Hotel and Restaurant Times December January

DECEMBER/JANUARY ‘17/’18

€3.65

T H E B U S I N E S S P U B L I C AT I O N F O R T H E H OT E L A N D R E S TAU R A N T I N D U S T R Y

Castleknock Hotel Continual Reinvestment

Year in Review Star Performance

Chef Network

Exciting Developments Continue

Fáilte Interview Brexit Prepared

www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie

P. 17

COVER: Castleknock Hotel

Contents

P. 24

Editorial 4 News

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Appointments 10 GDPR

11

Bookassist

12

Fáilte Interview

14

Tallaght IT

16

Citywest

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Gibson Lane

Clayton Staff Awards

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Castleknock Hotel

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Fáilte Industry News

ITIC

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30

Year in Review

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Food & Bev Live

36

Beds of a Feather

40

IHI Awards

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Industry: Pubs vs Rest Time for Tea

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IFSA

P. 40

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Chef Network

The K Club

P. 36

46 48

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Lyrath Estate

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Bloggers

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Hotel & Restaurant Times, Ireland’s longest established trade publication, is circulated on subscription to Chief Executives, Directors and Proprietors of Hotels and Restaurants in Ireland along with Architects, Interior Designers and Suppliers to the Hotel and Restaurant Industry.

Managing Editor: Cyril McAree (01-6285447, cyril@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie) Contributors: Pavel Barter, Dr Des O’Mahony, Susan Clarke, Caroline Leddy, Caroline Gleeson, Conor Power, Fáilte Ireland, Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, Conor Kenny, IFSA, Sarah Gallagher, Valerie Cox, Ruth Hegarty (Chef Network).

Graphic Design: Tara Mccormack Printing: Turners of Longford

ALL CONTENTS OF THE MAGAZINE ARE COPYRIGHT OF HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES. H&R HOUSE, CARTON COURT, MAYNOOTH, CO.KILDARE TEL/FAX: 01 6285447 EMAIL: editorial@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie WEB: www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie

All paper used in the production of this magazine comes from certifiably sustainable forestry.

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editorial

Time To Reflect As we enter a new year, it is worth reflecting on how the tourism sector performed in 2017.

Overall it was another year of growth with superb numbers. Tourism spend was estimated at €8.7m, which resulted in over €2 billion in earnings for the exchequer. There was an estimated 8.9 million overseas visitors, representing a 3% growth from 2016 figures.

Brexit uncertainty may be a cause for the 7% decline in UK visitors: a concern for 2018.

The uptake in North American, and other long haul visitors, is a source of encouragement and confidence for the coming season. Employment in the sector is in excess of 230,000.

Furthermore, 25,000 jobs have been created within the industry since 2015.

editorial

Despite such positivity there are flies in the ointment. The incumbent Minister for Tourism has been invisible and disengaged with the sector. At a time when tourism has outshone other sectors of industry, support was often lacking at the cabinet table. Despite the retention of VAT and travel taxes, scant support was forthcoming in the last budget. Some commentators believe the budget measures for tourism were attributable to Paschal Donohoe, former role as Minister for Tourism, due to his understanding and appreciation of the industry.

Another fly, continuing to buzz around, is the chef shortage crisis. Despite the best efforts of key players in the sector, stumbling blocks still arise. One problem is the unwillingness of key players to engage with the apprenticeship scheme. Talking and finger pointing will not resolve the problem. It’s time for action.

Chef Network, which sets out to support chefs, could provide an antidote to the problem.

This group is backed and supported by IFSA (the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance). Thus far, over 3000 chefs have signed up. They are actively engaged in developing this forum to assist in improving the industry for all concerned.

With social media now pivotal in today’s marketplace it is important that the industry, and any business using e-marketing, is educated in General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR].

The regulation, which comes into force on May 25th 2018, is intended to strengthen and unify data protection within the EU, introducing a new set of “digital rules” for EU citizens.

Take a look at the article, GDPR: A Good Place to Begin, by Caroline Gleeson of BidRecruit, in this issue of Hotel & Restaurant Times.

While the industry is performing well, it must address a few fundamental issues to ensure its growth and survival. The sector’s most important asset is its people - it is important that this asset is treated well. To continue to encourage people to work within the sector, there must be an effort to improve the life balance of those engaged and employed within it.

Millions of Euros are spent on upgrading properties, furniture, kitchens, equipment, etc., but without people to work there, the money will be badly spent. Invest in the people you employ, by way of a good and fair place to work, and you’ll get the investment back in spades.

Cyril McAree editor

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news

NEWS Force to be reckoned with The Wild Atlantic Way has been wowing audiences around the globe in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. To celebrate the film’s Irish connections, Tourism Ireland has released a promotional film about holidays along the Wild Atlantic Way, featuring Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker.

Show and tell

More power to you

The Irish Hotels Federation’s 2018 Showtel Trade Exhibition, part of the IHF’s 80th Annual Conference, takes place in the Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan, on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 February 2018.

Showtel provides an opportunity for industry suppliers to promote their latest services, products and trends and to demonstrate how they can assist hoteliers with their business and provide them with the tools to compete in today’s competitive marketplace.

Energy provider Electric Ireland and Pallas Brakes, Ireland’s food service provider, are the headline sponsors for the 2018 Annual Conference and Showtel Trade Exhibition.

This year’s event follows on from a successful conference and exhibition in Kilkenny in 2017. For further information on the IHF Showtel Trade Exhibition, stand sizes, prices and associate packages, please contact Eoin Quinn on 01-4976459 or by email at showtel@ihf.ie.

Tom Sheehy, sales manager for Clearpower, recently played host to a high-powered political visit to the Monart Destination Spa and T&A Byrne Renewables in Wexford. Pictured at Monart Spa were (l-r):Tom Sheehy, sales manager, Clearpower; Mark Browne, manager, Monart Spa; Liam Anthony Griffin and Michael Griffin, proprietors, Monart Spa; Minister Andrew Doyle TD; Minister Paul Kehoe TD; An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD; Ted Byrne, owner, T & A Byrne Renewables, Eric Bolton, project manager, Clearpower; Minister Michael D’Arcy TD and Aidan Byrne, owner, T & A Byrne.

Clearpower stores timber at Byrne’s for its customers, which includes Monart Spa.

Ways and beans Dalata Hotel Group has launched its first own-brand Red Bean Roastery coffee shop at its flagship Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown, Dublin 18. Red Bean Roastery has been launched with 14 Coffee Docks in Clayton and Maldron Hotels throughout Ireland & UK. Dalata is planning to roll-out two more coffee ships in 2018 with more to follow.

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news

Still got the Blues

Berlin or bust

Irene Sweeney, Mary Sweeney and Caroline Sweeney(Castle Grove Country House) with Simon O’Hara (President of Ireland’s Blue Book) launching 2018 Edition of Ireland’s Blue Book, in Castle Leslie Estate, Co Monaghan. This year’s additions include: Castle Grove Country House, Co. Donegal; Glenlo Abbey, Galway; Virginia Park Lodge, Co. Cavan; and the private rental property, Killadangan House, Co. Mayo.

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin TD, recently led a delegation from Kerry to Berlin. The aim of the visit was to highlight Kerry in the German market - in particular the new, twice-weekly Ryanair flight from Berlin to Kerry.

Pictured is: Cllr Jim Finucane, Kerry County Council; Evelin Horvath, Ryanair; Cllr John Sheahan, Mayor of Kerry; Michael Collins, Irish Ambassador to Germany; Tourism Minister Brendan Griffin; Finola O’Mahony, Tourism Ireland; and Angela McAllen, Kerry County Council, in Berlin.

Young Chef 2018 is Milan bound Killian Crowley is winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 local competition, and will advance to the global finals round to take place in Milan in June 2018. With his signature dish of turbot, kohlrabi and sea purslane, Killian finished ahead of nine other contenders.

Killian, who gained international experience cooking in Michelin star restaurants across Europe, is currently Chef de Partie at 1 Michelin star Aniar in Ireland. Mentor judge, Angela Hartnett MBE said: “The calibre of dishes we tasted was very impressive. Killain’s dish was a superb piece of cooking, it ticked all the boxes – delicious food, perfectly executed. The winning dish was a no brainer: all four judges put it as their number one dish.”

Tourism Ireland takes the Iron Throne Tourism Ireland’s Game of Thrones tapestry campaign has scooped a top prize at the Eurobest awards, the biggest awards for the creativity in advertising in Europe.

Pictured is Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland (centre) with the Grand Prix eurobest award for Tourism Ireland’s tapestry campaign. Also pictured are Dave Monk, Publicis London (left), and Richard Brim, adam&eve/ DDB and head of the awards jury.

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A year to remember at Kilkenny Newpark The team at Kilkenny’s Newpark Hotel, have been recognised for their excellence, as two employees picked up industry awards. Pat Hayes from the Conference and Banqueting team was named Employee of the Year at the Kilkenny Business Awards; while Edyta Gorna, Accommodation Manager, (pictured) made a name for herself as the first ever recipient of the Irish Hotel Federation South East Branch Employee of the Year award.

news

Hooked on Sligo Sligo closed 2017 with Hooked. This restaurant is a new venture from Anthony Gray: past president of the RAI and Chairman of the Sligo Food Trail, known for his award winning Eala Bhán Restaurant.

“Hooked is a very personal venture for me”, said Anthony Gray, “It represents my family history and a little slice of traditional Sligo history. It’s a different style of informal dining which effortlessly combines excellent food and quality service with style. Eilish and myself have really enjoyed developing the menu with our Head Chef Joe McGlynn who worked with us in Eala Bhán some years ago”.

The menu has a strong focus on freshness and quality. Head Chef Joseph McGlynn sources as much locally sourced produce as possible. Suppliers include Mammy Johnston’s, Ballisodare Free Range Eggs, Sligo LETS Organics, Le Fournil and Kelly’s of Newport.

Italy on a budget

Reeds all about it

Dublin Airport has welcomed Ryanair’s new twice weekly year-round service to Naples. Naples is the first of three new routes being launched by Ryanair this winter.

“Naples is a beautiful city steeped in culture and I have no doubt it will be a popular choice for passengers over the winter months,” said Vincent Harrison, Dublin Airport Managing Director.

“We will work closely with Ryanair to help promote these new services and look forward to celebrating new summer services to Paphos in Cyrus and Marrakech in Morocco in 2018.”

Pictured is Lindy Hickman and Vicki Maher, travelling on the inaugural flight from Dublin to Naples.

Reeds Restaurant at Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford has been awarded 2 AA Rosettes in recognition of their culinary excellence. Pictured are Rom Daniel, Maitre D, Janette O’Keeffe Assistant General Manager, Tony Carty, Head Chef and Derek Coyne, General Manager.

National Geographic puts Ireland on the map

Canadian travel professionals explore Ireland Travel professionals from the Canadian Automobile Association with Dorothy Switalska, Insight Vacations (front, second right), at Ashford Castle in Cong, Co Mayo.

Fáilte Ireland has welcomed the inclusion of Dublin on the prestigious 2018 Best of the World list announced

by National Geographic Traveller magazine.

Dublin was selected as one of the 21 “must-see” destinations to visit in the year ahead.

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news

Selfie assessment in Donegal Market leaders Larisa Criscenti grabs a quick selfie during the Fáilte Ireland Tour Operators visit to Donegal Town Castle. Fáilte Ireland hosted 35 members of the Incoming Tour Operators Association (ITOA) on a familiarisation trip and networking evening held at Solis Lough Eske Castle, Donegal, to showcase the Wild Atlantic Way north of Galway.

Eight students have been awarded bursaries as part of inaugural Musgrave MarketPlace (MMP) Scholarship programme.

The eight winning students are: Rachel Jones, Culinary Arts Year 1; Erin Lucy O’Dwyer, Culinary Entrepreneurship, Year 1; Eniola Salami, Culinary Arts Year 2; Fiona Gaffney, Culinary Entrepreneurship Year 2; Emily Jane Cunningham, Culinary Arts Year 3; Ellen Cavanagh, Culinary Entrepreneurship Year 3; Antoinette Osborne, Culinary Arts Year 4; Thelma Dunster, Culinary Entrepreneurship Year.

Last year, Musgrave MarketPlace made a €346,000 investment in the development of DIT’s School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, which saw the establishment of the Musgrave MarketPlace’s Scholarship Programme and the sponsoring of its new state-of-the-art training restaurant, due to open in autumn 2019.

Courting publicity The revival of Harcourt Street in Dublin continues with the opening of the new four-star Iveagh Garden Hotel in early 2018. This will be the latest addition to seasoned hoteliers Brian and Sally McGill’s portfolio, which includes neighbouring Harcourt Hotel and Harrington Hall. It will be the sixth hotel to open on the landmark street and will have 152 bedrooms, ranging from deluxe to premium suites with balconies overlooking Iveagh Gardens.

Gate expectations Dublin Airport has opened a new €22 million boarding gate area. The new South Gates area, which will be used mainly by Aer Lingus for flights to the UK and continental Europe, has five boarding gates serving nine aircraft parking stands.

A Taste of Salamanca Founded in 2002, Salamanca Tapas Bar & Restaurant was one of the first tapas bars in Ireland, winning Best Mediterranean Restaurant at Food Awards Ireland for the past two years in a row. In celebration of the restaurant’s 15th anniversary, A Taste of Salamanca recipe book offers ideas and tools to cook Spanish food. The chapter on essential ingredients walks you through the basics of a well-stocked Spanish larder. Pinchos and appetizers and tapas dishes feature strongly in the book, alongside salads and dips and sauces.

The chef’s specials features chicken and chorizo paella, lamb cutlets with mojo picon sauce or crispy pork belly with romesco sauce. To finish on a sweet note, there are desserts too.

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news

CityNorth Hotel wins best Tourism Award Drogheda & District Chamber recently held their 13th Annual Drogheda Business Excellence Awards in the CityNorth Hotel, Gormanston. CityNorth Hotel won the “Best Tourism Business” Award category. Director of Sales & Marketing, Catherine McGovern, said: “We are delighted to win this prestigious award. This is a testament to all the hard work and dedication from all the staff at CityNorth Hotel”.

Sligo diner is Just Ask champion Osta Cafe and Wine Bar in Sligo has been awarded Just Ask Restaurant of the Month for December. The Garavogue River sweeps past this cafe in the centre of Sligo town. Osta Cafe is run by Brid Torrades, a leading advocate for better food and well-known for her keen support of local organic food and small food producers.

Borderline case Top-line data from the latest Fáilte Ireland Tourism Barometer, a survey of more than 500 tourism businesses around the country, shows that overall industry confidence remains upbeat as 2017 draws to a close but points to growing challenges in Dublin and the border counties related to Brexit. The full comprehensive Tourism Barometer can be accessed on www.failteireland.ie/Research.

Gin gin situation Pictured are the directors of Sliabh Liag Distillery, James and Moira Doherty, who recently launched An Dúlamán Irish Maritime Gin in Donegal. An Dúlamán is inspired by the Donegal coast and the ingredients found around the Sliabh Liag peninsula.

Culinary match Cork’s Market Lane Group has developed a €3,000 scholarship for a culinary student to advance their studies within the Department of Tourism & Hospitality at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT). The Market Lane Group comprises some of Cork’s most notable eateries, including Market Lane Restaurant, Orso Café, the Castle Café and Elbow Lane Brew and Smokehouse.

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appointments

Marie Chawke gets down to business at Dromoland Castle The five star Dromoland Castle Hotel and Estate has announced the appointment of distinguished hotelier, Marie Chawke, as Director of Business Development.

Off the back of Dromoland Castle’s recent €20 million castle and estate renovation investment, Castle management were keen to find a skilled professional, well known in the luxury travel and tourism markets. With a distinguished 25 years experience, and lifelong passion for the hospitality industry, Marie brings with her an enthusiastic and creative approach to the luxury hotel business. Speaking about her new role, Marie said “I have been looking for an opportunity to work within a team dedicated to excellence and delivering exceptional experiences to guests, and am understandably thrilled to be joining the Internationally renowned, prestigious and much loved Dromoland Castle. Over the years I have had the opportunity to observe their commitment to excellence from close quarters and I also worked here while studying at the Shannon College of Hotel Management.”

Returning to their roots

That’s the spirit

Marie Chawke is not the only well-known Irish hospitality personality to be returning to a former position in Dromoland Castle. This year also sees the return of renowned Irish hospitality managers Sé Gardiner & Noreen Fenton.

Sé started his fulltime career at Dromoland Castle in 1990 as a Duty Manager gaining valuable experience in all departments of the Hotel, with special interest in guest engagement and Food and Beverage departments. Sé was appointed Assistant Manager of Dromoland Castle in 2009. He then decided to leave Dromoland Castle in 2013 to manage La Réserve Brasserie, a very popular French brasserie in Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Sé returns to his roots in the Caste this year to take on a restaurant management role in the famed Earl of Thomond.

