Ontario Restaurant News - November 2014

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November 2014 Vol. 29 No. 10

N A T I O N A L

C O V E R A G E

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Buca

From left: Ryan Campbell and Rob Gentile.

By Leslie Wu, editorial director

TORONTO—King Street Food Company is extending its portfolio with another Buca concept in Yorkville and a partnership with British chef Jamie Oliver that will take the company across the country and transform its business plan.

Helmed by partners Peter Tsebelis, Gus Giazitzidis and chef Rob Gentile, the company’s burgeoning empire—which includes Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse, Buca Osteria & Enoteca, The Saint Tavern, Bar Buca and the recently opened Buca Osteria & Bar Yorkville—is launching a 200-seat, 7,500-square-foot Jamie’s Italian in Yorkdale Shopping Centre in spring 2015.

Eight to 10 more locations of Parry sound, ontarIo

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the Jamie’s Italian concept, which currently has restaurants in the U.K. and eight other international destinations including Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore, will roll out across the country within the next five to six years.

The Yorkdale site will be deliberately larger to accommodate more customers and serve as a flagship for the Jamie’s Italian brand in Canada, the team will be looking at a footprint between 5,000 and 8,000 square feet, with 120 to 200 seats depending on the market and available location, said Giazitzidis.

“Each location is very unique: the design is unique and menu offerings are different, depending on the community and the market there,” he said.

“It’s not a cookie-cutter concept.”

Giazitzidis spent three months going through the Jamie’s Italian operations to get an understanding of its infrastructure.

“They grew from one to 36 locations in six years in the U.K. alone. It was great to see what they’re putting into place, and the checks and balances to make sure that the product and food quality is consistent,” he told ORN. “We’re going to mimic essentially that kind of setup here in Canada.”

Tsebelis said the team saw the partnership as an opportunity to learn a different model from their own. “Jamie’s out there talking about fresh ingredients and sourcing and traceability and so on, and they had

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some very empirical examples of how they manage it and consistently maintain it on a daily basis,” he said.

“That was very attractive to us to be able to bring that, not only to Jamie’s Italian Canada, but to our own business as well.”

The existing in-house butchering and local sourcing, overseen by Gentile, will carry on at Buca and the other King Street Food Company restaurants, using the new model to formalize standards with purveyors.

The process will take between five to six months from start to finish. “As we change territories and markets, and move out of the southern Ontario market, we’ll be doing this over again,” said Giazitzidis.

“We’re already working with local purveyors and we do a lot of the preparation in house with raw materials,” said Tsebelis. “Jamie is doing the exact same thing, and they put it into a business model which is incredible, such as how to maintain and track that traceability down to knowing exactly what boat a fish came from.”

The focus on seasonality and traceability is the ethos behind the 3,400-square-foot, 85-seat Yorkville Buca Osteria & Bar, the latest entry into the King Street empire which opened in October.

“We flipped the nose-to-tail concept from the King Street location of Buca—being the meat-focused restaurant that it is—to a fish concept using the same menu format and philosophy,” Gentile told ORN. He drew inspiration from the approach to fishing in Italy. “Certain types of fish aren’t even fished when they’re out of season because the Italians don’t think that they’re good enough to eat at that time, not because it’s there,” he said. “What a great idea to apply to Canadian fish and ingredients, because our country has amazing ingredients.”

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BUSINESS

“Chopped Leaf is definitely a great opportunity for a lot of those types of settings, like universities and airports and so on,” he said. Teriyaki Experience already has a presence in hospitals and universities and IFB is involved in discussions with some of the foodservice operators in these spaces, said Veloce.

Stevens designed The Chopped Leaf menu, which includes salads, wraps, rice bowls, sandwiches, quesadillas, salad rolls and soup.

“There is a significant catering component; the product lends itself well to catering and we are going to continue to try to build that area,” said Veloce, adding this tends to skew average check, which is about $10 to $12.

Cloverdale, BC location of Chopped Leaf.

IFB is looking for single and multi-unit franchisees, but doesn’t plan on selling master franchisees. “It fits with what we do; we’re franchisee rights for Canadian territories, said already focused on a certain customer base, Veloce. which is a bit of a more health-conscious cusThe project development cost is between tomer,” said Veloce. “We feel there is a growing $85,000 and $300,000 with an initial franchise market for this type of brand; there are opporfee of $25,000 and ongoing royalties of six per tunities in Canada across the country.” cent.

Currently, The Chopped Leaf has a presTeriyaki Experience has 107 Canadian locaence in three provinces, with seven units in tions, with the majority (81) in Ontario and British Columbia, nine in Alberta and two Quebec (11). There are 12 in B.C., Alberta, in Saskatchewan. “We’re looking right across Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined and the country,” said Veloce. He said IFB plans to three in Atlantic Canada. open a Chopped Leaf in Ontario in the early Veloce noted IFB “doesn’t have much exsecond quarter of next year, with the first unit posure in Western Canada” and the Chopped likely in the Greater Toronto Area, and the Leaf acquisition “gives us a little bit more of a Maritimes by the end of 2015. stronger foothold.” He said the company will The brand has committed to 12 more locause the purchasing power and real estate extions, including five more in Alberta, another perience of Teriyaki Experience in the eastern in Saskatchewan and the brand’s first Maniprovinces and of Chopped Leaf in the west. toba unit in Winnipeg.

“There is going to be a lot of leveraging, IFB plans to open another 18 in the next 18 really, both ways, because we’re almost like an months, bringing the total of new opens to 30. east-west structure and this is going to bring With a modern design of wood and stone, us together. It’s going to be advantageous from the average footprint is 1,200 to 1,500 square many perspectives,” said Veloce. feet, ranging between 30 and 40 seats and typi“The [company] restructuring was recally found in strip plazas. ally designed so that we can now look at other Veloce noted there is a location opening at brands, so we are certainly looking at other the University of Alberta early next year, which potential acquisitions down the road,” Veloce will be Chopped Leaf ’s first foray into institusaid. tional foodservice.

Donato Food buys Chopped Leaf

By Kristen Smith, Assistant editor, digital content OAKVILLE, ON—Donato Food Corporation, operating company for Teriyaki Experience, acquired B.C.-based The Chopped Leaf for an undisclosed amount with plans to expand operations and bring the company east.

Announced along with the sale in October, there is also a new operating company name, Innovative Food Brands (IFB), for the two brands.

“We saw a great brand that was ready for growth and we thought that there was great opportunity to take the brand from the west to the east and continue growth of the brand in the west,” Nick Veloce, president and chief operating officer of IFB and president of Teriyaki Experience, told ORN. The West Coast brand was introduced in 2009 and has grown to 18 franchised locations under founder Blair Stevens, who will continue to oversee the growth of the concept as president of The Chopped Leaf brand within IFB. “It’s already been incubated and developed, so it’s ready for growth now,” said Veloce, adding Chopped Leaf is already a proven concept given its growth and the quality of existing

New Waterloo chapter for ORHMA WATERLOO, ON—The Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) launched the ORHMA Waterloo Region board and chapter to represent the hospitality sectors in Waterloo, St. Jacobs, Cambridge and Kitchener.

ORHMA president and chief executive officer Tony Elenis said the chapter, which has about 230 members, represents more than 90 per cent of the accommodations business in the area. We concentrated on building the hotel sector first before we go to the restaurants,” Elenis told ORN, adding there are already some restaurant members but given there are less hotels, it seemed like the appropriate first step.

“The Waterloo Region presents a quality hospitality product and developing a presence in this vibrant region will help foster a strong industry,” he said.

Elenis said the operators who approached the ORHMA about a new chapter felt the city and surrounding municipalities had “enough capacity and the need for an organization that would be able to lead them to synergies.”

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He noted there are a number of new properties in the growing region and a good mix of independent operators and major hotel brands, many of which have undergone renovations recently.

Elenis said there are great restaurants there, “from local food to concepts that are unique and trendy,” as well diverse offerings.

“The ORHMA works to influence provincial and municipal government on issues that affect the industry. We are looking forward to working as a region in building a foundation for our industry’s success,” Minto Schneider, board member and general manager of the Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Corporation, said in a release. “If you work in silos, you can never reach the goal of the group,” said Elenis.

He said the mandate of the ORHMA Waterloo Region is: to educate through speaker series on tourism, property tax and food costs; bring new tourism business to the region; and ensure continued growth and strength. “When you talk to one group, instead of one by one, it is much easier,” said Elenis.

The new board, elected on Oct. 21, consists of representatives from the accommodations sectors in Waterloo Region: • Secretary/treasurer Billie Anne Arthur, general manager of Cambridge Hotel & Conference Centre; • Vice-chair Vanessa Stevenson, Homewood Suites Cambridge general manager; • Chair Salim Mukadam, Holiday Inn Kitchener general manager; • Amanda Axt, director of sales and marketing for Hilton Garden Inn Kitchener & Cambridge; • Minto Schneider, Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Corporation general manager; and • Jason Shaw, general manager of Comfort Inn Waterloo.

Elenis said the chapter will bring other hospitality business representatives onto the board in the future.

ORHMA also has local chapters in Guelph, London, Ottawa, Simcoe, Toronto, and Windsor and has over 4,000 members, representing more than 11,000 establishments.

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P U BL i sHe R ’s

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Steven Isherwood ext. 236 sisherwood@canadianrestaurantnews.com

itch Kostuch, president of Kostuch Media Ltd., perhaps better known as the publications Foodservice & Hospitality and Hotelier, passed away suddenly at the age of 83 in late October.

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Leslie Wu ext. 227 · lwu@canadianrestaurantnews.com SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

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How to reach us: Tel. (905) 206-0150

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Jonathan Zettel ext. 226 · jzettel@canadianrestaurantnews.com ASSISTANT EDITOR, DIGITAL CONTENT

Mitch Kostuch.

Mitch purchased Foodservice & Hospitality magazine from the Canadian Restaurant Association (now Restaurants Canada) back in 1974, competing strongly with then industry leader, Canadian Hotel & Restaurant from media giant Maclean Hunter.

Not only did he compete, but eventually bought that book to continue his growth.

Mitch was an entrepreneur, who brought many ideas and some innovation. For example, today’s Top Management Night by the Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals (CAFP) Toronto Branch evolved from Foodservice & Hospitality’s annual Top 50 Chain Report issue.

He was a tireless promoter of Canadian cuisine almost from day one—long before it became trendy and fashionable—and produced two books to that effect: The Ca-

Paul LeClerc Partner, Serve-Canada Food Equipment Ltd. Paul Mancini Director of Retail, Inventory and Wholesale, LCBO Jorge Soares Director Food and Beverage Operations, Woodbine Entertainment Group Adam Colquhoun President, Oyster Boy John Crawford Director of Sales-Canada, Lamb Weston Tina Chiu Chief Operating Officer, Mandarin Restaurant Franchise Corporation Martin Kouprie Chef/Owner, Pangaea Restaurant Joel Sisson Founder and president of Crush Strategy Inc. Leslie Wilson Vice-president of Business Excellence, Compass Group Canada Chris Jeens Partner, W. D. Colledge Co. Ltd.

