Hotel and Catering Review October 2010

T H E G O L D M E D A L I S S U E : W I N N E R S , P H OTO S A N D a WO R D F R O M T H E J U D G E S

OCTOBER 2010

Gregan’s CASTLE’S Simon Haden & Frederieke McMurray

Gregan’s Gold Top Honours for Burren Hideaway

Natural Gas: The five star choice.

Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel available. And because it is also more cost effective, it’s the perfect energy choice for your hotel or restaurant.

For more information on connecting your business to natural gas call Businesslink, our dedicated business service, on 1850 411 511.

inside...

October 2010 - Volume 43, Number 10

60

39

49

64 GOLD MEDAL AWARDS

FEATURES

REGULARS

FOOD

14 GOLD MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE Gregan’s Midas Touch 17 CATEGORY WINNERS The 2010 Gold Collection 44 GALLERY Gold Medal Glitterati

6 NEWS Job Cuts on Cards 53 MARKETING MATTERS Location, Location, Location 55 SOLUTIONS New Ideas for Restaurant Revival 69 PROMOTIONS Who’s Doing What 70 FIVE MINUTES WITH... Claregalway’s Paul Gill

46 INFLATION Food Set to Rise 49 MARKETING Group Power 54 Community CHEF Brian McDermott 56 GUESTROOMS Bedroom Secrets

60 DESSERTS Sweet Success 64 NOTES Blas na hÉireann Winners 65 SKILLS Gelatine Advice 66 RECIPES Gold Medal Dishes

ON THE COVER Gold Champions, Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray, proprietors of Gregan’s Castle, winner of the 2010 Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Excellence.

Image: Mark Boland, Silver Image EDITOR Sarah Grennan COMMERCIAL MANAGER Hilary O’Shaughnessy DESIGNER Jeannie Swan CONTRIBUTORS Blathnaid Bergin, Marilyn Bright, Alex Gibson PRODUCTION Jim Heron CIRCULATION & EVENTS Nicola Hickey ADMIN Marian Donohoe, Josie Keane MANAGING DIRECTOR Simon Grennan CHAIRMAN Frank Grennan Printing: Walsh Colour Print, Kerry HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW is published by JEMMA PUBLICATIONS Grattan House, Temple Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin, t: 01 764 2700, f: 01 764 2750, e: sales@jemma.ie, w: www.hotelandcateringreview.ie, www.jemma.ie © No part of Hotel & Catering Review may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of Jemma Publications.

ISSN: 0332-4400 SUBSCRIBE For annual subscription rates visit our website www.hotelandcateringreview.ie

editor’s letter...

Gold Standard Bearers You have to wonder, sometimes, how hospitality operators can manage to maintain standards in the face of so much adversity.

During the course of adjudicating the annual Gold Medal Awards we see it all, from the good, the bad, to the downright ugly, but one thing that has really resonated with the judges over the last few troubled years is the industry’s enormous capacity for inventiveness – how you have managed to maintain quality with infinitely less resources at your disposal.

Interviewed by George Lee on his Saturday morning radio show recently, Aileen O’Toole of the Ideas Campaign reported that the bulk of the 5,000-plus ideas submitted to the ideascampaign.com website were for, or from, the tourism sector. And this doesn’t surprise us. From the free rail for seniors from overseas, to the quirky marketing campaigns featured on our Promotions page each month, the Irish hotel, catering and tourism industries have never been short of creativity.

Of course, just like the oft-used phrase that any fool can manage a business in a boom, it is true to say that any operation can afford to be creative and excel in standards and performance when finance is not an issue. But today’s austere times require greater inventiveness, teamed with an enormous capacity for hard work and a burning desire to drive standards continuously. It also requires a bit of nerve – the ability to back yourself and invest in your people and your product when all around you are cutting back.

These qualities were found in abundance in our Gold Medal Awards’ winners this year.

It is, as we always note, a phenomenally challenging task to select the winners of our 14 Awards categories each year but the 2010 Gold Medal recipients, together with the 53 exceptional finalists, have proved that, in what is a dramatically difficult period for the Irish economy, they have managed to raise the bar of quality in their operations. This is no easy move at a time when credit is all but obliterated and consumer demand has fallen.

A common thread throughout all our winners this year was excellence in people. The Gold Medal Awards are adjudicated from the guest’s perspective and, as we have reported many times before, it is the welcome and service that we receive when we visit a business which makes the greatest impression. A warm smile will always boost your points count.

It costs your business nothing, but makes the greatest difference to your customer’s experience.

We are often asked in Hotel & Catering Review what new trends we see coming down the line. While developments in mobile marketing, health and wellbeing tourism, the silver euro and the lipstick effect (a splash of luxury on a budget) are among the many movements rocking the sector, for us, the most positive trend we’ve seen in the last year is the return of the welcome. Irish tourism is going retro, we are getting back to old fashioned basics and the warm fáilte, the fundamental the Irish industry was built upon, is now hot again. Long may it last.

Our coverage of the 22nd Annual Gold Medal Awards starts on page 13, and includes interviews with all 14 winners, including Simon Haden, proprietor of the supreme Gold Medal for Excellence winner, Gregan’s Castle, as well as notes from the judges on what made each business stand out. For those of you who are already looking forward to next year’s Awards, stick March 2011 in your diary. The 23rd Annual Gold Medal Awards will launch in the March issue of Hotel & Catering Review and will also be signalled in our Weekly Bulletin ezine service.

SARAH GRENNAN Editor

Contact Us… Editorial: Our editor Sarah Grennan can be reached at tel: 01 764 2700, email: s.grennan@jemma.ie or fax: 01 764 2750. She is always happy to hear your news, views and feedback.

Advertising: If you have any advertising queries, please contact our commercial manager Hilary O’Shaughnessy at the numbers above or via email to h.oshaughnessy@jemma.ie Subscriptions: To subscribe to Hotel & Catering Review contact our circulation and events manager Nicola Hickey at n.hickey@jemma.ie or tel: 01 764 2700.

Subscribe to Hotel & Catering Review’s free Weekly Bulletin ezine service. Join the database by submitting your email address online at www.hotelandcateringreview.ie.

Top: Guests at the 22nd Annual Gold Medal Awards.

Middle: The team at Knockranny House Hotel in Westport celebrate their four star win at the Gold Medal Awards.

Bottom: Simon Haden and Frederieke Mc Murray, proprietors of Gregan’s Castle, winner of the 2010 Gold Medal Award for Excellence.

NEWS

Hoteliers Cut Jobs as Charges Increase Pressure More than 80% of members of the Irish Hotels Federation claim they will be forced to cut jobs over the next three months due to their precarious financial position, IHF chief executive Tim Fenn told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Heritage and Local Government last month.

The IHF addressed the committee, seeking an immediate 30% reduction in local authority rates to help lessen the financial burden of regulatory costs on Irish hotels. Describing the rates debate as ‘an emergency issue’, Mr Fenn told members of the committee that Irish hotels

are paying an average of e1,500 per room in rates, rising to e3,000 per room and more in some cases.

‘We have members who pay in excess of e400,000 and e500,000 per annum in rates.

Average revenue per room per night is estimated at e34.65. The average local authority rates figure in terms of the cost per room per night is e4.11 or an enormous 11.8% of revenue,’ said Tim Fenn, who pointed out that occupancy levels have fallen by 15% since 2007 to 55%.

The Federation continues to rail against the inequitable system introduced with the 2001

New Look for NUIG

Report to Examine Overcapacity Fáilte Ireland is due to publish a report on the overcapacity in the hotel sector in the coming weeks, citing the areas where excess capacity is at its worst.

‘There is a significant level of product on the outer ring of Dublin,’ IHF president Paul Gallagher told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Heritage and Local Government. ‘In cities such as Limerick and Sligo capacity is double what the market can support.

This is true also in respect of hotspots such as Tralee and Killarney. Fáilte Ireland is currently compiling a report on this matter. We are working with it to identify what are the prospects for demand going forward. We need to match capacity and demand.’

Valuation Act which removed the grounds for rate reductions due to inability to pay.

Only three of the 88 rating areas have revised their local authority charges over the last nine years since the Act was passed, said Mr Fenn, pointing out that these areas saw hotels’ rate liabilities reduce by 30%.

‘It is ludicrous that many hotels have been told that, if they do not pay the full amount due, they will be subject to court proceedings.

This could only result in the further demise of hotels, with a knock-on effect on employees and suppliers to hotels,’ said the IHF ceo.

Aramark Ireland chief executive Joan O’Shaugnessy and Mary Dooley, bursar at NUI Galway are pictured cutting the ribbon at the newly renovated An Bhialann restaurant in the University.

Approximately e3.5m was invested in the revamp, which included a complete redesign of the restaurant, a brand new kitchen and the addition of the Subway and Starbucks brands.

Aramark, which has provided catering services at NUI since 1992, will serve a community of over 17,500 students and staff at the facility.

Baristas & Bartenders for CATEX

Ireland’s best baristas will descend on the RDS from 8-11 February to take part in the National Barista & Cupping Championships organised by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe Ireland Chapter.

The events, designed to find Ireland’s coffee champions, will see competitors from across the coffee industry put their skills to the test at CATEX, the leading foodservice exhibition.

As well as the titles of Irish Barista Champion and National Cupping Champion, trips abroad are up for grabs. The winner of the Barista Championship will head to Colombia on an all expenses paid trip to represent Ireland at the World Barista Championship in June 2011, while the National Cupping Champion will head to Maastricht in June for the World Cupping competition.

‘With an expected 40 plus competitors in attendance for both competitions, each competition has now reached a very high standard, where skill combined with passion and excellence in coffee, brings only the best in the country to these competitions. Four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks in 15 minutes, is not an easy task, while cameras, lights and action is all around these brave competitors,’ said Jackie Malone, national co-ordinator of the Irish Chapter of The Speciality Coffee Association of Europe.

Also competing at CATEX 2011 will be Ireland’s best bartenders who will fight it out for the title of National Cocktail Competition in an event sponsored by Edward Dillon & Co. The winner will travel to Poland next year to represent Ireland at the World Cocktail Competitions.

Street View Welcomed

Tourism Minister Mary Hanafin has given Google Street View the thumbs up, heralding it as a huge benefit for tourism. Street View, which features images of more than 51,000 miles of road around the country, enabling users to explore the country ‘will showcase the real beauty of Ireland’s towns and countryside to millions of internet users around the world and has the potential to deliver a welcome boost to visitor numbers to Ireland,’ said the Minister.

The new tool is the first venture in ‘what we hope will be a lucrative partnership between Fáilte Ireland and Google’, said the Fáilte Ireland’s director of market development, John Concannon. The authority is working with Google to create a visual guide directly in Street View featuring tourist information offices around Ireland.

- Street View and location marketing, see Alex Gibson’s Marketing Matters, page 53.

At the launch of Google Street View were John Concannon, director of market development, Fáilte Ireland and John Herlihy, head of Google in Ireland.

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

BUSINESS ENERGY SAVINGS ARE ONLY A CLICK AWAY In today’s climate, all businesses are battling to cut costs. Your first step to saving your company both energy and money is to register with SEAI and arrange your free energy assessment. Whatever your business size, this can help cut your energy bills by up to 20%!

Register today for an SEAI energy assessment and start saving energy and money.

Visit www.seai.ie/business or call 01 808 2100

NEWS BITE SIZE New Venture for O’Reilly

Eamonn O’Reilly, chef proprietor of the Gold Medal Award winning One Pico fine dining restaurant in Dublin, is to launch the first two of a trio of new businesses in the Dublin mountains this month.

The chef has taken over the building on the former Mountain View site in Stepaside, Dublin, and will open The Box Tree restaurant and the next door Wild Boar pub in the village before the end of this month. Plans are also afoot to open Café Lorraine, adjoining the new restaurant and pub, in the coming months.

Real Food Festival

The second annual Real Food Festival returns at the end of this month, running from 31 October to 6 November.

Organised by the Restaurants Association of Ireland and supported

by Bord Bia, the festival promotes local produce and encourages consumers to eat out. Participating restaurants around the country will showcase local produce on their menus, while consumers will be in with a chance to win restaurant vouchers.

Green Conference

Green Hospitality’s fourth National Hospitality Environmental Conference & Exhibition will take place at The Convention Centre Dublin on 16 October.

The conference, themed Leveraging the Green in Irish Tourism, will be addressed by RTE’s Duncan Stewart, Dragon Bobby Kerr and Guy Bigwood, sustainability director of MCI Group and president of the Green Meetings Industry Council. The conference will be chaired by Senator Dan Boyle.

More Bookings for CCD

The Convention Centre Dublin is to welcome 3,000 senior executives from overseas next year for the 12th annual TM Forum Management World Conference. The conference will take place from 23-26 May 2011.

New for CATEX

Next year’s CATEX exhibition, running from 8-11 February at the RDS, will include a dedicated Design and Fitout area which will showcase the very latest in design trends, products and systems.

PREM Unveils New Aspect Brand PREM Group has officially launched its new mid-market three star brand, Aspect Hotels.

Developed by PREM in response to the changing hotel landscape, the franchised brand is designed to offer independent hotel owners flexible contracts with competitively priced fees as well as operational, sales and marketing support from PREM. The group has rebranded its Days Hotels in Park West Dublin and Kilkenny under the new brand and plans to roll out Aspect to 10 hotels in cities and towns across Ireland by the end of 2012.

The brand ‘recognises the challenges and opportunities of today’s hotel environment as well as franchisees’ expressed need for a greater input into the marketing of their own business,’ says Joanna Doyle, franchise development manager with Aspect Hotels. ‘For business and leisure guests, the Aspect Hotel brand represents competitively priced full service hotels, each with its own unique style and character.’

As part of the support package, members of Aspect Hotels will also have access to a dedicated revenue manager and the assistance of PREM Group’s extensive network of sales managers across Ireland, UK and Northern Europe including representation at corporate events and road shows and inclusion in corporate and group

Joanna Doyle, franchise development manager, Aspect Hotels, is pictured at the launch of the new hotel brand. tour sales campaigns.

Aspect Hotels will be supported by an extensive marketing programme that will be rolled out over the coming months. It will focus strongly on digital marketing and include a new website for each hotel, a loyalty reward scheme as well as social media activity.

Sting Alcohol Buying Scheme Launched The Government has pushed ahead with its controversial Test Purchasing of Alcohol Scheme and has published guidelines to be followed in its implementation.

The new scheme commenced on 1 October and Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, says it is intended ‘to protect young people from the all-too-prevalent reality of alcohol-related harm’. Under the Scheme the Minister says ‘Garda Síochána will have an additional instrument in their overall enforcement programme to combat the sale of alcohol to minors’.

The licensing laws already prohibit the sale and supply of alcohol to under 18s from licensed premises. The test purchasing scheme will permit the Gardaí to send a person who is 15, 16 or 17 years old into a licensed premises for the purposes of purchasing alcohol. If a sale takes place, the premises concerned will be prosecuted.

Under existing laws a licensee convicted before the Courts for the sale and supply of alcohol to an underage person can have a closure order imposed on his or her premises for between two and seven days and/or a fine of up to e3,000 for a first offence. Second and subsequent convictions can lead to closure orders of up to 30 days and fines of e5,000.

The Scheme’s guidelines outline the steps to be followed during all stages of test purchasing operations and the manner in which the welfare

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

of the young person must be protected. They incorporate the protection standards set out under the Child First Guidelines and ensure the protection of the test purchaser at all stages of the operation. Parental or guardian consent is required for the participation of all test purchasers. Training is provided for test purchasers and the operation is to be cancelled if their safety is compromised in any way. The guidelines require the Garda Síochána to carry out a risk assessment preparatory to and during all test purchasing operations.

Minister Ahern says, ‘I want to stress that the objective of the scheme is to ascertain whether a licensee is complying with the law, not to trap an unwary licensee into committing an offence. The test purchaser must answer all questions about their age truthfully.’

The move has been welcomed by the Vintners Federation of Ireland which believes that the initiative should have ‘gone further’.

Chief executive of the VFI, Padraig Cribben, says that ‘any scheme that seeks to protect young people from alcohol-related harm has to be lauded by all involved in the sale of alcohol.’ He adds that ‘it is our strongly held view that this Scheme could have gone much further and that the Minister should now use this Scheme and the upcoming Sale of Alcohol Bill to introduce a mandatory Garda ID age card for all those over the age of 18.’