Aoife Clarke has been appointed chair of the Irish Spirits Association (ISA), the representative body responsible for promoting the interests of the Irish spirits industry. Clarke, previously vice-chair of the ISA, will be the first female Chair of the Association in its 20-year history. She takes over as chair from John Harte of Donohoes Drink Company.

Clarke has extensive experience working in the drinks industry and in public affairs, in Ireland and internationally.

She has been the senior director of international public affairs at Beam Suntory, which owns Cooley Distillery, for over four years.

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GDPR

GDPR: A Good Place to Begin GDPR is an EU initiative coming into force across Europe on the 25th May 2018. There is a lot of hype around the issue and with some of the legislation still not fully defined it is difficult to know where to start. After attending many GDPR workshops I would like to share some initial conclusions which could be used as a starting point for getting GDPR ready.

GDPR is about accountability. Liability regarding the processing and holding of data is changing significantly and certain measures are being enforced to give more rights and protection to individuals and their personal data, basically providing redress where the responsibility lies with the organisation in possession of the data.

Personal data is an extremely wide category and can range from a PPS number to a car registration number, it is any information relating to an individual that can identify that individual. Certain data sets will have more regulation than others, for example personal data relating to health, mental health, sexual orientation, religion and minors. The important takeaway here is that GDPR will affect every type or organisation, some to a greater degree than others but every organisation needs to review their own data collection and storage processes.

A great way to start is to identify what data you control. Then categorise the data in terms of its purpose to develop a detailed plan on how that data is treated, specifically how it is acquired, stored and retained. Information relating to customers, prospective customers, marketing prospects, employees current and former, contractors, etc. are all examples of personal data sets. How this information is acquired, stored and retained are key areas to focus on with GDPR.

Acquiring Data:

One of the key changes surrounding the acquisition of personal data is the right of the data subject/individual to be informed of their data being collected and for what purpose. This essentially is a requirement to provide ‘fair processing information’, typically through a privacy notice. It highlights the need for transparency over how you plan to use the personal data.

Storing Data:

How you catalogue and store personal data will also be under scrutiny and it is advised to be transparent when obtaining the personal data.

The right to erasure, also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ fundamentally enables an individual to request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing. Where this can become a problem is if all your data is muddled together. Collating and deleting just one person’s personal data can become a significant chore very quickly.

Reasons where the request of erasure can be enforced:

• The personal data is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was originally collected/processed

• The individual withdraws consent

• The individual objects to the processing and there is no overriding legitimate interest for continuing the processing

• The personal data was unlawfully processed (i.e. otherwise in breach of the GDPR)

• The personal data must be erased to comply with a legal obligation

• The personal data is processed in relation to the offer of information society services to a child

Data Retention:

How long you retain personal data is also under change but is still yet to be fully defined. The recommendations are to retain data only as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was originally collected/processed. Certain employment law will come into force with the retention of certain types of recruitment and employee data which are useful to know when making decisions on how data will be managed.

Many changes are taking place and what is expected is a cultural shift in the way we use and treat personal data. Every business will need to review offline processes and seek new methods to facilitate compliance of data acquisition, storage and retention. Full details on GDPR regulation can be found on dataprotection.ie. Other useful sites include gdprandyou.ie and ico.org.uk.

Becoming a paperless business makes GDPR compliance easy. Many software solutions manage and store data while facilitating compliance, alleviating the burden. For example, BidRecruit is the paperless recruitment solution, an innovative hiring tool that helps customers to hire new staff quickly and cost effectively while also helping with GDPR compliance. If you’re interested in finding out more about how BidRecruit can help you with GDPR compliance in recruitment visit www.bidrecruit.io or contact a member of the BidRecruit team on 019109937.

Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece. It is not written in any legal capacity nor is the author associated with any legal advisory body or organisation.

Under GDPR this notice must be:

• Concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible

• Written in clear and plain language, particularly if addressed to a child

• Free of charge

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Bookassist

What We Learned From 2017 And What To Watch in 2018

By Des O’Mahony

A lot happened in the online travel space in 2017, and trends came into and went out of favour at a pace. Flavours of the month included mobile and artificial intelligence, while fears of the month were the upcoming GDPR and the strength of Airbnb. There were and are so many topics of relevance that it’s become increasingly hard for hoteliers to distinguish between what’s important and what’s just noise. Here are a few topics that surfaced in 2017 and will remain important through 2018.

Mobile

The trend towards mobile traffic in hospitality continues and in 2017 Bookassist saw mobile website traffic pass desktop for its partner hotels for the first time. This trend was especially pronounced in UK and Ireland and I’ve written about that previously1. Of note however was that transactional volume remains low on mobile, and this disparity between the growth of traffic and transactions is a universal observation. That said, transactions are growing and there is real opportunity here to accelerate mobile business if barriers to transaction are reduced.

The problem with mobile web is twofold. First, it is often a “casual” platform where people browse avidly but are less likely to engage in decisions, especially spends. Second, dealing with transactions on mobile is simply harder, especially if credit cards need to be entered. Hotels need to be willing to change their approach to capture more mobile business, looking at mobile payment options like PayPal and Apple Pay for user convenience, and perhaps become more comfortable with “book without credit card” offers in a bid to raise conversion. In 2018 the hotel industry needs to move more towards where the customer is at, rather than remain entrenched in the way the industry has “always” done things.

Metasearch expands

Boutique and Independents See Bookings Growth

An interesting trend that was reflected in a number of publications in 2017 was the strong growth in independent hotel bookings versus the large brands or franchises. Once such study by 1010data over a two-year period up to October 2017 showed US independent and boutique hotels recording 43% bookings growth3. This could well reflect also the trend in hospitality towards “experiences” and a shift away from the tried-andtrusted that franchises and big brands offer, and mirrors also a growth in Airbnb bookings. People are now more willing to experiment and be surprised when traveling.

For Europe, with more than 80% of hotels considered independent or “unbadged”, the trend represents very real opportunity online for 2018.

Independents can and should increasingly market themselves as unique, different, customer-focused and as local. Pushing social interaction and quirkiness can be a positive angle to adopt for 2018. Focus on what makes you genuinely different and you can improve search result positioning by standing out from the crowd, as well as helping improve conversion.

Google Continues To Fight

Google continues its push into travel and continues to experiment with approaches to hotel search results in particular (see figure 1). There is a delicate balance here for the search giant, which continues to make buckets of money from pay-per-click (PPC) advertising from OTAs and yet seems to be competing with them (demoting them) in its new rich search approach. Is the push into a rich hotel results interface likely to jeopardise Google’s PPC revenue from OTAs, or risk a backlash from them?

The reality is that Google’s real fight here is for the long term relevance of search results in the eyes of hotel customers. OTAs, fuelled by strong loyalty programs ironically enabled by hotels themselves, are increasingly locking online customers into their OTA apps. This may also explain why travel searchers are now more focused and visiting less sites than before prior to finalising bookings4.

The dominance of online travel agents (OTAs) remains, but there are opportunistic chinks in the armour emerging with Google (more on that later) and with metasearch platforms.

Metasearch proved in 2017 that it is no longer the “wave of the future”, but very much of the present2. it is now a strong reality that cannot (and should not) be ignored by independent hotels in the quest for direct booking business. Clearly customers love it.

Make no mistake, the growth in mobile traffic, the quality of OTA apps, and the suicidal discounting by hotels in OTA loyalty programs represent the perfect opportunity for OTAs to move hotel search away from Google and into their own locked-in app environment – an environment that Google is completely blind to, that Google cannot track or monetise and that hotels cannot use advertising to compete in. In 2018, expect Google to fight back against the app in hospitality and give greater opportunity to hotels to reach customers directly in search. It has no choice but to do so.

At Bookassist, we have seen strategic use of metasearch begin to make a real impact for hotels, with costs of acquisition below 10% being achieved, and a contribution of over 30% of direct business in many cases. Metasearch has been cannibalising OTAs, so it is genuinely adding to hotels’ direct business and therefore improving NetRevPAR for hotels in most cases.

Bookassist has expanded its metasearch offering in 2017 from Google Hotel Ads, trivago and TripAdvisor Instant Booking with the addition of Skyscanner and Kayak platforms. Given the growth in Asian traffic into Europe and the accelerating trend there, we will be adding Asian meta platforms on 2018, giving independent hotels a real opportunity to be in front of the fastest growing travel segment online. If you haven’t considered metasearch to date, you should jump on the bandwagon now.

The Customer Doesn’t Care

1 2

https://bookassist.org/blog/post/mobile-marches-forward/en/ https://bookassist.org/blog/post/how-booking-and-expedia-build-traffic/en/

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I’ve attended numerous hospitality conferences in 2017, and Bookassist organised quite a number also in Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Austria and Czech Republic. The debate on distribution strategy and on technology has become so intricate that it often misses the obvious – the customer doesn’t care where they book your hotel, once they actually get your hotel for a good price or get a good value deal. Put simply, we all know that OTAs cost hotels more than direct, but if the price and package on offer is the same on both channels, the customer neither knows the cost to the hotel nor actually cares about it. They have chosen your property, the route to booking is irrelevant to them, and for sure whether you incur a larger cost or not for the booking is of no consequence to them. It is your job as a hotel to make the direct route more relevant to your customers in 2018.

Bookassist

Figure 1: Google’s ever-changing hotels search interface sees continual improvement Hotels need to lift their gaze and put themselves in their customers’ shoes in 2018 if they want to improve direct booking and NetRevPAR. Your website and mobile experience need to tell the customer in no uncertain terms why they should book direct, not just why they should book. Tell them what’s different in terms of what they get if they stay on your website and book, compared to booking on an OTA. If you are not telling them clearly what’s in it for them, don’t expect them to book direct. Why would they? Examine all your messaging and content for 2018 and get that message out.

While you are at it, your check-in and check-out experience are the ideal opportunity in 2018 to spread the word regarding direct. While you obviously welcome your OTA customers, your reception staff should tell them what’s available extra if they had booked direct, and encourage them to book direct next time. As an industry, we should be telling OTA customers to book direct next time at any hotel, not just at our hotel, so that word gets out that hotels prefer direct and reward customers for booking direct.

Data, Machine Learning

A few years ago the hot topic was “big data” - except that individual hotels really didn’t have big data so the topic became “small data” and how hotels should optimise their customer relationship management around their small data sets. The reality is that hotels are still way behind in gathering intelligent data about their guests’ behaviour and even further behind in using it. But there is value to be had.

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How many hotels are really studying visitor paths on their web and mobile sites and making changes based on what they see? How many hotels are changing and adjusting page layouts, or booking engine packages or offers based on actual numerical feedback, as distinct from what they want to sell or “feel” is right? At Bookassist we have been doing interesting optimisation of visitor paths on our Smart Website platform and using real big data across tens or hundreds of hotel websites to optimise layouts and approaches to the booking funnel. This has led to a booking funnel conversion improvement of average 19% in 2017 and we expect to improve further with the new mobile platform in 2018.

Getting meaningful data from any one hotel or expecting ongoing optimisation or machine learning to help any one hotel is often overly optimistic – there simply isn’t enough data or variation in the data to be helpful. But harnessing the anonymised data of hundreds of thousands of visitors across hundreds of different hotel website layouts is real big data with patterns that we can learn from and make meaningful decisions about. This is a key focus of Bookassist machine learning in 2018 for the Smart Website, booking and mobile booking platform combination.

Hotels should work closely with their digital marketing and platform providers to not just report on figures but to analyse and effect change based on the data.

Hotels need to move away from their own biased “opinions” and “feelings” and trust their digital marketing partners and their data more in 2018. As mentioned earlier, it’s about getting to where the customer really is at, not where you think they are at.

Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO & Founder at Bookassist (www.bookassist.com), the multi-award-winning technology and digital strategy partner for hotels worldwide.

Bookassist is The Direct Booking Expert™ and is a Google Premium Partner.

http://www.boutiquehotelnews.com/home/news/2017/12/20/growth-in-boutique-hotel-and-airbnb-bookings/ http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/number_of_sites_leisure_travelers_visit_before_booking_drops_by_88

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fáilte interview

Get Brexit Ready

Meet the ‘Get Brexit Ready Team’ - Helen McDaid, (Project Manager, Brexit); Stephen Dudley; Martina Bromley, Head of Enterprise and Hospitality Development with Rachel Doherty and Marion O’Connor 2017 saw record numbers of tourists arriving in Ireland and there is no denying the growth the industry has been experiencing in all sectors. However, with Brexit looming businesses are being warned to be prepared. But having experienced so much growth in 2017, why should businesses be concerned about the impact of Brexit?

Recently launched by Fáilte Ireland, is Get Brexit Ready, a suite of industry supports designed to help businesses at risk or already struggling with the loss of trade created by Brexit.

According to Fáilte Ireland by 2017’s year end 1,000 businesses will have availed of their Get Brexit Ready programme, with further interventions and support planned for 2018. The programme allows businesses to access the online web portal, self-assess their exposures and risks through the “Brexit Readiness Check” and provides a range of tailored interventions to meet their needs.

Martina Kerr Bromley is Head of Enterprise Development at Fáilte Ireland and with over 25 years’ experience in management and business development in Ireland and abroad, we spoke to her about the importance of the Get Brexit Ready programme and why all businesses should avail of its supports going into 2018.

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“Brexit is a challenge to tourism businesses particularly in the Border counties.

Fáilte Ireland’s role is to give direct assistance to tourist businesses in relation to Brexit. We carried out extensive consultations with industry; hotels, attractions, etc and at the moment people are telling us business is holding due to other core markets performing very well notably the US, France, Germany and other markets. However, our research shows that there is a 6.8% decline or close to 300,000 decline in GB tourists to Ireland, but it is all about being proactive and going into 2018 we need to plan for that decline otherwise businesses will not be prepared for the fall-out and their business will suffer.”

fáilte interview “Market Diversification is another aspect of the Get Brexit Ready programme.

The reason businesses are not feeling the pinch at the moment is because other markets have performed so well. US visitors are up by 18% and EU visitors are up by 4% plus they stay longer and spend more. Our French and German visitors are very strong and we are developing strong relations with Italy and Spain as part of our International Sales Development Programme.”

To date 700 businesses have engaged with Fáilte Ireland’s Get Brexit Ready programme and we estimate this will total 1,000 by 2017 end of year. It is a very practical and easily accessible programme and by the end of 2018 Fáilte Ireland estimate that 2,000 businesses will have availed of it. The programme falls into four main categories; market diversification, training and supports, competitiveness and market retention. While the programme was developed to help businesses address the impact of Brexit, according to Martina, the strategies are simply good business practices that should be implemented regardless of Brexit.

In order to ensure the programme was targeted at every type of business within the industry Fáilte Ireland worked through the sectors consulting with each. They met with hotels, B&B’s, camping businesses, attractions, etc. However for these small to medium businesses, is Brexit just another issue for them to contend with and why should they bother if business is good?

Martina explains, “These SME’s need to use the self-assessment tool on the website to see how Brexit-ready they are. Once they do this, they are given a set of very easy to follow tasks that they need to implement. It is very straightforward and well worth doing.”

In order to ensure that there is an alignment amongst our industry and giving them the best opportunities, Fáilte Ireland suggest businesses engage in maximising the business opportunities through the Brands, Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East & Dublin, upselling and cross-selling across industries in the local geographical areas.

“At the moment there is a lot of uncertainly around Brexit we know 20% of the impact Brexit will have so there is 80% we don’t know. It is that feeling of taking one step forward and two steps back because we are still unclear about so much, will there be a hard border or not, will aviation and blue skies impact, will there be passport restrictions etc? But we do know this is a currency devaluation issue and we have to act on what we do know. For the Border counties the GB visitor decline has hit at an enormous rate and that is the biggest source market for those counties.

So, as part of our Get Brexit Ready programme we identified these counties as a priority. It’s not that the GB tourist isn’t travelling, they are. GB tourist travel to the EU is up by 2%. But the GB traveller sees Ireland as part of the British Isle, so they see they are getting better value out of a sun holiday or golf holiday at the moment and they aren’t taking as many short-breaks here.”

“From our research we know that the GB visitor sees Ireland as expensive for sundry items. Things like tea and coffee, lunch menus, soft drinks etc. So we have been looking at ways we can compete in this value for money sector. We are encouraging businesses to look at a lunch menu as an add-on to a visitor attraction for example.

Service and going the extra mile is key – we will never be considered a “cheap destination” so we have to ensure our visitor experience is second-to-none. Good customer care is not woolly or fluffy it can be a real game changer and add significantly to the bottom line. We have lots of really successful models to take examples from. The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin has had enormous success in this regard.”