Ontario Restaurant News Volume 29 · No. 10 · November 2014 Ontario Restaurant News (www.ontariorestaurantnews.com) is published 12 times a year by Ishcom Publications Ltd., 2065 Dundas Street East, Suite 201, Mississauga, Ont. L4X 2W1 T: (905) 206-0150 · F: (905) 206-9972 · Toll Free: 1(800)201-8596 Other publications include the Canadian Chains and Buyers’ Directory as well as:

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nadian Menu Manual, and Culinary Canada, a book that used many of the country’s great chefs to create a truly Canadian industry culinary book.

He was actively involved with the industry, and encouraged his staff to do so as well. He was particularly proud of his association with the Canadian Federation of Chefs & Cooks, and a strong advocate of the World Association of Cooks (WACS), attending summits around the world, and the Culinary Olympics whenever possible.

He was my first boss when I joined the industry in 1977. He gave me a chance to learn and grow as my mentor. Over the years, he remained our friendly, professional competitor.

He will be missed.

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EDITORIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Mickey Cherevaty Consultant, Moyer Diebel Limited Marvin Greenberg Consultant Jack Battersby President, Summit Food Service Distributors Inc. Barney Strassburger Jr. President, TwinCorp

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Hospitality industry loses a leader

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O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Second Cup buys franchised cafes

Longo’s talks HMR with CAFP

MISSISSAUGA, ON—The Second Cup Ltd. announced the acquisition of 17 franchised locations concentrated in the Toronto area and will promote the franchisees within the corporation.

Debbie and Bob Riche—who have more than 20 years experience operating Second Cup franchises—will become the company’s director of operations, corporate cafes and general manager, corporate cafes, respectively.

“This acquisition allows Second Cup to revitalize these prime locations and benefit from Debbie and Bob Riche’s invaluable expertise,” president and chief executive officer Alix Box said in a release.

The acquired franchises will be revitalized with the company’s “café of the future” concept set to unveil before the end of the year and eventually refranchised, according to the release. “It’s all a part of the revolution that’s taking place at Second Cup,” Box said.

The move is “a new beginning,” said Bob Riche. “We are inspired by the change that is currently taking place within the company. ”

TORONTO—Longo’s foodservice lifted the curtain to the Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals (CAFP) Toronto branch on Oct. 20 with a tour of the 14 York St. location. CAFP members were given a tour of the grocery store to see how the chain manages its home meal replacement (HMR) program and provide its customers with a variety of grab-and-go options.

“We’re not grocers, we’re foodservice,” Longo’s director of foodservice Gary Wildman told more than 50 CAFP Toronto members in attendance. Wildman, who has a 25year history in the industry, talked about how the industry has changed over the years. He said when he started out, the most important thing was to follow the recipe and keep food at the appropriate temperature.

Now, he said the industry looks at preferred methods, traceability, sustainability, consolidation, fast casual and clustering.

The industry relied on comment cards, but today, Wildman noted reviews are online instantly through social media. “If you screw up, everybody knows,” he said.

Tania Amato, process and product development for Longo’s, said more people are looking for quick and easy dinner solutions and HMR sales are growing as a result.

Chase group spawns Little Fin TORONTO—Chase Hospitality Group opened its latest restaurant Little Fin in Toronto’s Financial District on Oct. 21.

The restaurant offers a seafood-to-go experience with fish sandwiches, seafood rolls and whole lobster.

Located at 4 Temperance St. in the historic Dineen Building, Little Fin’s offerings were developed by the culinary team behind neighbouring The Chase Fish & Oyster.

“Little Fin’s menu has a classic sensibility with fun, unique elements, such as our black sesame buns and fancy sauces,” Nigel Finley, executive chef of both Little Fin and The Chase Fish & Oyster, said in a release.

The menu includes bigeye tuna, crispy haddock, salmon, or a burger on a black sesame or gluten-free bun, with crispy potatoes and garden slaw, or on a seaweed salad.

Seafood rolls, such as a lobster hot dog and crispy rock shrimp, are served on housebaked sesame challah. Extras include “seasides” such as sweet potato lobster chowder and chili-spiced broccoli, as well as freshpressed juice, beer, and ice cream sandwiches.

Zomato moves into Canada TORONTO—A restaurant discovery and search service has moved into the North American market with the launch of its Toronto section.

Zomato announced the launch of its website and application in October with more than 11,000 restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area. Users can browse restaurant information, read and write reviews, share pictures and build a network of trusted users, according to a release.

The app allows users to discover nearby restaurants based on location. Restaurant owners can target customers in their catchment area with advertising, upload special menus and engage with customers in real time with the business app, according to Zomato’s website.

Founded in New Delhi in 2008, the company is in 120 cities in 14 countries and plans to expand to other Canadian cities.

a nd

Bi t e s

Commercial sales to hit a record in 2015, says Restaurants Canada OTTAWA—According to Restaurants Canada’s annual industry forecast, next year’s commercial sales will hit a record $59.8 billion.

The association attributes the increase to growth in Western Canada, particularly Alberta, and to a “booming contract catering industry.”

Restaurants Canada anticipates sales to be up four per cent from the estimated $57.5 billion predicted for all of 2014.

“As our industry continues to grow, so will our workforce. The signs point to an additional 21,000 jobs for Canadians in the coming year—from cooks and chefs to IT managers and digital marketers,” Garth Whyte, president and chief executive officer of Restaurants Canada, said in a statement.

According to the report, contract caterers will lead all segments with an average annual sales growth of 5.3 per cent between 2014 and 2018.

This is attributed to demand for remote foodservice driven by the natural resource industries and rising populations at health care facilities and post-secondary institutions.

Overall industry sales will grow an average of four per cent annually between 2014 and 2018, according to Restaurants Canada.

Regionally, Alberta will lead the country with the fastest-growing foodservice sales, seeing average annual growth of 5.1 per cent between 2014 and 2018 with five per cent growth next year.

In 2015, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario will see growth outpacing the national rate with increases of 4.8, 4.4, 4.3 and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

British Columbia, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick can anticipate growth rates above two per cent but below the national average of four per cent, with growth of 3.9, 3.2, 3 and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

Restaurants Canada stated it uses an econometric model to forecast commercial foodservice sales by using the Conference Board of Canada’s forecasts of disposable income, real GDP, employment and population.

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www.ontariorestaurantnews.com From left: Bruce Miller and Scott Lewis.

O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Crave It ready to roll

Growing The Works TORONTO—The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro is continuing to focus its growth on Ontario while scouting for about eight locations.

Fresh Brands Inc. purchased the brand in 2010 from Ottawa restaurateur Ion Aimers, and has since expanded from the original six Ottawa stores to 25 Ontario locations—with its most recent opening in Kitchener, ON, on Sept. 19—and one in St. John’s.

This summer, chief executive officer Andy O’Brien left his post to take up the CEO role with M&M Meat Shops. President and chief operating officer Scott Lewis told ORN the company isn’t looking to fill the CEO position and that O’Brien is “still very much involved as an investor.”

The Works moved into the Atlantic Provinces in 2013, also opening a location in Halifax, which was one of three stores to close over the past year.

Bruce Miller, co-owner and marketing and development officer, said the company plans to continue its trend of quick growth, noting the number of locations has doubled in the last two years.

The company focuses on eight-ounce burgers, with a menu of more than 50 creations.

The full service restaurant offers beer, wine and milkshakes served in measuring cups and has an average check of about $18.

The Works uses its limited-time, feature menus, such as “cooking with beer” and its re-

cent “get stuffed” and bacon-focused creations to determine what guests enjoy, said Miller.

During the bacon promotion, “‘Getting Piggy with it’ was our No. 1 seller,” he noted, so the creation made it onto the menu. “It’s a great way to test innovation,” said Lewis.

He said the company would continue to infill the Ontario market. “We’ve got huge areas, huge populated areas, that we’re not in yet,” he said.

“In time, we’d love to head west; we’d be looking to do that a bit further out” said Lewis, estimating The Works could be looking for partners in the western provinces in the next 12 to 18 months.

The company’s franchise territory fee is $45,000 and restaurant build costs range between $400,000 and $800,000, with a required financial liquidity of between $300,000 and $350,000, royalties of six per cent and two per cent for marketing.

The average store footprint is about 2,500 square feet with between 75 and 85 seats.

Miller said they are looking to open with new franchisees as well as with exiting ones who want to operate multiple locations: a handful already own two, two own three and one just signed on for a fourth. The company is scouting locations for eight new stores, adding a lot of time goes into finding the appropriate real estate. “We won’t bend on locations; it has to be right,” said Miller.

Sean Black.

TORONTO—The fast casual Crave it Restaurant Group opened a second Stoney’s Bread Company location at 1045 The Queensway in Etobicoke, ON, on Oct. 6 and is working to launch two new brands in 2015.

The group—who were behind Extreme Brandz, which sold to MTY Food Group Inc. for $45-million in May 2013—now operate three brands including Stoney’s, Via Cibo and the Burger’s Priest.

“Not everyone gets the chance to reset,” Sean Black, chief development officer and co-founder of Crave It Restaurant Group told ORN. “I really believe we’re just getting started.”

According to Black, one of the new brands will be a fast casual Asian concept, with two locations of each new concept opening next year.

Burger’s Priest will continue to expand with at least eight more locations in 2015, with its first U.S. site in Dallas and locations in Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and three more Toronto locations including one at corner of Yonge St. and Dundas St., said Black. At least two more Stoney’s and up to seven more Via Cibo locations are also expected for 2015.

Black said the company has learned from its mistakes and is able to leverage previous success

with Mucho Burrito and Extreme Pita, which grew to more than 300 locations.

“The second time around, we’re getting the choice of the best pieces of real estate in the country,” Black said, adding restaurant suppliers are also treating the group as a key account.

As the latest addition to the company’s portfolio, the 2,800-square-foot Stoney’s will serve up breakfast, lunch and dinner options including a signature omelette with chorizo sausage, charred peppers, field mushrooms and asiago; an Alsatian chicken sandwich with brie, apple onion confit and garlic aioli on ciabatta; a margherita pizza with basil and mozzarella and fireroasted tomato sauce; and shrimp and scallop fettuccini with bacon, red onions, grape tomatoes and spinach in a garlic chardonnay cream sauce.

The restaurant seats up to 40 people inside and has a 20-seat seasonal patio. It is fully licenced carrying local beerson tap.

For more than 10 years, the Stoney’s location in Oakville, ON, was owned and operated

by Steve Chabot and Blake Stoneburgh, who continue to be involved with the brand.

“It’s all about good food and good people,” Black said.

A new road for King Street Continued from cover

“The more people learn about Canadian ingredients and what we have to offer, the more we will use our own ingredients instead of exporting them,” said Gentile.

