPED WHISKEY GLASSES,

gyrofish.com.au LARGE OAK LEAF GOLD GILT MIRROR,

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Influenced by the Little Italy District of New York city, NoLIta on Georges Street is an inviting space that befits its surroundings and respects the existing architecture of the building. “It is designed to be a desirable and engaging series of rooms and spaces where patrons can enjoy good food, great cocktails, and craft beers and wines, as well as good, like minded company,” says Graham O’Donnell of O’Donnell O’Neill Design. “The colours and seating are rich and inviting and are accompanied by contemporary New York art which is displayed prominently throughout the venue. This initial area sets the tone for the inviting and enhanced customer experience.” The double height of the bar continues the urban warehouse style, with reclaimed timber adding texture to the walls and bar fronts. An open staircase leads to the first floor bar and terrace, where the building’s original stonework contrasts with modern art, elegant seating, and lush planting to create a city centre oasis with style.

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RED VELVET BESAME CHAIR,

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Culture by the Glass™

Visit Houseware.ie to see the full range of Schott Zwiesel Glassware Contact Frank McKenna, Tel 087 272 3058 / 01 825 2860 Email frank@houseware,ie Distributed exclusively by; Houseware International, 65 Dunboyne Business Park, Dunboyne, Co Meath. A86 T651

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Carlingford’s Oyster Festival.

FOOD HEROES

Festive

SEASON

Whether it’s the Boyne Valley Food Series or Ballymaloe’s LitFest, the 2017 food events season is the perfect opportunity to get some tips from the world’s hottest national and international chefs.

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he Boyne Valley Food Series is all about the coming together of likeminded people in the Boyne Valley region (Meath and Louth) who are passionate about food and keen to celebrate the journey it takes from the local producer to the table. Having started as the Meath Food Series in 2014, this group has evolved to become the Boyne Valley Food Series, incorporating food producers and restaurants in the Meath-Louth area right up to Carlingford.

The 2017 Boyne Valley Food Series, which runs from April and throughout the summer until the end of the year, was launched on March 23rd in Listoke Distillery & Gin School in Co Louth. Now in its fourth year, the Louth-Meath food and heritage festival kicked off with a three-day Kid’s Easter Cooking Camp at chef Tara Walker’s East Coast Cookery School in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, which ran from April 18th to 20th.

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FOOD HEROES

The Boyne Valley’s coastline is being celebrated with a day-long North-East Seafood Trail on May 3rd. This culinary journey is visiting Oriel Sea Salt and Red-Sail Fisherman’s Co-Op for prawn sampling at Clogherhead Harbour, the Glyde Inn at Annagassan for razor clam and mussel tasting, as well as Carlingford Oysters and turf-smoked salmon producer Harry Jordan at Carlingford Lough. The series features a second food trail on June 24th when the Meath Food Safari departs from the Conyngham Arms Hotel in Slane for a tour of top Boyne Valley food producers, including The Whole Hogg, Cockagee Cider, Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese, and Newgrange Gold Oils. In addition, The Boyne Valley is welcoming a Slow Food Dublin Tasting Evening on September 21st to highlight the close connections between the two regions. Heritage is a strong element of the Boyne Valley and its food series, and this year sees an added theme around the topic of forgotten skills.

New to the line-up is the Muttonhead Butchery in Slane, which is running a Sunday morning event on June 4th titled The Cure - Curing & Butchery Workshop to pass on knowledge of the forgotten skill of curing. Kells Hinterland Festival (formerly the Hay Festival) is happening from June 22nd to 25th and will feature a dedicated children’s food programme.

This year’s LitFest at Ballymaloe will celebrate food and drinks writing but will also continue to evolve the strand that was introduced at Litfest16, which sought to give fresh insights and offer questions to think about, as well as suggested actions to take long after the festival was over. To that end, LitFest is still called LitFest, but the ‘lit’ in the title now refers more generally to food and drinks literacy, and not the narrower focus on food and wine writing, which was suggested by the original festival title. The organisers now believe that food literacy is the future of the festival – a little less about books and a lot more about understanding the impact of food choices on our health, our environment, our well being and our economy. The festival is now officially called the Ballymaloe Food and Drinks Literacy Festival.

The Grainstore will again host the symposium at the centre of the festival.

Gathering a pool of professionals,

writers, experts and authorities from at home and abroad, the festival will focus on the question of responsibility – our responsibility as cooks and eaters.

Giving one of the key talks during the Our Responsibility symposium will be EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, with an address called To Eat is a Political Statement. Former Lithuanian Minister for Health, co-author of his country’s constitution, and previously Vice-President of the World Health Assembly, Vytenis Andriukaitis has been EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety since 2014. Convinced that health and food safety policies can make a significant contribution in promoting Europe’s economic recovery, his agenda includes modernising and simplifying EU food safety regulations, with a focus on ensuring that all EU members work together to give people the opportunity to lead healthier, safer, better lives.