“Our people capability and operational efficiencies are other important aspects of our Get Brexit Ready programme. Ensuring staff in the front line have the right management, supervisory skills and the businesses have the right operational skills so that visitors are experiencing the best of our industry right the way through their visitor journey. If these weren’t part of our Get Brexit Ready programme it is something we would be encouraging businesses to be doing anyway as standard good business practice.”

Martina continues, “Fáilte Ireland’s Food Strategy also aims to highlight for businesses how they can increase the quality of the visitor experience through their best produce and their local food offerings. The visitor has many touch points and food and beverage is an essential part of the overall experience. We need to be showcasing the best of what we can offer in local food produce, seafood, bar food and lunch time stops – ensuing the visitor hits upon a good experience with food.

Given that there are still so many unknowns when it comes to Brexit, Fáilte Ireland are remaining focused on planning for the next stages. “We will have a clear focus in 2018 to continue programming supports for businesses, to continue research and insights to assist our Industry. As further implications of Brexit evolves we can tailor any aspect of the programme so that it remains relevant. As part of our market diversification we are working on a China Ready programme where we are looking to bring more visitors from the Chinese and Asian markets to Ireland.”

So the message is clear, if you want to know the latest intel and programmes related to addressing Brexit then go on line to www.FailteIreland.ie/ GetBrexitReady and start your knowledge journey by completing the Get Brexit Ready self-assessment with the Brexit Readiness Check on the Fáilte Ireland website, now is the time.

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Tallaght IT

Celebrating Success Back Left to Right: Cian Irvine, Aramark, Croke Park Meetings and Events; Cathal Kavanagh, Blackrock Clinic, Gareth Glynn, Aramark, at Oracle, Doug Harrington, Culinary Skills Instructor, Front Left to Right: Kathy Coyle, Liu Yiming, Westin Hotel, Brid Torrades, Osta Café and Wine Bar, Sligo

The first students on IT Tallaght’s MSc in Applied Culinary Nutrition graduated in November. The inspiration for the Masters programme (in 2015) was the forecasted consumer trends in the health and wellness space and therefore the need to enable practising chefs competently and confidently meet those needs.

As an applied programme the chefs through their applied research project, were required to creatively apply their knowledge and skills to identify ways in which they could bring value and benefit to the Irish food industry in the area of health and wellness. Topics researched addressed the following: training of senior chefs in strategic healthcare food provision to benefit patient care, the role of the catering sector in public health strategy, assessing the nutritional knowledge of chefs, the responsibility of modern day chefs in portion control and overeating and mindful eating, mindful dining linked to our relationship with food.

Celebrating success with Derry Clarke MSc patron and Tom Doyle Head Chef L’Ecrivain

Exploring Beverage through Research

A very successful Beverage Research Network(BRN) event was held at the Institute of Technology Tallaght on the 8th of November 2017. This event was organised

by Susan Boyle (ITT), Aoife Carrigy (ITT) and Sylvain Tondeur (Lille University). All three organisers are undertaking substantial research into different aspects of the Irish beverage sector. The Beverage Research Network provides an opportunity for both academics and practitioners to engage constructively with each other around the whole area of beverage culture. Membership of the network continues to grow and it has led to a considerable number of beverage related submissions at recent academic conferences and events. BRN members stretch across a number of different countries including Ireland, the UK, France and the US. The very busy schedule on the day included fascinating presentations by speakers from a variety of beverage research backgrounds. There were presentations on topics as diverse as ‘Poitin’, ‘Coopering’, Storytelling, The Irish Pub, Female Brewers, Irish Whiskey, and even Guinness and Sex! Participants were treated to a pre-lunch sensory analysis session exploring among other things the twelve key botanicals used in gin distillation. This very successful research event was rounded off with a fascinating tour & tasting at Teeling’s Distillery in Dublin and the organisers are in the process of developing an online publication of the papers presented on the day.

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Citywest

Sean Reid is Commercial Director of Citywest Hotel.

The venue has seen significant investment by owners Tetrarch Capital over the past number of years with this now reflected through growth in key revenue areas.

The last twelve months have seen a physical transformation take place at the hotel, which includes a redevelopment of the lobby, restaurant and lounge areas along with a newly completed car park.

“We went with the areas that needed it most and then got more strategic about redevelopment in terms of what the business need”, said Reid when discussing the approach taken by Citywest Hotel and Tetrarch Hospitality. Redevelopment work has coincided with a business strategy to reposition the hotel and place a greater focus on the international events market with both this and the building refurbishment showing strong signs of progression on the back of a 50% increase in revenue over 3 years.

Central to the refurbishment works has been the addition of a new dining experience in Citywest, The Woodlock Brasserie. Those in charge see the addition of the Woodlock as a necessary step given the previous dining capacity of the hotel. “We only had a 90 seater restaurant for a 764 room hotel”, described Reid, going on to note the functionality of the new space which will be subdivided between three different areas each with its own distinct ambiance.

While the newly developed Woodlock Brasserie is set over three distinct spaces, the menu and service offering remains uniform across each, which Reid describes as a vital component given the scope of Citywest and diversity of customers being facilitated. Reid believes there is also further opportunity appeal to local audiences with the new facility. “We want the Woodlock Brasserie to be somewhere that people go for a special night out. Our market research shows that there is an opportunity for a destination restaurant in the local areas which. This standard of offering is well aligned to the expectations of our other key segments such as corporate and conferencing”. This expansion has been reflected in the number of people employed with 420 staff now working on site.

“Our business on the books is tracking really well year on year, client are really impressed with our new product offering and its having a positive impact on the enquiry to conversion ratio”, said Reid on recent revenue figures. Those results have seen a growth in revenue by over 50% since 2014, with the events sector for the hotel alone

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Citywest

seeing a considerable rise in excess of 65%.

Key additions to the events schedule include household names from pharmaceutical and technological sectors along with a recent residential international conference from Deloitte with an attendance of 600 delegates.

Turnover figures for events are now accounting for 45% of revenue, in keeping with the planned business model. “Research offers us visibility of the potential revenue that we can generate per available room in the hotel. While there has been exceptional growth within the last 3 years, we have identified and grown our share within target markets that will see this growth continue. Our events business on the books is nearly 15% ahead year on year and is growing in line with forecast” “Historically people have the perception that anything beyond the M50 is miles away, but this perception is changing and coming more in line with other European cities such as Munich, Berlin or Amsterdam. Previously this has been a real barrier for us but there is a growing trend of events and functions now choosing Citywest over city centre. We largely account this to the range of facilities on offer, the unique dynamic offering of the venue and ability to offer event delegates value accommodation in the Dublin market. This change has been helped significantly through stronger relationships being developed with key industry bodies over the past few years.

“The next stage for us is to move towards service excellence accreditation”, said Reid detailing his desire to see Citywest Hotel achieve recognition for quality and standards in 2018. He believes that this is an important step

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Citywest

in developing stronger consumer confidence for an independent brand operating in a competitive international marketplace where exceeding high expectations is critical to success. “Independent accreditation following a series of audits and mystery shops is an effective way of giving your audience assurances about your ability to deliver events to the highest standards.” This effort has been reflected in staffing also, with reinvestment from recent turnover growth being put back into training and development of staff.

Given the nature of Citywest’s new market focus, technological considerations have been of key importance with the new 1GB Wi-Fi connection proving crucial in attracting top clients. “The very first investment Tetrarch made in the property was Wi-Fi, bringing it from being market lagging to market leading”, stated Reid. The versatility of this connection allows for the partitioning of the Wi-Fi network to allow for bespoke networks to be set up for individual events.

In room technology has been updated to smart, flat screen TVs offering a range of interactive and entertainment services.

Citywest has also become the first venue in the country to build a full Virtual Reality

Dunshaughlin Business Park, Co Meath www.jocfurniture.com

• Irelands foremost contract furniture manufacturer since 1990 • Hospitality fit out of the year 2017 award winning supplier

• Translating design into reality

• Manufacturing with modern technologies and traditional skills • Delighted to be part of the innovative refurbishment of the Citywest Resort

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Citywest

experience on its website of event areas.

Potential clients now have the opportunity to experience the Sycamore Suite and Citywest Suite in a range of layouts and set up options through a completely virtual experience.

While much of the current focus may be toward larger corporate events, Reid believes a key area for Citywest’s food and beverage outlets will be that of the local area. The Woodlock Brassiere will play a large part in this and is to eventually include its own separate entrance to better bring across the feeling of it being a stand-alone dining venue. “A lot of the design work and thinking that went into this was about allowing us to cater for a variety of market segments we have in the Hotel. This has enables us to create a dining experience that plugs into the local area and provides a special occasion restaurant in west Dublin., said Reid. Through re-engagement with the local community under its Woodlock brand, Citywest is changing local perceptions of a large scale, event based environment to a more intimate and personalised experience.

The shift in focus towards more premium events has been a breakthrough for Citywest in terms of commercial decision making, with Reid believing that further growth is available with the superior product offering. “We know that while we are growing at a faster pace than our European counterparts in the last three years, our revenue streams still have a lot of opportunity in terms of the markets we can be in. We have the space and we have the rooms to bring it to different markets that another hotel might not have”.

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Gibson Lane

Lead, Innovate, Inspire

The experts at Bunzl McLaughlin are always looking for new and exciting ways to bring their vast range to life, including demonstrations and exhibitions at various industry events throughout the year.

However, now in the heart of Dublin, they are able to showcase their collection all year round, following the opening of their brand new Culinary Innovation Centre at Gibson Lane.

Showcasing all the latest trends with an impressive display from crockery, cutlery and glassware - to equipment – and everything in between, the new Culinary Innovation Centre will inspire your customers and make your business stand out from your competitors.

Front of House display offers visitors the opportunity to see all of Bunzl McLaughlin’s latest products and collections in place.

In addition, a fully functional commercial kitchen exhibits their Back of House products from both their exclusive and branded product ranges. The kitchen also incorporates a live chef demonstration area to provide customers with insight on how to get the very best from the company’s products.

Inspiration brought to life

The new Culinary Innovation Centre at Gibson Lane is unique, as it is the ideal venue for 1-1 consultations, VIP entertaining, product launches, industry events, in-house training and live demonstrations.

Explaining how innovation is the concept driving the development at Gibson Lane, Sean Martin, Sales Director at Bunzl McLaughlin says, “we are the leaders in the industry.

We are ahead of the trends, and we present upcoming trends, rather than current trends”.

Elaborating on the purpose of the new centre, Sean Martin explains that “it is set up for consultation, with two areas accommodating a number of people around a boardroom style table, and the facility to organise group presentations for approximately 40 people”.

Bunzl McLaughlin’s key customers are already expressing huge interest in the centre, as the director outlines. “Our customers may have 100 chefs working for them, and they may have their executive chef provide a demonstration to a number of their top chefs. The live cooking facility at Gibson Lane provides the perfect space for them to play around with products and menus, try different styles, and achieve what they want. This environment is ideal for our customers who are changing their menus or cooking methods and styles, or for our customers working towards starting a food business.”

About Bunzl McLaughlin

Based in Co. Armagh, Bunzl McLaughlin has been supplying the hospitality trade since 1874. Originally Thomas McLaughlin, the company was acquired by Bunzl, a multinational FTSE 100 distributor of non-food consumables and equipment, in 2002.

Bunzl subsequently added a number of leading cleaning and non-food retail businesses to create Bunzl McLaughlin.

The company offers catering supplies to businesses all over Ireland, and has over 4,000 core items in stock and available for next day delivery, and access to over 100,000 products from the world’s leading catering and cleaning manufacturers that can be sourced and ordered as required.

Shapes and splashes of colour to catch the eye

Steelite, Arcoroc and Churchill are Bunzl McLaughlin’s main branded companies, and Sean Martin explains that “although Steelite and Churchill compete heavily against each other on the tableware side, we do equally well with both of them, and represent the two brands very well in Ireland”.

Innovation is key to Bunzl McLaughlin’s success as the trends are continuously evolving. “The trend at the moment is colour, and lots of it. But most recently, it’s all about shapes, like ablong shaped items. Ultimately it’s all about the visual presentation of food – it’s the chef’s canvas”, he explains.

Alternatively, homemade jams, spreads and sauces served in classic jars are sure to please customers. Dollops of fresh cream and jams spooned onto fluffy scones can become fine dining, using the kind of handmade rustic jars available from Bunzl McLaughlin. “Michelin star chefs are fond of jar presentation – it is unique and these top end chefs don’t want their competitors to be within 100 miles of them as far as presentation goes”, explains Sean Martin.

Artisan – It really is perfectly crafted

Bunzl McLaughlin’s own beautiful tableware range combines shape, texture and colour in a way that is designed to elevate and enhance the entire dining experience.

Inspired by the hand-thrown style of pottery design studios, Artisan offers something unique. It combines the look of a handcrafted product with the strength, consistency and durability of tableware that has been produced by a truly world-class manufacturing process.

The Artisan range is the perfect combination of innovative shapes, studio glaze finishes and colours - designed to give you the vehicle for perfect food presentation. Artisan was conceived to showcase the widest range of food types – equally at home boasting the presentation of gastro pub food, and fine dining excellence.

Manufactured from the highest quality high alumina vitrified fine china, Artisan is produced with cutting edge technology, but delivers a studio pottery feel with no compromise on performance. “Artisan is every bit as practical as it is beautiful”, says Sean Martin.

Supplier partners

The global sourcing policy at Bunzl McLaughlin has two aspects: working with their preferred suppliers, who are typically international manufacturers of market leading brands, and coordinating the sourcing of own brand and alternative quality products from low cost economies, which together ensure that the customers have access to the best products to meet their individual needs.

See for yourself

The Culinary Innovation Centre at Gibson Lane is a one stop shop for anyone involved in the industry. Everything needed from the front door of a food establishment to the back door of the kitchen is available from Bunzl McLaughlin.

The company is at the cutting edge of culinary innovation, and this is demonstrated at Gibson Lane.

If you would like to visit the Culinary Innovation Centre for a consultation, to use the facilities, or for trade associated purposes, please email gibsonlane@bunzl.ie

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awards

Staff Awards Night Clayton Hotel Leopardstown GM Alan Deller decided to host the first inaugural employee awards in honour of the great work the whole team is doing. “Recognising hard work throughout the year is important and the team deserved a real treat” . An Oscar themed party was held in the Sandyford Suite. Awards included, Colleague and Team of the Year, Most Trust You Mentions, Special Recognition for contribution to the team and even Biggest Heart & Biggest Smiler. A full sit down meal was served by management followed by dancing.

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Luxury, Quality and Longevity We supply the highest quality standard of guest comfort with 100% natural, allergy and asthma safe duvets, pillows and bed protection. Proven high quality and long lasting safe and natural products.

Capability to adapt to your hotel specification Proven high quality and long lasting products Specifically brand any product for your hotel group Design an in-house purchasing scheme for increased revenue Provide an in-house room audit, so you don’t have to “The Galway Bay Hotel are proud to be long standing customers of Beds of a Feather and feel total confidence in their super luxurious, not to mention, allergy and asthma-safe Down and Feather bedding”

Our experience spans from 3 star hotels to private jets, from luxury yachts to 4/5 hotels. Why? Because of our quality and affordability.

The Old Schoolhouse, Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow www.bedsofafeather.com email: freda.kavanagh@bedsofafeather.com

Tel: +353 (0)404 40448 Mob: +353 (0)86 807 4999 H&RT DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017/2018

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Castleknock Hotel

Castleknock Hotel & Country Club The Castleknock Hotel & County Club has undergone three phases of upgrade, renovation and expansion this year. So, 2018 is set to be a very exciting year for the property. Audrey Gaffney interior architects and designers took on the renovation of the ground floor and Audrey told us about how the team approached the project.

“The hotel put the project out to tender and it was a very detailed brief. The ground floor was a big space but it was divided into separate zones; a bar and two dining areas. The hotel wanted to open up this space to allow a better flow and also allow more natural light through the area. With the increase in footfall and bedrooms as a result of the expansion, the breakfast area needed to accommodate high volume traffic ”, Audrey explains.

She continues, “we were awarded the project and one of the first things we did was speak to the staff. This was to get a sense from an operational perspective, about what they needed in order to provide the best service possible with minimal disturbance to the customer experience. We knocked through a wall from the original breakfast area into the dining area to create a brighter more functional space. We removed a storage area and a tea & coffee station which made this an area that now generates additional revenue by adding seating. We added open wine units to display the hotel’s merchandise but also to create different zones within the space without losing any light”.