NEWS

ITIC Seeks Competitiveness The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation has urged the Government to address obstacles to the restoration of competitiveness to the Irish economy in its pre-budget submission. It recommends: • Abolishing the Joint Labour Committees and placing a freeze on public sector pay and the minimum wage • Reducing public sector and local authority charges, including commercial rates • Avoiding the introduction of additional charges, fiscal measures or new regulations

that would further undermine competitiveness • Accelerating high-speed broadband roll out and the introduction of new generation broadband • The abolition of the e10 airport departure tax, or at least its suspension for a two year period to 2013 in order to test the low cost carrier response in terms of capacity and pre-agreed growth in overseas visitor numbers • The establishment of a new Industrial Credit Corporation to ensure appropriate credit facilities at competitive terms.

WSET Course Launched

WSET accredited WineCourse.ie has launched its autumn schedule of wine tasting courses including a one day wine appreciation course covering the essential components of wine tasting. The course is available in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick.

Get Clipped

Students launch Fáilte Ireland’s National Tourism Video Clip Competition

Fáilte Ireland’s student careers website www.picktourism.ie has launched a new tourism video clip competition for third level and further education students. The National Tourism Video Clip Competition is calling for original and creative video clips on any aspect of Irish tourism.

Entrants are invited to submit a short video clip, maximum of two minutes in length, on their view of Irish tourism by 26 November. The winner will receive e2000 as well as an extra e1000 for their college or institution.

Closure Orders Served

Four Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order were served on food businesses during the month of September for food safety breaches, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has announced.

The closure orders were served on: • Nour Foods butcher, 11 Abbey Street, Ballyhaunis, Mayo • QW Legend Ltd, trading as Buffet Master, 113 Main Street, Bray, Wicklow • Ned’s Fast Food Takeaway, Rosenallis, Laois • Zam Zam 1 butcher, Unit 4, Cookstown Enterprise Park, Dublin 24 A Prohibition Order was served on Connolly’s Butchers, Main Street, Kinlough, Leitrim.

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

NEWS

Occupancy Continues to Rise Occupancy is rising in all the major population centres according to latest statistics from CityOccupancy, the online benchmarking service for hotels.

Its analysis of September bookings found that three, four and five star hotels in Dublin saw occupancy rates increase to last month. Rates also edged a little northwards, making September the first RevPAR positive month this year, says Fergal McCarthy of CityOccupancy.

In Cork occupancy rates grew for the 11th straight month in September. Year to date occupancy in Cork is at 70.1%, on a par with the halcyon days of 2007. Rates are also up by 4% compared to September 2009, however, YTD rates are down 9% which is not as positive. RevPAR is up 3% for the year in Cork, according to CityOccupancy.

In Limerick, occupancy was up 6% in September and 3% year to date. RevPAR was up 7% on September 2009. Four star hotels in the county are showing a 2% increase in RevPAR for the first three quarters, however the three star market did not fare so well, according to CityOccupancy, which reports a 17% decline in RevPAR compared to 2009.

Galway recorded a 3% gain in occupancy in September, contributing a 1% lead on the year to date. Rate was down 3%, though rates in the four star segment have improved for the last four months. Galway is number one in the country for RevPAR, at e52.

In Waterford, occupancy was strong but rate was down 10% for the month, said CityOccupancy.

Coach Class

Almost 30 top European coach tour buyers were in Waterford this month to meet with over 70 members of the Irish tourism trade and discuss business opportunities for the 2011 season. The workshop event, organised by Fáilte Ireland, was held in the Tower Hotel where over 2,000 business appointments took place over the course of the day. The European buyers also took time to explore the regions of Ireland in a pre-workshop familiarisation tour taking in counties Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny

Kelly’s & L’Ecrivain a Hit with Campbell Kelly’s Resort Hotel, the 2008 Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal for Excellence winner, has been awarded Hotel of the Year at the Georgina Campbell Guide Awards.

The Rosslare hotel was joined in the winners’ enclosure by L’Ecrivain in Dublin, winner of the Restaurant of the Year title and Johnny and Lucy Madden of Hilton Park in Clones, Co Monaghan who were presented with Campbell’s Award for Outstanding Contribution.

‘Excellence is always the top priority, of course, but our award winners this year share a quality which goes beyond that. Given the difficulties posed by the current economic situation, it takes a very special kind of determination and skill to confront the situation head-on, take control and come up with innovative ways to attract customers. [Our] winners represent those people in the hospitality industry who have got real grit and, by putting customer requirements first – and keeping up their marketing – can continue to provide a combination of excellence and value for money that brings in business, even at this dire time for the industry,’ said Georgina Campbell.

GEORGINA CAMPBELL AWARD 2011 Johnny & Lucy Madden, Hilton Park, Clones, Co Monaghan

TASTE OF THE WATERWAYS AWARD, sponsored by Waterways Ireland Keenan’s of Tarmonbarry, Co Roscommon

HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2011 Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford

WINE AWARD OF THE YEAR 2011 Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2011 L’Ecrivain, Dublin 2

HOSTS OF THE YEAR 2011 Neil & Noreen Harrington, Virginia’s Guesthouse, Kenmare

CHEF OF THE YEAR 2011 Henry Stone, Sha-Roe Bistro, Clonegal, Co Carlow PUB OF THE YEAR 2011 Hargadon’s, Sligo ‘JUST ASK’ RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR AWARD 2011 sponsored by Bord Bia Harry’s, Bridgend, Co Donegal NATURAL FOOD AWARD 2011 Boyles of Dromore, Co Down HIDEAWAY OF THE YEAR 2011 Saratoga Lodge, Templemore, Co Tipperary

BUSINESS HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2011 Crowne Plaza, Dublin Airport FAMILY FRIENDLY DESTINATION OF THE YEAR 2011 Ballyvolane House, Fermoy, Co Cork ETHNIC RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2011 China Sichuan, Dublin ATMOSPHERIC RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2011 L’Atmosphère, Waterford

10 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

Bill and Isabelle Kelly receive the Hotel of the Year Award from Georgina Campbell

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2011 The Fatted Calf, Glasson, Co Westmeath COUNTRY HOUSE OF THE YEAR 2011 Marlfield House, Gorey, Co Wexford GUESTHOUSE OF THE YEAR 2011 Ivyleigh House, Portlaoise, Co Laois FARMHOUSE OF THE YEAR 2011 Lough Bishop House, Collinstown, Co Westmeath B&B OF THE YEAR 2011 Carlingford House, Carlingford, Co Louth CASUAL DINING AWARD 2011 Miss Courtney’s Tea Rooms, Killarney, Co Kerry GREEN IRELAND HOSPITALITY AWARD 2011 Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, Recess, Galway IRISH BREAKFAST AWARD Ivyleigh House, Portlaoise, Co Laois

Government Drive to Boost Tourism The Government plans to boost tourism, trade and investment through a new five year strategy, which it believes will generate 300,000 new jobs, 15,000 of which will be in the tourism industry.

The new plan, ‘Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy’, aims to increase the number of overseas visitors to Ireland to eight million.

Under the strategy the Government will set up a new Foreign Trade Council. This council will devise new common ‘brand Ireland’ initiatives; exploit marketing platforms such as St Patrick’s Day and trade missions; open new markets for Irish small and medium-sized enterprises; align our visa policy with strategic business interests and maximise the effectiveness of Ireland’s overseas diplomatic and agency representatives in key markets.

Speaking at the launch Tourism Minister Hanafin said: ‘In the short term, our focus is to grow numbers in markets where we have a head-start including the US, UK and Germany. In terms of new and developing markets, the Asia Pacific region will present the fastest growing outbound markets over the next 15 years.’

Hotels Wave White Flags

A total of 90 leisure centres and spas were presented with White Flag Awards by ILAM, the body for sports, fitness, aquatic facilities, outdoor, spa and wellness, this month. The White Flag Awards measure standards in gyms, pools, spas and indoor leisure facilities. Among the 90 winners were 22 hotels: The Ardilaun Hotel, Carlton Hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel, Carlton Shearwater Hotel, Clifden Station House Hotel in Galway; Westport Woods Hotel, Hotel Westport, Castlecourt Hotel in Mayo; Clarion Hotel and Sligo Park Hotel in Sligo; Mount Wolseley Hotel in Carlow; Castleknock Hotel & Country Club in Dublin; Westgrove Hotel, Kildare; Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny; Portlaoise Heritage Hotel, Laois; Knightsbrook Hotel, Meath; Bridge House Hotel and Tullamore Court Hotel, Offaly; The Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt, Wicklow; Fitzgerald’s Woodlands Health & Leisure Centre, Limerick; Faithlegg House Hotel and Tower Hotel, Waterford.

One for the Pot

Trainee chef Rebecca Kernohan tries out the super-sized new stockpot in the Old Inn, Crawfordsburn which has capacity for close to 700 bowls of soup. The Down hotel plans to unveil its £2.7m new kitchen and restaurant development next month.

Unique lease opportunity for Hotel/Restaurant Manager or Entrepreneurial Chef/Manager

THE NEpTUNE HoTEl Bettystown, Co Meath

This inTimaTe hoTel and bar offers The following faciliTies: • Ideally located on the seafront with uninterrupted views of the East coastline from The Cooley Mountains to Dublin Mountains.

• Immediate occupancy with lease options of 10/15/20 years.

• Existing hotel with Dining Room capacity for 180+ guests - ideal for weddings, parties, anniversaries.

• Seaview Bar with access to one of the longest strands for walking in Ireland.

• 39 bedrooms newly decorated.

• Large lounge and restaurant with capacity for 120-140 covers.

• Centrally located in the village centre, just off the M1 motorway.

• Private car parking with capacity for 60 cars.

• 18 hole golf course • Leisure centre next door with Sauna, Steam Room Jacuzzi/Pool.

• Newgrange & Battle of the Boyne 20 minutes drive away.

For further information or enquiries, please contact Colin Lenehan.

T: 041-9800880 or e: colin@nest.ie HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 11

NEWS

Meltdown in Bar Trade as Drink Sales Plummet Looking for a unique business opportunity?

Longnancy’s is a 300 year old pub/restaurant and 3 bedroom dwelling house located between Armagh and Monaghan, close to Middletown just a few yards off the A3 Motorway at a crossroads known as ‘Norton Crossroads’.

There is a lot of history associated with Longnancy’s spanning five generations of the McKenna family being linked to the property.

The McKenna family are local people from Madden Parish, as was Longnancy herself who was born in the early 1800’s.

The interior of the bar/restaurant and house is in excellent condition. As well as having ample parking facilities there is a lot of potential for future renovations to expand the size of the restaurant.

There are numerous industries close by employing over 200 people and they are all situated on one of the busiest roads and tourist routes in Northern Ireland. With its two Cathedrals, Planetarium, Museums and Heritage Centres, Armagh attracts many visitors from across the globe.

Interested parties must have experience in the hospitality industry and have drive and dedication towards their work.

Please apply in writing to Malachy Molloy, 32 Brootally Road, Armagh, BT60 4DY, detailing your interest in this property.

Latest sales figures show the bar sector is experiencing ‘meltdown’ as pubs sales have fallen by 25% since 2000. According to the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), the on trade has suffered a 14.1% decline in the first seven months of 2010 alone.

The Government’s excise reduction, part of Budget 2010, has stemmed cross-border purchasing of alcohol, says DIGI, with a 6.4% increase in off trade sales recorded in the first six months. However, overall market conditions remain unchanged with pubs suffering the brunt of the sales decline.

Accordingly, DIGI says it will work with the Government to identify further stimulus measures in this December’s Budget to boost the employment-intensive hospitality industry in order to prevent closures and save jobs.

DIGI chairman, Kieran Tobin, says last year ‘DIGI consistently pointed out that Ireland’s high levels of alcohol taxation was a key reason why many consumers were opting to travel to Northern Ireland to do their shopping and called on the Government to address this by reducing excise.

‘Their welcome decision to do so has clearly worked.

Official data shows that the overall drinks market increased

by 6.4% in the first six months of 2010 driven exclusively by double-digit growth in off sales and offset by strong declines in the on trade. This clearly points to shoppers opting to purchasing alcohol and other goods locally, thus providing a stimulus to the wider economy that was absent in 2009.’

Chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association, Donall O’Keeffe, says that while there has been a definite slowdown in cross border alcohol shopping pubs, bars and restaurants are suffering unprecedented declines.

‘The 14.1% decline in the value of pub sales in the first seven months of 2010 comes on top of an 8.8% decline in 2009. Of particular concern are the ongoing prospects of weak consumer demand for the immediate future and the ongoing cost pressures being generated by Governmentrelated costs such as commercial rates and regulations. As a consequence, the sector is in a crisis situation.

‘In the short to medium term there is absolutely no sign of market conditions improving for the pub trade. Rather the likelihood is that current trends will continue forcing many publicans out of business and thousands of subsequent job losses.’

If you wish to visit the premises contact our office (028 37522471) during office hours, from Monday – Friday, 9.00am -1.00pm and 2.00pm – 5.00pm and someone will be happy to assist you. (If, calling from the Republic of Ireland, please telephone 048 37522 471).

The team at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa in the City of the Tribes is pictured celebrating the news that the hotel was voted Best Galway Hotel at the Galway’s Best Awards 2010.

12 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

The Gold Collection 2010 4968487 11740680 12442302

This Year’s Elite Winners of the 22nd Annual Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 13

Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Excellence 2010 Supreme Winner:

Gregan’s Castle Hotel

Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray are presented with the supreme Gold Medal Award for Excellence 2010 by Sarah Grennan, editor, Hotel & Catering Review

‘World class’ was the term used by the Gold Medal Awards judge on his return from Gregan’s Castle Hotel in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, the idyllic Burren hideaway, which has been run by the Haden family since 1976.

The Gold Medal Awards Jury were not surprised by the judge’s glowing description of this little gem of the Irish hospitality industry. Gregan’s Castle has been on our radar for a while, last year earning the hotly contested Fine Dining title at the 21st Anniverary Gold Medal Awards.

Originally purchased and operated by Peter and Moira Haden, the hotel is now run by their son Simon together with his wife Frederieke McMurray. The couple have resisted the temptation over the years to expand and add extra rooms, spas and other facilities in vogue in the hospitality during the boom.

‘Our philosophy is small is beautiful,’ says Simon. ‘We have 20 rooms here at Gregan’s Castle and I’d never like to see us double to a 40 room hotel. I don’t think we’d enjoy it at that size. When you’re a smaller business you can give the personal attention to customers, and keep that level of personal service.’

The secret to success is simplicity, says Simon. ‘We don’t try to complicate things too much or do more than we can do.

We decided against adding a spa or other things as we didn’t want to change the overall atmosphere of the place. Instead we concentrated on improving what we have.’

And what they have is a multi-award winning country house, with a restaurant garnering a host of rave reviews and a swag of titles for chef Mickael Viljanen. As well as winning last year’s fine dining award, Gregan’s Castle took the Gold Medal Award for Country Houses & Guesthouses, sponsored by Laurent-Perrier this year – an achievement which put them in with a shot of winning the top title.

‘We weren’t expecting to win the overall award at all, we were just so thrilled to win the Country House Award,’ reveals Simon Haden. ‘To win the supreme Gold Medal for Excellence was completely overwhelming. The Gold Medal Awards are regarded as the Oscars of hotel awards. When you look at the calibre of the judges and the experience they bring to the judging process, and then you look at the businesses which have won the top award in the past it is incredible for us to be up there with those people.’

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS

Five Steps on Path to Ultimate Gold When Gregan’s Castle in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare submitted an entry to the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards in April of this year, the Burren country house hotel took its first step on a steep path to attaining the supreme Gold Medal Award for Excellence 2010.

Along with 230 other hotels, restaurants, catering providers and hotel groups who submitted close to 400 individual category entries in this year’s Awards, Gregan’s Castle submitted a comprehensive entry proposal, detailing why owners Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray believed the hotel should win a coveted Gold Medal Award, as well as the initiatives and steps the team at the Burren hideaway have taken over the last year to weather the storm of the difficult economic climate, and enhance the guest experience.

When a member of the Gold Medal Awards Jury visited Gregan’s Castle anonymously this summer to judge the hotel and its restaurant from the guest perspective, it was one of 250 visits made by the judges, who travelled more than 27,500 kilometres to the four corners of Ireland in search of the country’s best hospitality and catering providers.

From these assessments and site visits, the members of the Gold Medal Awards Jury voted for their selection of the best operators in each of the 14 Awards categories. A record-breaking 67 hotels, restaurants, caterers and hotel groups were nominated 77 times as finalists across the Awards’

categories this year, including 40 firsttime category finalists. Gregan’s Castle, which was nominated in both the Country Houses & Guesthouses and Fine Dining categories, was one of six businesses to be nominated twice in the Awards. A further two businesses were nominated an impressive three times.