Buca Yorkville sources its fish, milk, eggs, honey and maple syrup from Société-Orignal and seafood from Hooked Inc. The menu specifies not only the origin of the fish, but also how it was caught, and changes daily depending on the fish available.

A whole fish cart offers three species of fish, such as a line-caught fluke, a farmed branzino or a small halibut, offered either alla piastra (seared) or alla crosta di sale (salt baked), cleaned tableside and with a choice of sauces.

Entrees range from smaller items, such as anchovy-stuffed olives for $9 to a daily crudo misto selection of raw seafood for $139.

Front of house staff are directly involved in plating, whether mixing pasta at the table, or carving raw branzino tableside for crudo, finishing it with prosecco and lemon and Italian salt.

“We brought in about 150 fish alone just

for training, which took about three days,” said Gentile. “We had all the waitstaff clean fish and chose those that excelled at it faster to have a core group to do it tableside.”

The restaurant is currently getting about 15 orders of the crudos per night.

When ordering, Gentile asks for the head and fins to be left on, and for the fisherman not to gut the fish.

Butchering the fish in house allows Gentile, chef de cuisine Ryan Campbell and the team to reserve elements such as the bloodline to mix with pork fat for andouille sausage or other charcuterie applications, such as prosciuttostyle, cured yellowfin tuna from Lady Brooke, NS, with rosemary and black pepper; octopus salami with preserved lemon from Georgia Straight, BC, or hot-smoked eel from Port Elgin, NB. Gentile also processes tuna or swordfish blood with eggs and flour and sheets it for pasta, which is then served with housemade fish n’duja, burrata and pistachio.

A six-seat, 12 to 18 course chef ’s table will let Gentile play with other offcut elements of the fish including the fin, which is tradition-

From left: Peter Tsebelis, Rob Gentile and Gus Giazitzidis.

ally cut off for ease of packaging. “To be able to slice the fin and sear it and serve it simply is incredible. It’s so fatty, it’s almost like the back fat of a pig,” he says. By using elements such as the marrow from the spine, or tuna heart for tuna bottarga, Gentile hopes to motivate fishermen and cooks to see the whole fish as something of value, rather than just using centre cuts and

discarding the rest.

Gentile will be training chefs within the new King Street Company locations of Jamie’s Italian to follow this philosophy to maintain consistency and traceability, said Tsebelis.

“Consistency is an underlying factor in our industry. Be consistently good or bad—just be consistent,” he joked.

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N OV E M B E R 2 014

Foodservice’s coldest month

By Scott Stewart

A

s the year winds down, the month of December is always circled on Canadians’ calendars. Holiday festivities begin, vacations get underway, shopping lists approach critical mass, and the freeze of winter puts a chill in the air. While some may consider this to be “the most wonderful time of the year,” the foodservice industry must be acutely aware of the changes that have taken place in the market for this time period.

December is a unique month within the calendar year, and presents both challenges and opportunities to the foodservice industry. One particular challenge is a negative economic outlook that has persisted over the last few years for the holiday season, despite the traditional holiday rush. According to the Conference Board of Canada, consumer confidence during the past three Decembers has been, on average, nine per cent lower than the rest of the year. Over that same aggregate time period, unemployment has only

been 2.5 per cent higher in December than the rest of the year.

This consistently low confidence, despite relatively consistent unemployment figures, suggests that Ontario consumers experience a unique change in this month which may alter spending habits; a change that is evident in the foodservice industry. According to NPD Group’s CREST data, over the past three years, the December/ January/February (DJF) quarter has seen 14 per cent less traffic than the average non-DJF quarter.

During this DJF quarter in Ontario, the foodservice market averages 205 million occasions per month compared to the 233 million occasions per month through the rest of the year. Considering these low traffic numbers and the negative outlook hanging over the month of December, the expected challenges in this month become evident.

Making an occasion special Despite the recent slowness of the December foodservice market, there are unique oppor-

ONTARIO 66.1% CONSUMER CONFIDENCE FOR DECEMBER 7.8% UNEMPLOYMENT FOR DECEMBER 72.4% CONSUMER CONFIDENCE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR 7.6% UNEMPLOYMENT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR Source: Consumer confidence: Conference Board of Canada Unemployment %: Statistics Canada, Labour Board Survey; Consumer confidence: Index to 2002; Time Period: August 2011 to July 2014.

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DE CODI NG tunities for operators to win during the final month of the year. Although traffic has been dropping in the DJF quarter, average eater cheques have actually increased. Within full service restaurants (FSRs) specifically, DJF eater cheques are, on average, more than three per cent higher than during the rest of the year. This may be related to the special occasion focus during this time of year: 12 per cent of Ontario FSR visits are driven by special occasions during DJF, compared to only 10 per cent during the rest of the year. In addition, consumers report they are willing to spend more money during a special occasion at an FSR than a normal occasion.

With this in mind, restaurant operators can turn their focus to increased cheques during this time of year. By focusing on the upsell, operators can protect themselves from declines in traffic, while also capitalizing on an increased willingness to spend. This is an opportunity for front of house staff to prompt for appetizers, desserts and beverages that consumers may forgo other times, but that can support the sales of a restaurant in its most difficult traffic quarter.

Consider the co-worker In addition to special occasions, the DJF quarter also attracts more professional visits to Ontario FSRs. More than 11 per cent of DJF FSR occasions include a business associate or co-worker, compared to nine per cent the rest of the year.

This skew towards professional occasions is made more important when considering that co-worker occasions include 12 per cent more items per eater in DJF (4.2 per person) than the rest of the year (3.7 per person).

Like special occasions, this highlights an op-

T H E

D ATA

portunity for operators. Not only are co-workers more likely to be dining together, but those who do dine together are ordering more than the rest of the year. For those operators with locations close to offices and worksites, December presents an opportunity to connect with these businesses and drive visits from their workers. And for the operators who are able to bring these professionals in, it is important to capitalize on their likelihood of ordering more items than usual.

Cold fighting strategies December has proven to be a consistently challenging month for the economy overall and foodservice has not been able to avoid those difficulties. While this trend is unlikely to change anytime soon, restaurants have the opportunity to battle this downturn in traffic by strategically increasing sales. By anticipating special occasions and co-workers, restaurants will be better prepared to welcome the kinds of parties that are more likely to visit during this month.

Furthermore, by educating staff on upselling at this time of year through additional items like appetizers, desserts and beverages, operators will be resonating with consumers’ increased willingness to spend and demand for more items, while strategically supporting dollar sales despite overall downturns in traffic.

Scott Stewart is an account manager, Foodservice Canada for The NPD Group. The NPD Group has more than 25 years of experience providing consumer-based market information to leaders in the foodservice industry. For more information, visit www.npd.com or contact him at scott.stewart@npd.com.

MTY to buy Manchu Wok MONTREAL—Quick service operator and franchisor MTY Food Group Inc. is on a buying spree again, with an Oct. 23 announcement that it is acquiring the assets of Manchu Wok, Wasabi Grill & Noodle, and SenseAsian for $7.9 million.

The deal, expected to close by Dec. 16, will involve MTY’s wholly-owned subsidiaries MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc. and MTY Franchising USA, Inc., who have entered into a binding agreement to buy the companies operating Manchu Wok, Wasabi Grill & Noodle, and SenseAsian in Canada and the United States. The sale affects 114 franchised and 19 corporate stores, 51 of which are in the U.S. According to a release, the 133 stores generated approximately $95M in system sales last fiscal year.

After the deal closes, franchise operations will be based out of MTY’s Richmond Hill, ON, offices.

“Manchu Wok is an iconic brand in the ethnic food category and has a long history of success,” Stanley Ma, MTY chief executive officer, said in a release. “The addition of Manchu Wok will further increase our presence in Canadian

food courts and will add to MTY’s nascent franchise network in the United States.”

Manchu Wok first opened by founder Jack Lew in 1980 with a single store in Peterborough, ON, and was subsequently owned by Scott’s Hospitality, and then Ken Fowler Enterprises and publicly-traded Hong Kong-based fast food group Cafe de Coral, the current owners.

Wasabi Grill & Noodle was a new Japanese concept for the Manchu Wok chain that opened in January 2013 at the North York Civic Centre, with food offerings at Wasabi in three platforms: grab-and-go style sushi, noodle soup and teppanyaki.

SenseAsian Bistro has one Toronto location in Scotia Plaza at 40 King St. and offers stirfries, salads and skewers.

This sale marks the latest in a string of acquisitions for MTY, including the Madisons New York Grill & Bar concept in Canada in April, which moved the chain into the casual dining sphere, as well as the 2013 purchase of Extreme Brandz’s two largest concepts—Extreme Pita and Mucho Burrito—which represented the biggest acquisition in MTY’s history.

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O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Alain Ducasse Education partners with George Brown Alain Ducasse.

By Kristen Smith Assistant editor, digital content TORONTO—George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts (CHCA) announced a partnership agreement with Alain Ducasse Education (ADE) on Oct. 17, providing 24 students the opportunity to learn and gain hands-on experience in France.

The partnership means a new postgraduate advanced French patisserie program for CHCA, set to begin next spring.

Offered jointly with ADE’s pastry and bakery school, École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie (ENSP) in Yssingeaux, France, the program will cover areas such as chocolate confection, savoury baking, regional cheeses and artisan breads.

The students will spend their first semester at George Brown’s chef school and their second semester at ENSP before moving off-site for an eight-week externship. Students will complete their final semester at George Brown.

Lorraine Trotter, dean of the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, said the new program prepares students for a global workplace and reinforces the school’s commitment to internationalization. “It’s a way for students to get tangible benefits, in terms of meeting chefs from France, getting an opportunity to go to France, learning about French food and staying current on the trends,” Trotter told ORN. In addition to the pastry program, the partnership will offer culinary students the opportunity to study and work in France for six

months upon completion of their George Brown culinary credential or through two-week study tours. ADE chefs will visit George Brown and deliver courses and events as well.

“We all know how much we owe to French culinary tradition,” Trotter said during the official announcement, citing enduring foundational techniques and the pursuit of perfection as examples.

During the announcement, part of a French culinary market at George Brown honouring the Michelin-starred chef, Alain Ducasse said he will be pleased to welcome the CHCA’s top 24 students, who he expects will come back and open their own restaurants in Canada.

In an interview with ORN, Ducasse spoke of his recent move to reduce meat and dairy on the menu of his Parisian restaurant at Plaza Athénée when it reopened in September following renovations.

On May 27, 1987, in Monaco, Ducasse introduced a grains, vegetables and fruits menu called “jardin de province,” which currently represents 20 per cent of sales.

Ducasse said this made him confident in launching a restaurant focused on vegetables, grains fruits, to which he added fish.

“I wanted to prove that haute cuisine was possible to be made with these three ingredients added to the fish,” Ducasse said through a French-English translator.