There was a door from the lobby which opened into the bar area; continuing with the hotel’s design brief of opening up the ground floor space, Audrey’s team designed a seating area in the lobby which allows the customer to see through to the bar. Audrey explains, “customers may not have been aware that a bar was there before. We opened up the space and added a see-through fireplace so there is still a separation but allows customers to now view the bar from the lobby”.

Audrey continues, “the customer can now see through from the lobby all the way to the back of the hotel to the outside seating area. This means customers are more likely to sit out there and use this space. The hotel also has a children’s play area outside which is a lovely addition to the hotel’s amenities”.

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Audrey’s team also re-named the hotel’s bar and restaurant. “The hotel’s ethos on their food offerings is ‘from farm to fork’ so we wanted to re-name the bar and restaurant to be in-keeping with that. We re-named the restaurant ‘Earth and Vine’.

We renamed the bar as Bar 22 because of the 22 parishes in the Castleknock area.

The hotel has a very strong link to its community and this name suited perfectly”.

From speaking to Audrey and from seeing the finished project, the experience and design knowledge of her team is evident throughout. Audrey maintains that on any project it is not just about the concept and the design, there is a step before this. “We take a step back and we look at the client’s brand. In the case of this hotel their brand had not been touched in 8-10 years, so it was necessary we looked at creating a new brand. We spent a lot of time with Guy Thompson, the General Manager, giving this the time, it needed to get it right in the early stages”.

So what’s been the feedback from the hotel and its customers? We spoke to Guy Thompson, GM at the Castleknock Hotel, “we are absolutely thrilled! We had a great experience working with Audrey and her team and to be honest it was like a breath of fresh air to work with them. From the beginning the focus of the project was on what we wanted. They listened to us and it was a great process from the start”.

Castleknock Hotel

Guy continues, “Any of the key design concepts had to work from a hotel perspective, a guest perspective as well as a sales perspective and Audrey’s team got that absolutely right. The budget of course was also extremely important and how they managed that was brilliant. We did go 5% over but that was down to decisions we made”.

According to Guy the hotel is already seeing an increase in ground floor business. “The feedback from our guests has been amazing.

We have a very strong local business and our customers love the redesign, the quality of the fixtures and we are noticing a difference in how guests are using the space. Because of our strong corporate and leisure business mix we are noticing more of those residents are using the ground floor now during their stay and average spends per guest are increasing”.

The redevelopments at the hotel started last February with an up-grade of the kitchens. The re-design of the ground floor is now completed and by early 2018 the 52 bedroom extension, Spa and Leisure facility upgrade will be completed with an overall investment of €7million.

“We now have a stunning 4-star property so 2018 is a very exciting year for us and we are looking forward to it”, says Guy. “I think it is a great time to be in the hotel business. Yes there are challenges; Brexit is on everyone’s mind. But I really believe the future is bright for hospitality in this country”.

Delighted to be Associated with Audrey Gaffney Architectural Designers and the Castleknock Hotel, Dublin.

Dublin: Blarney House, Unit C, Baldonnell Business Park, Dublin 22 +353 (1) 9104046 Cork: Unit B3, Fota Retail Park, Cork +353 (0) 21 485344 H&RT DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017/2018

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fáilte industry news

€64m worth of new business won by Fáilte Ireland’s Dublin Convention Bureau in 2017 Fáilte Ireland’s Dublin Convention Bureau confirmed €64m of new business was won for Dublin in 2017 at a Breakfast Briefing to industry which took place in the CityWest Hotel. This revenue boost was a result of winning 150 new conferences for the city and county, which are set to deliver almost 45,000 international delegates to Dublin in events to take place over the period 2018 – 2021.

Among the notable conference wins confirmed for Dublin are: • Velo City 2019, the European Cyclists’ Federation convention taking place in 2019, delivering 2,000 delegates with a value of €3.2 million • World Con, the World Science Fiction Convention, taking place in 2019, delivering 5,000 delegates with a value of €8m • European Federation of Periodontology’s 3rd Master Clinic, taking place in 2020, delivering 800 delegates with a value of approx. €1.3m • International & European Congress on Obesity (ECO / ICO), taking place in 2020 delivering 2,300 delegates with a value of approx. €3.7 million • World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology, taking place in 2021 delivering 1,000 with a value of over €1.5 million Sam Johnston, Manager of Fáilte Ireland’s Dublin Convention Bureau said that 2017 had been a very successful year for Dublin in winning international conferences and events and forecasts 2018 to have strong growth even with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

“I am delighted that the Dublin Convention Bureau hit its target for 2017. We have worked extensively throughout the year to bring available international business to Dublin. We are forecasting strong growth for 2018 and in fact we are currently targeting business as far out as 2026. Dublin is and will continue to be a competitive and attractive place to hold international events.”

Pictured are Sam Johnston, Fáilte Ireland - Dublin Convention Bureau, David Meade, inspirational speaker, Paul Mockler, Head of Commercial Development, Fáilte Ireland and Sean Reid, CityWest Hotel.

New Meet in Ireland Website

Paul Mockler, Head of Commercial Development at Fáilte Ireland announced the launch of the revamped ‘Meet in Ireland’ website, www.meetinireland.com, which is a joint-initiative of Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland.

“The primary aim of the newly redesigned and updated website is to ease access and navigation on the site for those considering hosting an international event on the island of Ireland. The website to date has been a fantastic tool for our three organisations in generating leads for international business opportunities. However, with the redesign, we are aiming to generate up to 75 leads within the first 12 months of operation which, would equate to €32.5m in pipeline business tourism. Those seeking information on hosting an event in Ireland will find a more efficient and streamlined process with lead generation data captured through Fáilte Ireland’s CRM system. All in all, with the redesign, visitor traffic to the site should increase from 30,000 sessions in 2016 to 40,000 per annum going-forward.”

Six Ways to Boost Visitor Attractions Newly released insights from Fáilte Ireland have identified some of the most important elements that influence satisfaction levels with a tourist attraction for overseas tourists. The research, conducted with the help of 16 visitor attractions nationwide, involved interviews with 2,400 visitors (84% international) to identify what part of the experience increased their enjoyment of the attractions they were visiting.

See www.failteireland.ie/Research to find out more.

Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Research, Caeman Wall explained: “The research will provide visitor attractions throughout the country with practical tips and insights about how to increase visitor appeal and satisfaction when it comes to the visitor experience.”

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fáilte industry news

Detailed Tourist Market Profiles Published to Guide Businesses Fáilte Ireland has published a series of Travel Market Profiles on the four most important markets for tourism, Britain, the USA, France and Germany which are aimed at helping industry identify the type of activities and holiday experiences that overseas holidaymakers are interested in while in Ireland. The research also adds to the material available on the recently launched Get Brexit Ready toolkit on www.failteireland.ie/brexit.

Caeman Wall, Head of Research at Fáilte Ireland explained that while our tourist offering of scenery, culture, heritage and history appeal to all international holidaymakers, what specifically influences them to book and plan their holidays in Ireland will differ by market.

“Americans have a strong cultural and ancestral link to Ireland and as a new world nation they are particularly drawn to Ireland’s iconic historic attractions as it’s not something they can experience at home. The French are using their holiday to reinvigorate themselves and are looking to get energised from the landscape and unspoilt nature while experiencing authentic Irish culture. The British see Ireland predominantly as a short break destination (72% stay less than five nights) therefore they appreciate a range of easily accessible and unique cultural experiences that set Ireland apart from the UK. The Germans are attracted to Ireland’s unique coastal seascapes but are also looking to experience both traditional and contemporary Irish culture.”

First ‘Chinese Welcome’ Graduates from Innovative New Tourism Programme The first graduates of an innovative tourism programme to help Irish businesses to compete in China today have received their ‘Chinese Tourist Welcome’ quality label at Fáilte Ireland’s HQ in Amiens Street, Dublin.

Pictured are Catherine McGovern, CityNorth Hotel; Tara Kerry, Fáilte Ireland; Cyril Laffan, CityNorth Hotel and Sue Fong Gan, Newbridge Silverware.

The Irish tourism industry is being urged to ‘Get China Ready’ in advance of the operation of the first direct flights from Hong Kong to Dublin in June 2018.

Recognising the vast potential of China, Fáilte Ireland – in cooperation with Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland - is delivering a China Welcome Programme which aims to educate the industry about the opportunities available from the Chinese tourist market. This programme is also in keeping with Fáilte Ireland’s work to assist tourism businesses to diversify their market mix and reduce the risks currently posed

by Brexit.

The first ‘Chinese Tourist Welcome’ certificates were awarded to The City North Hotel (Gormanston, Co. Meath); The Westgrove Hotel (Clane, Co. Kildare); The Europa and The Culloden Hotels (Select Hotel Group, Northern Ireland); The Stormont Hotel (The Hastings Group, Northern Ireland); Glen Keen Farm in Mayo; Cobh Heritage Centre, Cork and Newbridge Silverware, Co Kildare.

Speaking at the event, Tara Kerry, Business Development Manager for Developing Markets at Fáilte Ireland said that China has a tremendous capacity to deliver a hugely significant number of tourists to Ireland and it is vital that industry is in a position to welcome them. She added: “The China Welcome Programme is being put in place to ensure that our tourism industry is best positioned to capitalise on the much anticipated Cathay Pacific’s upcoming direct flights from Hong Kong to Dublin in June 2018. Successful participants of the programme acquire the ‘Chinese Tourist Welcome’ Quality Label and become certified as a Chinese Tourist Welcome Quality Host for two years, which is renewable with branch-specific Chinese Tourist Welcome training. The pilot programme covers modules such as Cultural Awareness, Routes to Market and Food & Beverage.”

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ITIC

Being ambitious for Irish tourism

by Eoghan O’Mara Walsh CEO, ITIC Such has been tourism’s growth in recent times - a remarkable increase of international visitor numbers to Ireland of circa 40% over the last 5 years - that one could assume that the upward trajectory will continue unchecked into the future. Such an assumption would be foolhardy.

Anyone who has worked in the tourism sector can quickly point to an event, well outside tourism’s control or sphere of influence, that has knocked the sector back: think 9/11, an Icelandic volcano, or “foot and mouth” as clear examples of where growth momentum came to a shuddering halt, and none of those events economic shocks which most influence tourism flows.

tourism – instead it is the sector itself that should take the lead and devise a strategy for its own future.

Saying that there is much that a country’s tourism industry, state agencies, and its national Government can control and adopting pro-tourism policies is the best way to mitigate against external shocks and chart a future where potential growth can be looked forward to confidently. The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC), the umbrella group representing Irish tourism business interests, has been doing just that over the last 6 months by formulating a strategy for the sector to 2025 and beyond. Remember tourism, employing 228,000 people throughout the country, is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; a bigger employer by some distance than agriculture, the pharmaceutical industry, or financial services sector. It can’t be out-sourced or offshored and is here to stay. If anyone therefore knows what is good for tourism, what works for tourism, and what is needed for tourism surely it is the tourism sector itself? Gone are the days when a Government, a Minister, or even a state agency determined what was best for Irish

The ITIC Board and Council, who represent the key sectoral bodies of Irish tourism, have been instrumental in developing the strategy but the scope of engagement with the industry has been much wider than this. A significant series of one to one consultations have taken place with tourism leaders, regional workshops have been carried out and there has been a dedicated Steering Group in place over the last 6 months. A qualitative online survey will go live in January as Tourism 2025+ aims to be as inclusive of all views as possible.

Any why bother? Is travel and tourism not expected to grow globally and therefore will Ireland not gain its natural share anyway? Well possibly, but far more likely is that without an ambitious and welldeveloped strategy Irish tourism will lose market share and fail to achieve its potential. If that happens then jobs aren’t realised, regional economies aren’t regenerated, tax revenues aren’t secured.

A sector’s future is too important to leave to chance. And to depend on a Government to be ambitious for a sector isn’t wise – after all the targets set in Ireland’s current national policy for tourism to 2025 have nearly been met already, a full 7 years early!

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Tourism 2025+ is the name of ITIC’s strategy for the sector and it will look at everything related to Irish tourism including investment, improved capacity, market diversification, competitiveness, and how best to mitigate against the challenges of Brexit, the current external event that is seriously impacting on Irish tourism. It is hoped that Tourism 2025+ will be published in March and within it there will be a suite of recommendations, set against accountable bodies, which if implemented could see the export value of Irish tourism grow to as much as €7.5 billion annually by 2025, an increase of 50% on the current value. This could lead to 50,000 more jobs in the sector and mean over €1.7 billion returned to the exchequer in direct tourism related taxes from overseas visitors.

Time for the Irish tourism industry to boldly and confidently state its case.

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Chef Network

One of the most exciting developments in the hospitality industry in recent times has been the creation of Chef Network. Developed by a network of likeminded chefs who want to improve the industry for all, with backing and funding from IFSA (the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance), Chef Network’s vision is to connect all of Ireland’s chefs, across all sectors and career levels, and be a platform for both community and professional development.

Less than two years on from its launch, the Chef Network community brings together almost 3,000-member chefs. In a new Hotel & Restaurant Times regular column we will meet some of those members and hear from them what inspires and motivates them, their career challenges and opportunities, and how they believe we can improve the industry.

Ahead of the first Chef Network column, we meet the organisation’s Head of Community, Ruth Hegarty, to hear more about Chef Network and its vision for the future.

Where did the idea come from in establishing Chef Network, and how has it been received within industry?

The idea of some kind of organisation open to all chefs had been bubbling away in the industry for a while and certainly a lot of people were talking about the need to come together to tackle the skills shortage. But credit is due to IFSA [the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance] for taking the bull by the horns. They approached me initially to do some research which led onto a consultation with chefs. My sense was that a network was the way to go, focused initially online, accessible to all, and to develop activities from there.

The consultation with the chefs dictated the vision and objectives. I gathered groups of chefs who were hugely positive and proactive, and this was key. They all came together around the table with a similar goal – to promote the career they love and to make the industry better.

Despite the clear demand for something, I don’t think any of us could have anticipated how positively it would be received. Chefs have obviously bought into it in terms of signing up as members and coming to events, but it’s not just chefs, big employers, suppliers, everyone across the sector has recognised it as a positive move.

What’s your role within the organisation?

I see my role primarily as a facilitator. For me it is key that this is chef-led, so I am here to listen to what the chefs want and hopefully help make it happen. It is so important that we hear the voices that are not always heard; we need of course to talk to senior chefs and employers, but also to listen to chefs at all stages in their training and career.

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How has Chef Network grown since it was established? Have members influenced the direction?

We launched in February 2016 at Food&Bev Live with the initial group of about 50 chefs who had been involved in our consultation workshops. As we head towards the second anniversary of the launch, we have about 3000 chefs signed up, about 10% of whom are student chefs.

The Chef Network Hub at CATEX last year was a huge success and drove a big surge in membership, and huge number of members have come organically through our online activity.

Members have influenced everything and will continue to do so, both through the Chef Advisory Council who I meet with regularly and the wider membership via the online community and events. It’s an on-going process.

What’s the focus for the coming year, what can members expect in 2018?

2018 is going to be a very exciting, and very busy, year for Chef Network.

We have two key focus areas: Community and Professional Development.

These two closely linked areas are where we need to concentrate our aims of attracting and retaining chefs in the industry, and expanding chef skills and knowledge (both culinary and non-culinary) both through collaboration with the education sector and by recognising the industry’s role in training.

Community is about facilitating chefs to positively influence each other, to learn from each other. Our online community platform www.chefnetwork. ie allows chefs to connect and is developing as a focal point for industry resources and knowledge sharing, while our networking and training events allow them to meet face to face and learn from their peers. Our Professional Development activity is about recognising that chefs are always learning and assisting chefs with career progression – this is something we will work on directly through our own training and hope to collaborate with the education sector and wider industry on.

Members can expect a really extensive calendar of events across the country in 2018, including The Chef Network Hub at Food&Bev Live, and a landmark event - Chef Camp on 21-22 of May in Lough Erne Resort.

Chef Network How important is training to your organisation and what role will it play moving forward?

From day one training was a key part of the discussion for Chef Network and in 2018 it will become the main focus of our activities. The chefs have talked repeatedly about the need for continued professional development that is peer-led, and we believe this is a key aspect of retaining talent in the industry.

We successfully applied for funding through Skillnets, are now rolling out our plans for 2018, which we will launch officially at Food&Bev Live. This means that almost all of our events and activities in 2018 will be training focused, but will also continue to incorporate networking elements which we see as intrinsic to the learning process.

At what stage in a chef’s career is Chef Network suitable for?

Chef Network is open and of benefit to chefs through all stages of their career. We recently launched a dedicated student community on chefnetwork.ie and we have a Student Ambassador Programme supported

by Calor Gas. On a day-to-day basis they, and all chefs, can use the network to ask for advice and get support with both culinary and career questions. Our training is a bit more focused on mid-level and senior chefs, but we hope through the Student Ambassador Programme and local members in the Chef Network community to strengthen links between colleges and industry even more.