When judges voted for Gregan’s Castle to win this year’s Gold Medal Award for Country Houses & Guesthouses, sponsored by Paul Jaboulet, it took its fourth step on the path to the ultimate gold prize. Along with the other Gold Medal category winners with the Midas Touch, Gregan’s was one of 14 businesses still standing with a chance to win the supreme Gold Medal Awards for Excellence 2010.

Chosen from the elite collection of 14 Gold Medal Awards category winners each year, the overall winner of the Gold Medal for Excellence is selected on the basis of its performance within its chosen field. The judges do not pit each of the 14 winners against each other, but instead look for the business which is the most outstanding within its category. Gregan’s Castle, which was described as a ‘world class’ country house and restaurant by the adjudicating judge, was voted unanimously by members of the Jury as winner of the highest accolade in the Irish hospitality industry.

The hotel, which has been run by the Haden family since 1976, is a beacon for the Irish tourism industry and a worthy recipient of the 22nd Annual Gold Medal Award for Excellence.

The Gold Selectors

Entrants to the Awards are assessed by the Gold Medal Awards Jury who bring a wealth of industry expertise to the judging process.

The judges have been invited to join the Jury

by Hotel & Catering Review on the basis of the knowledge and hotel and catering experience they bring to the Awards.

The judges are: Paul Boksberger, catering industry consultant, immediate past chair of the Food Safety Professionals Association and past president of the Irish Hospitality Institute; Dick Bourke, board member, Fáilte Ireland, past president, Irish Hotels Federation, past chair, Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, former general manager, Jurys Hotel, Ballsbridge; Marilyn Bright, food consultant, writer, Hotel & Catering Review columnist and past chair of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild; Aileesh Carew, hotel consultant; Ray Carroll, hotel consultant, former chief executive, The K Club; Eugene McGovern, former head of catering at Trinity College Dublin, past president, Panel of Chefs of Ireland; Paula McIntyre, chef, lecturer, Northern Regional College, and cookery writer, former chef proprietor of The Undrie Restaurant, Manchester; Eugene McSweeney, chef and restaurant consultant and former proprietor of Lacken House, Kilkenny; Rory Murphy, former general manager, Ashford Castle; Tom Mythen, restaurant consultant, past president, Restaurants Association of Ireland, former head of catering, Irish Rail; Mary O’Callaghan, president of the Irish Guild of Sommeliers, wine consultant and lecturer, DIT; Denis Tucker, chairman, the National Hygiene Partnership and former quality assurance manager, Fáilte Ireland.

Douglas Jordan, registrar, Fáilte Ireland and past president, Irish Hospitality Institute, is a special advisor to the Jury.

The Jury is chaired by Hotel & Catering Review’s editor, Sarah Grennan.

Pictured celebrating at this year’s Gold Medal Awards are members of the Jury.

L-r, back row: Rory Murphy, Douglas Jordan, Dick Bourke Middle: Paul Boksberger, Eugene McGovern, Ray Carroll, Tom Mythen, Eugene McSweeney, Denis Tucker Seated: Sarah Grennan, HOTEL Aileesh Carew, Paula McIntyre, Marilyn Bright and Mary O’Callaghan

& CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 15

We love our beans...

Try our new roast & ground range 100% of the beans for the new Kenco roast & ground range are sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms. On these farms, workers and their families are treated with respect and have access to clean water, medical care and education.

The new Kenco roast & ground range has been created by our coffee experts using 100% Arabica beans.

We use only Arabica beans because their aromatic and distinctive characteristics guarantee a superior taste for Kenco roast & ground coffee.

The Kenco Coffee Company doesn’t stop at providing you with a quality coffee range: we are also here to create the right blend of equipment and support for your business to help you deliver the perfect coffee experience.

...you’ll love our coffee

l Food Real Chefs Rea

Kenco Coffee Company sponsors of the Cafes and Coffee Shops Category

OV4204

s n o i t a l u t Congra to Kays

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS

Cafés & Coffee Shops

NEWS

Sponsored by

Finalists Café Noir, O’Connell Street, Limerick Café No.11 at The Old Bank House, Kinsale, Co Cork Kay’s Real Chefs, Real Food, Blanchardstown Centre, Dublin 15 Partridge’s Artisan Café, Gorey, Co Wexford Silver Restaurant at Newbridge Silver Visitor Centre, Newbridge, Co Kildare

Winner

Kay’s Real Chefs, Real Food When Bart Glover did a deal with Green Properties to move into a larger premises at Blanchardstown shopping centre last year, he vowed to give the management company ‘something to be proud of ’. A year later, and the expanded Kay’s Foodhall has done just that, proudly winning the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Cafés & Coffee Shops, sponsored by The Kenco Coffee Company.

The Kay’s group, named after Bart’s late mother who recently passed away, began its life in Donaghmede Shopping Centre, before expanding to open outlets in Blanchardstown, Clare Hall and Ballycoolin.

The group, which is run by Bart and his wife Bernie Glover, now operates five restaurants and four kiosks in north Dublin, and at its heart is the flagship Blanchardstown food hall which caught the eye of Gold Medal Awards judges this year.

We are regular visitors to this bustling café and food hall and can vouch for its consistently excellent service, welcome, and product offering.

Expertly prepared coffee made by Kay’s team of baristas, food cooked to order in the food hall’s theatre kitchen, a range of tasty pastries and desserts made on site or in Kay’s central kitchen in Donaghmede, and a genuinely warm welcome all serve to provide a winning experience for customers.

Bart Glover puts the success of Kay’s to the group’s constant desire to upskill. ‘Many of our staff have been with us a long, long time. We constantly invest in training and we’re always looking at ways to upskill.

When others were trying to deskill their offering in order to cut costs we went in the other direction, always looking for ways where we can improve.

This led us to implement a new automated, paperless system back of house which we designed ourselves for monitoring HACCP, purchasing, stocktaking and so on. We hired chefs to work at the hot food counter, cooking dishes to order, we hired a pastry chef in our central kitchen to bake products for all the restaurants. We’re always trying to upskill our offering to make Kay’s better.’

This year was the first time Kay’s entered the Gold Medal Awards, but it was a move which served them well, says Bart Glover. ‘This is a great morale booster for our staff. To know all the hard work they have put into Kay’s over the years has been recognised by the judges is just brilliant.’

Derek Caswell, director of commercial operations at Kraft Foods Ireland (right), presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Cafés & Coffee Shops, sponsored by The Kenco Coffee Company, to Catherine O’Reilly and Stephen O’Reilly of Kay’s Foodhall.

The Judges’ View:

‘Great coffee, great food and great service makes Kay’s a winner. This bustling food hall in Blanchardstown Centre is always packed to the gills and it’s easy to see why. The team’s constant quest for perfection is evident throughout the entire operation – from the striking design to the quality of the coffee and food – and it is the staff ’s natural warmth and friendliness that really stands out.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 17

ANOTHER WAY TO

ENJOY PERFECTION. AN EXTRAORDINARY BLEND OF PATRÓN TEQUILA AND THE PURE NATURAL ESSENCE OF THE FINEST COFFEE BEST SERVED AS A CHILLED SHOT

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

CASUAL DINING Sponsored by

Finalists Itsa4 , Sandymount, Dublin 4 Lord Kenmare’s Restaurant, Killarney, Co Kerry Max’s Restaurant & Wine Bar, Kinsale, Co Cork The Morning Star, Belfast The Tavern Bar & Restaurant, Murrisk, Co Mayo Wild Honey Inn, Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare

Winner

Wild Honey Inn The Wild Honey Inn first came on the radar last year when Aidan McGrath and Kate Sweeney enlisted the help of Francis and John Brennan on RTE’s At Your Service show as they prepared to launch their new bar and guesthouse in Lisdoonvarna. But foodies beating a path on the gourmet trail in the West were already very familiar with Aidan’s work, from his days with Sheen Falls Lodge in Kenmare and later the Lodge at Doonbeg down the road in Clare.

Aidan’s signature style of good wholesome Irish food crafted with the best of local and seasonal produce is the star of the show at the Wild Honey Inn, which offers hearty fare in a casual, cosy environment.

Nestled on the fringe of Ireland’s matchmaking hub of Lisdoonvarna, this intimate inn has proved astoundingly popular, packing in parties who have travelled to the Burren to sample Aidan’s much raved about cuisine. Sit over a plate of salmon from the next door Burren Smokehouse or lamb from Doolin served with veg freshly harvested from a neighbour’s field and you understand why the Wild Honey Inn has become so popular since its launch in May 2009.

Aidan believes that it is the quality of the fresh ingredients he works with, as well as the accessible price point that makes the Wild Honey Inn work so well. ‘It also takes a lot of hard work. Kate and I are very hands on and this is very much a family business. I think people like to see that.’

To win the award just over a year after opening is a phenomenal achievement, Aidan agrees. ‘We really didn’t expect it. We were genuinely just so thrilled to be nominated as a finalist that we went to the Awards not expecting to win at all. To be presented with the Gold Medal Award was fantastic. It is so great to get that recognition, particularly from the people who come into critique you who have so much experience in the industry. The staff were so delighted when we brought the Award home, and it was for them really. We have such a great team here, we can’t do it without them.’

Fergal McGuinness of Brinkman Beverages (right) presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Casual Dining, sponsored

by Campari, to Aidan McGrath and Kate Sweeney of the Wild Honey Inn.

The Judges’ View:

‘Local foodies and visitors to the Banner County flock to this gourmet haven in Ireland’s matchmaking capital of Lisdoonvarna, and it is little wonder. Chef proprietor Aidan McGrath’s award-winning food has firmly planted Lisdoonvarna on the culinary map, and his celebrated modern Irish cuisine pays homage to the best of local, seasonal west of Ireland produce.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 19

Ethnic Food week 7th - 11th

OF NOVEMBER

complimentary bottle of Cobra with our special two course meal for €22.50 For a list of participating restaurants visit www.cobraethnicfoodweek.ie

Enjoy COBRA Sensibly Visit 20 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

ETHNIC RESTAURANTS Sponsored by

Finalists Ananda, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16 Chakra by Jaipur, Greystones, Co Wicklow Chameleon Restaurant, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Little Jerusalem, Rathmines, Dublin 6 Rotana Café, Portobello, Dublin 2

Winner

ANANDA It was a back-to-back win for the Jaipur group, who triumphed in the ethnic category at last year’s Gold Medal Awards, when Chakra in Greystones scooped the top prize.

This year, it was Chakra’s sibling, Ananda in Dundrum Town Centre, which walked away with the coveted Gold Medal Award for Ethnic Restaurants, sponsored by Cobra, proving yet again that Jaipur is a force to be reckoned with in the Irish restaurant industry.

The fine dining Indian restaurant, which is led by Saji Mathai out front and Sunil Ghai in the kitchen, was first launched in 2007 with the help of celebrated Michelin star London chef Atul Kocchar and since then has gone from strength to strength, building a loyal clientele who flock to Dundrum Town Centre to sample the excellent Indian fare and consistently good service.

The group’s head, Asheesh Dewan, believes the constant strive for perfection is key to Ananda and Jaipur’s success. ‘We are constantly looking for ways to improve. This year in Ananda we had a very good summer. Numbers were staggeringly up but revenue was down as people were spending less. There was nothing we could do about that so we introduced layered menus and restructured a few things to give as much value as possible.’

A successful restaurant must have the whole package, says Asheesh. ‘You must get the food, the service and the location just right. The design is not just cosmetic – a lot of thought goes into the product. We have introduced a brand new menu and lots of new ideas. If you don’t you get static.’

There seems little chance of this Dublin eatery getting static, going by the wealth of medals now decorating the business. Is Ananda and Jaipur in danger of suffering from Awards fatigue?

‘Not at all. We can’t be arrogant or cocky about our success so far, we have to keep striving to improve. This award is a great way of motivating the team. They are absolutely delighted with the win and in a market like this, every little helps.’

Sara Smith, Cobra brand manager at Molson Coors presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Ethnic Restaurants, sponsored by Cobra Beer to Saji Mathai, Asheesh Dewan and Sunil Ghai of Ananda

The Judges’ View:

‘Ananda once again wowed the jury with its consistently excellent offering. Its contemporary Indian food, sleekly served by a professional team of staff in stunning surroundings makes the Jaipur Group’s hotspot a force to be reckoned with in the Irish restaurant industry.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 21

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

BISTROS & BRASSERIES Sponsored by

Finalists Bijou Restaurant, Rathgar, Dublin 6 Crackpots, Kinsale, Co Cork First Floor Restaurant at Harvey Nichols, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16 Louie’s Bistro, Dublin 1 Perrott’s Garden Bistro, Hayfield Manor, Cork West at The Twelve, Barna, Co Galway

Winner

FIRST FLOOR RESTAURANT AT HARVEY NICHOLS While Dundrum Town Centre has proved itself as Ireland’s shopping mecca, it is also rapidly asserting itself as a gourmet hotspot, this year housing not one, but two Gold Medal winners.

A stone’s throw from Ananda, our Ethnic Gold Medal winner, is Harvey Nichol’s, the upscale department store whose restaurants have garnered a wealth of awards across the chain in the UK. The Dublin branch’s First Floor Restaurant is the latest to gain critical acclaim, snapping up this year’s Gold Medal Award for Bistros & Brasseries, sponsored by Champagne Pannier from Classic Drinks.

Launched with a fanfare in 2005, the First Floor Restaurant attracted a huge amount of attention when management announced it would be one of Ireland’s top restaurants within five years. A bold statement it may have been at the time, but the ambition has rung true, with the restaurant regularly enjoying a string of rave reviews.

With the advent of the downturn, the First Floor Restaurant reorganised itself last year, swapping its fine dining label for a more flexible bistro vibe. It was a move that paid off, with business up 25% in the first five months of the restaurant’s financial year in 2010 compared to 2009.

Switching your model can be a risk should your established customer base not approve, but hospitality manager Michael Andrews says 90% of the First Floor’s loyal customers gave the decision the thumbs up. ‘There were one or two customers who missed the amuse bouche or petite fours but we were able to bring some elements of the old service back for them.’

With Adrian Roche, formerly of Jacob’s Ladder, leading the kitchen brigade, the restaurant’s award-winning cuisine showcases the best of local and seasonal produce.

‘We have a passion for good quality produce,’ says Michael. ‘We still use the best ingredients and work with local suppliers to get the best for our customers.’

While the restaurant has implemented a comprehensive cost-cutting plan it is committed to maintaining standards. ‘Our success is down to our strong values,’ Michael asserts. ‘We have a good operation which is well managed. We listen to our customers and offer them great food, great service, and good value for money.’

What more could you ask for?

Terence Kenny, export director for Champagne Pannier (left) and Hugh Murray, sales director for Classic Drinks (right), present the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Bistros & Brasseries, sponsored by Champagne Pannier of Classic Drinks, to Michael Andrews and Richard Hunt of The First Floor Restaurant in Harvey Nichols.

The Judges’ View:

‘Slick service, sleek surroundings and sumptuous food created by chef Adrian Roche make the First Floor Restaurant at Harvey Nichols a sure-fire hit with diners. A new foray into the bistro segment has opened the restaurant to a wider audience, offering affordable dining while at all times maintaining high standards.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 23

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

FINE DINING Sponsored by

Finalists The Dining Room at Gregan’s Castle, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare La Boheme, Waterford MacNean House & Restaurant, Blacklion, Co Cavan Moira’s Restaurant at Cromleach Lodge, Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo Dax Restaurant, Dublin 2 One Pico, Dublin 2

Winner

ONE PICO It’s been a busy year for Eamonn O’Reilly, who has overseen the makeover of One Pico and is now preparing to launch a new bistro, pub and café in the mountainous village of Stepaside, Co Dublin.

The chef, who also operates Bleu Bistro Moderne on Dawson Street, is enjoying a renaissance on Molesworth Street, as One Pico collects a string of honours, including this year’s highly coveted Gold Medal Award for Fine Dining, sponsored by Paul Jaboulet.

But the new look is only half the story. It is Eamonn’s determination to drive standards in the restaurant which has really stood to One Pico. The chef proprietor regularly looks to London for inspiration, he says. ‘Once every two months I go over with some of the team and visit one and two star Michelin restaurants. I am always blown away by the quality of the food for the price. When I sampled the great value on offer, and the amazing food that was slow braised or cooked in waterbaths, I came back and decided that’s what we had to do here.’