Using his extensive media coverage, Ducasse wanted to demonstrate how people can satisfy their hunger “on a planet on which we consume way too much … I wanted to show that we must consume less fat, less sugar, less salt, less animal protein and focus ourselves more on seasonal, local, organic cereal products,” he said. “I wanted to prove that this is actually possible.”

Ducasse calls it “naturalness,” which he defines as getting closer to nature and the natural product. “It’s a way of cooking that does not require the superficiality of effect, but on the

contrary, it targets more towards the depth of things; requiring the right temperature, the right seasoning.”

With an enterprise of restaurants “in the 20s” in eight countries, the common thread is the way products are selected: seasonal, local and sustainable.

“The perfect professional manner to prepare these products is perfect seasoning, to really preserve the original taste of every single ingredient that composes a dish,” said Ducasse, adding another foundation is rigour and discipline.

“What I really like is not to create the same restaurant twice, so every single restaurant would cultivate its own identity,” said Ducasse, adding each also consistently adhere to clearly defined parameters within its own story.

Ducasse said globalization has had a negative effect on food; it means there is more sugar, salt and fat and much less local product.

Ducasse uses 95 per cent local products in his restaurants, while ensuring those products express his work and the story of the restaurant.

“I have a global vision of what not to do and a local vision of what I want to do,” he said.

Ducasse’s restaurant enterprise has a total of 21 Michelin stars, and he said his executive chefs “will have had to put up with me for several years; I know all their faults, but they know mine as well.”

To maintain his standards across two dozen restaurants, he has strong collaborators and the capacity to delegate and share knowledge.

“Since I started in Monaco 27 years ago, we’ve kept that very strong tradition to train and to pass on the knowledge,” said Ducasse.

“We do rely on a very strong and large organization; I have a very strong corporation of pastry chefs and a very strong corporation of other chefs,” he said.

So will that corporation be bringing a restaurant to Canada? Unlikely. “There is too much competition,” said Ducasse, adding that his colleagues, such as Daniel Boulud, beat him to the punch.

Riverbend Inn and restaurant sold NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ON—Built in 1860, the Riverbend Inn and Vineyard and its restaurant, located at the corner of John Street and Niagara River Parkway in Niagara-on-theLake, ON, changed hands on Sept. 19 for an undisclosed amount.

Toronto-based Jane Yu purchased the 17acre property, which includes a 21-room inn, CAA four-diamond restaurant, coach house and 12 acres of vines, from Alrene Del Ben, who also owns Old Stone Inn in Niagara Falls, ON. “There are long-term plans. Because the hotel is small, intimate [with] 21 rooms, you don’t have the benefit of 100 rooms and that kind of income,” general manager Eva Kessel told ORN. She has four decades of hospitality experience, which includes being the owner and operator of nearby bed and breakfast The Grand Victorian and co-ordinator of events for Reif Estate winery for about 20 years at the B&B. “Riverbend Inn is going to be doing a lot of interesting things because we’re small and we need to be more of a destination—we’re not just accommodations, so it’s attention paid to smaller details,” said Kessel.

She said the new owner is planning to build a spa on the second floor of the coach house and considering building a larger facility for conferences and weddings. Currently, River-

bend has a 12-person boardroom and can host 50 in the coach house and 150 people for a tented wedding.

Kessel said Riverbend will continue its partnership with Reif Estates Winery, which have managed the property’s 12 acres of vineyards since the hotel opened in 2002 and produces small lots of cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, vidal and merlot under the Riverbend label for use in the restaurant.

Matt Tattrie has taken up the helm as executive chef of the restaurant. The 28-year-old was formerly with Vintage Inns. He put out his first menu in October for the 50-seat restaurant, which seats an additional 10 at an antique bar and 50 on a seasonal patio.

The dinner menu includes seafood pappardelle, Mediterranean risotto, a half rack of lamb roasted with a maple walnut crust served with garlic mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and Colaneri Merlot rosemary jus, and a grilled tenderloin served with lobster mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a red wine reduction. Average check for lunch is $30 per person and $65 for dinner.

Kessel describes Tattrie’s cooking as classic, adding the kitchen makes everything in house, such as pasta, ice cream and jams. “I’m looking at the things he loves to do and that’s the direction we’re going to go,” said Kessel, adding they plan on promoting his passions. “There are a

Riverbend Inn and Vineyard.

lot of people that talk local, that talk scratch, but he’s the real thing.”

Kessel said the new owner plans to bring Eastern philosophies to the spa but to keep the European look of the restaurant.

“The rooms are reproduction antique and people like that; they like the look, it suits the look of the hotel,” she said.

The storied property was originally deeded to William McClennan in 1809, who farmed the land. In 1860, doctor Thomas Halliday Watt purchased the land and built a 6,500-square-foot brick mansion, which, with a later addition, is now the hotel. The property also served as a poultry farm and, for 45 years, a home run by five sisters for boys with mental disabilities, an art gallery and apartments.

One resident, Peggy Anderson, set up Newark

Neighbours, a charity organization providing food and clothing to those with financial needs. The non-profit organization still operates from the property in its own building, free of rent.

The Weins family bought the property in 2002 and turned it into the 21-room, Georgian-style inn and planted vines. The Riverbend Inn & Vineyard opened its doors to the public in April of 2004 and its wine was ready two years later. In February 2010, the Del Ben family acquired the property.

Kessel said a student from the nearby Willowbank School of Restoration Arts will research the history of the property.

“I don’t think it has ever been properly researched and it does have a beautiful history,” she said.

N OV E M B E R 2 014

Wolf in the Fog named enRoute’s best

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COMING EVENTS Nov. 20-23: Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building, Toronto. www.foodandwineexpo. ca Nov. 24-25: Eastern Ontario Local Food Conference, Four Points Sheraton, Kingston, ON. eastontlocalfood.ca Nov. 28-30: Whole Life Expo, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto. www. wholelifecanada.com

Sous chef Martin Dean (middle) and executive chef Nick Nutting (right). Photo by Christopher Pouget.

MONTREAL—Tofino, BC, restaurant Wolf in the Fog, which opened in June, was named Canada’s Best New Restaurant by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine. Ayden Kitchen and Bar in Saskatoon was the People’s Choice Award winner.

Food writer Andrew Braithwaite travelled from Tofino, BC, to St. John’s visiting the 30 shortlisted restaurants. Here’s what he had to say about the top 10: 1. Wolf in the Fog, Tofino, BC: “On the extreme west coast of Vancouver Island, where rainforest meets ocean, you stumble up a flight of stairs and into a soaring cedar-clad room above a surf shop where chef Nick Nutting leads a crew trained in the precise details of fine dining.”

2. The Farmer’s Apprentice, Vancouver: “Each small plate—more often, a bowl—conjured by owner David Gunawan is a precise jumble of textures and flavours. Digging in is a sort of black magic.”

3. Le Vin Papillon, Montreal: “Long-time Joe Beef guru Vanya Filipovic fills massive chalkboards with organic wines to run with a vegetable-focused cuisine from boyfriend and chef Marc-Olivier Frappier.”

4. RGE RD, Edmonton: “The heart of Blair Lebsack’s kitchen is a wood-burning oven that consumes birch and maple at 700° F, curing honey ham and smoking Salt Spring Island mussels or even dehydrated local milk during the off-hours.”

5. Mallard Cottage, Quidi Vidi, NL: “Todd Perrin spent two years restoring a heritage property in Quidi Vidi Harbour for this brilliant mash-up of fine dining and comfort cuisine on the outskirts of St. John’s.”

6. Bar Buca, Toronto: “Rob Gentile’s restaurant likes to pretend it’s a simple bar for sipping Barolo. You’re here to drink, sure, but you’re also here to eat things like tiny fried smelt dusted with fennel salt.”

7. The Chase, Toronto: “Chef Michael Steh doesn’t lean on molecular trickery or audacious ingredients to wow. His food is more direct and more delightful than that, in an atmosphere that makes you want to say yes to things.”

8. Ayden, Saskatoon: “Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay gambled that Saskatoon was ready for limeand lemongrass- and ginger-dusted chicken wings.

Ayden isn’t about showing off Prairie cooking to the world—it’s about bringing the world home.”

9. Légende, Quebec City: “Northern Quebec is the culinary hunting ground that Frédéric Laplante mythologizes at his capital-city bistro. Cornish hen gets a boreal accent from balsam fir fleur de sel.”

10. Edna, Halifax: “Jenna Mooers’ North End bistro digs up treasure from the fertile soils of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley and hauls it out of the brisk Atlantic waters.”

The Top 10 restaurants will receive their awards during the annual Canada’s Best New Restaurants Gala celebration on Nov. 20 in Toronto and be featured in the November issue of enRoute.

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Jan. 29-Feb. 1: Guelph Organic Conference & Expo 2015. University of Guelph, Guelph, ON. guelphorganicconf.ca

Feb. 18-19: Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Convention, Scotiabank Convention Centre, Niagara Falls, ON. www.ofvc.ca

Feb. 3-4: The Greenbelt Fund’s Local Food Symposium, Queen’s Landing, Niagara-onthe-Lake, ON. ontariofresh.ca

Feb. 19-21: North American Association of Foodservice Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) Show. Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. www.thenafemshow.org

Feb. 12: Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals, Toronto Branch Top Management Night, The International Centre, Mississauga, ON. www.cafp.com

March 1-3: Restaurants Canada Show, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto. www.restaurantshow.ca

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O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

A LOOK AT PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS.

BY JONATHAN ZETTEL, ASSISTANT EDITOR

1

F

rom tomatoes to toasters, operators across the province require a variety of goods to stay in business. Fleets of trucks bring products to centralized warehouses, which are then distributed to thousands of restaurants with each and every item tracked and monitored along the route to ensure quality and, above all else, food safety. This month, ORN takes a look at the province’s distribution systems, what pressures are being placed on them, and how they are evolving to manage customers’ needs and expectations.

The number and variety of products necessary to keep a foodservice operation afloat can be a bit staggering.

Barry Reid, vice-president of sales and marketing at Flanagan Foodservice, says the company has more than 10,000 items available with an additional 10,000 smallware items available through the company’s affiliate S.T.O.P Restaurant Supply Ltd. Items are packed into the company’s three Ontario distribution centres in Ottawa, Sudbury and Kitchener.

“The industry is always challenged with volume and traffic,” Reid told ORN. Flanagan Foodservice started out in 1977 in Kitchener as a grocery distributor and has grown to service the entire province and parts of Quebec from larger multi-unit operations to independent restaurants, pubs, cafes, schools and healthcare foodservice.

While moving a vast number of products day in and day out, Reid says one of the company’s biggest challenges is finding good drivers, especially because there is some lifting involved compared to other transportation jobs that involve only driving.

“The drivers are a very key part of the business because they are really in front of the customers on a weekly basis,” Reid says, adding drivers can also act as salespeople.

According to Reid, the family-owned company is very inclusive and offers employees profit sharing and benefits.

While employees are looking for more, so too are the customers.