About Ruth Hegarty, Head of Community at Chef Network

Ruth Hegarty is owner of egg&chicken food projects & consulting, a specialised agency working in the areas of food & farming business & policy, contracted

by IFSA (the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance) to head up Chef Network. She is also part of the organising team for Food on the Edge, a ground-breaking annual symposium for chefs that takes place in Galway, Ireland each October. She was formerly Secretary-General of Euro-Toques Ireland, the European Community of Chefs, for 11 years and holds a Masters in European Economic & Public Affairs from UCD with a thesis on ‘European Food Quality Policy: Protecting Europe’s Traditional and Speciality Food’. Ruth is a member of the TASTE Council of Ireland

How will Chef Network play a role in the future of the hospitality industry?

Nothing has ever brought chefs together before in these numbers and from across sectors and career levels. There is great power and positivity in that.

We want to foster greater cooperation and engagement between Ireland’s Chefs so that they can take the lead in driving the industry forward at this exciting time in Ireland’s culinary journey. In the short-term I believe we can motivate and inspire chefs through learning and peer-support and help more of them stay in the industry. In the long-term I hope Chef Network can contribute to making the industry a better place to work in and show people that this is a great career with huge opportunity…so that hopefully in another 10 years we won’t still be talking about a crippling shortage of chefs.

What are you most proud of to date in terms of the growth of Chef Network?

We have brought together chefs working across different sectors with mutual respect and the same goals, and this is a huge thing. We’ve created situations where you have chefs sitting around the table together sharing ways that they have improved things for their staff in their kitchens, or talking about how they wind down after a service, and influencing other chefs to do similar. Small things that will have real impact for them and their staff. It all comes from the chefs themselves; you couldn’t ask for a more resourceful and inspiring bunch of people to work with.

6-7 Feb Chef Network Hub at Food&BevLive CityWest

Social & Networking Space for Chef Network members with round table sessions on Kitchen Culture Change and Chef Career Progression

21-22 May Chef Camp

Lough Erne Resort, Co. Fermanagh A brand new Interactive 2-day skills & knowledge event for Chef Network members covering culinary skills, produce & tools, business & leadership & wellness.

How to join Chef Network

To find out more about Chef Network or become a member go to www.chefnetwork.ie For enquiries email info@chefnetwork.ie

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Year in Review

2017

Star Performance Reading through the annual report from Tourism Ireland, one is struck primarily by a couple of things: firstly, the excellent results.

There is no taking away from them and this is exactly what the tourism industry wants – increases in visitor numbers from virtually all markets that have exceeded targets, expectations and historical record.

“We are heading into 2018 in a position of some strength, based on the success of 2017,” says Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland.

“Over the coming weeks and months, Tourism Ireland will once again leverage the huge global popularity of Star Wars for Irish tourism... targeting fans of the science fiction franchise everywhere.

“In 2018, Tourism Ireland will create ‘stand out’ for the island of Ireland around the world, highlighting iconic experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East, Titanic Belfast and the Causeway Coastal Route. We will also promote Dublin and Belfast, in particular for shoulder and offpeak travel.”

The second aspect of the report that one is struck by is the heavy reliance on taking advantage of events and trends that are largely outside of the control of the Irish tourism industry. It’s very important to take full advantage of such important cultural phenomena such as Star Wars or Game of Thrones but one would hope that such aspects of a major marketing plan would constitute a more marginal role in the entire.

Another area of excellence in Irish tourism marketing is the success of its online and social network strategy.

Tourism Ireland’s website has won top accolades during the year in France, US and elsewhere. Its YouTube conduit is now the third most popular amongst tourist board channels in the world.

The headline inclusion in Tourism Ireland’s annual report of these two activities tells another story and one of equal importance – that of the maddening starvation of funds to our most important indigenous industry.

That the budget slashes from 2008 have still not been reinstated and increased in ten years is akin to national economic treason. In the background, meanwhile, is the ongoing problem of Brexit:

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Paul Keeley, Business Development Director at Fáilte Ireland “Any year that you’re seeing growth, you have to be satisfied,” says Paul Keeley, Business Development Director at Fáilte Ireland. “The star has been the US marketplace and with more flights coming onstream…

Europe was okay – modest enough but good and steady. If you were getting that every year for the next ten years, you’d be very happy.

“The fly in the ointment is the British market and what is happening with Brexit. We’re shaping up for the GB market to be back by between 6% and 7% and I suppose that is compounded by the fact that we’re shaping up to be down by between 105,000 and 110,000 NI visitors…

Border counties are certainly feeling the pinch in terms of losing out on some of that business.”

Indeed, current president of the Irish Hotels Federation Joe Dolan (who runs a hotel in a border county) has been repeatedly outspoken on the disproportionately high level of reliance that such places have on the British market.

“Brexit and the slowdown in visitor growth generally are major concerns for the hotel sector, as they have a significant regional bias,” says Dolan. “Many of the consequences of Brexit are largely outside

Year in Review

our control, so we must mitigate the risks and potential damage where possible. Destination marketing and product development are two ways that can make a real difference to tourism in 2018, particularly for the regions which are bearing the brunt of the substantial drop in business levels from the UK, our largest market, with the broadest regional and seasonal spread of visitors.”

Keeley recognises this disparity of effect: “Dublin has been reasonably well shielded from the impact of Brexit but I think that in other areas, that loss of GB business is a bit of a worry as we head into 2018. Our own intention will be to drive hard in terms of Brexit response – working hard on diversification, best prospects in Britain… it’s too big a marketplace to simply throw in the towel and walk away from it.”

In terms of market diversification, Keeley points out that the GB market is now in third position overall in terms of value (not, perhaps, completely by design) and that market diversification has been a focus for a number of years. “We’ll continue to keep working on the European market place and already we’re seeing good market growth out of Spain and Italy on the back of increased capacity and we expect to see that trend continue in 2018.”

The Far East is a great untapped source for Irish tourism – a very wealthy marketplace with countries such as China, South Korea and Japan all bursting with potential. Taking advantage of these sectors has been the challenge and the new direct link (next May, from Dublin to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific) could very well change this, with the possibility of another direct Chinese link in the offing next year. The Rugby World Cup is being played in Japan in 2019 and Ireland are in the host nation’s group. A direct link to Japan, therefore, would be an even bigger and more timely coup. In the meantime, however, the focus for Fáilte Ireland will be on the Gulf States, India and China, he says.

Joe Dolan, Irish Hotels Federation

From the catering point of view, there is a recognition of the 9% VAT rate retention and how well things are going generally but some despair at how the same problems are being allowed to persist: “There have been lots of new restaurant openings and I do feel that Ireland as a food destination is climbing the ladder all the time and that food standards are at an all-time high,” says Liam Edwards, President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, “but we can take it to another level if we could get the skills.”

The twin terrors of the restaurant business in Ireland are, according to the RAI, the acute skills shortage and the Brexit effect: “We’re banging our head against the wall on this issue. The Government hasn’t tackled it (the skills shortage) and they don’t seem to be any closer to tackling it… I think that the Government sees the importance of the tourism industry when they highlight the numbers of visitors that are coming into the country and the amount of money they’re spending in the country but if we don’t have qualified and trained staff to meet and greet these consumers in the right way, then we’re losing out…

It’s going to be our main focus in 2018, to try and get something organised with Government. The scale of it has been too small and we need a central body that looks after the skills.”

Liam Edwards, President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland

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Year in Review

very positive and very strong performers if we had the money to invest in them... It’s an absolute disgrace that the budget hasn’t been reinstated…

It’s terribly disappointing because it wouldn’t take a huge amount of money to get some real traction.”

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation – one of the most pro-active representative bodies of the industry and of which Andrews is joint Chair – is taking matters into its own hands to a certain extent by putting forward a programme in March next that will lay out a strategy for tourism to 2025 and beyond. They are keen to point out the huge potential that still lies untapped for our tourism industry.

“Generally, we reckon that 2017 will be a new high in terms of the value of the industry,” says ITIC Chief Executive Eoghan O’Mara Walsh. The number of people employed in the industry in Ireland now stands at 230,000 people, according to ITIC’s calculations and the industry is worth €8.7 billion.

“We’d be confident that growth will slow but that there still be growth – about 2% to 4% next year in visitor numbers.” This is mainly down to increased capacity on inbound routes, as well as positive economic indicators for the source countries.

While they salute the Government’s retention of the 9% VAT rate, he laments the fact that there has been no increase in investment either on the current or capital side: “Over a ten-year period, the government investment in tourism – whether that be in marketing or new product development – has actually fallen by about 40% and I think it’s high time that those cuts are reversed and funding is put back into tourism because with Brexit and the weakening UK market, we need to have as much power in our toolkit as possible… It’s all well and good to see new gateways and opportunities opening up but if they’re not supported by funding, then we’re not in a position to take full advantage of them.”

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, ITIC Chief Executive

Brexit, meanwhile, is beginning to be felt more and more in his business: “There’s no real gain there because of Brexit and there are massive concerns for the restaurant business in Ireland because of what lies ahead.”

“It has been a terrific year for Irish tourism,” says Ruth Andrews, head of the Incoming Tour Operators Association. “2018 is all looking very positive so far – certainly going by early booking patterns – so there’s no reason to believe that it won’t be another successful year.”

The tour operator sector isn’t suffering from the Brexit effect as much as in other markets but she does make the point that the year could have been much better if the accommodation capacity problems were solved – a problem, she says that has now spread from Dublin to the likes of Killarney, Limerick, Cork and Galway in the peak season.

“While the larger markets of Europe have performed well, interestingly, it has been the markets in Southern Europe that haven’t performed as well. In our members’ view, it has been quite flat. A lot of that could be down to air access capacity or that the economies in these areas aren’t as buoyant or haven’t recovered as strong as other places have.”

The real obstacle to growth, she says, comes down to the lack of funding: “They (Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland) just can’t spread the thin budgets any further. Those markets that are emerging such as Spain and Portugal are Tier 2 markets but they could become

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“

2017 will be a new high in terms of the value of the industry

”

nnovation

nnovation

nnovation centre @ Gibson Lane centre

At Bunzl McLaughlin we are always looking for new and exciting ways to bring our vast product range to life, including demonstrations and exhibitions at various industry events throughout the year. However now in the heart of Dublin we are able to showcase our collection all year-round, following the opening of the brand new Culinary Innovation Centre.

centre

Showcasing all the latest trends & Innovation to help make your business stand out from your competitors.

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT:

With a wide display of Crockery, cutlery and glassware to equipment and everything in between.

You will find everything that’s new to the market and just what you need to make your business innovate and inspire your customers.

- 1-1 Consultations - VIP Entertaining - Innovation - Product Launches - Industry Events - In-house Training - Live Demo’s

Inspiration Brought to life:

Front of House display, one of the largest displays of its kind in the city, and offering visitors the opportunity to see our latest products and collections ‘in situ’. In addition, we have a fully functional commercial kitchen to exhibit our Back of House products from both our exclusive and branded product ranges; the kitchen also incorporates a live chef demonstration area to provide our customers with insight in how to get the very best from our products.

supplier partners:

Our global sourcing policy has two aspects: working with our preferred suppliers, who are typically international manufacturers of market leading brands, and coordinating the sourcing of own brand and alternative quality products from low cost economies, which together ensure that our customers have access to the best products that meet their needs.

We have also taken a positive approach to sourcing environmentally friendly products and expect this area to develop further in the future.

HOW TO BOOK:

Don’t just take our word for it, come see for yourself. If you would like to visit the culinary innovation Centre for a consultation, to use the facilities or for trade associated purposes please email:

gibsonlane@bunzl.ie

LOCATION:

We are situated at Unit 26, Point Village,East Wall Road, Dublin 1 (behind The Gibson Hotel) Eircode: D01 X2P2

parking:

Parking is available at the Gibson hotel.

This is located in Dublin’s Point Square Dublin - the closest hotel to 3Arena, and right beside the last stop on the Luas Red Line. (Luas Stop: The Point)

Please note: The point square area is currently subject to ongoing road works which are impacting Gibson hotel car park access. To gain access to the carpark follow the blue diversion signs to the Point Village car park.

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Gibson Lane, Unit 26, Point Village, East Wall Road, Dublin 1

35

Food & Bev Live

Food&Bev Live 2018 Opens for Business

The Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance, IFSA – Ireland’s only foodservice supplier’s hub is delighted to showcase the very best in its industry at their 2018 event – Food & Bev Live 2018.

LEADING lights from the foodservice, hospitality and tech sectors will descend upon Food & Bev Live 2018 - returning to the Citywest Events Centre, Dublin on the 6th - 7th February 2018.

THE two-day show which is brought to you by IFSA, the organisation behind the phenomenally successful CATEX show – is the only trade show in 2018 which will see ALL industry support, and in a first for the sector next year’s event will welcome the first-ever Global Hospitality Tech Summit, which is being hosted by the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI). With thousands of visitors expected to attend, Food & Bev Live is one of the most eagerly anticipated foodservice events of the year and both IFSA and the RAI look forward to welcoming visitors to the show and growing their partnership over the coming years.

John Cunningham, Chairman of IFSA comments: “Following the highly successful 2016 event, and the incredible feedback from CATEX 2017, IFSA, has worked hard to ensure Food & Bev Live is set to be even bigger and better than previous shows.

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“Delivering value to both exhibitors and visitors is key, and the new partnership between the Restaurants Association of Ireland, with the addition of the Global Hospitality Tech Summit, will add to what’s already an exciting show format. Food & Bev Live 2018 is set to be a ‘one stop shop’ for discovering and tasting some of the best products that Ireland has to offer.”

As well as providing the ultimate platform for networking and forging new relationships, Food & Bev Live is a must-attend event for finding the latest, cutting edge products across food and drink, catering equipment and technology. It is an opportunity for everyone to get involved, to get inspired, to learn from one another and to come away with valuable insight and products to help revolutionise their business.

Global Hospitality Tech Summit at Food and Bev Live 2018

In a first for the sector, Food and Bev Live 2018 is partnering with the RAI to host the Global Hospitality Tech Summit - set to be the world’s largest conference dedicated to examining recent trends in technology which are forming the future of the hospitality industry. Registration and tickets options for the summit can be found via: www.hospitalitytechsummit.ie.

The two-day programme will feature an incredible line-up of top industry figures such as Amanda Roche Kelly from Just Eat, Ailish O’Brien from Google, who will be speaking on ‘Trends in Dining’ and Noelle Daly and Stephen Cluskey, from Mobility Mojo will be hosting a talk on ‘How Technology is Driving Accessible Tourism’.

Other experts from the worlds of banking, economics, marketing,

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37

Food & Bev Live hospitality, tourism and global trend analysis include Ciaran Delaney from Meetingsbooker.com who will host a discussion on Disrupting the Global Meetings Market, along with Hjalti Baldursson from Bokun, who will lead a discussion on ‘How can hotels contribute to growth of a destination, and create a revenue stream at the same time?’

Award-winning chef and restaurant owner, Neil Bradley will be speaking on ‘Digitalising the Professional Kitchen’ and Edin Basic, founder of Firezza will be hosting a discussion on ‘The future of Takeaway Deliveries.’

To see a full line-up of speakers, visit: www.hospitalitytechsummit.ie/speakers

Celebrating the Best of Artisan Food

Recognising excellence in artisan foodservice, the popular Chefs Choice area is returning to Food & Bev Live. For small producers the addition of the Chefs Choice area provides the perfect platform to connect with key buyers, make valuable contacts and increase awareness of their products.

Serving Up The Best Talent

Food & Bev Live 2018 will continue the event’s history of celebrating excellence within the industry. Home to worldclass competitions, over the two days, the show will be hosting the National Barista Championships, organised by the Irish Chapter of Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and sponsored by Avonmore and La Marzocco. The National Champion will have the honour of representing Ireland in the World of Coffee 2018 taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands where they will compete with over 50 other National champions.

including speaker, Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, Chief Executive Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, who will be discussing the hot topic ‘Brexit and Your Business.’ All visitors to Food & Bev Live are invited to attend, but as space is limited, advance registration, through the Food and Bev Live website - www. foodandbev.ie is advised.

Also new for 2018 and running across the two-day IFSA event is the Talent and Training Zone. Inviting the country’s best educational institutions including – Athlone Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology and Waterford Institute of Technology – to showcase the next generation of chefs and hospitality talent, who will be on stage demonstrating their progressive ideas and exceptional talent.