Eamonn puts One Pico’s success down to good old fashioned elbow grease. ‘It’s about hard work and grafting. We keep at it, and are always trying to achieve perfection. It’s a very hard thing to achieve but we’re always trying to get there.’

With a cuisine inspired by classic French cooking, Eamonn showcases the best of seasonal Irish produce, including organic veg grown on his own farm in Kilternan. His customers evidently appreciate the move, with One Pico enjoying enviable repeat custom, many of whom were quick to congratulate his latest triumph.

‘Winning the Gold Medal Award was absolutely fantastic, but it is more for the staff and for the customers. The amount of customers who congratulated us was unreal. It is a great recognition for all our hard work and the fact that they are so pleased means a lot. We have an extremely loyal customer base and the most important thing to me is that our customers are happy.’

Julia Kennedy from Gleeson incorporating Gilbeys presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Fine Dining, sponsored by Paul Jaboulet, to Eamonn O’Reilly, Andrew Scott and Arno Legat of One Pico.

The Judges’ View:

‘Eamonn O’Reilly’s mix of modern classic cuisine, created with the best of local Irish produce, makes the restaurant an obvious choice as winner of this top Fine Dining Award. One Pico is a restaurant the Jury returns to time and again, providing truly memorable food and polished service in a chic environment.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 25

Congratulations to the winners of IN HOUSE CATERERS

Sodexo northern ireland

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

IN HOUSE CATERERS Sponsored by

Finalists Aramark Ireland at Genzyme, Waterford Sodexo Northern Ireland at PSNI Seapark, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim Sodexo Ireland at APC Galway The Barristers Tea Rooms, The Four Courts, Dublin 7

Winner

SODEXO NORTHERN IRELAND When Sodexo Northern Ireland landed the contract to operate the catering facilities at all of the Police Service of Nothern Ireland’s facilities, it also scooped the largest single catering contact on the island of Ireland.

It was a major coup, but it represented a mighty job – with all 42 sites across the province to be mobilised on the same day, 1 December 2008.

Add into the mix the Chief Constable’s gala Christmas Party for 200 VIP guests on day one and you get the feeling that it was a baptism of fire for Sodexo’s NI operation.

The hard work paid off however, with all catering operations soon bedded down, and the facility at PSNI Seapark in Carrickfergus hailed as the jewel in the crown. When the client opted for a major refurb, Sodexo helped turn the catering department from a one-room facility with a domestic cooker and a hatch for serving customers, to an all singing, all dancing new restaurant with upscale design and a shiny new kitchen. The investment was rewarded with a mighty 300% increase in sales and 65% increase in customer patronage.

Serving 60 PSNI staff on site, the regularly updated range of menus include traditional breakfasts with healthy alternatives, morning treats in line with latest trends, and lunch reflecting high street offerings for consumption on and off site. Promotions showcase local food producers as well as highlight health and wellbeing and Cathy Anderson, the craft development chef dedicated to the PSNI account, works with chefs to develop a range of innovative offerings.

As first-time entrants to the Awards, the Sodexo Northern Ireland team were absolutely thrilled with the win, says Alaistair Armstrong, PSNI account manager. ‘To get through as a finalist was a great achievement so we were happy with that. When we won the Award, we couldn’t believe it.

It’s great for all the team who have worked so hard since we took over this account, and it’s also great for the company as we will use this to promote Sodexo as a whole.’ The client was delighted too. ‘We got a letter from the Deputy Chief Constable congratulating us on the win, which was nice.

The win validates the client’s decision to invest in the facility.’

Ray Ellard, trustee of the National Hygiene Partnership (right), presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for In House Caterers, sponsored by the National Hygiene Partnership, to Alaistair Armstrong and Catherine McCluskey of Sodexo Northern Ireland.

The Judges’ View:

‘Sodexo NI’s team of expert management and staff deliver an exceptional offering for workers at the Carrickfergus facility, providing innovative menus, top quality fare, and a welcome range of healthy options. Committed client service is key to the success of this award-winning operation, which is justly described as the flagship catering facility in the PSNI.’ HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 27

Congratulations to the winners of INSTITUTIONAL CATERERS

ArAmArk HeAltHcAre At mount cArmel HospitAl

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS

INSTITUTIONAL CATERERS Sponsored by

Finalists Aramark Healthcare at Beneavin Healthcare Campus, Glasnevin Dublin 11 Aramark Healthcare at University Hospital Galway Black Olive Catering at Barretstown, Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare Masterchefs Munster at Moffetts Restaurant, National University of Ireland, Galway St Brigid’s Hospital, Shaen, Co Laois

Winner

ST BRIGID’S HOSPITAL 1.

So excited were the catering team at St Brigid’s with their win in The Shelbourne that they asked if they could bring the giant sized Gold Medal logos used on the stage back to Co Laois with them so they could celebrate with patients at the hospital.

Winning the Gold Medal Award, says catering manager Margaret Gorman, was not only a huge morale boost for the team, it was also a huge boon for the residents and their families, as well as the staff in St Brigid’s.

‘Achieving such a distinguished award has been not alone hugely gratifying and rewarding but also it has instilled within us a great sense of achievement and accomplishment as the work we undertake on a daily basis has been recognised as cutting-edge and of the highest standard,’ says Margaret.

It isn’t just the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award Jury the St Brigid’s team have been impressing however. The catering department also recently achieved a mighty 100% in a Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) audit and St Brigid’s has been identified as a benchmark for other catering services in the midlands to follow. The Allied Health Therapy Professionals who work closely with the catering team have additionally endorsed the site as best practice throughout the entire HSE organisation.

It is not hard to see why the catering team get such rave reviews, as love and attention to detail are evident throughout the entire operation. Customer care is at the core of the team’s offering and food is of an exceptional standard. Ingredients are sourced locally (meat travels four miles, fruit and veg 30 miles and milk and cream 18 miles) and menus are devised with health, nutrition and special dietary requirements in mind. Menus operate on a three-week cycle and are reviewed quarterly by the nutrition team and feedback from patients and staff are taken on board in menu development.

But the Gold Medal Award isn’t prompting the catering team to rest on their laurels – quite the opposite. ‘It has given us a renewed sense of life and empowered us to further our thinking with regard to enhancing our resident centre ethos,’ says Margaret.

That’s what we like to hear.

1.

2.

1. Margaret Gorman, catering supervisor is pictured celebrating the Award back at base with staff members Bridget Kavanagh, Clare Geogeghan, Aideen Kehoe, Laura Delaney, Catherine Murray and Mary Bergin 2. Denis Tucker, chairman of The National Hygiene Partnership, presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Institutional Caterers, sponsored by the National Hygiene Partnership to Yvonne Dowler, Margaret Gorman and director of nursing, Mary Ferns, from St Brigid’s Hospital.

The Judges’ View:

‘Health and wellbeing is at the forefront of this busy catering operation, and the team provides highly nutritious and innovative menus for patients, catering to every dietary requirement. HIQA awarded the catering department at St Brigid’s 100% in its recent audit and it’s easy to see why the caterers were recommended as best practice. Our expert catering industry judges were bowled over by the exceptional standards and care evident across the board at St Brigid’s.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 29

The art of self-expression

www.laurent-perrier.com

Brut L-P by Jean-Baptiste Huynh E n j o y

c h a m p a g n e

l a u r e n t - p e r r i e r

r e s p o n s i b l y .

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

COUNTRY HOUSES & GUESTHOUSES Sponsored by

Finalists Gregan’s Castle Hotel, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel, Recess, Connemara, Co Galway Mount Falcon Country House Hotel, Ballina, Co Mayo Tankardstown House, Slane, Co Meath Rathmullan House, Rathmullan, Co Donegal Wineport Lodge, Glasson, Co Westmeath

Winner

GREGAN’s CASTLE HOTEL This year’s supreme winner of the Gold Medal Award for Excellence took a step nearer to ultimate honours when it swagged the highly-lusted after Gold Medal Award for Country Houses & Guesthouses, sponsored by Laurent-Perrier.

It was the second successive year on the Gold Medal Awards stage for Gregan’s Castle, which was presented with the Gold Medal Award for Fine Dining, sponsored by Paul Jaboulet, in 2009 in recognition of the ground-breaking cuisine on offer in this chic Burren hideaway.

Owned and operated by husband and wife team Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray, Gregan’s Castle enchanted the Gold Medal Awards Jury for the second year with its stylish and relaxing surroundings, stunning food and welcoming service.

Simon attributes the hotel’s success to the staff. ‘They are the absolute and utter backbone to this business. Many of them have been with us for a long time, four have been with Gregan’s for more than 30 years.’

The team were delighted with both the Country Houses & Guesthouses and supreme Gold Medal for Excellence wins, says Simon. ‘It is a great boost for them and fantastic motivator as we come towards the end of the season. Sometimes when you’re keeping your head down out here in the Burren you don’t know what the rest of the country is saying about you so it is wonderful for the team to get this recognition.’

While business is challenging Gregan’s has been boosted by its awards successes.

‘We’ve seen a big upswing in our domestic business this year, particularly a lot of younger Irish customers in their 30s. When we ask them where they heard about us they tell us they have been reading a lot about us lately, which is great.’

The country house also enjoys a loyal local trade, many of whom have embraced chef Mickael Viljanen’s cutting edge cuisine. ‘We are very lucky that we have a strong repeat business, and we’ve noticed a lot of people coming from within a 10-12 mile radius to stay overnight and have dinner. The home market has been fantastic for us this year, and it’s great to see new guests, as well as our loyal clientele, coming in the door. The season started off a bit soft in May and June but it has been up in July and August, and September was tremendous – our second busiest month of the year,’ reveals Simon.

Long may it last.

Julia Kennedy of Gleeson incorporating Gilbeys presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Country Houses & Guesthouses, sponsored by LaurentPerrier, to Simon Haden of Gregan’s Castle .

The Judges’ View:

‘This gem of the Irish hospitality industry offers a haven of tranquillity in the heart of the beautiful Burren. Simon’s hospitality, Freddie’s style and chef Mickael Viljanen’s award-winning cuisine makes Gregan’s Castle a worthy winner of both the Country Houses & Guesthouses Award and the supreme Gold Medal Award for Excellence.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 31

Congratulations to all the Finalists in the 2010 Gold Medal Awards

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

THREE STAR HOTELS Sponsored by

Finalists Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar, Co Westmeath The Blue Haven Hotel, Kinsale, Co Cork The Claregalway Hotel, Claregalway, Co Galway Downhill House Hotel, Ballina, Co Mayo The Headfort Arms Hotel, Kells, Co Meath Park Inn, Belfast

Winner

THE HEADFORT ARMS HOTEL Variety is the spice of life for the Duff family in Kells, whose Headfort Arms Hotel has grown organically since Peggy Duff and her late husband Tom took over the hotel 40 years ago.

Operated now by the next generation, siblings Olivia and Vincent share the management workload, and although Peggy has officially retired, she still drops in every day to have lunch, tend to the floral displays and keep an eye on things.

And there’s a lot to keep an eye on. As well as the 45-bedroom hotel, the Duffs also offer conference rooms, banqueting for up to 500 in the Kenlis Suite, the Vanilla Pod restaurant, Café Therese, The Keltic Bar, Vibe Nightclub and The Headfort Spa Rooms.

‘We are constantly changing, constantly scanning the environment for the next big thing,’ says Olivia Duff. ‘We’re conscious of offering different value and different packages. This is why we have branded our offerings completely separately. The Vanilla Pod, Café Therese, The Keltic Bar and Vibe all have their own identities and their own entrances.

Guests coming to The Headfort for a weekend can dine in the Vanilla Pod one night, and go to the Keltic Bar and Vibe the next night and have a completely different experience. We have found that that really works.’

The Headfort Arms is a family business and the staff – many of whom have worked with the Duffs for decades and are very much part of the family – are key to its success, says Olivia Duff. Celebrating with Olivia, Vincent and Peggy at the Gold Medal Awards in September was Therese Allen, the hotel’s accounts manager and ‘face of the Headfort Arms’ who has worked with the Duffs for 32 years and is a familiar figure to loyal customers – so much so that the family named Café Therese after her.

The win, on The Headfort Arms’ first year entering the Gold Medal Awards, was a thrilling experience for the team. ‘We are absolutely delighted,’ says Vincent Duff. ‘To be there on the night with so many dignitaries was really exciting and we were just so honoured to be nominated. To win is fantastic because we’ve all been working so hard and it’s great to get that recognition.’

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons (right) presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Three Star Hotels, sponsored

by Tourism Ireland to Peggy,Vincent and Olivia Duff of the Headfort Arms Hotel.

The Judges’ View:

‘Offering a “home from home” for guests, this family-run hotel surpasses all expectations, providing winning service, great food and a warm atmosphere to Royal County visitors, and loyal locals. There is something for everyone at The Headfort Arms, where the friendly staff make it their first priority to ensure guests have a good time.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 33

Through a longstanding repertoire of clients, Aon Risk Solutions have built a wealth of knowledge in the hotel, heritage and food services sector.

Using this experience, we have devised a bespoke insurance offering, which will deliver you substantial premium savings.

Our offering is open, but not limited to: Hotels, Country Houses, Restaurants, Cafés, Shops and Offices.

“Aon’s expertise has been excellent. From the first point of contact through to finalising the insurance renewal, we found the transition process to be easy and would have no hesitation in recommending Aon’s services.Their product offering and professionalism was truly first class.”

Brian & Trish Conroy Tankardstown House Slane Co. Meath www.tankardstown.ie info@tankardstown.ie

If you would like to register your interest or if your renewal date is fast approaching, do not hesitate to contact us Tel: 01 2666510 Email: irl_interested@aon.ie

MacDonagh Boland Crotty MacRedmond Ltd. t/a Aon MacDonagh Boland is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland

Congratulations to all Gold Medal Award Finalists 2010

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

FOUR STAR HOTELS Sponsored by

Finalists The Brehon, Killarney, Co Kerry Cromleach Lodge, Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo Harvey’s Point Hotel, Lough Eske, Co Donegal Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa, Inchydoney, Co Cork Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford Knockranny House Hotel, Westport, Co Mayo

Winner

KNOCKRANNY HOUSE HOTEL It was a case of third-time lucky for Knockranny House Hotel which has been nominated twice previously for the Gold Medal Award for Four Star Hotels, proving its consistency in the four star market.

Since its launch as a 54 room hotel overlooking the picturesque town of Westport in 1997, the hotel has grown to include a 21,000 sq.ft spa and an additional 42 new rooms and suites. Uniformity is not the name of the game in Knockranny, which offers seven different types of guestrooms, and the hotel stands out further with its exceptional cuisine created by award-winning chef Seamus Commons, while the warm and welcoming nature of the hotel’s team also resonates strongly with guests.

Knockranny’s quest to continuously improve its offering has stood to the management in these difficult times. Turnover is up five per cent on 2009 and while room rates have dipped, they are holding. ‘You have to be creative and clever in the way you package your offering,’ says Adrian Noonan, who heaps praise on the team, including Commons, who was Derry Clarke’s head chef when L’Ecrivain first gained its Michelin star.

‘The level we are trying to operate at is expensive, and it can sometimes be tough to keep up that investment in these times but we feel it is important to maintain standards and this has stood to us. We are lucky that we are reasonably well established in Westport and we enjoy good return business. We are also well supported by local businesses.’

Bringing home the Gold Medal Award to Westport was a big honour for Adrian, who owns and operates Knockranny House Hotel together with his wife Geraldine. ‘The staff are absolutely delighted. They all work incredibly hard and this is their award, they deserve it, they won it. I’m so happy they got it as it is great for them to get that recognition. This is the best Award, as they get the recognition from their peers.’

Padraig Ahearne, director, AON Insurance (left), presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Four Star Hotels, sponsored by Aon Insurance, to Clare Concannon and Stephen O’Connor of Knockranny House Hotel in Westport, Co Mayo

The Judges’ View:

‘Knockranny House Hotel represents the best of Irish hotelkeeping – high standards are evident throughout the operation, from the quality of the facilities to the sumptuous food served in La Fougère restaurant and the warm welcome delivered by the hotel’s wonderful team of staff. It is little wonder that the inspecting judge described his visit as one of the best hotel experiences he has ever had. It’s high praise, but entirely justified.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 35

47<3AB 4`S\QV

Y\]e V]e) Ã&#x20AC;OeZSaa 7`WaV

>3275@33

0:3<232 E7B6 B/:3<B

3<8=G A3<A70:G D7A7B

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

FIVE STAR HOTELS Sponsored by

Finalists Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa, Killarney, Co Kerry Dromoland Castle Hotel, Newmarket on Fergus, Co Clare Fota Island Hotel, Cork The G Hotel, Galway Hayfield Manor Hotel, Cork Park Hotel Kenmare, Co Kerry

Winner

PARK HOTEL KENMARE It is hardly surprising that the Brennan brothers’ TV show is called ‘At Your Service’ when service is exactly what you get in abundance when you visit their award-winning hotel nestled on the banks of Kenmare Bay. Winning the hotly-contested Gold Medal Award for Five Star Hotels, sponsored by Edward Dillon & Co is no easy task, with this category becoming increasingly competitive with every passing year, but it is a challenge which Park Hotel Kenmare achieved with aplomb, warming the cockles of the Jury’s collective hearts with its exceptional commitment to customer care.