“The customer is demanding a lot more choice, from ethnic products to organic and local. There are a lot more choices available,” says Reid. “The challenge is to meet all the demands out there and yet still do it at a price point that’s economical for that operator.”

In order to keep up with the new reality, Reid says there is no room for rigidity.

“Flanagan’s has built great relationships being flexible to our customers,” he says.

Reid says alongside greater choice, there is also greater scrutiny when it comes to food safety.

“Our number one job around here is food safety, and it’s about brand protection,” he says.

CONSOLIDATE YOUR CENTRES

2

Over a four-day period this summer, the team behind Hendrix Restaurant Equipment and Supplies moved $4-million worth of product from two warehouses—one in London, ON and another in Brockville, ON—into a single 93,000-square-foot facility in Brockville.

Every item was shelved, binned and cyclecounted to meet the standards of a new warehouse management system being brought online.

“For all the things that could go wrong, it went well,” says Neil Baker, director of operations at Hendrix.

The main goal of the consolidated distribution centre, Baker says, was to establish a state-of-the-art operation that would maximize the company’s speed and accuracy while achieving labor savings in the process.

“We’ve realized that being operationally efficient over the next five years was going to be critical to our success,” he says.

Hendrix is investing in material handling equipment such as order pickers and reach

trucks.

The company also looks to implement a conveyer coupled with a scanning machine, which will import tracking information into the system. Customers will be able to track their order through Hendrix’s website and know when the order was received, when it was picked, when it was invoiced, when it was picked up by courier and its estimated time of arrival.

According to Baker, there are innate savings to be found and increased buying power through having one consolidated distribution centre. Also, the size of the building allows the company to stock sufficient quantities of a wider range of products.

On the downside, he says, freight rates are going to be higher, especially compared to costs of shipping to the London area when a full centre used to exist.

“There are some issues associated with it, but the consolidation is working really well for us, so it was the right decision,” Baker says.

3

THE BRIDGE BETWEEN

3

In 2007, Paul Sawtell says he and his partner Grace Mandarano had a lightbulb moment.

Chefs in the city of Toronto were eaea ger to get their hands on produce farmed just outside the city but did not have the means of travelling to each farm to pick up what they needed.

On the other side of the equation, OnOn tario farmers wanted to sell their wares to restaurants in the city.

A year later, the duo founded 100km Foods Inc., a distribution system acting as a bridge between farmers and foodserfoodser vice professionals in the city.

“From a producer’s standpoint, we’re dedicated sales, marketing and distribudistribu tion and from a restaurant standpoint, we’re essentially their resource to access many different local products from the farms through a single channel,” says Sawtell.

Currently the company works with more than 70 local farmers, has a fleet of seven trucks and is working out of an 84,000-square-foot warehouse located in North York, ON. Sawtell says that price is often used as

an argument against sourcing local food.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily always the case,” he says. “I think a lot of this is a red herring and it is very easy to dismiss the concept by throwing up price as an objection and never have to pursue it any further.”

Sawtell points to Ontario garlic comcom pared to garlic grown in China.

“Ontario garlic is massively more expensive than the Chinese product but people are willing to pay the price because it’s a far superior product; you end up using a lot less, the potency of the product is that much stronger and more intense,” says Sawtell. “The demand for Ontario garlic is through the roof.”

According to Sawtell, the No. 1 priorprior ity for chefs is quality and says they prepre fer greenhouse tomatoes picked fresh and delivered the next day to tomatoes shipped in a truck for four days and riprip ened with chemicals.

“Chefs also like the connection to where the food comes from,” he says.

“Food is their life and being sensitive to where the food comes from is a natural thing.”

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N OV E M B E R 2 014

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Over the years, Jack Battersby, president of Summit Food Service Distributors Inc., has seen it all.

“I’ve seen it go from the boom growth years through the inflationary times and it’s evolved into a very mature industry,” Battersby says.

Summit, which is a division of Colabor, is a broadline distributor with distribution centres in Ottawa, Vaughan, Mississauga, and London, ON. The company originated in the 1920s as a fresh fish store in London, ON, under the Silverstien’s banner. It was later named Signet and then Summit. In May 2011, Colabor bought Skor Foodservice and Summit later took over the company’s existing warehouse space. The move positioned the company to better serve the GTA and areas north of the city.

Battersby joined the company

during the boom years in 1976 and says the major change over the years has been the influence of technology.

“If it wasn’t for technology, we wouldn’t be able to sell to anybody at the price we sell today,” says Battersby, pointing to the effect of online ordering and inventory systems.

Over the years, the needs of customers have also changed, he says.

“Freshness has come a long way over the years,” Battersby says, adding the company will purchase local produce if it’s available.

According to Battersby, consolidation will continue to be a major theme in the distribution industry over the next five to ten years. Larger players in the market will look to buy up smaller companies. “But in order to have a truly competitive market, we’ll need more than just two big players,” he says.

5

Rows upon rows of products line the shelves inside Gordon Food Service’s Milton, ON, warehouse. It’s the only distribution centre in Ontario for the multi-national company and has an entire fleet of trucks servicing foodservice establishments across the province.

According to GFS customer solusolu tions manager Scott McDeivitte, getget ting things from point A to point B is only the beginning.

“I think a good distributor is shifting business from just delivering cases—but being very good at that because obviously you have to know the logistics—and moving to not just the back of house but to the front of house and the whole operational piece,” McDeivitte says.

Distributors used to be asked to deliver fresh product on time, but now restaurateurs are looking to their suppliers as not merely purveyor of goods but also industry experts.

“The restaurateur is turning the corner: you used to have a lot of hardworking people get into the restaurant business but they might not have had the business acumen to make it succeed,” says McDeivitte. “Now you’re starting to get a stronger voice and independence from people who are a little more savvy in business and they are utilizing their resources more from their suppliers—not just food distribution—but all of their suppliers and starting to look at those people as industry experts.”

As customer solutions manager, McDeivitte heads an entire departdepart ment devoted to providing value addadd ed service to the increasing needs of customers.

Food safety training, using the

company’s culinary centre, menu development and relaying indusindus try trends via NPD’s CREST data are among some of the ways GFS is helping facilitate customer demands above and beyond mere product dede livery.

According to McDeivitte, the comcom pany will also soon be rolling out a nutritional information program that will allow customers to submit recireci pes and receive a full list of nutritional information including salt and calorie counts.

Some customers are also latching onto the trend of providing local products and McDeivitte says GFS is working with provincial programs such as Foodland Ontario and the Greenbelt Foundation to help facilitate the demand for local products.

“We still have to meet full traceability and food safety to make sure products coming in are safe for our customers, and that’s always been the gap,” McDeivitte says, noting there are regulations in the works to standardize accreditation and traceability.

Food safety continues to be a top priority for GFS, McDeivitte says, with three certified food safety trainers on staff who have taught more than 1,200 students this year at various restaurants.

Emergency plans and recall protocols are in place with full traceability available and information relayed to customers, McDeivitte says.

“We’ve seen enough of the public prickliness of what goes on when a foodborne illness happens, or any illill ness, so it’s paramount,” he says. “We have to make sure the food is safe for people because the public demands it.”

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Taste of Ontario wines TORONTO—In early October, Wine Country Ontario held a trade tasting at the Royal Ontario Museum highlighting the wine-growing regions of the province. Taste Ontario 2014 saw 55 wineries pouring more than 140 wines for foodservice industry professionals.

Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery winemaker Martin Werner said the appellation’s hot days and cool nights preserve the acidity and structure of their wines. “It gives a lots of liveliness to our whites,” he said.

He noted the cold winter last year most affected merlot and sauvignon blanc plants, while chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet franc grapes can handle the freezing temperatures.

The good news is the affected crops that did carry fruit had smaller amounts, acting as nature’s way of thinning the grapes—the 2014 grapes will have a more concentrated flavour and higher acidity, said Werner. “While quantity will be down, quality will be up,” he predicted of the winery’s 2014 merlots.

Gordon Robert started with Marynissen Estate as winemaker and vineyard manager in September 2013. The winery saw new ownership in 2012 after being sold to Chinese inves-

tors by the Marynissen family. Robert said the winery “got lucky” with the September hot streak after a cool, wet season.

Founder John Marynissen is credited with planting Ontario’s first cabernet sauvignon grapes. His vines, planted in 1978, are thought to be the oldest commercial vines in Canada.

While Robert said last winter, “which crushed the vineyards,” affected 7.5 acres. The pride of the winery, its cabernet sauvignon vines, survived.

Ontario’s vineyards stretch across the southern part of the province close to Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron, which moderate cold winter temperatures and cool the vineyards during summer.

Of the 29,500 acres in Canada, Ontario makes up the majority, with 17,000 planted acres and 140 wineries in three designated viticulture areas: Prince Edward County, Lake Erie North Shore and the Niagara Peninsula with 10 additional sub-appellations. Emerging wine regions include a warm pocket on the North shore of Lake Erie near Port Dover, ON, the Georgian Bay area and north of Toronto on the Oak Ridges Moraine.

Old Tomorrow takes a swing at the market

Clockwise from top left: Doug Beatty, vicepresident and general manager of Burning Kiln Winery in St. William’s, ON. 13th Street winemaker Jean-Pierre Colas pours the 2012 Chardonnay June’s Vineyard.

Ravine Vineyard winemaker Martin Werner (left) and sales manager Al Van Dyke (middle).

Coffee, tea show serves what’s hot TORONTO—The annual Canadian Coffee and Tea Show took place at the International Centre in Mississauga, ON, in late September and showcased innovations within the industry.

The two-day event featured manufacturers, vendors and operators alongside several speakers from the industry and the 2014 Canadian Barista Championship.

For the second consecutive year, Benjamin Put of Monogram Coffee in Calgary took home the Barista Championship; the only barista to win consecutive titles other than four-year champion Sammy Piccolo.

Mexico shines Ian and Pat Macdonald.

TORONTO—A craft beer company named after Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald launched its flagship beer at select bars and the LCBO in October.

Old Tomorrow—a nickname derived from Macdonald’s uncanny ability to put off votes until they were more advantageous—will serve up kegs and cans of its first release, which the company is calling Canadian Pale Ale (CPA).

According to the mother-and-son team behind the brand, Pat and Ian Macdonald, the creation of the CPA is an attempt to give Canada its own pale ale and a chance to leverage growing optimism about national identity.

“It is an attempt at celebrating the greatness of being Canadian with our own pale ale,” Pat told ORN. “There’s American pale ale, there’s India pale ale, there’s British bitter beer but there’s no Canadian pale ale.”

Old Tomorrow’s CPA was created by brewer Jamie Mistry—creator of several beers from Amsterdam Brewery including Bonecrusher and Big Wheel—and is brewed in 3,600-litre batches at Big Rig Brewery in Ottawa. It uses a

British yeast, British and American hops, Canadian two-row barley and Canadian rye.