Exhibitors at Food & Bev Live include: Bunzl McLaughlin, Calor Gas, Coffee House Lane, Elavon Merchant Services, Food Solutions, Freeneys Graphics, Ille Services Ltd, Jim Franey Ltd., Marco Beverage Systems, Mokasirs, My Taxi Hospitality, Nisbets and Total Produce. For the full exhibitor list, please see www.foodandbev.ie Food & Bev Live 2018 with a new look and extended layout, – which is almost sold out - and a host of new exhibitors, is THE place to do business in 2018.

Register your attendance for free now at www.foodandbev.ie For further information on Food & Bev Live 2018, visit www.FoodandBev. ie or follow along on social @FoodandBevLive. For stand sales or exhibitor enquiries, please contact Niamh Kenny, Show Manager on 01 846 0020 or niamh.kenny@eventhaus.ie To find out more about the Global Hosp Tech Summit and how to book your summit pass – daily and two-day passes available - visit www. hospitalitytechsummit.ie. Sponsorship opportunities are available, please contact Margaret Andreucetti, Sales Manager Margaret.Andreucetti@ eventhaus.ie

The Bartenders Association’s Irish Cocktail Championships will also see Ireland’s leading mixologists putting their skills to the test during the high-octane cocktail challenges. Finalists will compete to become the National Cocktail Champion and earn their place to represent Ireland at the World Cocktail Championships 2018.

Skills is high on the agenda, and returning to Food & Bev Live 2018 is the Euro-Toques Live Stage and the ‘hotly’ contended Chef Ireland Culinary Competitions along with the Contract Caterers Competition organised by the Panel of Chefs of Ireland.

The smart way to connect with your guests

For those who hope to compete, entries are now open - more information can be found on the Food & Bev Live website: www.FoodandBev.ie

Chef Network stirs up hot discussions

The Chef Network Hub at Food & Bev Live is set to bring chefs together to connect, communicate and collaborate. With a dedicated social and hospitality space where chefs can meet, exchange ideas and discuss topics and issues of interest this is THE place to be if you are a chef looking to expand your knowledge and get involved in hot topic discussions.

TOP Tips For The Trade: NEW For 2018

Taking place on the 6th February 2018 at the Citywest Events Centre, Dublin, Food & Bev Live 2018 will play host to the Stonehouse Trade Show, where Stonehouse’s White Hat brand and product portfolio will take centre stage offering its customers a unique range of special offers and new product launches.

Visit us at Stand T15

NEW to Food & Bev Live 2018 is the Pop-Up Academy, organised by hospitalityenews, which will welcome a stellar line up of industry influencers who will discuss and debate a portfolio of subjects which are of vital importance to hospitality industry practitioners. Across the two days the focus of talks will include: Food (and Drink) for Thought, Talent Think-In, Trending Now and Brexit…and More –

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Hotel guest experience and engagement sales@staypal.io | 021 419 3146 Book a meeting slot at staypal.link/meet

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Food & Bev Live

The judging panel will be made of up of Michelin star chef Ross Lewis from Chapter 1, Aramark’s Culinary Director for Ireland Derek Reilly, Aramark’s Culinary Director for the United Kingdom Paul Bloxham and Aramark Culinary Development Chef Ivor O’Connor. The judges will be looking for a high level of skill and presentation in each of the participants’ dishes.

Aramark’s Culinary Director for Ireland, Derek Reilly

At Aramark we pride ourselves in rewarding and recognising exceptional culinary talent. With that in mind, we will be hosting the Aramark Ireland Chef of the year at the Food & Bev Show where eight of our highly talented chefs will compete for the prestigious title of Aramark Ireland Chef of the Year. Competitors are required to prepare, cook and present two portions of a main course dish using sustainable fresh fish as the key ingredient and two portions of dessert using chocolate as the key ingredient. Each of these dishes must be prepared, cooked, plated and presented within 90 minutes.

The chefs have been in preparation for this event for a number months now with hours of practice trying to perfect their dishes. The chefs have had continuous support from the Aramark culinary team hosting culinary master classes and mentoring sessions to ensure they are fully prepared and focused for the final.

Despite being in competition with each other, during these sessions there has been a real sense of team spirit and a strong relationship has formed among the chefs as they showcase their craft skills, passion and determination.

Both the winning chef and runner of the Aramark Chef of the Year Ireland will go forward to represent Aramark Ireland and compete in the Aramark European Chefs Cup in Barcelona in April.

This year we will also have a recruitment stand in place at the Food and Bev show, we want to encourage chefs to join our multi award winning culinary teams in Aramark by communicating with them our passion for food and service excellences.

One of the highlights of my role is leading our Craft Development training.

“The craft training programme develops culinary and managerial skills for chefs at all levels while ensuring succession planning and will aid employee retention. By raising our chef’s culinary ability to deliver a premium standard of food and service overall the Aramark business, further promoting Aramark’s position as the culinary leader within our industry.” Aramark’s Culinary Director for Ireland, Derek Reilly

Aramark Chef of the year finalists

• • • • • • • •

Sean Hunter – Guinness Store House Cian Irvine – Croke Park Craig Taylor – JP Morgan David Joyce – St Patricks Simeon Stanev - Amazon LucianL Chelariu – Irish Lights Philip Morrissey – Apple Pranas Jablowskis – Oracle

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Beds of a Feather

Each year, after the nestlings have hatched, the hunter-gatherers of the frozen North head across the prairies to collect the soft down left behind in the nests of the eider ducks. One of the lightest, warmest things on earth and the reason that Freda Kavanagh, Managing Director of Beds of a Feather, says ‘your bed is your sanctuary’!

Freda became involved in the pursuit of the perfect bedding when she stayed in a friend’s apartment in New York and had the best sleep of her life. What is on that bed? she asked and that was the day she bought her first feather filled mattress.

But there were no feather beds in Ireland, they had disappeared in the 1940s, part of their demise was the belief that you could get TB from the feathers.

Freda wondered if she would be able to make such a thing herself. And would people want such a thing? Her own background as an educator and Film Producer in UCD, a sabbatical in Ted Turner broadcasting in the US and a stint as a news producer with CNN hadn’t taught her how to sew! Undaunted, she undertook a feasibility study and went on to set up her new company Beds of a Feather and found a teacher ‘who blindfolded me and taught me to sew in straight lines. You have to feel it she said’.

Freda and her three employees began sewing the feather filled mattresses themselves, ‘My hair was full of feathers!

I arrived home every evening looking as though I’d been slaughtering chickens’!.

Then she had another idea, she would design the products herself and have them made by the company supplying the feathers to her specifications.

Now 18 years in existence, Freda has been supplying her exquisite bed wear to hotels for the past fifteen years with great success. The Doyle Collection, the Galway Bay and the Hodson Bay hotels all use her products and her London clients include the Dorchester and Claridges.

But Freda has harsh words for the hoteliers who refurbish their bedrooms and for whom the bed itself is an afterthought. ‘Hoteliers must create a safe, healthy and hygienic sleeping environment that will have a positive

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effect on their guests’ wellbeing and satisfaction. That starts with the bed!

38%-40% of the budget for a hotel refurbishment should be spent on the bed.

If the clients don’t sleep well, they won’t return!’.

Freda also believes that hoteliers need to understand how bedding works and to get away from the old idea that a bed has to be dressed with heavy clothing for warmth.

She has designed a range of bedding that suits a hotel environment, ‘It must be natural and healthy, pocket sprung, tufted and comfortable’, she says. ‘and it has to suit the temperature of the hotel room.. There is nothing worse than being in a warm room and you almost expire with the weight of the duvet.’ Her own best-selling duvet is a high percentage of down and a small percentage of feathers.

Freda is equally fussy about the source of her raw materials. She refuses to use feathers from live ducks bred to be plucked for their feathers as she says this is a cruel and unnecessary practice. As for the down itself, we must return to Iceland where the Eider ducks breed, ‘it lives in Iceland and makes a nest completely of its own down, the warmest in the world. The Eider duck is a protected species and the down is collected from the nests when the birds have flown but they are only allowed to collect 10% of the down left behind as the duck only makes one nest in its lifetime and adds to its nest each year!’. As Eider down is the warmest down in the world and is price prohibitive for the hospitality industry, she sources select European Class-1 down and feather to suit the heat requirements of the client. All raw sourced materials are by-products of the poultry industry providing a higher natural thermal down.

Before use, the sourced down is washed six to eight times to extract the bacteria and the finished product can be washed at 60 degrees and tumble dried to retain a hygienic environment. Freda constantly waxes lyrical about the properties of the down which is insulating and allergy and asthma safe. There are 470,000 asthma sufferers in Ireland alone and Freda sees this number as ‘an untapped market waiting to spend. Informing future clients, their partners and families that they will get a safe and healthy sleep because of your bedding could be a huge differentiating factor for your hotel’, she says.

Fitting for the Ideal Pillow

I’m at the Beds of a Feather Showroom in the Old Schoolhouse in Newtownmountkennedy in Co Wicklow and Freda begins her demonstration by measuring me up for a pillow. I have to lie in the bed while she questions me on my sleeping position and fits me for the best pillow. 80% of people sleep on their side and I am no exception. The pillow she chose for me was extremely comfortable. Freda considers the position of the shoulder and recommends sleeping on only one pillow that supports the head and shoulder no matter how many pillows are used to dress the bed.

As each hotelier may be unique with their requirements, Freda is inviting hoteliers to join her in her showrooms to experience some of the products and discuss costings that have proven successful with her esteem clients. Given the quality and longevity of the products, she considers very good value indeed.

www.bedsofafeather.com

freda.kavanagh@bedsofafeather.com

From Tyres to Soles

Michelin starred footwear designed for chefs.

AVAILABLE NOW! Order Yours Now: 048 3751 1999 or email: bmlinfo@bunzl.ie

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The K Club

Vision Then, Vision Now Conor Kenny in Conversation with Michael Davern, The K Club.

I’m sitting in the classically elegant Chinese Drawing room in the heart of the original Straffan House on a dark misty November day. I’m with Michael Davern, The Chief Executive of The K Club and a world leading hotelier. On days like this, home fires, fresh coffee, served in antique silver and tempting homemade cookies, it’s an easy Tuesday afternoon. Then again, doesn’t true service always seem easy? We are talking hotels, what’s coming, what’s missing and more.

When Hugh Barton of the world famous Barton and Guestier Wines decided to build a palatial pile just outside Dublin, his own vision in 1832 still stands and evolves today. When you see the autumnal setting it’s easy to see why he picked Straffan.

The K Club, Ireland’s First AA 5 Red Star Hotel, is a luxury resort nestled in the beautiful county of Kildare, where the River Liffey meanders through the soft green countryside.

A long-standing member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts, The K Club has pioneered 5 star service in Ireland from the very moment it opened in 1991.

Michael Davern was born in Cashel, Co. Tipperary and, living close to the iconic Rock of Cashel, it wasn’t long before he was exposed to tourists and tourism. Frequently, the great and good were in town to see the rock and later enjoy the legendary Cashel Palace Hotel, a hotel that was punching way above its weight then. It wasn’t long before the world renowned Shannon College of Hotel Management was on Michael’s radar.

Davern’s career has already included some of the best names in hospitality: Trust House Forte, Fancourt in South Africa, Sandy Lane in Barbados and back to the K Club in 2005 where he is now CEO and holds the honour of hosting the 2006 Ryder Cup. Always enthusiastic, positive, calm and an intense listener, this tapestry of precious experience has honed Davern into a leader with purpose and a rich pool of wisdom. It would be difficult not to let the influence of bosses like Dermot Desmond and Dr. Michael Smurfit colour your thinking and sharpen your purpose.

-:Sometimes the best conversations are not prescriptive, you just let them flow. So it was when we met and it wasn’t long before that tipping point that moves you into an elite group becomes evident.

Michael Davern is used to being around the rich, the famous, the ordinary and the extraordinary. It doesn’t faze him and he draws a clear line between who he is and what

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“

I learnt from Dr. Smurfit one great mantra – management is very simple: it’s Step 1, 2, 3, problem, solution, implementation.

That’s it

”

he does. Often, slightly star struck friends might probe the understated discreet armour that comes with years of exposure to bright lights.

“What’s he like?” laughs Michael as if he could give an immediate run down on their entire personality “I’ve no idea, I’m the hotel manager. I meet them, I introduce myself, I welcome them and they are gone on to their room or event. Why would they be interested in who I am?”

It might sound humble but it’s more than that. It’s self-awareness and not long before we talk about the importance of self-management.

Davern says: “Success as an hotelier is a lot about self-discipline and dedication. You have to be observant, you have to have lots of common sense, you have to be able to weigh up the problem, the opportunity or whatever is going on around you and then you have to make a decision about how you are going to react to that situation” It’s easy to have fairly standard polite conversations with people about training, vision, the future and more but what makes any conversation memorable, is that you come away wiser and with new thinking.

Training and Development is all too easily answered by stock clichés

The K Club

“We invest in people” “We believe in training” and even “We don’t believe in it”. I’m often reminded of the simple line that says “If you think hiring professionals is expensive then try hiring amateurs” When people say “We need more training” It’s always revealing to follow that with “In what?” It doesn’t take long before the conversation gets stuck and this, in itself is indicative of an internal problem. Training needs to have a clear purpose with a measurable outcome, without that, it’s useless. It’s our first subject and one Michael Davern is clear about.

described universally as ‘Tough but Fair’ and, curiously, never ‘Fair but Tough’. Although empathetic, patient and objective, Davern knows when he must rise his troops and that is essential for his personal philosophy of “Dealing with today whilst planning for tomorrow”. Values matter to Davern and when lines are crossed, the steel can appear:

“Skills based training needs to be brought back.

The basic skills. Skills where people know how to serve and understand that it is a service rather than a job”.

Good leaders have the intuitive art of seeing the future as well as making the complex seem simple. The late Lord Ballyedmond, Eddie Haughey, Norbrook Laboratories said: “If you don’t have a vision, it’s very hard to have a starting point”

There is the well-worn line that stands up timelessly “I won’t remember what you said. I will remember how you made me feel”. This is at the heart of the difference between good and great service. It’s an attitude and this leads to the need for specific training that reflects hotels today: “There is an urgent need for social skills training” Says Davern. “The formality is gone and, especially at the luxury end, it is expected even by the youngest technology millionaire. Many young hospitality entrants talk inappropriately to guests and too many will use casual language that simply doesn’t fit. The “Hi Guys” greeting is simply inappropriate and this kind of casual talk is not right”

Vision is the difference between leaders and managers. One sees, the other implements, both are essential. So what does Davern see?

Of course, attitude is the difference between memorable and a nightmare. Attitude includes preparation and says Davern: “My mantra has always been to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It has served me well”. A career under great businessmen begins to show its mark and in ‘Dancing at the Fountain – In conversation with world leading hoteliers’, it’s not long before the influence of Dr. Smurfit comes through: “I learnt from Dr. Smurfit one great mantra – management is very simple: it’s Step 1, 2, 3, problem, solution, implementation. That’s it” Soon, more Smurfit wisdom appears and another pearl is revealed: “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best” The hotel business, unlike a factory with automation, runs on people. People often run on emotion, conditioning, and their own experiences. Davern shares a view that is not obvious but also shows patience, understanding and why this theme of self-management is vital.

“What can look easy in my life might be very difficult for others. Were they trained? What did they do before they came here? Have we explored that fully? For example, take the young manager who is now interviewing people.

Does he know the law, the boundaries and the methods? It’s our duty to make sure they know what they are doing before we ask anyone to do anything”

“I have noticed a trend where people start to rationalise their mistakes. People can start to believe and quickly justify it. Let me give you an example. I ask someone ‘How did that go?’ they might reflect briefly and then there’s an instant debrief with some analysis. When I was training, learning and coming through the ranks, that’s where it stopped”

“Technology has changed our business so much. This has a down side, we can assume the experts are experts in house but are they? Take revenue management for example. The learning and updating of this and IT needs to be continual and constantly refreshed. You can be out of date so fast. Sometimes management can be devoid or even abdicate from technology.

Equally, young people have become too addicted to it and quickly forget the guest. I have seen the shift too where people get completely hypnotised by phrases like ‘the importance of owning the data, really? Then, of course, there’s the obsession with figures, likes and views. My question is always simple: What did that do for our business? It’s called ‘reputation management’.

The principles haven’t changed” By now the soft lights, soft music and soft sun are starting to set. The Liffey is throwing up its evening mist once more, the evening is upon us and we walk to the door. Time flies with Michael Davern and driving home, it’s the difference in the detail that sets him apart. Detail in what he sees, detail in what you didn’t say but he heard and detail in where he spots the gaps in strategy, leadership, operations and management.

There’s much food for thought and just as I’m overflowing new thinking, he sees me off with this thought: “There’s always a crisis in our business and although you can’t possibly be there for all of them, you need to be there for most of them” With that, he was gone back into the hotel. No doubt, another problem, solution, implementation was already being managed.