Christian Puglisi and Kim Rossen, co-owners of Relae, Manfreds and Baest in Copenhagen, will discuss A Cooks Responsibility, and Severine von Tsharmer-Fleming of Greenhorns, Paddy Frankel of the local organic farm Kilbrack Farm, and Alice Holden of Dagenham Farm Growing Communities will take to the stage to discuss The Farmer’s Life. David Prior, International Editor of Condé Nast Traveler will talk about Responsible Travel to Sustainable Places, and Margot Henderson and Rory O’Connell will examine The Joy of Cooking. Professor Ted Dinan of University College Cork’s Microbiome Institute will speak on the fascinating topic of Diet, Stress and Mental Health, and the legendary Claudia Roden, Middle Eastern cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist, will discuss how Every Cuisine Tells a Story. Ben Reade and Sashana Souza Zanella of The Edinburgh Food Studio will talk about their daily work at their restaurant and research hub. Karen Leibowitz, cookbook co-author (Atelier Crenn, Mission Street Food) and food writer (New York Times, Lucky Peach), will talk about her environmentally sustainable restaurant in San Francisco, The Perennial. Dublinborn Robin Gill, whose string of London restaurants - The Dairy, The Manor and Paradise Garage - has made him one of the hottest chefs in London, will talk

about respect and responsibility in Terrifying Kitchens.

Drink highlights at LitFest this year include a talk and tasting from Ally Kelsey of the multi award-winning White Lyan cocktail bar in East London, and Corkbased Andy Ferreira of cocktail bar Cask.

Winner of ‘Most Creative Bar’ by Timeout Bar Awards 2016, White Lyan is the first bar in the world that has no perishables at all - no ice, no citrus or other fresh fruit.

Andy’s events and consultancy company Raise the Bar places a big emphasis on farm to glass cocktails and, whenever possible, they use locally foraged ingredients. Kevin O’Gorman, Master of Maturation, Midleton Distillery, and Patrick Purser, forester, will talk about Irish whiskey, and Ger Buckley, Master Cooper at Midleton Distillery, will give a demonstration on barrels and cooperage, an ancient craft and skill dating back thousands of years. Kristin Jensen, co-author of the Irish craft beer & cider book Sláinte, will lead a panel discussing Irish cider, and a second panel will talk about Irish craft beer, where Kristin will be joined by craft brewers Sarah Roarty of N17 and Cuilán Loughnane of White Gypsy.

At the launch of the Boyne Valley Food Series in Listoke Distillery and Gin School are Olivia Duff and Sally-Anne Cooney of Boyne Valley Food Series with Bronagh Conlon (centre) and Tonic the owl from Listoke Distillery.

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Magnus Faviken is regarded as an authority on Nordic cuisine.

FOOD HEROES

#best chefs Slovenian chef Ana Roš of Hiša Franko restaurant, will also travel to Galway in October to relay her food story. Ana was named 2017’s Best Female Chef in The World by World’s 50 Best. As in previous years, Food On The Edge 2017 will welcome leading and rising international chefs from five different continents to Galway, including rising star of Asian cuisine Hiroyasu Kawate of Florilége in Tokyo, locavore chef James Viles of Biota restaurant in Bowral, Australia, and Margot Janse of The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français in South Africa.

Many of this year’s speakers have restaurants that feature on the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, including Austrian chef Heinz Reitbauer of two Michelin star Steirereck restaurant in Vienna, which is number nine on the list, Enrico Crippa of Piazza Duomo in Piedmont, Italy, which is number 17 on the list, and Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil in Mexico City, number 12 on the list.

Ronan Byrne, The Friendly Farmer (front), Conor and Viki Mulhall, The Little Milk Company, Breda Butler, Cuinneog Milk, Ger and Mag Kirwan, Goatsbridge Trout Farm, Anthony Creswell, Ummera Irish Smokehouse, and Antony Jackson, Bertha’s Revenge Irish Milk Gin.

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The 2017 winners of this year’s Irish Food Writers’ Guild (IFWG) awards ranged from duck to gin, trout to chicken, and butter to cheese.

Six IFWG award winners were announced, together with the Guild’s first posthumous award, which honoured a pioneer of the Irish craft beer revolution, the late Oliver Hughes. The 2017 winners are The Friendly Farmer for his pasture-reared chickens, Ummera Irish Smokehouse for Ummera Smoked Silver Hill Duck Breast, and Cuinneog for Irish Farmhouse Country Butter and Natural Buttermilk. Bertha’s Revenge Irish Milk Gin received this year’s Irish Drink Award, and Mag Kirwan of Goatsbridge Trout Farm was presented with a Special Contribution to Irish Food Award. The 2017 IFWG Environmental Award went to The Little Milk Company for its innovative approach to fostering sustainable family farms. The family of Oliver Hughes, the pioneering co-founder of The Porterhouse and Dingle Distillery, accepted his posthumous award. The awards were hosted at the two-Michelin-star Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, marked with a lunch devised and prepared by chef and co-owner Guillaume Lebrun, who incorporated the products of each winner into a celebratory menu.