The pale ale is unfiltered, without preservatives and comes in at 4.9 per cent ABV and 18 IBUs. “It’s about the man, it’s about being Canadian and it’s about the great taste of the beer,” Ian said. “It’s flavour forward, but very easy to drink and sessionable as well, it’s a beer that is very much craft but you can drink a pint or a pitcher.”

Pat noted that January would have been Macdonald’s 200th birthday and they are trying to get up to full steam before then. “We think he’s been an under-celebrated hero,” she said.

According to the team, the company is taking a two-pronged approach to growth, concentrating on LCBO sales and getting its flagship CPA into bars and restaurants.

More Canadian-themed beers are in the works, Pat said, noting they are toying with the idea of creating a suffragette-themed cider in 2016 to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of women’s voting rights in Canada.

At the centre of the convention, the government-sponsored Mexican pavilion provided attendees with tastes of coffee and tea from the region.

Pablo Sanchez, second secretary of the embassy of Mexico in Canada, said there is a focus on small, artisanal and organic coffee growers.

“We’re the third of the fourth largest coffee provider of Canada and now that people are trying to find different coffees, we have that,” Sanchez told ORN. “Our production is made of small farmers, and we have the largest land dedicated toward organic coffee.”

While some of the current crops are suffering from coffee rust, Sanchez said the Mexican government is pouring money into research to fight the plant disease and find resistant strains.

In Mexico, Sanchez said there is also a deeply-rooted culture of curing ailments with tea, which has sparked an industry of health-related tea sales.

According to Sanchez, Mexico is actively seeking to take advantage of Canadian and Mexican free trade agreements to build economic ties between the countries.

“Canada is very sensitive to organic and fair trade and we have people who want to have the

coffee that no one else has, and we can offer that,” he said. “Mexico is a perfect place for that and we are relatively close to Canada.”

Bunn makes a barista Jeffrey Williams, sales manager for Bunn equipment in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, said that while single-serve cup machines continue to make an impact on the market, espresso machines that produce the entire beverage with a push of a button are keenly sought after in the foodservice industry.

“Our new systems are based on milk management and how we manage 98 per cent of the finished beverage,” Williams said. “It really speaks to the understanding that the restaurant industry is constantly teaching and retraining staff and still requires a consistent product.”

Cold coffee on tap Station Cold Brew made its debut at the show, giving attendees a sample of cold coffee served on tap.

“Cold brew is exploding,” founder Steve Ballantyne said.

The company offers eight ounce ready-todrink bottles, a 32-ounce bottle of cold coffee concentrate used for marinades, cocktails and iced coffees and a 30-litre, ready-to-drink keg.

Ballantyne said a growler system is also in the works.

Tea at Sea Fedor Molnar of Tea at Sea showcased his newly formed tea company at the event. The organic loose-leaf tea is sourced from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and China and includes both green and black varieties.

According to Molnar, he tried several bagged options, but said that the high-quality tea expands too much in water to be contained in an appropriately-sized bag.

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Craft brewers unite Stephen Beaumont.

TORONTO—The Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB) held its third annual conference at the Allstream Centre in Toronto on Oct. 16.

OCB chair and co-founder of Steam Whistle Brewery Cam Heaps told the more than 500 attendees “united we stand, divided we fall.

“This is not a movement, this is a revolution,” he said, adding competition for the group isn’t between one another but with the two major players in the beer market AB InBev and Molson Coors.

Heaps said over the past ten years, the industry has grown exponentially and now brewers can buy hops, brewing vats, and even go to school for brewing in Ontario.

“It’s great to see beer made the way it once was,” Heaps said.

Beer around the world Keynote speaker and beer author Stephen Beaumont told attendees about the global beer market.

Sonoma

in the city

(Top) 275 people attended the Sonoma in the City trade tasting.

(Right) From left: Peter Seghesio of Seghesio Vineyards, Vivien Gay of Silver Oak Cellars and John Schulz from Dutton - Goldfield Winery.

“By our best guess, somewhere around 350 breweries exist in Canada today,” Beaumont said. “But as impressive as that is, it pales in comparison to what is happening around the world.”

In Italy, he said, there are between 800 and 900 breweries and in France—a population well-known for its wine drinking—there are between 500 and 600 breweries. South of the border, Beaumont projects there will be more than 3,000 breweries in the U.S. by year end, which will match the number of breweries per capita in Canada.

“Saturation is not an issue,” Beaumont said, pointing to smaller countries with many more breweries. “We’ve got a long way to go before we can talk about saturation.”

Beaumont said currently, craft beer accounts for six per cent of the beer market and 10 per cent is represented by imports, which leaves 84 per cent of market share up for grabs by craft brewers.

The industry could change dramatically in the coming years, Beaumont said, especially given China’s growing thirst for beer.

“China produces more beer than the next three largest beer producing nation’s combined,” Beaumont said. In China, he said, they drink very little beer per capita, about half of what Canadians drink and if that per capita number grows by only a six-pack per year, that amount will equal 20 per cent larger than the

current production of craft beer currently in the U.S. “If you can imagine what that’ll do to hops supplies—you think it’s tough now?” he asked.

More beer, better Attendees were able to attend several talks and sessions, ask questions and speak directly to several suppliers and vendors.

Leanne Rhee, beer and cider category manager and Mark Wilson, beer and cider product manager with the LCBO were on hand to share how brewers can streamline the process of getting beers on LCBO shelves. “It is important brewers come to us as early as possible in the process,” Rhee said.

Rebecca LeHeup of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance spoke about how breweries can put themselves on the map and draw in tourists. Having branded merchandise for sale, she said, is an important part of the overall brewery experience and is an opportunity to increase sales.

Other break-out sessions included Cher Mereweather, of Provision Coalition and Steve Beauchesne of Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co., who spoke on sustainability; Leslie Hughes of Punch Media gave attendees a walkthrough of how to take advantage of social media; and Gail Winters and Nicholas Schaut of the Ontario Hops Growers’ Association gave an overview of the hops industry in Ontario.

TORONTO—Instead of looking for ways to stylize wine or make wine fit a specific niche in a market, Sonoma winemakers are removing the filter from the camera lens and pursuing individuality, said sommelier John Szabo to 55 members of the media, trade and hospitality industries at the Sonoma in the City seminar and trade tasting at the Royal Ontario Museum in October. “It’s an exciting time for trade, who want distinctive wines,” he said.

Making reference to the just-passed approval of 11 new American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in California’s Paso Robles region, Szabo spoke about Sonoma’s smaller acreage but comparative 16 AVAs, including Russian River Valley, Carneros and Chalk Hill.

Szabo led a panel of Sonoma winemakers and owners including Donald Patz of Patz and Hall, John Schulz from Dutton - Goldfield Winery, Peter Seghesio of Seghesio Vineyards,

Dan Wildermuth of Rodney Strong Vineyards and Vivien Gay of Silver Oak Cellars.

Gay spoke of losing hundreds of bottles in the August 6.0 magnitude earthquake at the Silver Oaks winery (“these earthquakes we keep having that shatter our nerves,” she joked) and the new winery the company will be building on the vineyard it just purchased in the Alexander Valley.

Andrew Fegelman of La Follette Wines talked about the growing movement for biodynamic wines in the Dry Creek Valley region, but also the stringent procedures to achieve biodynamic status. “It’s a little like undergoing an IRS audit,” he said.

Afterwards, 275 media, trade and hospitality members walked the trade tasting, which offered selections of more than 60 wines from 30 wineries including Kunde, Quivira Vineyards, Silver Oak and Schug.

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How poultry is coming home to roost for Canadian restaurateurs. by marni andrews

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here’s a perfect storm going on in foodservice conspiring to bring poultry to the centre stage. While traditionally a mainstay on menus, poultry (especially chicken) has been riding a new wave of popularity buoyed by trends for simpler eating, requests for healthier options and old-fashioned sticker shock.

Back to basics is a popular concept, so it’s not surprising the No. 1 menu trend on the 2014 Restaurants Canada chef survey was comfort food. Two menu examples are chicken pot pie and roasted chicken—homey foods mild in flavour with plenty of nostalgic appeal. With strong interest in healthier eating, poultry is seen as a lower-calorie protein.

One of the biggest challenges in foodservice is the steeply rising cost of food. Seventy per cent of Restaurants Canada members named this as a major issue in the most recent outlook for the coming year, according to Garth Whyte, president and chief executive officer of Restaurants Canada. And within the issue of skyrocketing food costs is the not-so-secret fact that while beef and pork prices are experiencing double digit growth rates in Canada, the price of chicken has been largely stable.

At press time, the Ontario Farm Marketing Commission was examining the cost of production formula used in setting the price of Ontario chicken.

In August, Statistics Canada noted beef and pork prices were 13.6 per cent higher than the previous year, ham and bacon was up 18.7 per cent, fish was up 6.3 per cent but chicken prices were only 1.6 per cent higher.

According to James Corpuz, business and policy analyst with the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO), chicken’s market share in 2014 is at 37 per cent, compared to an average of 32 per cent over the last five years, as noted in the Summer 2014 issue of CFO News. Wholesale prices in 2012 and 2013 were the two highest annual averages and, as of last summer, had further strengthened by 14 per cent since the end of 2013.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER According to Statistics Canada, annual consumption of chicken in Canada for 2013 was 30.14 kilograms per capita. Turkey and fowl saw 4.14 and 3.29 kilograms per capita, respectively. Annual egg consumption was 21.35 dozen per capita.

While chicken is overwhelmingly the most popular and accessible poultry option, turkey has much to offer, according to Stacy Butler, foodservice marketing for Turkey Farmers of Ontario (TFO).

“Consumers are looking for healthier food choices and variety,” says Butler, who adds that providing the operator with a selection of competitively priced, value-added turkey products along with menu

ideas has increased poultry sales.

The TFO develops menu recipes and assists operators in developing instore marketing campaigns to highlight those recipes. “Burgers, breast fillets, sausage and ground are just a few of the turkey products that have become more popular menu selections,” she says.

At the 350-unit Boston Pizza chain, chicken dishes represent about one-quarter of total food sales, says Michael Gray, director of culinary and executive chef. The protein is served grilled on salads, in sandwiches, pizza and pasta and as chicken wings and boneless wings.

“In 2011, we saw a 150 per cent increase in wing sales when we re-

launched our wing program with the Flatties & Drummies campaign.

In 2012, we had a 56 per cent increase on top of that with the launch of All Meat Wings,” says Gray.

“Poultry is a lean and healthy protein that is adaptable and works well in so many dishes and with a variety of flavours. This allows us to do things like sriracha chicken pizza or butter chicken fettuccine,” he explains. “And we continue to see poultry dishes make a significant impact on our menu with items like spicy chicken tacos, which was a guest favourite in 2014.”

Executive chef Lorenzo Loseto of Verity and George restaurants in Toronto chooses not to serve chicken.

Instead, he uses squab (60 to 80 per week), Cornish hens (80 to 100 per week) and duck (20 to 30 per week)

because “our client base likes more interesting poultry,” he says.