Brothers Francis and John Brennan are stalwart operators in the Irish tourism industry, and their desire to innovate, embrace trends and drive standards has seen them beat many a path for others to follow – the launch of their award-winning destination spa, Samas, a prime example.

But it is in good, honest old fashioned hospitality – the fáilte which provides the bedrock to our tourism product – where the Park Kenmare really excels, with guests enveloped in a warm and welcoming environment which provides a perfect haven to escape the rat race.

Managing director John Brennan says the Gold Medal win is perfect timing. ‘Coming at the end of the summer it’s excellent for staff and the Award is great recognition for the hotel after 30 years of business. We wouldn’t be one of the new boys so our win is testament to the fact that at the forefront of judges’ minds is service, rather than facilities.

The lovely thing about the Gold Medal Awards is that it is not based on phone votes or filling out dockets to send in, the Awards are judged by your peers. To be recognised by our colleagues in the industry gives us a wonderful vote of confidence in what we are doing and what we have done.’

Andy O’Hara, commercial director of Edward Dillon & Co, presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Five Star Hotels, sponsored by Edward Dillon & Co to Rory O’Sullivan, general manager, Park Hotel Kenmare (left).

The Judges’ View:

‘The Park Hotel Kenmare has long been a standard bearer for quality in the Irish hospitality industry.

The Brennan brothers and their expert team excel in the fine art of Irish hospitality, providing the warmest of welcomes and wonderful service in this beautiful five star hotel.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 37

Promote your hotel or restaurant on irishtimes.com and Ireland.com A Premium Listing includes: Rates, special offers and menus Image gallery (Up to 10 images) Map and location details Contact details to book (phone, email, website) Priority listing (your hotel or restaurant will be displayed above basic search listings) Featured promotion throughout the site

Your premium listing will be featured on both irishtimes.com and Ireland.com with a combined audience of 3.4 million monthly unique users

Special rate with this ad of only

€300

( ex vat ) per year

Normal Price €400

Promote your hotel or restaurant directly to a combined audience of 3.4 million people per month on irishtimes.com and Ireland.com.

Contact the team at Ireland.com today

Phone: Email:

(01) 827 9479 hotels@ireland.com or restaurants@ireland.com

to reach an audience of

3.4 million

users per month

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

HOTEL GROUPS Sponsored by

Finalists The Doyle Collection The Moran & Bewleys Hotel Group Tifco

Winner

THE DOYLE COLLECTION The Doyle Collection has come a long way and gone through many changes since the legendary hotelier PV Doyle first founded the group 40 years ago.

Today, with the successful rebranding from the JurysDoyle Hotel Group to The Doyle Collection now firmly in place, the group is looking forward with vigour, and asserting its position in the luxury market, both at home and overseas.

The Gold Medal Awards Jury concentrates purely on Irish operations when adjudicating in the Hotel Groups category, but it is worth noting The Doyle Collection’s extensive overseas operations, which includes more than 1,500 rooms in eight hotels in the UK and US. Here at home, the group operates the five star Westbury Hotel off Grafton Street in Dublin, together with the four star Croke Park Hotel opposite GAA HQ, and The River Lee Hotel in Cork.

The group is committed to providing the best of modern luxury to its guests, and has embarked on a multimillion euro investment programme to drive standards throughout its portfolio of hotels. It was these standards which most impressed Gold Medal Awards judges, who identified that the quality front of house was supported by a slick management team behind the scenes.

Winning the Gold Medal Award means an enormous amount to everyone at The Doyle Collection, says chief executive Bill Walshe. ‘This is the first time since relaunching the company as The Doyle Collection in December 2008 that we have entered any awards, and we are thrilled that the work that we have put in to reinventing our products, procedures and quality standards has been recognised in this way. It is hugely motivating to all of us. We are a team of people driven by pride – and we are very proud to have won this award.’

Top: The River Lee Hotel, Cork Above: The Westbury Hotel, Dublin Cillian McDonnell, head of online publishing at Ireland.com (right) presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Hotel Groups, sponsored

by Ireland.com, to Edward Stephenson and Christine Murphy of The Doyle Collection.

The Judges’ View:

‘The Doyle Collection impressed with their high front of house standards, which are backed by an impressive management team behind the scenes. Luxury is the name of the game in this busy hotel group which has recently undergone an extensive repositioning programme. Built on a strong foundation of quality hotelkeeping, honed over 40 years in the industry, The Doyle Collection is looking to the future with vision and vigour.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 39

Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading supplier of quality wine to the hotel & restaurant market.

Contact us on 01 4292200 or info@gleesongroup.ie

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

WINE EXPERIENCE Sponsored by

Finalists Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford Max’s Restaurant & Wine Bar, Kinsale, Co Cork No.1 Pery Square, Limerick Pinocchio, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 The Twelve, Barna, Co Galway The Cornstore, Cork

Winner

THE TWELVE HOTEL Fergus O’Halloran turned his passion for wine into Gold when The Twelve general manager took to the stage in The Shelbourne Hotel last month to collect the Gold Medal Award for Wine Experience, sponsored by Gleeson incorporating Gilbeys.

An accomplished sommelier, Fergus has gained much attention for his wine knowledge, recently getting a nod from the worldwide wine bible Wine Spectator for his comprehensive list in The Twelve’s West restaurant.

The Gold Medal Award means a huge deal to Fergus and The Twelve team, however, as it is about the entire wine experience, not just the list.

‘It’s very easy to put together a blue chip wine list,’ says Fergus, whose cellar collection extends to an eclectic mix of more than 350 labels. ‘But to be really good in wine you have to have the passion. You need to create an experience, and you have to educate. When selecting a wine about 80% of diners choose something they are familiar with, but we have structured our list to help people choose something new. Our staff are always on hand to help and to give a bit of advice.’

The Twelve also runs a number of initiatives to boost wine sales and enhance wine lovers’ experiences – from Jazzed About Wine promotions, featuring food and wine pairings with jazz entertainment, to wine appreciation courses and wine dinners, the most recent of which saw Jean Trimbach address guests in West.

‘We are always trying to come up with new ideas,’ Fergus explains, adding that education is a priority. He has sent his two sommeliers on the RAI’s new sommelier course and is looking forward to the results. ‘I want them to bring their ideas to the list and to the offering. We have a great template now to build on, and we are always looking for ways to improve.’

The motto on West’s wine list reads ‘celebrate food, celebrate wine and celebrate life’ and this passion is evident throughout the team – particularly with Fergus who also gets our Award for most excited winner on the night. ‘To win the Gold Medal Award means so much to us here.

We received a huge amount of feedback from the industry congratulating us on our win, and our loyal customers were also delighted for us. It makes them feel good too – they want to be a part of it.’

Julia Kennedy of Gleeson incorporating Gilbeys presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Wine Experience, sponsored by Gleeson incorporating Gilbeys, to Fergus O’Halloran, general manager of The Twelve Hotel.

The Judges’ View:

‘The Twelve’s mantra is to provide a wine offering that is “sophisticated yet accessible” and this certainly shines through. Whether a connoisseur or a novice, there is a wine to suit every need in The Twelve, and the hotel’s knowledgeable staff are always on hand to guide guests and diners through the expansive wine list. With such an exciting collection of wines to choose from, and such sleek service, it is easy to see why The Twelve has caught the attention of wine lovers here in Ireland and around the world.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 41

NEED A QUALIFICATION? WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE bUT CANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T AFFOrD IT? Why not EArN WHILE YOU LEArN? Work in a hotel or restaurant and attend an Institute of Technology once a week or on a block release basis.

Chef Training National Apprenticeship Programme in Professional Cookery Total Immersion Programme for Chefs BA in Culinary Arts (Part-time) Hotel Management Trainee Manager Development Programme Restaurant Management Restaurant Operations Management Restaurant and Bar Programme (Day release)

For further information and an application form see or call 1850 256 256

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS NEWS

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Sponsored by

Finalists Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa, Killarney, Co Kerry Cromleach Lodge, Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo The Lodge at Doonbeg, Co Clare Glenlo Abbey Hotel, Galway Harvey’s Point Hotel, Lough Eske, Co Donegal Hayfield Manor Hotel, Cork The Merrion Hotel, Dublin

Winner

CROMLEACH LODGE It was a case of ‘three’s company’ for Cromleach Lodge which was nominated an impressive three times as finalist in this year’s Gold Medal Awards, getting the nod from judges in the Four Star Hotels, Fine Dining Restaurants and Customer Experience categories.

It was the Tighe’s commitment to customer service, equally shared by the hotel’s team of 50 staff, which helped Cromleach Lodge hit the jackpot in the final category award of the night when the Cromleach’s charming welcome earned it the Gold Medal Award for Customer Experience, sponsored by Fáilte Ireland. Judges heaped praise on this jewel of Sligo, where nothing is too much trouble for staff who regularly go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure each guest’s stay is memorable.

Opened in 1978, Cromleach Lodge has developed from a small B&B overlooking Lough Arrow where Moira and Christy Tighe catered to visiting fishermen, to a 57 room hotel with fine dining restaurant, two bars (De Danann and Nuada’s Brunch Bar) and the aptly titled Ciúnas Spa. Service is at the heart of this impressive operation, which enjoys a successful wedding business and good repeat custom.

The win reaffirms Cromleach Lodge’s commitment to quality, believes Christy Tighe. ‘Everyone knows that the hotel industry is going through a very difficult period right now. Competition is driving prices down and the temptation is to drop standards in order to compete but we have always held the view that maintaining the high standards on which we have established our reputation is paramount to our survival long term.’

As the hotel works through the downturn, the Gold Medal win has been a great morale booster. ‘All awards are good for us and our staff, but this award is particularly important in that it is recognised as the most independent and prestigious of all the hospitality awards,’ says Christy.

Dr Tony Lenehan, head of food, hospitality and standards at Fáilte Ireland (centre), presents the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Customer Experience, sponsored

by Fáilte Ireland, to Christy and Moira Tighe of Cromleach Lodge.

The Judges’ View:

‘Ireland’s famed fáilte is alive and well in Cromleach Lodge where the Tighe family’s commitment to customer care is apparent in every aspect of the operation. The team at this charming country house go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that every guest’s stay is memorable.’

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 43

GOLD MEDAL AWARDS

Midas Touch

Dublin’s Queen of the Green was packed to capacity when we celebrated the 22nd Annual Gold Medal Awards in the Great Ballroom. More than 350 hoteliers, restaurateurs, caterers and industry dignitaries joined in the festivities, including our record 67 finalists and generous industry sponsors.

1.

2.

3.

1. Carol Norman and Oliver Boche of Crackpots Restaurant, Kinsale 2. Moira Tighe and Christy Tighe, Cromleach Lodge Hotel, Sligo 3. Magda Czochara and Melanie Dutoit, Glover Catering 4. Jeremy Dicks and Margaret Clapham, Sodexo Ireland 5. Liz Roche, Bridget Kavanagh, Margaret Gorman, Catherine Murray and Mary Ferns of St Brigid’s Hospital in Portlaoise

6.

4.

5.

6. Eilish Wall and Damian O’Riordan from The G Hotel 7.Paul Gallagher, IHF president and Nicky Logue, general manager of Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel, Killiney 8. Sean O’Brien, Kraft Foods, Sean Martin, Bunzl McLoughlin and Derek Caswell, The Kenco Coffee Company 9. Tim Fenn, chief executive, Irish Hotels Federation and Liam Mongey, secretary of the Catering Equipment Association

8.

9.

10. Paul Cadden, president of the Restaurants Association of Ireland and Fergal O’Connell, president elect of the Irish Hospitality Institute 11. Aisling Hannon, Aine Osborne and Cliona Mooney of Ireland.com

7.

11.

12. Peter Lehoyde and Ruth McCarthy of the Inchydoney Island Hotel

12.

10.

44 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

2.

1.

3.

5.

4.

6.

1. Sarah McGourty, Paulina Demmerer, Zara McHugh, Amelda Maguire and Marian Fay from MacNean House & Restaurant

7.

2. John Cassidy, Edward Dillion & Co, Gerry Green, Malahide Golf Club and Hugh Campbell, Edward Dillion & Co 3. Siobhan Hogan and Mary McGivney, The Barrister’s Tea Rooms 4. Maureen and Seamus McAllister of The Morning Star, Belfast 5. Hubert O’Reilly, Natalie Collins, Sheena O’Connor, Philip O’Connor and Pat Munnelly of The Silver Restaurant

9.

6. Patsy Murphy, Douglas Jordan, registrar, Fáilte Ireland and advisor to the Gold Medal Awards Jury and Rory Murphy, Gold Medal Awards judge.

7. Adrian Sherry, Moran Bewleys Hotel Group, Ciaran O’Donovan, Bewleys Hotel, Eric Valkys and Neville Brown, Best Western Hotels

8.

10.

11.

8. Kevin O’Sullivan, Mary Murphy, Niamh Donnelly and Lawrence Murphy of Partridge’s Artisan Cafe, Co Wexford 9. Kathleen Heraghty, Irish Accommodation Service Institute, Ines Guerra, IASI president and Josephine Ryan, IASI secretary 10. Jacinta O’Gorman and Ellen Ren of The Claregalway Hotel, Galway 11. Natasha Kinsella, chief executive, Irish Hospitality Institute and Aileesh Carew, Gold Medal Awards judge

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 45

INFLATION

Food on

the Rise Food prices have been marginally rising over the last year and with global food stocks gradually diminishing, this will have a huge impact for all in the hospitality sector, as GRÁINNE BURNS reports.

T

he small matter of a global food shortage rarely makes a headline on these shores – keeping afloat and winning business is the main concern for most operators.

The recent rise in world coffee prices in June went unnoticed by many, the news somewhat overshadowed by our own crippling cost prices.

Research from the Central Statistics Office showed that food costs rose by 0.1% in June, following a 0.4% rise in May. Prices are gradually increasing and it is a trend that is set to continue, especially in the wheat, rice and coffee markets, but will hit Irish operators harder.

As demonstrated by the food cost report last year conducted by Horwath Bastow Charleton for Fáilte Ireland, restaurants pay 2% higher than the average EU for food cost input.

Paul Cadden from the RAI said operators simply would not be able to absorb another increase in costs. ‘Restaurants are operating on extremely small margins and over 80% are at break even or running at a loss. Further rises in food costs cannot be sustained by the sector.’

Coffee prices may be the first to see a real hit with Bewley’s master roaster and procurement director, Paul O’Toole, stating this rise comes against a backdrop of stabilisation with high-street prices. ‘The current rise in coffee prices on global commodity markets is due to speculative trading in coffee

46 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

futures. Coupled with a possible shortage in global coffee supplies, it seems likely that these rising price levels will be sustained. This is against a backdrop where coffee prices on the high street have remained relatively stable since 2008.’

There are several international trends impacting on food prices. Russia, one of he world’s biggest producers of wheat, barley and rye, recently imposed a ban on grain exports until the end of the year after a severe drought and a spate of wildfires devastated crops.

Coffee Situation

Passing on any price increase will be hard for all in the food chain with end users unwilling to pay extra for even the essentials, let alone what people now see as a ‘luxury’ such as coffee.

Worldwide, the problem with coffee is a lot more serious.

There have been two main mitigating factors dictating coffee prices, production and supply as well as trading stocks. Speculators and traders are currently investing in coffee shares as they see the upward trend in prices and so are in the game to make a quick buck. It’s easy money for a commodity that is short on supply and so the greater demand is pushing up the price. In June, coffee futures reaches their highest level in almost 12 years, resulting in a 25% spike in coffee prices.

Coffee Exchanges The two leading futures exchanges where coffee is traded are in New York, on ICE Futures US, where the coffee contract is for Arabica and in London, on NYSE Liffee, where the contract is for Robusta.

These futures’ markets play a role in setting benchmark international prices. However, a lot of coffee is also traded in over the counter market with producers, farmers and exporters making their own deals with trading houses and coffee processors.