Meanwhile, Food on the Edge organisers are gearing up for their third annual food symposium. Cult Swedish Chef Magnus Nilsson of Fäviken and the World’s Best Female Chef Ana Roš are among the extensive line-up of speakers for 2017. The symposium, which takes place in Galway on October 9th and 10th, will focus on food stories from around the world as well as the theme ‘Action and Reaction,’ prompted by the themes of the symposia to date. Magnus Nilsson is regarded as an authority on Nordic cuisine. His restaurant, Fäviken, is located in remote Sweden, 375 miles north of Stockholm, and exemplifies the ‘new Nordic’ food trend, which venerates regional and local food. Magnus became a household name through the Netflix documentary Chef ’s Table and his books Faviken and The Nordic Cook Book, both of which are published by Phaidon.

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Partners in Food

PROFILE

MODERN CHIC MEETS

CUISINE

Angelina’s restaurant, part of the Press-Up Group, specialises in modern Irish and Italian-American cuisine. The restaurant features large booths, perfect for groups to relax and soak up the atmosphere, and the menu caters for a variety of tastes.

Head Chef Ryan Bell talks about their design and food ethos.

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A

ngelina’s is a completely new build, designed by ODOS Architects in Dublin, with interior design by long-time design partners O’Donnell O’Neill. The classic design has a sophisticated London feel, while an adjacent café serves quality food and healthy snacks to go.

Q: What was the Press-Up Group trying to achieve with the design of Angelina’s?

A: The design and layout of Angelina’s is ideal for laid back and informal dining with great views of the Grand Canal. The floor to ceiling windows at the back offer our guests a beautiful view of the canal and flood our dining area with tonnes of natural light. Outside, we have a gorgeous terrace that runs along the canal, which is replete with glass siding, so you don’t miss

any part of the view. The terrace is the place to be in the summer time, relaxing with a cocktail, or cuddled up under blankets with heaters in winter.

Q: What is the food and service ethos at Angelina’s?

A: We are all about serving great food in `a warm and friendly neighbourhood environment, while also providing an attentive and professional service. If you aren’t confident about your food and service ethos you are on the back foot before you even dish up the first plate.

Q: What is the kitchen team’s approach to the produce that they work with?

A: We are confident that our suppliers are sourcing and selecting the best ingredients for us, so we only have to prepare and cook in order to achieve Angelina’s food ethos ‘Beautiful food made with the best local and international produce.’

For more information, go to www.angelinas.ie

About Press Up: Angelina’s is the most recent business to join Press-Up Entertainment Group’s stable of leisure and hospitality ventures, which includes The Dean, The Clarence, Wagamama, Captain Americas, Vintage Cocktail Club, and The Workmans. The Group comprises 20 businesses and employs over 1,200 people in Ireland. Each business shares a style that has been described as ‘modern chic meets creative vintage’ by their design partners ODON.

Dublin: +353 (0) 1 556 5000

Web: www.keelings.ie/corporate

Email: market_sales@keelings.com

Keelings Market, 15 Little Green St. Dublin 7

19/04/2017 12:05

A QUICK CHAT

“I think it is important to work with quality products that offer consistency and freshness. That’s what I would like to shine through here at Adare Manor.”

INGREDIENT: ZAATAR

WADE MURPHY

FAVOURITE DISH: WOK DISHES

It is a fresh herb that is grown in the Middle East. It has a very unique flavour that is difficult to describe, but it is great for making herb crusts or potato rosti.

“I believe that the heart of food is in France. That is where cuisine really started off and where chefs understand how to do the basics, like making a proper jus. That classical French training stays with you throughout your career.”

There is no preheating - it is all cooked in a pan and sauteed in the wok. You can really taste the freshness of the ingredients.

“People are trying different things. You can see how popular Indian cuisine is in Ireland, along with Asian and Japanese.”

WISH LIST: 3D CHOCOLATE PRINTER

There are 3D chocolate printers that I’ve had my eye on, but the technology isn’t quite there at the moment.

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INSPIRATION: MICHAEL CAINES

I was lucky enough to work with him in Abu Dhabi and we became best friends. It is incredible what he has done - both the style of his food and his showcasing of what the Devon area has to offer.

Director of Culinary at Adare Manor, Chef Loughlin Druhan talks to Hotel & Catering Review about giving the customer your best every day of the week.

“Whether it is in our Oak Room or the Carriage House, it is about ensuring that the chef we put in there is the right candidate. He has to be hungry to succeed in that restaurant.”

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SAVE THE DATE! JOIN US FOR THE 2017 GOLD MEDAL AWARDS! WHEN: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH WHERE: THE LYRATH ESTATE, KILKENNY

#GMA2017 For more information, log on to hotelandcateringreview.ie/awards

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When great food meets great service.

When your catering business switches to Calor, you’re not just gaining an energy supplier - you’re gaining a partner that knows the things that matter to you. We recognise that your needs are different to other businesses, that’s why we provide energy solutions tailored to you.

Call now for a consultation 1850 812 450 or visit calorgas.ie

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