“We use squab instead of quail, for example, because you don’t see it as much and the flavour is interesting, rich and deep,” Loseto explains.

“Cornish hen is a little more familiar but still different.”

Marjolaine Bastille, brand manager, Olymel Foodservice Solutions, says chicken and turkey are both perceived as healthy, which pleases both millenials and boomers. “Also, they are versatile with a neutral flavor that makes them ideal for a variety of recipes and cooking methods,” says Bastille. “Consumers are looking for affordability, transportability, healthier options, and gourmet/indulgent dishes. Poultry can meet all these criteria.”

Laurie Rodrigues, brand manag-

er, Maple Lodge Farms, says chicken is an easy-to-prepare protein that can be used in virtually any recipe with ease. “Maple Lodge Farms has seen double-digit increases in the fresh chicken category, in which the whole chicken product has led,” says Rodrigues.

Grilled skewers have traditionally been the most popular foodservice item for Expresco Foods, which offers a line of fire-grilled, value-added proteins in chicken, beef and pork. However, grilled strips and diced chicken for pizzas, soups, sandwiches, etc. have been growing in the past few years, says Michael Delli Colli, marketing coordinator. And Expresco’s naturally grilled chicken wings (not breaded, baked in sauce or fried) are showing definite growth, he adds.

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international influence As a general rule, consumers prefer to eat white meat—specifically boneless, skinless chicken breast— and this has been the case for more than a decade. The exception to this is Quebec, where dark meat is very popular. However, this is changing, says Lisa Bishop-Spencer, manager of communications, Chicken Farmers of Canada.

“What’s interesting is that this trend is shifting; we’re seeing more and more dark meat being consumed in Canada. We expect this is due to the incorporation of other cultural diets because in [many]

other countries dark meat is more popular than white meat,” she says.

Canada is very multicultural and becoming more so, says Whyte of Restaurants Canada. He adds that many people are also looking to use the whole chicken now, from beak to feet.

“We are seeing the changing demographic landscape of Canada translate into our business. With the increase of immigrants who consume Halal food options doubling by 2030, we expect to see a large increase in our Halal products,” says Rodrigues of Maple Lodge Farms.

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“The challenge for our foodservice customers will be how to offer Halal in their establishments. It will require them to rethink their business model.”

Bastille of Olymel says some of the popular dishes trending right now are Portuguese chicken with piri piri sauce, North African dishes like Moroccan tagines and butter chicken, General Tao, and pho.

Delli Colli of Expresco Foods is seeing category growth in chicken thighs and the increasing prominence of international flavours such as honey sriracha and cajun.

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decoding duck Carnardes du Lac Brome in Knowlton, QC, was established in 1912, specializing in the production of peking duck, a domestic breed popular in Asia. Like many other duck producers in North America, it has grown by filling demand from the different Asian communities which settled mainly in large North American cities over the last century.

According to Bruno Guiliani, vice-president of sales and marketing, the company has shifted from this model of distribution to a more general consumer model over the past couple of decades.

Lac Brome duck—like other duck brands in North America— is produced in a vertically integrated model. All ducks are hatched on the main farm and raised following very strict practices. “From a marketing aspect, it is my point of view that ducks should not be considered poultry,” says Giuliani. “It is actually closer to a red meat and cooks as such. It does not compete with chicken but with lamb, veal, bison, venison, etc. In restaurants it is considered a specialty meat. Duck breast could easily compete with filet mignon or a rack of lamb. The category of specialty meats shows impressive growth.”

Giuliani says the trendiest duck products at present are confit legs, pot pies, boneless duck breasts, rendered duck fat and whole ducks, which are gaining in demand during holiday seasons.

Chef Lorenzo Loseto of Verity and George restaurants in downtown Toronto uses 20 to 30 Lac Brome ducks per week purchased from the distributor La Ferme Black River for his adventurous clientele.

Loseto serves duck a few different ways, which are popular on the tasting menus at George. He marinates duck breast in smoked paprika for a few days, then sous-vides and repoaches in olive oil before slicing for a warm salad. Another preparation involves confit. Loseto makes a farce with the breast and combines with the confit into mini cakes that he roasts and serves with foie gras.

Photos: 1. Expresco chicken skewers. 2. Olymel sage chicken burgers.

3: Boston Pizza pizza taco.

chicken run: local, humane and supply managed Bishop-Spencer of Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) says there is a great deal of movement toward and interest in fresh product, with customers wanting to know the country of origin of their chicken, for example. Recent Leger Marketing studies have shown that Canadian shoppers believe it is important that chicken is labelled with country of origin, with more than 85 per cent feeling it important that they buy Canadian chicken rather than imported product.

There is also more awareness of specialty birds such as organic and free-range, she says, adding some buying decisions are being made based on animal care concerns, a stance she says, that is shared by chicken farmers throughout the country.

“People should know that chickens raised for meat in Canada are not raised in cages. They are all, always, free-run birds,” says BishopSpencer. “A lot of people don’t know how closely the Canadian chicken industry works with its partners to ensure that stringent regulations for the care and handling of our birds are met and followed. CFC has an auditable Animal Care Program

designed to demonstrate our dedication to maintaining high animal care standards on Canadian chicken farms.”

Maple Lodge Farms, too, is seeing more requests for locally-raised and grain-fed fresh chicken. Rodrigues is quick to clarify that their fresh chicken products are from broiler chickens not raised in cages.

Responding to growing demand from consumers to know where their food comes from, CFC has introduced the “Raised by a Canadian Farmer” branding program. This branding will also assist with the problem with so-called “spent fowl” or old laying hens being introduced into the chicken supply chain.

Predominantly imported, the spent fowl have not been raised for meat consumption. Instead, after they have laid eggs for approximately 60 weeks and their productivity is declining, they are processed for meat, says Bishop-Spencer. While improvements in processing mean spent fowl is not as tough and strong tasting as it once was, it does carry an egg allergy risk, which is not the case with broiler chickens.

“It’s displacing Canadian production and costing Canada mil-

lions of dollars. Whereas chicken is subject to import controls, spent fowl is not and there is no limit on how much can be imported,” she explains. “In 2012, Canada imported 106 million kilograms of spent fowl from the U.S. This was an increase of 28 per cent over 2011 and an increase of more than 50 per cent in the past three years.”

“The real issue, though, is that consumers don’t know what they’re eating since there is no consumer labelling requirement for the sale of spent fowl, which can be sold under the guise of fresh broiler chicken … and is a potential danger to those who suffer from egg allergies. Restaurants need to be aware of these issues.”

Growing consumer demand for specialty breeds is putting pressure on the supply management system in use for poultry in Canada. Once a small-flock farmer has too many chickens, he/she is deemed as interfering with the supply management system and cannot acquire or produce more birds without paying quota. “There are things in the current system that need to be modernized. Then chicken could really take off,” says Whyte of Restaurants

Canada. “There’s no flexibility in the system right now; it’s defensive rather than growth oriented, which hurts long-term planning for buyers because they’re not sure what the supply will be. There has to be a way to move quotas between provinces to supply demand, maintain processing capacity and maybe even start exporting. But it needs to be a win-win-win for the consumer, the farmer and the restaurant as well.”

Lisa Ayers is co-partner in the free-range Bertha’s Bounty farm in the Niagara Region, which raises Dexter cows and heritage and rare chicken breeds including ameraucana, barred rock, chantecler, Egyptian fayoumi and salmon Favorolles.

Ayers says she loves the connection between the animals, the land and the customers.

“Our customers who pick up from the farm gate enjoy bringing their children along to see the free-range chickens and cows. They like knowing the eggs came from the chickens that they see roaming free. The children get a kick out of seeing the chickens behaving naturally—flying, scratching, et cetera,” she explains.

As a federally inspected egg

grading station, she is allowed to sell them off the farm to retail stores and restaurants. She sells some of her egg supply to two local fine-dining restaurants—Treadwells and Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery. The pastry chefs at both restaurants have commented that when they started using the free-range eggs from Bertha’s Bounty that they noticed a difference in the consistency of their mixes. Since fresh yolks are naturally very thick and dark orange, they didn’t need to add thickeners.

“I’ve spoken to customers who have come out to the farm with friends who were buying eggs and they said they’ve turned to a more vegetarian diet because they don’t like what they hear in the news about how some commercial farms treat their battery hens in cages,” she says. “Once they see our hens running and chasing each other and flying around outside, they know they have a happy life. European customers say our eggs and chickens remind them of how they grew up.”

Ayers says consumers are confused about terms such as organic, certified organic, free-run, freerange, natural, grass-fed. “You can have certified organic, free-run chickens that don’t go outside in the sunshine but are allowed to run inside a barn. Is that better?” she asks.

“Not for the animals!”

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of their sales to CFCC and its community projects—raised more than $110,000.

Saul said he was humbled by the restaurant community getting behind the “work at CFCC to build a fair and healthy food system,” at a media event at The Saint Tavern on Oct. 7.

“I would do anything Nick asked me to,” Ryan Donovan, chef and co-owner at To-

ronto’s Richmond Station, told ORN. He and partner Carl Heinrich were the first to get on board.

Other industry members weren’t difficult to convince. Event chair James Chatto said he was pleased to be able to do something good.

“It’s a chance to walk the walk and be part of something extra important,” he told ORN. Chatto, a renowned food writer and restaurant critic who also chairs Gold Medal Plates, got involved in part to use the network he has established with the national chef program for a greater good. “I’ve spent so much time looking at the high end of the food chain, and it is important to me to be able to help with a project like this one.”

The list of participating restaurants include: in Vancouver, Hawksworth Restaurant and Vij’s Restaurant; in Calgary, Charcut, NOtaBLE – The Restaurant and Rouge Restaurant; in Winnipeg, Deer + Almond and Elements Restaurant; Foster’s Inn in Stratford, ON; in Toronto, Bar Buca, Buca, Buca Yorkville, Edulis, Jacob’s and Company Steakhouse, Richmond Station, Ruby Watchco, The Drake One Fifty, The Saint Tavern and THR+Co.; in Montreal, Garde Manger, Le Bremner, Nora Gray; Ottawa restaurants Atelier and Juniper Kitch-

en and Wine Bar; The Masonry in Perth; and Chives Canadian Bistro in Halifax.

Saul said support of the restaurant community “creates oxygen” for the work of Canada’s community food centres. He said everyone has the right to healthy food and no one should feel smaller for asking for help. “Food is powerful,” said Saul.

Over the course of a chef ’s career, a food philosophy develops, explained Donovan. It starts with being influenced by your parents, what you like to eat and other chefs. He said he was also influence by Saul’s values: “food is meant to be good, nutritious and for everyone,” adding his generation will take this edict forward.

He says no portion of the population should be relegated to eating leftovers and second grade food; people who go to a shelter deserve a hand-made meal. “I don’t believe that only people who can pay for it should get it,” he said. “The food that’s in our restaurants isn’t a privilege, it’s an inalienable right.”