Consumption Crisis

According to the International Coffee Organisation, the world production of coffee will be between 124-125 million bags (each bag weighs 60 kilograms), compared with demand of 130-132 million. In 2009, consumption was at 128 bags.

The other factor affecting price is worldwide consumption, which is now growing at under 2% a year, especially in South American countries such as Brazil where they are consuming more than half of what they produce. By the end of this year, world consumption will be 130 million bags of coffee, up two million from 2009.

Central America is completely sold out of its 2010 crop and new coffee will not be available until January next year.

‘For our part in Bewley’s we believe that the coffee market has reached a new trading level that will likely prevail for some time. I don’t think this is a blip or spike. We must also remember that the euro has weakened rapidly against the dollar recently, so coffee was already getting more expensive in euro terms,’ says Paul O’Toole from Bewley’s.

Coffee companies like Bewley’s tend to cover forward on coffee and dollar purchases to protect themselves against temporary fluctuation in price. ‘It does seem inevitable however that, as covers run out, the coffee trade and consumers may experience price increases towards the end of the year or early in 2011.

The capability of the coffee industry to absorb these wholesale price increases will not last beyond that. That is against a backdrop where coffee prices on the high street have remained relatively stable since 2008,’ adds Paul. Such price increases could be double digits at 10-

15%, which may translate into a 3-5% increase per cup for end users.

Fairtrade Trend

Just as coffee was the quintessential drink of the Celtic Tiger, fairtrade was the simultaneous buzzword. Such chains as Starbucks jumped on the bandwagon, rolling out the complete fairtrade range, in response to demands for a more ethically conscious society.

Caterers such as Sodexo have followed suit, its entire roast, ground and bean coffees are Rainforest Alliance with 5% being triple accredited (rainforest, fairtrade and organic).

Despite the warnings, Jeremy Dicks, managing director of Sodexo Ireland says the impact of food price increases has not been felt yet.

‘I am not aware that the wheat shortages will impact Sodexo this year and we have not had increased prices. We have global food purchasing arrangements with some products such as rice and pasta, which have not been impacted yet.’ He adds that Ireland is better placed than others to withhold any price increases. ‘I think Ireland is an excellent example of sustainable food produce and is well placed not to be impacted by the food shortages linked to wheat and corn.’

Paul Cadden from the RAI says that the government needs to address the issue of rising costs. ‘Unfortunately, the government hasn’t tackled the fixed cost element of the restaurant sector with a matter of urgency: local authority rates, energy costs and fixed labour costs, including time and a third on Sunday. The Government needs to step up to the plate regarding these fixed costs as a matter of urgency otherwise more restaurants will close and employees facing the live register.’ u

Weathering the Storms Coffee – As with most food, climatic changes have a profound effect on growth of coffee beans.

The premium Arabica trees are climate sensitive, requiring a precise temperature range and annual rainfall to be at their most productive. Robusta trees are more selective and need to be cultivated in a wider range of environmental conditions.

In Colombia, the rainy season has hampered output of resources and in mid-August, this resulted in soaring coffee prices in the world’s largest Arabica-bean producing country.

In 2009, the South American country recorded its lowest production cycle in 33 years due to excess rain and scarce use of fertiliser lowering yields.

While the industry is still in recovery mode, growers say they are optimistic

about the future following an increase of production in July of 35%.

According to ICE Futures, stockpiles of Arabica beans in Colombia have fallen to their lowest levels since 2000, with prices rising by almost 27% this year alone.

However, on the other side of the coin, grower representatives have stated that coffee prices have traditionally been too low and that they are not earning returns to compensate for their investment in new trees, fertiliser and processing of coffee beans.

WHEAT – Shares in the brewing sector fell rapidly in August amid fears that Russia’s decision to ban grain exports would lead rapidly to escalating costs.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s decision to halt exports of grain

and flour to the end of the year sent a shockwave through the brewing sector, with shares in all major brewers, including Heineken, Carlsberg, SAB Miller and AB-InBev, falling as barley prices surged to a two year high.

Russia is one of the biggest grain importers in the world, supplying almost a quarter of all traded wheat in 2009 making it the world’s third largest wheat exporter. But the worst drought in 100 years has devastated wheat and barley crops and the Russian government is attempting to conserve domestic stocks or face shortages and rising prices domestically.

The move isn’t going to just affect the share prices of the world’s brewing giants, it is likely to have a knock on effect for food producers working with grain, as wheat prices rise globally.

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 47

MARKETING

Strength in Numbers

Independent Irish hotel operators are leaning on cooperative marketing groups more than ever in the downturn as they use the combined marketing muscle to shout about their business. Hotel & Catering Review looks at some of the main players in this market.

Best Western

Members: 15 Irish hotels, 1,582 rooms Different to the other groups listed in this article, in that it is an actual branded chain, Best Western supports more than 4,000 hotels in 80 countries worldwide, that combined cater to approximately 400,000 guests each night.

While the group offers hoteliers the benefit of an internationally recognised brand, they can maintain their independence as members and continue to own and operate their properties directly. Many international brands lock owners into lengthy contracts but Best Western allows greater flexibility, with an initial two year contract which subsequently can be reviewed annually.

Here in Ireland, Best Western serves 15 hotels across the country and the benefits are manifold, says Neville Graham, director of international member services. ‘We offer very competitive fees, an internationally recognised brand name, worldwide reservation and online booking channels and global and local marketing services. As we are a not-for-profit organisation our fee structure is designed to enable owners keep more revenue.’

As expected with a global brand, the bulk of the business is international but the domestic market is growing in share, and now accounts for 20% of rooms delivered. ‘We have a database of all the Irish who stay in Best Western hotels around the world so that is hugely beneficial when targeting the domestic market,’ says Neville.

The group has recently introduced a new channel management service, suitable for hoteliers who do not have the luxury of full time revenue managers. It monitors bookings and rates through Best Western and all major third parties, enabling hotels to check rate parity and so on.

Business has improved this year despite the downturn, says Neville Graham, with room nights delivered by the brand up 11% and revenue up 1%. Revenue through the loyalty programme, which has 11.3 million members globally and 16,000 in Ireland, has increased by 4%. ‘We’re still concerned about the pressure on rate but the channel management system helps. It gives the hotels solid information and it means they’re not just sticking their fingers in the air to guess the rate.’

Fee: Charged on a fixed room basis. Booking fees are 8% through GDS and 6% for web bookings. The new channel management system is available at an additional charge of e500 per month.

Good Food Ireland

Members: 263, comprising 43 accommodation providers (combined 2,017 rooms), 130 foodservice providers and retailers (restaurants, cafés, pubs, cookery schools, food stores and farmers’ markets) and 90 food producers.

Celebrating four years in operation next month, Good Food Ireland has developed as an ‘all island umbrella brand for food and tourism product marketing’, says managing director Margaret Jeffares.

Best Western Ashling Hotel, Dublin Best Western Milford Inn, Co Donegal

When she launched her crusade to stamp food on Ireland’s tourism product in 2006 there was, she admits, not a huge amount of interest among international buyers. ‘But now the market is strongly demanding our product. We have convinced the international trade that there is a food product in Ireland.’

As well as networking heavily through consumer events at home such as Taste of Dublin, the Dublin Horse Show and the Irish Derby, Good Food Ireland works the floor at trade events like Meitheal and Meet in Ireland, held recently at the new Convention Centre Dublin.

Overseas the group has worked in partnership with Tourism Ireland showcasing Irish food at everything from the BBC Good Food Show to last year’s Volvo Ocean Race stopovers. 8

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 49

Above: Good Food Ireland members took part in a ‘Flavours of Ireland’ trade workshop in London this month, held in association with Tourism Ireland. Over 200 UK tour operators sampled food from the members at the event.

Right: Ireland’s Blue Book director Hilary Finlay officially retires from office this month. She is pictured (right) at her recent retirement lunch handing the Blue Book baton to Michelle Maguire, marketing manager.

Good Food Ireland is involved in up to 60 events per year, says Margaret Jeffares, adding that the group turns down many offers.

‘The target market must be right and the basis for going to any of them is that they must offer a valuable promotional platform for our members.’ Among the events in the diary is next month’s World Travel Market in London where Good Food Ireland will be present for the first time. ‘There was never the demand from tour operators before, but there is now.’

One of the reasons for the demand is the launch of a new range of Good Food Ireland contracted tours, which the group has launched with Der Tours in Germany, Sceptre Tours in the US and Aer Lingus.

The tours of Good Food Ireland members are for individuals and small groups, many of which will be chauffeur driven. ‘It is high yield business which is great,’ notes Margaret. ‘We are working in partnership with tour operators overseas and licensing them to use the brand. Our members are then offering tailor-made incentives for food tourists to encourage them to visit, from complimentary cookbooks to tours of the vegetable gardens.’

Food is finally gaining interest in tourism circles, both at home and overseas, Margaret reveals. ‘When we were pioneering, there was very little interest in food tourism, now food tourism is in vogue and lots of agencies are working on growing that. From Good Food Ireland’s perspective it is vital that food quality is sustained. This segment of the market is not driven by rates, but value is measured in terms of experience.’ She notes that now that the industry is galvanised to get behind food tourism, customers are responding with gusto. ‘The international trade has been crying out for something new in Irish tourism and the phone is hopping off the hook with calls from tour operators. We’ve had to hire two more members of staff in here to cope with the increase in workload.’

Fee: Yearly marketing fee, calculated on size and style of business.

Membership is by invitation from other members and a basic requirement is a commitment to good food.

50 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

The Great National Hotels management team, l-r: Edel Hayes, David Byrne, James Sullivan and David Collins.

Great National Hotels

Membership: 12 hotels in Ireland and the UK, 722 rooms The new kid on the block, Great National Hotels launched in March of this year, offering a suite of marketing services to independent Irish hotels.

As of this month, the group has signed up 12 hotels to its two brands – the Great National Hotels Collection, for four and five star hotels and resorts and the Classic Collection for independently run owner operated properties. The 12 hotels are spread between Ireland and the UK (eight this side of the Irish sea, with four in the Wolverhampton/Staffordshire region), and new to the list this October is the Lady Gregory Hotel in Gort and West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen.

Great National Hotels is led by a four-strong management team: managing director David Byrne, who has 25 years experience in the hotel industry, latterly with Lynch Hotels where he was sales and marketing director; finance and strategy director James Sullivan, who is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland and has 20 years experience in finance roles with the tourism industry; marketing and branding director David Collins, a branding expert who has worked with the Lynch and Carlton hotel groups; and reservations director Edel Hayes, who has managed both Lynch and Carlton’s call centres, as well as the national call centre for AIB. The group’s marketing model is based on four pillars: ‘Firstly, we provide a dedicated reservation centre for independent hotels.

Secondly we build, maintain, update and promote individual hotels’ websites and cover every aspect of their online marketing, from pay per click to SEO and online affiliate marketing. Next we bring the hotels together for national advertising and promotions which they wouldn’t be able to achieve as independent hotels and fourthly we install a financial report system, FinMax, which provides a comprehensive system for budgeting, forecasting and yield management,’ explains David Byrne.

As well as availing of Great Nationals marketing expertise and financial benchmarking service, the hotels can also tap into a group purchasing scheme which, in addition to advertising and online marketing, offers the opportunity to purchase energy as a group. ‘It is up to the individual hotels if they wish to avail of this add on service, but it can certainly be worthwhile as one member reduced its energy costs by 26% as a result.’ As the group looks into further central purchasing possibilities, David Byrne maintains: ‘We will only deal with local and Irish suppliers.’

Great National has set a target of bringing 32 members on board by the end of 2012, and the group is ‘very much on target’ to do so, says David. They have just taken on two new staff to grow the base in the UK and moves to do so will commence in earnest in the New Year. To date, the group has created 20 new jobs at its reservations centre in Ennis, and David believes that this number will grow to 50.

MARKETING

Towers Hotel, Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, a member of Irish Country Hotels

Garryvoe Hotel, Ballycotton, a member of Irish Country Hotels

‘We are a performance driven business, our only goal in life is to deliver rooms for hotels, and we will only benefit if we have been of benefit to hotels. There is a nominal fee for joining, and we take a percentage of rooms we sell directly onto the hotel’s reservation system.

We do not charge commission on third party booking sites as we believe this is unfair, they charge enough already.’

The response has been phenomenal to date, with some member hotels reporting an 80% increase in third party business over the last six months, while online bookings have more than doubled, says David Byrne.

‘The Irish and UK hotel industry is under severe pressure right now. We see that Irish hotels have been reducing their emphasis on marketing in an effort to cut costs and have also reduced or combined jobs so they no longer have a dedicated reservations manager for instance. Our system plugs that gap and enables them to avail of our central reservations system, as well as the back up we offer through FinMax and our website building service.’ The group will additionally represent members at international trade fairs and events, as well as advertise heavily in national papers such as the Irish Independent, Sunday World and Irish Examiner.

Fees: Nominal joining fee based on size of property. No charge for support services such as website build and management, finance package or central purchasing. Percentage taken on rooms delivered to hotel reservations system.

Ireland’s Blue Book

Taste of Christmas, the Food & Wine Show and Bloom, and outside Ireland the biggest markets are GB followed by the US. While the US business wasn’t hit as much as expected this year, Britain has been ‘very difficult’, says Michelle. ‘Business has been a challenge this year.

There is a lot of product in the marketplace, but our members are keeping the head down and getting on with things. We have benefited enormously from Irish people staying at home this year.’

Blue Book’s website is one of its most powerful marketing tool, Michelle explains, allowing the group to market globally with minimum cost, and traffic to the site has increased by 15% this year.

Social media is playing a greater role in the Blue Book’s marketing campaign with 1,800 followers on Facebook and it has recently launched its new iPhone app (see HCR September 2010) which allows visitors to navigate their way around Ireland visiting Blue Book members while they travel.

Fee: Annual fee, membership by invite only

Irish Country Hotels & Manor House Hotels

Members: 40 – 37 hotels (939 rooms) and three restaurants

Members: 61 over two brands – 30 hotels and 1,331 rooms in Irish Country Hotels; 31 hotels and 1,420 rooms in Manor House Hotels

Established in 1974, Ireland’s Blue Book is a stalwart marketer in Ireland’s luxury hotel and catering industry. Membership is spread across the island, spanning 37 country houses and manor houses as well as three Michelin starred Dublin restaurants (Chapter One, L’Ecrivain and Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud).

Looking at the base of members, which also includes luxury hotel heavyweights such as Park Kenmare, winner of the Five Star Award, sponsored by Edward Dillon & Co at last month’s Gold Medal Awards; the supreme winner of the Gold Medal Award for Excellence 2010, Gregan’s Castle; as well as previous category winners Rathsallagh House and Hayfield Manor, it is little surprise that food plays a big role in the Blue Book’s package. ‘Any new member invited to join the Blue Book must add to the collection as a whole. It must have something unique to offer and food is very important,’ says Michelle Maguire, marketing manager. Entry is by invite only from current members, and joining the collection in 2011 is Carrig House in Kerry.

The group’s main focus is in the domestic market where it targets consumers at major shows such as Taste in Dublin, the upcoming

Established 26 years ago by Bord Fáilte to help small individual hotels market themselves overseas, CMV as it was then dubbed was made up of three brands, Manor House Hotels; Coast & Country Hotels and Village Inns. The V was dropped in 2002 in reflection of changes in the market, and the group, which serves a combined 61 hotels spanning more than 1,750 rooms in Ireland, now operates two brands: Manor House Hotels and Irish Country Hotels.

While members were holding their breath in anticipation of another dismal year in 2010, trade ‘hasn’t been as bad as we thought it was going to be’, says sales and marketing director Roisin Wallace.

‘The summer came good, as did the US market, and the domestic market held.’

Although it does not share revenue figures, both Manor House and Irish Country Hotels have seen a growth in bednights this year with volume up 8%, says Roisin. ‘Rates are stabilising everywhere and particularly strengthening in the three star market.’

In this climate innovation is key. ‘We are constantly striving to come up with something new,’ says Roisin, and the group is heavily 8

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 51

NEWS

The Royal Marine, Dun Laoghaire, a member of Select Hotels of Ireland

This image and inset: No.1 Pery Square, Limerick, a member of Private Ireland

involved with web marketing including social networking, with plans to invest further in this area next year. ‘Today direct selling is so important,’ she warns however. ‘Shoe leather is more important than ever. It’s all about dealing with people face to face and coming up with something new and innovative.’