Michael Davern will be the guest workshop leader for the final day of the 6 day University Awarded 2018 Certificate in Hotel Leadership at Shannon College of Hotel Management in association with Conor Kenny & Associates (January – February 2018)

In ‘Can You Manage?’ there’s a short piece on how managers remember the best Boss they had. Inevitably, as the book points out, they are

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IHI Awards The Irish Hospitality Institute celebrated it’s annual Founders Banquet and Hospitality Management Awards 2017 on the 23rd November at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road.

The event was attended by some 490 hospitality professionals and is regarded within Industry as the most prestigious evening for Hospitality Professionals.

Food & Beverage Manager of the Year: Sponsor Patrick Mc NaMara Broadline Recruitment, accepting on behalf of Daniel Mc Loughlin, Shoda Market Café, Glen Royal Hotel, Deborah O Hanlon, Shannon College of Hotel Management

Catering Manager of the Year: Sponsor Jim Reeves, Unilever Food Solutions, Leonora Quirke, MasterChef’s Hospitality

Hotel Manager of the Year: Sponsor Jennifer Lee, Jurys Inn Garret O’Neill Crown Plaza Dublin Airport

Young Manager of the Year: Sponsor Stuart Brechin, Stafford Lynch, Denise Mc Donagh, Lough Eske Castle

Human Resources & Training Manager of the Year: Sponsor Noel Cafferkey, Action Recruitment, Catherine Monahan Lough Eske Castle

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Hospitality Graduate of the Year: Sponsor Hugh Murray Classic Drinks & Masottina Wines, Andrew Grant, Dublin Institute of Technology

IHI Awards Environmental & Facilities Manager of the Year : Sponsor Domnick Ward, Crystal Air & David Mc Donagh, Jurys Inn Parnell Street

Hospitality Employee of the Year: Sponsor Martin Mangan, Conrad Dublin, Geraldine Carty, Lough Eske Castle

Finance Manager of the Year: Sponsor Martin Murphy, Celtic Linen, Jennifer Powell, The Gibson Hotel

Sales & Marketing Manager of the Year: Sponsor William Cotter, Net Affinity, Triona Flood, Conrad Dublin

Revenue Manager of the Year Sponsor, Clio O Gara, Guestline & Sherleen Nunkoo, Jurys Inn Parnell Street

The IHI 2017 College of Fellows Recipients

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industry

Pubs vs Restaurants With more and more pubs selling food these days, it’s often difficult from a consumer’s point of view to tell whether you’re entering a pub that does food or a restaurant that looks rather like a pub.

The two are very different beasts, however, and the British-style licensing laws around the sale of alcohol in Ireland means that pubs have the upper hand with a ready menu of alcoholic beverages to compliment whatever food offer they serve.

If you’re a restaurant and you want to serve alcoholic drink with the food you offer, you need to get a special Wine Retailer’s Licence at a cost of €500 per year. If you want to offer your customers a gin and tonic as an aperitif before their meal or a brandy at the end of the meal as a digestive, then you enter another world of financial pain: First of all, you need to pay the Government an initial fee of €3,805 for a Special Restaurant Licence, followed by an annual stipend of €500 thereafter.

This latter anomaly is to do with the Fire Officer and the Courts. Some kind of ancient logic dictates that even though the restaurant isn’t asking to increase the number of people per square metre in the establishment by seeking permission to serve spirits, the powers-that-be say that it is, so a Fire Officer and a Court order has to be set up at this additional cost.

From the point of view of an already established pub, the decision to serve food is a relatively straightforward one. They can already serve any kind of drink they want to their customers and all they need is to get cooking and, voila, they have a restaurant with full licence to serve all the drinks they want with it.

More and more pubs are feeling the pinch from the drop in alcohol sales in recent years and many already have some kind of commercial kitchen facility, so it’s a simple enough step to bring food to the masses. You just need someone to cook it and someone to serve it.

Is it not the case, therefore, that pubs have an unfair advantage over the traditional restaurant because of our neurotic drink laws? Is it not further the case that it is only a matter of time before so many pubs become restaurants that they will swamp the average restaurateur through sheer weight of numbers?

“I don’t think that it’s a case that the pubs have any kind of unfair advantage,” says Brian Fallon of Fallon’s Restaurant in Kilcullen, Co Kildare. “What I do see is the possibility that we’re going to be overrun with competition because as pubs struggle to make ends meet in the traditional sense, they’re going to start turning to food.

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industry

“I suppose we’d see it as diluting the market a bit further and secondly, diluting the jobs market… Of the 500,000 or so pubs in the country, if half of them were to delve into the restaurant business, it would certainly dilute an already diminishing market.”

The way things stand, he says, planners “seem to very fond of a planning application with a restaurant attached”. He suggests that there should be some kind of restriction on the number of businesses entering the restaurant sector in general but doesn’t see that there is any particular problem in pubs having an unfair advantage over the normal restaurant model. If anything, in other words, there should be tighter restrictions on the number of restaurants opening, just as there is with the number of pubs opening.

There are, however, serious cost implications involved for any pub considering doing food: “I certainly wouldn’t begrudge pubs their food – they pay dearly for their publican’s licence….

A lot of them stay away from food for a good reason; as Francis Brennan continually says, it’s the quickest way to lose money.

Turning a store into a kitchen, for example, is an expensive business. And then, there’s the whole problem with chefs – trying to find chefs is a major problem.”

restaurants, marking the demise of the traditional restaurant?

Brian Foley, Communications and Public Affairs Manager with the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland responded to this question with the following prepared statement: “In Ireland, currently there are more pubs than restaurants. An increasing amount of pubs serve food but they remain pubs.

For a pub to serve food, it does not legally require a restaurant certificate. As long as the pub satisfies all legislative and regulatory conditions it can offer a full food service.

“The advantage of owning a pub licence is that you can run a full public bar and serve food. Restaurateurs are precluded from running a full public bar.

“As to whether more pubs will offer food, there is a host of questions a publican must ask before embarking on that journey, including issues around demand in the locality, competition and kitchen set-up costs. Clearly, as witnessed at the recent Irish Pub Awards, many publicans have embraced excellence in food as a way of attracting more customers.”

Down in Bantry, West Cork, Pat Kiely of O’Connor’s Seafood Restaurant says the same thing: “The big problem isn’t so much with the competition from pubs turning into restaurants but trying to get chefs – something that affects us all.” Both he and his wife are highly experienced chefs and he says that they had to close another restaurant business in nearby Colomane.

“I had to close that restaurant because I couldn’t get enough chefs. The business was doing well but I couldn’t get the chefs to staff it.”

“I’ve seen both sides of the business… it’s certainly not that easy to go into food when you already have a pub; the HSE have to come out and inspect the place, the staff will need training… a bad chef will bury a restaurant in six months.

“Before anyone wants to start offering food, they either need to be trained chefs themselves or they need to have a good chef nailed down, because you can easily open a restaurant, be doing very well and then have your chef walk out the door after two months.”

But with more pubs than restaurants in Ireland today, are we not witnessing a situation where most of these pubs, in order to survive, will inevitably transform themselves into

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IFSA news

Chef Network enters next exciting phase of Development

Pictured at Chef Network ‘Kitchen Culture’ event in LinkedIn Dublin: Standing L-R John Cunningham (IFSA Chair), Ruth Hegarty (Chef Network), Mark Anderson (Gather&Gather), Louise McLoughlin (IFSA), Seated L-R Chefs Danni Barry (Clenaghans), JP McMahon (EatGalway), Darina Brennan (Dalata)

Chef Training & Events Provide Unique Opportunities for Chef Employers & Suppliers Against a back-drop of growing crisis around the chef shortage, IFSA made the bold decision to back chefs and provide them with a platform to begin tackling the challenges in the industry themselves. Having carried out an extensive consultation, under the guidance of Ruth Hegarty who has over 15 years’ experience working closely with industry, a group of chefs from across all levels and sectors led the vision for the creation of CHEF NETWORK, which officially launched with IFSA’s backing in February 2016 at Food & Bev Live.

In the 2 years since, Chef Network has brought together almost 2,900 chefs from across the island of Ireland on its online community and continues to grow rapidly. Chefs have gathered from all around the country to discuss how they can make the industry better, attract new entrants and retain talent within the industry, as well as expanding the knowledge and skills of chefs.

Chef Network enters 2018 and its 3rd year with hugely exciting plans for its next stage of development. We are delighted to announce the we have secured Skillnets funding which will support the delivery of professional development training for industry chefs, encompassing Business and People/ Leadership Skills as well as Culinary up-skilling.

On 21-22 May the first ever CHEF CAMP will take place, an innovative 2-day Education & Skills camp for chefs of all levels happening at Lough Erne Resort.

All companies who employ chefs can join the Chef Network Skillnet and avail of subsidised innovative training for the chefs. We also have exciting opportunities for Foodservice suppliers to support training courses and sponsor Chef Camp 2018. For all enquiries, please email info@chefnetwork. ie or check out www.chefnetwork.ie

Keep up to date IFSA’s events, news and members by following the IFSA social channel @IrishFoodserviceSuppliersAlliance on LinkedIn.

Food & Bev Live, the only trade show in 2018 which will see ALL industry support, returns to the Citywest Events Centre, Dublin on the 6th & 7th February 2018 for one of the most eagerly anticipated foodservice events of the year.

In a first for the sector, the Restaurants Association of Ireland will host the Global Hospitality Technology Summit alongside Food & Bev Live , which is set to be the world’s largest conference dedicated to examining recent trends in technology which are forming the future of the hospitality industry.

Food & Bev Live 2018 will continue the event’s history of celebrating excellence within the industry. Home to world-class competitions, such as the National Barista Championships, organised by the Irish Chapter of Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and sponsored by Avonmore and La Marzocco.

Skills is high on the agenda, with The Bartenders Association’s Irish Cocktail Championships and returning to Food & Bev Live is the Euro-Toques Live Stage and the ‘hotly’ contended Chef Ireland Culinary Competitions along with the Contract Caterers Competition organised by the Panel of Chefs of Ireland.

Also running alongside the event is The Stonehouse Trade Show, where Stonehouse’s White Hat brand and product portfolio will take centre stage offering its customers a unique range of special offers and new product launches.

With exhibitors such as Aramark, Bewleys Tea & Coffee, CBE, Debitrak Cashless Payments, Elavon, Food Solutions, Ille Services, My taxi Hospitality, Schaerer and Total Produce, you can’t miss out on Food & Bev Live 2018.

For further information on Food & Bev Live 2018, visit www.FoodandBev.ie or follow along on social @FoodandBevLive 48

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MAK Group “STEAM TO CLEAN”

M.A.K.

MAK Group based in Limerick are the exclusive distributors in Ireland for the NOVALTEC range of steam cleaners. NOVALTEC has become a G R O U P market leader in many countries and in Ireland many hotels, supermarkets and restaurants are now seeing the benefits of using STEAM TO CLEAN. Our range of products will DEGREASE, DISINFECT, DRY in one application. By using STEAM TO CLEAN companies can reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals. For deep cleaning or day to day using steam cleaning is one sure way of meeting high standards. Ideal for use in KITCHENS, SPA’S, SUPERMARKETS and just about everywhere that needs to be cleaned.

The efficiency of using STEAM TO CLEAN can make a massive difference to your business. Reduce the cost of cleaning cooker hoods, watch your stainless steel kitchen sparkle with the power of steam and vacuum in one machine. Our machine cleans at 160 degrees so its easy to see the benefits it brings from a food safety point of view.

By using STEAM TO CLEAN you will enjoy cost savings in labour, water and most of all time. The NOVALTEC machine can play a vital part in raising the standards of every food business. Some of our customers include, The Fitzgerald Woodlands Hotel Group. Supervalu, Centra. Ballybunion Golf Club.

Donoughe Coach Travel and many more have seen what STEAM TO CLEAN has done for them. For a free demo contact MAK Group and experience a better and more efficient way of cleaning. Call Martin on 087: 2765790.

IFSA news

Hugh Jordan

is Irelands largest independent Catering Supplies since 1947. They cater to every aspect of the hospitality sector - from front of house to back of house and everything in between. Their aim is to provide service, value and innovation to our customers which they succeed in doing in a number of different ways. The focus for 2018 is to break the boundaries within the hospitality industry and showcase our newest and most innovative products for the year ahead.

Their new Dublin city centre store opened on Bride St, Dublin 8 at the beginning of last year. Open to both public and trade, this store makes it easier than ever for cooking enthusiasts to get their hands on the best quality equipment. It also serves as a hub in the city centre for chefs and employees in the hospitality industry to get access to products on the go. Their website is also a crucial part of their business. With over 7,000 products online it is the perfect place to browse and shop with ease, and their next day delivery to an added bonus. Hugh Jordan will be using Food & Bev Live as an opportunity to start the year by showing these products and beginning the year on a fresh, creative note. Make sure to visit us at stand G6 to view these latest products.’

Sodexo is awarded the Business Working Responsibly Mark Representing the companies awarded the Business Working Responsibly Mark in 2017 by Business in the Community Ireland were l/r Stephen Wheeler, managing director SSE Ireland, Margot Slattery, country president, Sodexo Ireland; Valerie Hedin, external communications manager EirGrid; Feargal O’Rourke, managing partner PwC, Cathleen Doohan, human resources and corporate social responsibility director Fujitsu; Dee Forbes, director-general RTÉ; Niall Browne, ceo Dawn Meats and Dave Murphy, ceo, PM Group.

Sodexo Ireland has been awarded the Business Working Responsibly Mark by Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) at its annual Sustainability Forum in Nov 2017, the only company in the catering and facilities management sector to achieve it.

The Mark is based on ISO 2600, valid for three years and is independently audited by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI). Companies are assessed on best in class corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, looks at leadership, policies, practices, performance, and impact in areas such as; employee engagement, innovation, environmental practices, supply chain management and engagement with the local community.

Commenting on the news, Margot Slattery, country president, Sodexo Ireland, said “We’re delighted and proud to receive the Mark. It is a tangible expression of Sodexo’s dedication and commitment to responsible business and supporting the good work of our people.”

According to the BITCI, the eight companies that received the certification this year collectively employ almost 15,000 people in Ireland, and when it comes to community engagement, BITCI’s Business Impact Map reveals that their employees volunteered over 9,800 hours and fundraised over €165,000 for good causes in 2016. In addition, the companies provided cash donations to charities totalling €1.8 million last year.

Sodexo Ireland is a leading provider of catering and facilities management services to clients in business and industry, education, financial services and healthcare. It employs approximately 3,700 people in 230 locations across Ireland and spent over €19 million on Irish food in 2016.

mytaxi | Hospitality provides quality travel services to Hotels, Guesthouses, B&B’s, Bars and Restaurants throughout the country.

With over 10,000 drivers nationally we are Ireland’s largest fleet and offer the lowest wait times with an average of only 4 minutes. We operate in many of Ireland’s cities and towns including Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick.

Our Hotel & Guesthouse customers use a transparent and efficient online booker that allows you book on-demand or in advance. You can order a driver that accepts credit card, a multi-seater and send messages to your driver such as ‘Please come to Reception’. Our online booker shows you the

Western Hygiene Supplies Ltd.

marks 30 years in business in January 2018.

This is celebration time for one of the Ireland’s best known companies as Western Hygiene starts its journey into their 30th year of continuous success.

In 1988 Cummer-born Kevin Collins set up his own hygiene business in the West of Ireland.

As the years have passed the Company has grown into a strong national market-player with 32 staff, a large customer database and countrywide deliveries.

The Company is always on the cutting edge with products and dispensing systems sourced through internationally recognised ‘sustainable’ manufacturers including Essity, Thomil Profesional, Dr Weigert, Prodifa, TTS, Gojo.

The Company is pioneering innovation with their Food Hygiene Solution designed to take away the day to day distraction of kitchen hygiene management from the business leader and deliver best in class results while reducing labour and energy cost.

The Company is accredited with ISO 9001 Quality, ISO 14001 Environmental, ISO 18001 Health & Safety Standard and Waste Management Standards.

The Company’s commitment to quality service was recognised by the SFA of Ireland with National Award for Achievement, Innovation & Excellence ‘Highly Commended Services’ as well as “The Best Cleaning & Hygiene Service Provider” at National Retail Supplier Awards in 2015 & 2016.

However one thing remains constant in Western Hygiene all these years: their primary aim is to exceed their customers’ expectations with innovative and effective hygiene solutions along with perfect delivery and service.

drivers name, mobile number and roof-sign number as well as counting down to their arrival.

For bars, restaurants or busy receptions, we have Taxi Butler to compliment our online booker. A simple device that you order a taxi with one click.