Donovan said he can envision this event growing, pointing out there are more than nine cities in Canada and the CFCC mandate is to open centres nationally. At press time, the 2015 event was scheduled for next fall.

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Restaurants for change

From left: Carl Heinrich, Ryan Donovan and Nick Saul.

TORONTO—What motivates 25 chefs and restaurateurs to come together and donate their night’s sales? Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) president Nick Saul and his vision for a country with accessible, healthy food does. On Oct. 22, the inaugural Restaurants for Change event—which saw restaurants in nine Canadian cities donate all or part

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Available in nine colours, the Signature Series is resistant to fingerprints, easy-to-clean and features a bacteria static surface to help reduce germs and cross-contamination. www.cintas.ca/signatureseries

K-pot In about two minutes, the Keurig Bolt carafe brewing system will make a 64-ounce pot of coffee from pre-measured sealed cups that come in a variety of flavours.

According to the company, the coffee is pre-measured to maintain freshness, efficiency, consistency and quality. www.keurig.com

Nano-polish Reduce smudges, create a bacteria-free surface, and add a high-gloss shine to any hard surface with Permanon, a polish designed with nanotechnology. The product can be used on glass and porcelain and metal surfaces to create a layer bacteria cannot grow on, according to the company. The nano-coating was developed in Germany to protect factory coatings and finished surfaces against dirt, corrosion and chemical compounds. Permanon is biodegradable, water-soluble and free of heavy toxins with silicium as the main component. www.permanoncanada.com

Dare’s digest Dare Foodservice has released two-pack Simple Pleasures Cookies. According to the company, the cookies boast less calories, fat, sodium and sugar than similar products on the market and are made without artificial colours or flavours. The digestive cookies are peanutfree and according to the company, are “perfect for healthcare, daycare, travel or along with any beverage.” www.darefoods.com

What’s for dessert?

PreGel Canada has released several new products including gelato, sorbetto and ice cream and soft serve lines. A line of Super Sprint products for producing frozen desserts comes in an instant powder in Peach Tea, Birthday Cake Blue, and Pomegranate flavours. The company has also released frozen pop molds made from silicone for making frozen desserts and a Gelato Panini Press, a machine that toasts and seals a sweet bun filled with gelato. www.pregelcanada.com

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From left: Wally Smith and Michael Curran.

A&W moves to antibiotic-free chicken

Susan Senecal.

TORONTO—Following recent changes to its sourcing of beef and eggs, A&W announced its move to serve chicken raised without the use of antibiotics on Oct. 20.

“To make great food, you have to start with great ingredients,” said Susan Senecal, A&W, vice-president of operations at A&W Food Services of Canada. In September, the company introduced eggs from hens fed a vegetarian diet and the sole use of beef raised without the use of hormones or steroids the year before, both a first for national fast food chains, according to the company.

Senecal said the response of the beef program was “gratifying,” encouraging the company to keep moving with its next phase of ingredient changes.

According to A&W, its chicken comes from Canadian farms using best practices with large barns allowing chickens to roam and have constant access to feed and fresh water and fresh air.

Senecal told ORN A&W’s suppliers are leading edge when it comes to animal welfare

and treatment. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

The company has committed to having all its hens living in enriched housing by the end of 2016. More than half of its eggs coming from hens are already living in these conditions, which allow for small social groups and the ability to perch and lay eggs in nesting areas.

Senecal said the company worked with its partners and suppliers to give their guests what they want.

“What we observed is there was a lot of interest in food; how it’s produced and what’s in it,” said Senecal.

Company research indicated 73 per cent of Canadians prefer to eat beef raised without the use of hormones or steroids and three quarters prefer chicken raised without antibiotics.

Each of the items—beef, chicken and eggs—do cost “a little bit more,” Senecal said.

“It’s an investment that we really think is worth it. We haven’t had to increase our retail prices as a result of any of these menu changes.”

Domino’s to source cheese made from Canadian milk TORONTO—Domino’s Pizza has teamed up with the Dairy Farmers of Canada to announce the company’s move to use cheese made from 100 per cent Canadian milk.

Domino’s Pizza of Canada president Michael Curran said the plan has been in the works for about a year. He said part of the company’s commitment to Canadian consumers is to offer Canadian ingredients.

Curran told ORN sourcing cheese from elsewhere would certainly be cheaper.

“From an economic standpoint, it would be cheaper, but when you look at value, it’s more than just price. It’s quality and service to consumers so we’re prepared to make that commitment to our consumers,” Curran said.

“We could have saved money looking at other options but we just really didn’t believe that was the way for us to go.”

According to Curran, the cost of cheese represents 35 to 40 per cent of the company’s total food cost when making pizzas.

Dairy Farmers of Canada president Wally

Smith called the announcement historic. “We think this is an exciting partnership because we’ll be able to supply cheese made from 100 per cent Canadian milk to Domino’s that they are going to use on their pizzas and other menu items as well,” Smith said. “We think it’s great for the consumer that they’re going to know exactly what they are going to buy.”

Smith said the Dairy Farmers of Canada 100% Canadian milk symbol—which includes a blue cow—will appear on Domino’s menus, website and pizza boxes to market the pizza maker’s use of cheese made with 100 per cent Canadian milk.

“That brand stands for food safety, food quality amongst other things,” Smith said, adding Canadian milk is hormone free.

According to the Domino’s Pizza of Canada, the Leamington, ON-based company purchases more than 4.8 million kilograms of cheese annually.

Currently, there are more than 380 Domino’s locations stores across the country.

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1. From left: Chesher executive chef Christopher Moreland, Maple Leaf Foodservice national culinary manager James Keppy and Food Suppliers corporate chef Carmelo Vadacchino. 2. Todd Lamswood (left) and Ryan Marquis. 3. Statia Elliott. 4. Richard Linley. 5. Donna Dooher. 6. David Goldstein. Photo by Valerie Keeler.

In line with the International Chef ’s Day 2014 theme “pass it on,” 35 Ontario chefs and culinary students donated their time and talent in the Daily Bread Food Bank.

The Oakville and Toronto branches of the Canadian Culinary Federation (CCFCC) teamed up to prepare lunch for the food bank’s volunteers and staff as well as for the shelters and community meal programs it supports.

“The whole point is to bring awareness to the chef trade,” Ryan Marquis, CW Shasky & Associates corporate chef, told ORN. Marquis said the chef organizations often give back to the community, but this is a day they really wanted to make an impact. With donations from Cheemo Perogies, Sysco, Maple Leaf Foods, Kraft Foods and CW Shasky, Marquis said the group prepared enough to feed 600 including table service for 150 at the food bank.

The Daily Bread Food Bank kitchen provides food to about 175

member organizations in the Greater Toronto Area.

Food bank food services manager Todd Lamswood said the kitchen turns out between 3,500 and 4,000 meals per week. The kitchen also acts as a training program for people with barriers to employment. The paid, 16-week program sees participants rotate through the different stations learning foodservice industry basics, said Lamswood.

Statia Elliott joined the University of Guelph’s College of Business and Economics as director of the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, effective Aug. 1.

A faculty member at the University of Guelph since 2007, Elliott’s career includes 10 years of management and consulting experience within the hospitality and tourism industry, including director of marketing for the Manitoba Department of Tourism.

Elliott has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level in

a variety of subject areas, including introduction to hospitality and tourism management, studied by all of the school’s incoming majors, as well as hospitality and tourism marketing at the graduate level.

“I plan to engage our industry and alumni, not only in curriculum development, but in research directions to support hospitality, food and tourism management,” said Elliott in a release.

Richard Linley is the new president of the non-profit trade association The Wine Council of Ontario, effective Nov. 24.

Most recently, Linley was senior director, government affairs at the Canadian Beverage Association, responsible for developing government relations strategies in legislative and regulatory affairs on a national level.

Linley’s experience also includes advisory positions to the minister of policy and stakeholder relations with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the On-

tario Ministry of Natural Resources.

“Richard’s extensive knowledge of the Canadian beverage industry and strong understanding of the public policy environment make him an incredible asset for this organization,” said Allan Schmidt, chair of the Wine Council of Ontario, in a statement.

Donna Dooher was named the new national chair of Taste Canada and the winners were announced in the competition’s four categories for both English and French language books on Oct. 20.

Dooher, Toronto’s Mildred Temple Kitchen chef and owner and cookbook author, will be assuming her new duties immediately from Karen Gelbart, who is departing the role of national chair after serving for the last three years.

It was announced in October that David Goldstein has been named president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Tourism Commis-

sion (CTC), effective Dec. 1.

Currently, Goldstein is president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), where he was one of the key architects of the federal tourism strategy with Industry Canada.

John Ulrich joined the Rational USA team as of Oct. 1 as the vicepresident of business unit key accounts in North America. Ulrich brings with him 18 years of experience within the foodservice industry and he will oversee the company’s national key account directors.

Ulrich began working within the foodservice industry with Middleby Corporation in 1996, where he focused on marketing communications.

He went to work for Prince Castle and during this time, Ulrich transitioned from marketing communications to national accounts. Ulrich then moved to Duke Manufacturing in 2008 and became the director of national accounts before joining Rational.

Centennial getting new hospitality centre, new staff TORONTO—Centennial College’s hospitality students will be getting a new home with the construction of an eight-storey building at the east Scarborough campus on Progress Avenue.

Slated to open in September 2016, the $85-million Centennial Residence and Culinary Arts Centre broke ground on Oct. 15. The 353,300-square-foot project designed

by Diamond Schmitt Architects will have space for 742 students to live on campus on floors two through seven.

The ground floor will be the new headquarters for the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts with three culinary and two bake labs, a beverage lab, eight classrooms and a school-operated restaurant and café.

School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts dean Joe Baker said

the new facility will allow for more students in the hospitality programs, which are currently at capacity with 1,000. “There will be a lot more space and it will be more state-of-the-art,” Baker told ORN. He said the “smart classrooms” will feature moveable desks and interactive technology.

The 70-seat restaurant will be operated by students and faculty and will feature an open concept to allow for culinary demonstrations. A 20seat café to be located just outside the restaurant will focus on serving the student population.

Baker said the restaurant concept will be “approachable” with the hope that Scarborough residents as well as students will dine there.

The upper level will feature a school-run conference and events centre, which will accommodate 425

guests. “It’s the first events experiential learning lab in a Canadian postsecondary context,” said Baker. “The students will be running the events, they’ll be running the catering department and it will be hands-on learning for them that doesn’t exist anywhere else right now.”

Baker started with Centennial in April with leadership experience from George Brown College and Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants.

Michelle Caine moved into the role of chair of hospitality, tourism and field education in June bringing 20 years of management and teaching experience to the role.

James Smith takes up the position of culinary programs chair in November. He was most recently associate dean of hospitality, tourism and recreation at Georgian College.

Centennial Residence and Culinary Arts Centre broke ground on Oct. 15.

Joe Baker.

Michelle Caine.

James Smith.

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