The group is cautiously optimistic that there will be a return to growth in 2011, but it won’t be spectacular. ‘The GB market will continue to be difficult,’ believes Roisin, ‘and we are mindful of areas where there are big pockets of public servants, such as in Wales and the north west, as we are expecting them to get hit in the UK budget.

As a result we will not be promoting as much in those areas.’

The US, which is a big area for Manor House Hotels’ is looking good however, while other Europe, which traditionally favours Irish Country Hotels, is also showing positive signs.

Malone Lodge, Belfast, a Select Hotels member

Select Hotels of Ireland Members: 24 hotels, 2,218 rooms

When Patricia Roberts was preparing to launch her boutique Limerick hotel, No.1 Pery Square, she realised that her workload would divert some of her attentions from Select Hotels, the marketing group she formed a decade ago. Patricia had operated in partnership with Derry Cronin for a number of years, availing of his Specialised Travel Services call centre in Cork to market the hotels, and took the decision to sell the remainder of the business to him a year and a half ago.

She had already broadened her horizons however when she launched Private Ireland, a second marketing company four years ago, which services boutique owner-operated hotels.

Today Private Ireland has five members: Patricia’s No.1 Pery Square, Ross Lake in Ougherard, Brooklane in Kenmare, Carrygerry in Shannon and Dublin’s Aberdeen Lodge. The boutique nature of the group means that Private Ireland is concentrating purely on the US market, offering ‘My Very Own Private Ireland’ vacation programme through Specialised Travel Services. The programme features a seven day itinerary visiting all five members for US tourists visiting Ireland and is based on a chauffeur or self drive, though with the price of car hire rising Patricia notes that for a family of six a chauffeur service nearly works out cheaper.

Members take it in turns to travel to the US to promote the programme and since its launch in March of this year it has delivered more than 400 bednights, with further promising bookings for next spring. The beauty of this business is that it’s good quality, says Patricia. ‘You get a decent rate with it.’

It’s been a tough year in the Irish hotel sector, but Select Hotels of Ireland is singing a good news song, with turnover up by double while bookings have tripled to date this year. Rates is where the heartache is however, with the average daily rate down 8-10%, but general manager Una Young is eager to point out that it is not all doom and gloom.

‘We have enjoyed a good year so far this year. The key to it for us is that we look after the guests that we do have and get them to return.’

The group, which was set up 10 years ago by Patricia Roberts (nee Coughlan) and taken over last year by Specialised Travel Services, the firm operated by Derry Cronin of Cronin’s Coaches, is populated by three and four star hotels across Ireland who are looking for the combined marketing muscle of a group, while at the same time maintaining their independence.

For Una, referrals is the best business. ‘Guests who stay in The Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire for instance and then want to travel to Galway are incentivised to book into one of our member hotels there.’

Promotions such as the buy one, get one free pioneered last year have been a great success for the group. Guests who stayed one night in summer 2009 were offered a subsequent free night in the autumn, and its popularity saw the group roll out the programme again this year.

While Select’s primary focus a decade ago was domestic, the group has grown to target the international market, helped substantially by Specialised Travel Service’s office in New York. Surprisingly, while most numbers out of the UK market are heading south, Select has actually grown its GB business this year, helped in no small part by a highly lucrative promotional campaign run with the supermarket giant Tesco. Business is split 60% domestic, 30% UK and 10% other, which is mainly US with a small amount from other Europe.

The group is not actively looking for members and entry is a slow process, says Una Young. ‘Prospective members have to fit our criteria and location is important. In general we only serve one member per area, though in certain population hubs like Galway we may have more. We make sure that members do not operate in competition with each other though. It takes a while to decide if a prospective member is a right fit, both in terms of what they’re looking for from a marketing group and what we want in a member. We work in partnership with all our members so we have to make sure the dynamic is right.’

Fee: Base fee (€3,000) plus additional fee per room (c.€100).

Fee: Annual membership fee calculated by size of property. u

Fee: Annual base fee based on the number of rooms. The group has never ‘actively looked’ to take on new members but does bring new members on board who fit with the Manor House/Irish Country Hotels criteria.

Private Ireland

Members: Five Hotels, 84 rooms

52 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

ALEX GIBSON’S MARKETING MATTERS

Time to get Foursquare behind location-based marketing ALEX GIBSON investigates the opportunities to market your property to guests when they are on-location.

T

he arrival of Google Street View in Ireland has already led to calls in some quarters for the deletion of images that are deemed an invasion of privacy. In case you have not checked out Google Street View, the project is part of the web search engine’s master project to assimilate and organise the world’s information. With Street View it’s now possible to remotely conduct a 360 degree tour of the streets of most Irish towns and villages. Understandably Fáilte Ireland has been quick off the mark too in promoting the fact that major Irish landmarks are also featured on the database. It certainly offers another valuable weapon in destination promotion as potential tourists can conduct a virtual tour of their intended destination.

Certainly the benefits – and challenges – from a tourism perspective are clear, and were brought home to me this summer when I was able to comprehensively check out a planned US holiday rental property on the Street View and ‘road-test’ the estate agent’s claim that the property was only a short stroll from the coast. Of course for properties in a less than salubrious location the dangers should be obvious too!

While video and pictures are becoming an essential part of the search process for customers, the likelihood is also that Google Street View will be too. The Google Street View project should be seen as part of a much broader range of techniques under the banner of ‘location-based marketing’ – facilitated in the main by smart-phones marketers who are now beginning to look for ways to place messages in front of consumers that are location or contextual-based. A prime example of this is Foursquare, a site that uses the GPS coordinates of respondents’ mobile phones to tailor highly relevant messages, and for

the principle of opinion leadership. Major brands such as Pizza Hut in the US have been able to build significant volume of sales by such types of offer. While Foursquare is not in the same league as users of Facebook or Twitter, its location-based format is a signpost to the future of marketing. The recent launch by Facebook of their Places application is a sign that the big players in social media are zoning in on this type of opportunity.

So what are the opportunities that location-based marketing offers? An obvious starter is at the destination level – when people are entering a country or town, via their mobile device they can receive information, including commercial messages, that enables them to have a more informed perspective on their surroundings. This information can include video, audio, images and text. A good recent example is the Dublin Tourism iPhone application which, using the location of users, allows them to scan their environments with their phone and get background information on nearby visitor attractions and notable landmarks. Of particular interest is the ability to source special offers from hotels and restaurants in the immediate vicinity.

Another obvious use of this technology would be the opportunity it offers to promote events taking place in the immediate vicinity of the recipient. Already Twitter via smartphones has become a highly important tool for event marketers in channelling information as events take place including the ability to take questions from the audience via their Twitter accounts. I think that, as smartphone applications increase in popularity, and the cost of roaming inevitably falls – a big barrier at present – we will see ‘on-location’ consumer

Already Twitter via smartphones has become a highly important tool for event marketers in channelling information as events take place including the ability to take questions from the audience via their Twitter accounts. respondents to alert those in their Foursquare network to their location, and their inside tips on where they are, such as what’s the best cocktail, the time of the special hour, what to avoid on the menu etc.

Although Foursquare has not achieved huge recognition here in Ireland, it does seem that the majority of hotels have been ‘tagged’ at some point by Foursquare aficionados. By checking in a sufficient number of times to a location such as a hotel, respondents can become the Foursquare ‘Mayor’ of that place – odds are that, unbeknownst to you, you already have your own Mayor on your property. I’ve seen one Dublin hotel offer free coffee to their ‘Mayor’. This makes good sense as it’s related to

searching increase dramatically. Another dimension to consider is the opportunity to use these tools as a live referral tool. As tools such as Facebook are built with social media applications in mind, there are also great opportunities to encourage your guests to post their location to their wider network of friends and relatives. Finally the advent of location-based marketing offers great insight for market segmentation purposes. For example, using Foursquare’s analytics tools gives you access to some interesting statistics: who your most frequent visitors are, the total number of unique visitors, most recent visitors etc. The possibilities offered by location-based marketing are endless; and the time to start exploiting them is now. u

ALEX GIBSON is senior lecturer in Marketing at DIT and is compere for the inaugural 2010 Appys Awards –

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 53

CHEF

Classically trained chef Brian McDermott’s many years spent working with, and tasting plenty of, rich ingredients took its toll on his health. But when he was told to change his lifestyle and lower his cholesterol he turned it into a positive, launching cookery classes for men in similar situations, teaching them how to eat wisely. It was his first step on a road which saw him develop as a community chef, educating communities about how to cook well, eat well and reunite with food. He told SARAH GRENNAN about the journey.

Time to Reunite with Food T hree days after Brian McDermott launched his new cookery book, Reunite with Food, his phone still hasn’t stopped ringing with good wishes and requests for interviews. The book, which he self-published, has generated phenomenal interest in the North West, where Brian has spent the last three years working as a community chef, teaching locals in his native Donegal how to grow their own produce and get the most out of them nutritionally by cooking properly.

‘It’s been amazing,’ says Brian of the initial book launch, which he anticipated would attract about 200 guests. He was blown away by the 500 who turned out for the event in his home town of Moville, with a further 200 apiece expected for two further book launches in Donegal.

It is little wonder that the chef was so well supported as he has been gaining a loyal following since he embarked on his quest to become a community chef three years ago. Self-employed, he is supported by the HSE who took note when he began working with 12-16 year old boys in Moville.

‘I saw that they were bored and had nothing to do so I ran a course for them teaching them how to cook.

They loved it.’

A pilot project with the HSE soon followed, with Brian coming on board as chef/tutor on the Health Promotion Unit’s Healthy Gardening programme in the North West. He has a mobile demonstration unit which enables him to tour Donegal county and reach out to communities which wouldn’t usually have the facilities for cookery demonstrations. ‘We teach them how to eat properly, how to grow food themselves and how to cook it so they get the best out of it nutritionally. I show them how to store and prep food, why it’s important not to preprep in advance, and we also focus on portion sizes, which is a big issue in the North West – we love our big plates of food up here.’

The courses last 10 sessions and run over the

growing season from May to October. As well as cooking, they teach beekeeping, hen keeping and how to grow fruit and veg. ‘The most successful part of the programme has definitely been the community garden which we have developed in Moville. It is right in the middle of a residential area and it gives the community something to focus on, it is a social area where they gather to catch up,’ says Brian.

As part of his programme with the HSE he works with a variety of groups within the community, from the disadvantaged to the disabled to children in local schools. Outside of the HSE work, Brian is equally committed to the community. ‘I do a lot of demonstrations for local community groups such as rugby or GAA teams, or local schools. I charge a fee and encourage the groups to get sponsorship from local companies to pay for it. They then can get the money from the ticket sales. It’s very important to me that the proceeds from my demonstrations go back into the local community.’

A huge focus of his work is with men, teaching them how to look after themselves better and in turn mind their health. Salt is the big evil in diets today, Brian feels, and he is chuffed to report that he has got ‘hundreds of men off salt completely’.

‘The men I work with in Donegal have really embraced this message. They’re going back into the kitchen, they’re taking control of the shopping, they know the price of food now, and their lifestyle has completely changed. They’re eating well, they’ve lost weight, and now they know how to cook.’

Feedback from students encouraged Brian to pen his own cookery book. ‘Listening to community groups for three years it became evident that there was a gap in the market. People don’t know how to work with food now, they don’t know how to grow it, how to preserve nutrients, I wanted to show them how to do more and how they could have fun with food.’ u

Reunite with Food is available to purchase from Brian’s website, www.communitychef.ie

54 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

SOLUTIONS

Time for Change

Q: I run a 60-seater restaurant in a reasonably busy market town in the South East. Our offering is not quite fine

Q&A

Got Something On Your Mind?

Do you need some expert advice? Email your question in complete confidence to hcrsolutions@ jemma.ie.

Names and identifying details will be withheld in published queries.

dining but at the upper end of the bistro scale and influenced heavily by classic French cooking. Traditionally we were a restaurant where people came for special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, or family celebrations. Unfortunately, business has fallen off dramatically in the recession and I am conscious that it is time for a revamp as I feel that both the design of the restaurant and the menu on offer is quite dated. I am unsure of what direction to take or where to look for new ideas. I note that there has been a big move towards casual dining with a number of new restaurants opening up in this sector, due presumably to the fact that there is no longer a big market for fine dining.

I am not against completely changing our entire business model, or even launching an entirely new restaurant, but it is a risk, and I am concerned about alienating our existing customers. However, it is abundantly clear to me that we have to do something major to stem the decline in our business as our clientele is aging and in danger of literally dying off.

We have already implemented a major cost-cutting plan which has helped increase margins so where we really need help now is freshening up our business to attract new customers.

A: Your situation is not at

all unusual in the current climate. Good quality restaurants which have been in business for years are finding that their customer base is shrinking and the spend is down generally. Your business is on a steady course at the moment as you have taken preventative action in relation to costs.

A word of warning on cutting costs: it is very important that cost cutting does not impact on either the quality of food or service, i.e. the concentration needs to be on becoming more efficient at every point in your business and thus improving quality of food and service while doing this.

The good news is that as a nation we now have a firmly established habit of eating out on a regular basis.

Rather than making radical changes which may irritate your staff and customers it may be time to change the emphasis in your restaurant from French classical which can be costly to produce to French café food, using less expensive but equally delicious ingredients, most of which can be sourced locally. Your premises could be given an inexpensive facelift with lighter colours on the walls and a French café look – think French seaside.

Get rid of costly linen (your cost-cutting measures may already have taken care of that) on the tables and use polished timber table tops or painted table tops if your tables are not of good quality. Ensure that the bright interior of your restaurant is clearly visible from the street (no half curtains on windows) and redesign your menu in a simple café style format. Print in-house on good quality paper, but presented perhaps on a clip board for a more casual approach. Your chefs have French classical cuisine expertise so switching to French café food should not be a problem for the kitchen either in terms of skill or cost control.

Flag the changes you are going to make in terms of food, price and decor with your loyal customer base and potential customers through social media, your website and within the restaurant itself. Make your customers part of the story by keeping them informed.

The process should not take any longer than a few days.

You mentioned the ‘aging clientele’. Recent

research has shown that this sector or the ‘grey market’ as it is called, has very significant spending power – even taking the recession into account – and many restaurant owners are now realising that our ‘seniors’ are a valuable and loyal market. When designing the new menu take this sector into account and again let them know that your restaurant is catering to their specific needs by offering early evening rates or midweek seniors selection.

Another market which many restaurants are ignoring to their cost is ‘women’. Research is consistently showing that women make the decisions about eating out, women eat out more frequently than men and spend more. Your café can target women through bookclubs which meet on a week night, for instance. Market ‘A Book and a Bite Nite’ where your café would nominate a book to read to one or more book clubs and have the members come to the restaurant on a designated early to mid-week night to discuss the book over dinner. The café would be the ‘Book Club’ for the evening. Of course if you pick a foodie treat such as Chocolat or Aphrodite it would make for a very enjoyable food theme. This initiative could also be marketed through social media. Cost and present a short uncomplicated menu which is easy to prepare and serve to your female audience.

Pay further attention to your female customer base by offering Lighter Ladies Lunches, smaller dessert portions for those who like to eat part of their partner’s dessert and a lighter choice on the evening menu.

Ensure that your toilet facilities are spotlessly clean and that the atmosphere is casual but five star standard.

Finally, ask your male and female staff where they and their friends eat out and why? Staff are observing your business becoming quieter and will have their own (often very good) ideas on how to turn things around.

Ask your customers also how you can meet their needs now that some of them do not have as much money to spend. Owners sometimes forget what expertise is directly in front of them and which is also completely free! u

– Blathnaid Bergin The Restaurant Advisor www.restaurantadvisor.ie, info@therestaurantadvisor.ie

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 55

GUESTROOMS

Room for

Manoeuvre Keeping rooms fresh and appealing while controlling costs is a key challenge for hoteliers in the downturn.

A

colleague blustered into the office recently, astounded that the four star hotel he had stayed in earlier that week didn’t have any water in the rooms.

‘The taps weren’t working?’ we asked, assuming the worst and completely missing the point.

‘No, there were no bottles of mineral water in the room. I’ve never stayed in a hotel that didn’t have complimentary bottles of mineral water in the room before,’ he huffed.

It had been a while since he stayed in an Irish hotel, we guessed.

‘What was the rate?’ we probed. e80 (per room), he answered, in what we feel was his turn to completely miss the point. Surely a hotel whose rate was approximately e40 higher in the good times was more than justified in its decision to no longer give away free bottles of water, we argued on the hotel industry’s behalf. We’re sorry to say, dear reader, that such pleas fell on deaf ears.