It has a small screen showing driver details including ETA, name and car registration. Great for clearing customers quickly at the end of service in Bars & Restaurants.

Join hundreds of Hotels, Guesthouses, B&B’s, Bars & Restaurants across Ireland to avail of the best taxi experience for your guests and staff.

Contact Details: mytaxi Ireland, 11 Mount Street Upper, Dublin 2 Contact Name: Andrew O’Connor Contact Number: 087 7794103 Contact Email: a.oconnor@mytaxi.com Website: https://ie.mytaxi.com

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Time for Tea

Pure Leaf is a premium

tea offering from Unilever which emphasises an exclusive level of taste, presentation and sourcing across eight different flavours. The brand is available through loose and bag servings and is well suited to the hospitality industry due to its strong branding and emphasis on quality.

Unilever have created a process where the sourcing, production and blending of the tea has been carefully thought out with only the most experienced and knowledgeable producers considered to be part of the supply chain. Tea, just like wine, has different taste characteristics according to where it is grown. Pure Leaf is sourced from the highest quality tea fields around the world and picked at the peak of freshness.

Each tea origin is uniquely linked to its distinct taste, like Kenya, which has a unique floral bouquet combined with a satisfying brisk flavour.

Currently leaves are sourced from China, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Kenya.

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Along with the brands focus on quality, there is also a consideration given to sustainability with a partnership in place between Pure Leaf and the Rainforest Alliance. This policy not only looks to secure the natural environment where the product is produced, but also give greater economic and social opportunities to the communities that enable the product to be brought to market.

With a growing trade in speciality teas, Pure Leaf is looking to provide a suitable option for every palate, with current choices encompassing everything from traditional Earl Grey to modifications of popular Green and Black Teas with such additions as Vanilla, Berries and Jasmine.

Similarly to the main leaf ingredients, consideration has been afforded to the production and selection of the real pieces of fruit and herbs in order to deliver the highest possible standard to consumers. The high standard of product offering is also reflected in the packaging of the tea with clear, easily identifiable envelopes enabling customers to have an enhanced view when selecting beverages. Pure Leaf have also developed specific brew times and temperatures for each individual blend in order to best allow the delicate nuances of each to be best draw out. The combination of the leaves and real fruit and herb pieces allow for a visually impressive serving, with consumers able to observe in detail the infusion process of the vibrant colours and aromas.

Time for Tea

Between sourcing and delivery, the preparation of leaves is a key step for Unilever and each tea follows a distinct traditional process that gently rolls and dries the leaves, with skilled tea masters then having the opportunity to add the flavours, thus ensuring a perfect blend. The approach has seen the domestic market range of Pure Leaf win several notable awards where it is retailed, such as a Great Taste star in 2017 for the Black, Green and Himalayan Darjeeling varieties. The overall range itself has also won plaudits from critics and consumers alike, with praise even being handed down to the bags chosen by Pure Leaf. These bags, manufactured from plant based products are fully renewable and are not densely packed allowing more room for flavours to unfurl, as well as adding to the already visually impressive brewing process.

Pure Leaf’s vision for their product is that of each blend having its own distinct feeling or character, much like wine.

It is the sentiment that is central to the global approach used in sourcing, and while ingredients may remain simple throughout the process the different soil types, climates and growing conditions give a specific taste to each product in the range. While much care has been given to the bag product, consideration has also been given to the loose blends with Pure Leaf recommending specific quantities of the product

to brew matched to their own time and temperature. Pure Leaf believe that a memorable tea experience starts with an exceptional leaf and ends with the perfect serve. In order to better add a ‘sense of theatre’ to the product with the customer Pure Leaf provide perfect serve kits that enable customers to sit back and observe the infusion of the leaves during service during which they encourage the use of clear glass pots, tea timers and infusers.

This serving method is a reflection of the simple production process of picking, rolling and drying with Pure Leaf wanting each to be as simple as possible to allow the focus to instead be on the tea rather than an overtly complicated presentation. Whether it is a beverage as part of meal or a stand alone serving, Pure Leaf is ideally suited to dining establishments wishing to enhance their beverage offering with conventional favourites like Earl Grey but also having the flexibility to offer more experimental brews like Black Tea with Vanilla and Gunpowder Green.

With the food service range of Pure Leaf looking to expand further the brands reputation, this will give the hospitality trade here a greater number of options in an expanding niche market. More information, including details on ‘Perfect Serve’ merchandise is available from www.pureleafprofessional.com

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Lyrath Estate

New lease of life

Peter Wilson, GM of Lyrath Estate in Kilkenny, talks to Hotel & Restaurant Times about renovations at Lyrath Estate, and the myriad of challenges facing hospitality in 2018. Topics discussed include staff recruitment, the threat from Airbnb, and the need for a singular ministerial voice for tourism in government.

2017 was a year of resurrection for Irish hospitality and particularly Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny. Recent CSO figures show that overseas visitors to Ireland, between January and November 2017, increased by 330,000 over the same period in 2016. Meanwhile, the award-winning Lyrath Estate underwent a significant redevelopment programme.

Peter Wilson, the property’s GM, values the reinvestment at around €5m.

All the ground floor areas - reception, bar, and restaurant - have been refurbished, alongside bedrooms and back of house areas. Inevitably, the biggest challenge for the hotelier was welcoming guests amidst such major renovations.

Constructing a new restaurant at Lyrath Estate, for example, necessitated closing the hotel entirely over the course of four days.

Overall, however, 2017 proved positive for the property. There is price sensitivity in Kilkenny, but people are spending more and there was an upsurge in North American business.

“We had a really good year with visitors from the North of Ireland as well,” remarks the GM. “If you saw our car park in July and August, 95% of the cars parked there had Northern plates.

We made more of a conscious effort to target businesses from Northern Ireland. We’ve had a very good year from the North: both the conference business and holiday market.”

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Peter Wilson’s career started in Donegal and Derry in the mid to late 1980’s “when things were bleak, particularly when it came to hotels”, and he has seen the industry face many different trials, tribulations and incarnations, over the decades since.

His first job as GM was at Lawless’s Hotel in Aughrim, Wicklow, followed by stints at Arklow Bay Hotel and Dublin’s Regency.

Subsequently, he held GM positions at Connemara Coast Hotel (1993 – 1996), Knockranny House Hotel (1996 –1998), and Kilkenny River Court Hotel (1998 –2006), during which time he joined forces with hotel owner Xavier McAuliffe to work on the original design and project management of Lyrath Estate.

Wilson moved on to become GM of Clayton Whites Hotel in Wexford (2006-2015), and worked at Mount Juliet Estate (2015-2016), but there was always a sense of unfinished business at Lyrath. When the property came out of receivership, and McAuliffe bought it back in 2016, Wilson was keen to get back in the saddle.

But while Lyrath Estate has a new lease of life, and overseas visitor numbers are increasing, the industry faces a myriad of challenges in 2018. Top of the list is staff retention and training. “For the industry in general, it’s a huge concern,” says Wilson. “Hiring chefs is a nightmare. Coming from receivership into new management, we seem to have stabilised things a little bit. But it is still very difficult to get staff with experience.”

Lyrath Estate What can be done to promote hospitality skills?

“We do a lot of work to recruit and train our own staff, but so many small hotels can’t afford it. For many small restaurants, cafes, hotels, it’s still very difficult. Outside Dublin, businesses are still struggling. Lots of places don’t have the time to train staff, particularly the one-person, or two-people, operations. I know so many businesses that are struggling to keep their heads above water. They can’t get staff so they are working 24/7.”

Businesses such as Lyrath Estate have no choice but to train staff with little experience.

“We’ve all got to the stage where you see a CV - someone with fantastic experience - and they come in and are hopeless,” says the GM. “If you think they are in any way good, you take them and say ‘It could work out; it might not’, but we are prepared to take that punt and invest time and effort in trying to bring them up to standard.”

Wilson believes there should be a fundamental change in the way Irish people consider a career in hospitality.

Lyrath Estate employs “French staff who are superb. They are happy to be waiters - whereas there seems to be a stigma in Ireland about being a waiter or waitress.

“Hospitality pays well, especially once you get to a management level. It’s hard work, but every job is hard if you want to succeed. I think schools and careers advisers don’t see hotel management as a great career. We are running a business with a substantial turnover. If I was in industry - manufacturing or IT employing the number of people we have at Lyrath, everybody would want to work here. Maybe we haven’t explored the different types of careers that hotel management opens up for you.”

Martin Shanahan, CEO of Ireland’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA) is a good example of the opportunities a career in hospitality can offer. When Peter Wilson was working at the Connemara Coast Hotel, in the mid-1990’s, Shanahan was his deputy manager.

Bringing the industry to government’s attention is another problem facing tourism and hospitality in 2018. As a past president of the IHI, Wilson recognises there are many different agendas in the tourism sector. As a result, individual voices can sometimes be distilled. In order to create a cohesive voice, he suggests, we need a minister solely devoted to tourism.

“You can see how much we’ve contributed over the last few years when it comes to employment, visitor numbers, and the economy of the country. I just don’t think government sees the value of tourism. Junior ministers take responsibility for tourism. Agriculture has a full minister - I don’t think the farmers would accept a junior minister.”

Rural businesses are still struggling, he adds. Many hotels have yet to emerge from the recession. It is a mistake to think Dublin’s booming tourism sector is replicated elsewhere in Ireland.

“Dublin is its own little microcosm. That’s not what is happening in the rest of the country. We are still struggling to get rates. Our mid week business is very challenging.

When it comes to VAT, and other rates charges, we need to be careful it’s not all Dublin-centric.”

Lyrath’s GM does not subscribe to the notion of rip-off Dublin. Soaring room rates in the capital, which often occur during major events, is all about supply and demand, he argues.

“I could get a Ryanair for €30 or €130, depending on the demand at any given time. I could pay €300 for a morning slot on RTE radio, then €900 during the Joe Duffy show. There are not enough bedrooms in Dublin.

Rooms are at a premium. I think compared to other major European cities, Dublin is not the most expensive in the world.”

Hoteliers face a bigger threat from peer-to-peer accommodation websites, such as Airbnb, he suggests. According to a recent Eurostat study, 21% of Irish people use these sites. While Airbnb has not impacted Lyrath’s business, it is a threat to the industry, says the GM. “We have to comply with health and safety, rates, VAT. We’re hounded with legislation and regulation. Airbnb is more or less unregulated. It makes no sense. Something will happen and then it will all change. But it will take some sort of disaster to wake everyone up to it.”

In the short term, hospitality faces a threat from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. Visitors from Britain dropped 5.2% for the January to November period of 2017. Lyrath Estate has felt the impact of Brexit, but any visitor decline has been offset by the upsurge from the U.S. “Next year our American business on the books has increased substantially.

But you can see the UK’s economy is slowing and that will have a negative effect for all of us. It certainly is worrying. The UK is our biggest competitor and our biggest market. There’s so much uncertainty about all of this. The political situation in the UK is so precarious.”

Despite such geo-political uncertainty. Lyrath Estate is ploughing into 2018 with positivity and optimism. There is an increase on wedding bookings, and the hotel’s accommodation and conference business is shaping up nicely.

Lyrath Estate, new and improved, is back and setting standards for Ireland’s southeast.

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Bloggers

Bloggers or Blaggers:

Freebies In recent years, bloggers have emerged as important influencers on the restaurant scene.

The term ‘blogger’ traditionally refers to someone who writes regular material in an online blog, but more recently has been used as a blanket term to include ’influencers’ or ‘social media influencers’ who are active on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

Bloggers post regular pieces on their blog; often this content will either be paid for, or they will receive complimentary products or services in return for promoting them to their audience. A common practice by bloggers involves approaching restaurants asking for complimentary meals in exchange for positive reviews in the blog and mentions on their social media networks.

It is an area which has prompted much debate of late, particularly in the restaurant industry. When bloggers began to emerge, many restaurants recognised the potential for generating additional publicity for their business. However, as the blogging scene has grown, more restaurants are beginning to question the effectiveness of engaging with bloggers. Even though bloggers will boast of having hundreds – or in some cases thousands – of followers, there is some scepticism within the industry around these figures.

Many restaurateurs are wary of turning down blogger requests, fearing that this might result in a missed opportunity for publicity. As well as questioning the benefit of online coverage, some restaurants are concerned that not co-operating with influencers will result in negative reviews online, which may be detrimental to their business.

While bloggers can deliver publicity for restaurants, it raises the question of whether restaurants actually benefit from the publicity. Not all restaurateurs are convinced.

Publicity Opportunity or Scourge of the Trade?

eight to ten blogger requests every year, saying: “They’re always [looking] for a free meal in exchange for coverage on social media – Instagram, Snapchat, whatever.” “I just reply a firm ‘no’. I couldn’t tell you who they are, but I wouldn’t be giving them anything…. They’re just blagging a free meal”.

But is he right? Joanne Cronin, who writes the Stitch and Bear food blog (www. stitchandbear.com), has been blogging for nine years, and believes that asking for complimentary meals is damaging the industry’s perception of bloggers. “I would never ask for a complimentary meal or look for payment”, she explains, “I approach my restaurant reviews like a published critique in a newspaper. My policy is to never take payment, whether in cash or in kind. I feel that this would influence my independent position, and I won’t do it.” Cronin has had positive feedback from chefs and restaurateurs since she started writing her blog, and credits this to her ethos.

Joe Barrett of Bang Restaurant & Bar gets approached for complimentary meals from bloggers, and will consider engaging with them if he feels that they have something to offer the business. “We look at who they are, what they are, and who they are talking to”, explains Barrett. He sees blogging as a space that can’t be ignored, and while it’s difficult to measure the benefits of engaging with bloggers, “getting a positive review from a blogger is more about building links and choosing the right people to inform our SEO efforts.”

Some scepticism surrounds the blogging community, with the sector attracting some criticism for featuring paid content.

Joanne Cronin agrees that there is a cohort of bloggers who will use their platforms to look for free meals or payment, and uses the term ‘Blagger Culture’ to refer to this practice. “A new wave of bloggers have emerged in the last 3-4 years who hold a different viewpoint to me”, she says. “At times there is a lack of transparency, and I think this has damaged the reputation of the blogging sector. It doesn’t matter what kind of blogger you are; people are very cynical nowadays, and will question whether the blogger has received payment.”

As a community, Cronin believes there are a lot of people with integrity in the blogging community, but is concerned that the actions of a few can impact on the perception of the whole.

Whether we like them or not, it’s clear that bloggers are here to stay, so what should restaurants do? Cronin believes there are benefits for restaurants in engaging with bloggers: “If bloggers approach restaurants with a good proposition, the restaurant can evaluate it to see if there’s merit in it. But asking for a free meal, that’s a brass neck approach; it’s disgraceful.”

The Kilkenny restaurant, Campagne, attracted media attention recently when it tweeted a request received from an (unnamed) blogger, requesting complimentary meals in return for mentions on their blogs and social media channels. In a move welcomed by many in the hospitality industry, Campagne explained that they frequently receive requests of this nature, and expressed their frustration with this practice. The tweet attracted a large response, with the majority agreeing with the restaurant and applauding their stance. The story went viral, and was reported internationally by the likes of the Huffington Post and Mashable.

If a blogger wants to work with a restaurant or venue, they have to demonstrate their value. It’s not simply about how many followers a blogger has. Cronin recommends using online analytical tools to show how much people are interacting with the blog.

“You also need to promote yourself by demonstrating your prior experience and your depth of knowledge, as well as showing the value that you can deliver.”

Speaking to independent.ie, Garrett Byrne of Campagne revealed that the restaurant receives

www.bangrestaurant.com

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Restaurateurs who consider working with bloggers can do some research by reading previous reviews to see if they are honest and transparent. Joe Barrett recommends working with bloggers who are credible and relevant to your business.

After all, if a blogger is a vegan, it probably doesn’t make sense for a steakhouse to work with them. Spending a little bit of time doing your research will help to decide whether that influencer is worth the investment. www.stitchandbear.com

REGISTER NOW AT

6th & 7th February 2018 | CityWest Dublin

THE ONLY PLACE TO DO BUSINESS IN 2018 Attracting thousands of visitors from the food, hospitality and technology sectors, Food & Bev Live is THE event for 2018! Food & Bev Live will host the first-ever Global Hospitality Technology Summit (tickets sold separately), be home to world-class competitions and present industry-led discussions.

Food and Bev Live is the premier showcase of all things fresh and exciting for the Foodservice industry including: • • • • • •

National Barista Championships Chef Ireland Culinary Competitions National Cocktail Championships Euro-Toques Ireland Live Stage Chef Network Hub Contract Caterers Culinary Challenge

Food & Bev Live: THE show for everyone involved in the foodservice and hospitality industry.

Register now at foodandbev.ie

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