Nonetheless, with the average RevPAR in the Irish hotel sector now tallying around the e35 mark it is only natural that Irish hoteliers are cutting back. Bottles of water were one of the first things to go, along with chocolate treats, fruit bowls, and morning

56 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

papers, lavishly expensive bathroom products, and elaborate, timeconsuming turndown rituals which eat into labour costs.

The reality is that everyone is cutting back in the downturn, and our tour of the nation’s hotels this summer to judge Hotel & Catering Review’s Gold Medal Awards illustrated that across the board sacrifices were being made in order to balance income and expenditure. But as hoteliers know, it is a mighty trick to cut back without noticeably impacting on standards and, as our debate internally at Jemma Publications HQ illustrates, consumers do not understand that when they pay less they should expect to get less also.

Fresh off the back of another busy season judging the Gold Medal Awards we’re fairly clued in about the standards in Irish bedrooms. Here is our top five pick of areas where you cannot afford to scrimp: 1. The bed. If your guests can’t sleep because of the lumpy mattress, or because the double bed is really only fit for one, then they won’t be back – no matter what the rate. The basic

requirement is that it must be comfortable and not an inhibitor to a great night’s rest.

2. The pillows. Same rule of thumb as the bed. Guests don’t need elaborate pillow menus any more (remember them?) but next to cleanliness, comfort is a basic requirement. A pillow too hard will leave guests cranky when they wake up with a crick in their neck, too soft and they are in danger of a similar problem.

3. The linen. Towels are disappearing in Irish hotel bathrooms, and for once it’s not light fingered guests. At every level of the market, right up to five star, we see hotels cutting back on towel numbers and weight. A 750g towel is a nice luxury today, but not within every hotel’s budget. Reputable suppliers will be able to provide good value options to purchase or rent but beware of cutting too much, a threadbare flannel will not say much for your brand, or how you view your guests.

Sheets also are a big talking point – 400 thread count Egyptian cotton linen may be out of reach for many hoteliers on a tight budget right now, but remember your customers can buy top quality linen on the high street for a fraction of the cost they would have traditionally paid. This means they expect the same standards in hotels as at home.

4. Lighting. We heard rumour of one hotel group boss who took a dislike to the dull hue from CFL bulbs and ordered every single one in the hotel replaced (the gm had just gone through a costly switch from tungsten to CFL). We get the point – early CFLs did give an awful, muted glow, but offerings have since improved and in terms of cost management, make far more commercial sense than traditional bulbs.

The judges gripe when judging the Gold Medal Awards was the serious lack of wattage in Irish hotel guestrooms. There is no point in having reading lights if the lamp is so faint you can’t see the print. Likewise, many hoteliers’ reluctance to install overhead lighting means that hotel rooms can get very dark – not great for working, getting dressed, or the mood – unless your guests are in for a bit of romance, in which case thumbs up.

5. Cleanliness. The basic level entry requirement, but one nonetheless under pressure as the economy tightens.

Accommodation teams are now requested to turnover more rooms in less time with less staff and as a result are being forced to cut corners. This is a risky manoeuvre. There is no coming back for a hotel that has a reputation for being unclean.

Rooms with a new view

Bewley’s Hotel Ballsbridge has recently opened a new suite and two superior guestrooms in its new Thomas Prior Wing.

With mahogany furnishings, the suite is finished in warm shades of plum and gold and includes a spacious lounge area, king sized bed and marble bathroom with built-in TV and oversized traditional Georgian style hand basin. Fluffy bathrobes, slippers and toiletries all come as standard.

Décor is understated in the superior guestrooms, with hues of mink, brown and duck egg blue. Mod cons include plasma screens with multi channel TV, and guests can relax with fluffy duvets and hypo allergenic pillows.

The hotel’s existing rooms were updated with new throws and cushions, while televisions were upgraded in 19 rooms to flatscreen TVs. The Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Galway (above) upgraded its room stock last year, adding extras such as wall mounted 32” LCD TVs, movies on demand, the Anne Sémonin range of toiletries, a mini bar, steam iron, portable hairdryer, extra large towels, and blackout curtains. The 6ft 6 bed is the centre piece of each room – with pocket spring mattresses, Egyptian cotton sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases, plus oversized, 70% goose down, hypo-allergenic duvets and pillows.

Freshening up on a shoe string?

If you’re conscious that your rooms are looking a little jaded, but you don’t have the funds at your disposal for an expensive refurb there are a few low cost steps you can take to freshen up your offering.8

Bed Fellows

The bedrock, if you’ll pardon the pun, of any good hotel room is the bed. It doesn’t matter how fabulous your guestroom looks – if your guests can’t sleep they won’t be back.

Silent Night/Ireland offers the Sealy range of beds, the preferred choice of some of the world’s leading hoteliers, including the Four Seasons, Starwood and Hilton. Durable and long wearing, the beds can be tailor-made to suit individual contracts and preferences, whether soft, firm or in between.

Comfort and support is provided through a Posturepedic technology, which sees bed edges trimmed with a steel rod to which outer springs are clipped to ensure maximum comfort across the entire surface. Patented offset springs have a hinging action that allows the mattress to follow the line of the sleeper’s body while the firm edge Torsion grid bar sprung base consists of a Torsion bar grid which is used to prevent side sway and improves mattress life and performance.

As well as supplying leading hotel groups, the Silent Night Group is also the preferred supplier for cruise liners such as P&O.

WE SELL LINEN. NEXT DAY DELIVERY Unit 6, Finglas Business Centre, Jamestown Road, Dublin 11 T: 00 353 1 864 6412 F: 00 353 1 811 0719 E: info@linendirect.ie W: www.linendirect.ie

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 57

GUESTROOMS

Unleash Your Inner Diva Diva, designed by Dante Donegani and Giovanni Lauda, is a LED light and music system specifically designed for iPods and iPhones which offers multiple functions in one light, compact object.

The system offers an FM radio and speaker system for a connected computer, mp3 or CD player. The sound quality is full and rich, thanks to the four, high quality speakers housed in its body.

Guests can instal their iPod or iPhone by releasing the retractable docking station drawer. Apple’s universal housing takes all standard 30 pin connector models. There’s a digital screen which is hidden behind the anodised aluminium, to show the time and all the other information about Diva’s various uses and FM stations.

The back of Diva comes with various sockets: AUX takes a mini jack for playing music from other equipment, such as an mp3 or portable CD player, a computer; USB allows guests to play audio files stored on USB keys or other compatible equipment, and another socket allows for the connection of additional speakers, if required.

The system is available in white, aluminium and dark grey and is distributed exclusively by Annan Interiors in Ireland. Tel: 0044 28 6634 055.

earth2earth Compostable =

FOOD WASTE SOLUTION

PLAN TO PREVENT

WE OFFER INNOVATIVE WEB BASED SOFTWARE THAT ALLOWS BUSINESSES TO SCHEDULE & TRACK THEIR MAINTENANCE THROUGH EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES

FEATURES OF THE SYSTEM INCLUDE : • Allows for future maintenance planning.

• Daily schedule of maintenance tasks.

• Efficient use of resources.

• Tracks recurring faults.

‘

• SMS and Email alerts.

The VAL-PM Solution is great as it allows a proper preventative programme to be developed and controlled. The reports from the system provide important information on the performance of the assets and equipment.

‘

Pat Chawke Group Director, Aghadoe Heights, Hotel & Spa.

8 First of all, embrace the cushion. Men hate them, women love them, but wherever you sit on the cushion debate, there’s no denying that one or two scattered on the bed can brighten up a room with a splash of colour.

Suppliers offer a range of soft furnishings to suit every budget and matched with a throw for the bottom of the bed (presented on crisp white linen) these are a great way of updating a room with minimum spend. Fabric shops are also great places for a bargain. If you have a small hotel, style your rooms individually with cushions, lamps and throws covered or trimmed with fabric snapped up from the remnants basket in your local haberdashery. If you’re not a dab hand with a needle yourself (let’s be honest, who has the time?), see if any of your staff have good sewing skills or check the local arts and crafts group.

Next up, bin the dated old art – for want of a better word – on the walls. Nothing ages a room more than those tired old posters of made up scenes in mythical places. Talk to local art students about doing paintings or prints for the wall, check local art galleries and see if you can exhibit some work in rooms, or if the budget is still under too much pressure, put up mirrors instead. They reflect the light, make the room seem bigger and brighter and are definitely less offensive than some of the jaded art in hotel rooms around the world.

Think quality for floors: Carpets are expensive but in businesses such as hotels where there is a lot of usage you are better placed to invest in quality than choose cheap yarns that will disintegrate under foot and need replacement in record time. Look for patterns that won’t date and in neutral shades so that in a couple of years when you go to freshen up your other soft furnishings you won’t have to change the carpets too.

Obviously, darker shades such as a deep biscuit are better to

• Accessible 24/7 from any location with internet access.

VAL-PM, Maintenance Solutions, Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, Ireland T: 066 947 6214 M: 087 236 2344.

E: info@valpm.com W: www.valpm.com

58 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

Bags: • Compostable to EN13432 • Heat resistant • Water Proof • High Quality • Longer Shelf Life • Competitive Price Bins: • HACCP Compliant • Waste will not exceed H&S lifting restrictions • 2 year guarantee • High Quality structure

Thorn Environmental Ltd at 01 280 8612 or email info@thorn.ie

GUESTROOMS mask stains.

Look for the angle: When Shay Livingston was doing up rooms in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork he contacted his bed supplier and agreed to include the company’s card in the room in return for a

Don’t be afraid to step in if your designer is going too Laurence Llewellyn Bowen-ish.

How many hotels have you entered and thought, ‘the designer was allowed to run away with themselves in here­’?

discount. There’s always someone interested in doing a deal in these challenging times. You just need to find the right angle.

Consider the finer details: Make sure your new bedroom refit lasts by investing that little bit in small details such as door stoppers to stop the skirting boards getting scuffed (the scruffy look ages a room rapidly). Grouting in the bathroom is another area worth considering. Cream is better as it doesn’t show up dirt as blatantly, and it ages more appropriately. Do your accommodation staff a favour by investing in the skills of someone that can give you a clean finish. You will be rewarded with less labour costs if the bathroom is easier to clean.

If you are looking for outside advice a number of suppliers also

offer an interiors service to help you put a look together to suit your market and your style on a budget. There are plenty of interior designers and decorators scouting for work right now, so you will also get more of a bargain in this area at the moment than perhaps in the boom when everyone in the building industry was swamped with work.

The key when choosing a designer is to look for someone with expertise in your field. An interior designer who works purely with domestic clients may not fully understand the challenges of decorating a space with high usage and as a result, high wear and tear.

Remember, as an operator you will know more than anyone where the hotspots are and what to watch for, so don’t be afraid to step in if your designer is going too Laurence Llewellyn Bowen-ish. How many hotels have you entered and thought, ‘the designer was allowed to run away with themselves in here’? We certainly can think of a few. A good designer will think of the end usage, as well as the finished look. u

Between the Sheets

With room rates falling, hoteliers are looking for greater deals across the board, including from their linen suppliers.

Linen Direct, which has been serving the Irish hotel industry for a decade, offers a range of competitively priced linen. The company has been able to maintain prices despite the 80% increase in cotton prices in recent months. Prices start at €1.35 per unit for a 450g hand towel, or 70c for a cotton damask napkin.

The company is a corporate member of the Irish Accommodation Services Institute and customers include the Carlton Hotel Group, Regency Hotels, the Brian McEniff Hotel Group and Lynch Hotels.

Linen Direct offers weekday 24 hour deliveries. See the company’s new website www.linendirect.ie for more.

DIVA... The fInIshIng luxury To eVery hoTel beDroom

• Sealy is the worlds largest selling bed & one is sold every 3 seconds worldwide.

• You’ll find sealy beds in 1* right up to 5* accomodation.

• The world famous patented torsion 3000 divan base and Sealy’s posturepedic spring unit is designed to eliminate tossing & turning.

• All beds are designed in conjunction with orthopedic surgeons in America & come with a 5 year warrantee. ;@M8 `j X dlck`]leZk`fe C<; kXYc\ cXdg Xe[ dlj`Z jpjk\d [\j`^e\[ ]fi `Gf[ Xe[ `G_fe\% @k _flj\j ]fli _`^_ hlXc`kp jg\Xb\ij# Xe 8D&=D iX[`f# LJ9 gfik# Xlo jfZb\k Xe[ Xl[`f$flk jfZb\k ]fi \ok\ieXc jg\Xb\ij% lj\[ n`k_ fi n`k_flk i\dfk\ Zfekifc le`k

<oZclj`m\cp Yp

Don’t you think it’s time you looked at Sealy.

For further information, contact John Dolan on 087 6596065 or email dolanj@silentnight-ireland.co.uk Silentnight Group/Ireland Unit 1 Central Park, Mallusk Road, Mallusk, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT36 4FS

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 59

DESSERTS

Sweet Success A return to old fashioned favourites sees dessert menus go retro, reports MARILYN BRIGHT. She looks at how restaurants can turn sweets into profits.

M

olten chocolate soufflés, sugar crusted apple tarts or marshmallow centred pavlovas with luscious fruit – an irresistible dessert menu is the caterers opportunity to add sweet profits to the account book. Even in straitened times, customers still aren’t prepared to give up a little indulgence.

They may not be ordering a new Mercedes this year and by-passing the Jimmy Choos, but a warm pecan brownie with chocolate butterscotch sauce is an affordable treat.

Experienced caterers like Natalie Collins of The Silver Restaurant at Newbridge Silver Centre confirms that a high proportion of customers have a main course as well as a dessert from their attractive display, with sales of the more indulgent treats peaking at weekends.

‘People know that our desserts are homemade and good quality which they mightn’t get in other places.’

Signature banoffi pie is far and away the best seller, followed by the generous pavlova heaped with colourful fruits and the gluten-free intense chocolate torte

served warm with melting ice cream.

With a customer base that is largely family orientated, Natalie has developed a popular line of children’s desserts – Rice Krispie buns, Mars bar squares and rocky road bars that sell by the trayful along with Tipperary organic ice cream.

Bart Glover of the Gold Medal Award winning Kay’s Real Chefs, Real Food agrees that understanding your market and giving them what they want is vital in developing a successful dessert menu. The Kay’s group of five restaurants are all based on Dublin’s northside where costs are a driving issue.

‘People have less money to spend, but they still want quality. We’re constantly working on portion sizes and margins, and we’ve developed a finger bites range, small cake portions that we sell for e1 with a coffee.

We also do dessert specials that are cheaper when bought with a main course. While we’re working at giving value, you have to be careful not to give the impression of cheap food. Our reputation for high quality homemade baking is important and, though our bakers in the central

60 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

kitchen supply most things, the scones are made on-site in each outlet so they’re as fresh as possible.’

Unsurprisingly, scones are huge sellers, alongside fresh fruit tarts including Bart’s ‘apple pie like your mother should have made’. He also confirms that weekends are the times people lash out a bit more on indulgent treats and he sees the return of old fashioned comforts like black forest gateau and cream cakes. ‘To stay ahead now you have to understand what your customers want and the price they’re willing to pay for it.’

The Michelin-starred Chapter One restaurant is undoubtedly a destination venue where price is less of an issue, and chef proprietor Ross Lewis happily reports that about 75% of diners order desserts. ‘Because we’re seen as an occasion restaurant, customers want the full experience. Even in the present downturn, they may cut back on the wine, but they’ll still have dessert.’

Half a dozen desserts appear on the Chapter One list at any one time,

‘In general, we’ve found that our customers are adventurous enough in trying new starters and main courses, but prefer the tried and true when it comes to desserts – sticky toffee pudding and tiramisu will always have high uptake.

However, we’ve successfully introduced new desserts like a caramel and sea salt parfait by giving samples for diners to try.’

Graeme Campbell partnered by a suggested pudding wine.

A team of three pastry chefs produce the desserts and petit fours designed to please a broad spectrum of palates and change with the seasons. ‘Our chocolate plate is the biggest crowd pleaser,’ Ross confirms.

‘It varies but always combines hot and cold contrasts like molten chocolate fondant with a coffee mousse, caramel jelly and lime ice cream with lime dust. We sell 30 to 40 chocolate dessert plates every day.’

At Hayfield Manor in Cork, executive chef Graeme Campbell caters for two levels in the hotel’s award winning Orchids fine dining restaurant and Perrott’s Bistro. He reports that a satisfactory 40-50% of bistro customers opt for desserts, while dessert is included in the four course fine dining menu. Top bistro sellers run to homely brownies, crumbles and bread and butter pudding.

‘In general, we’ve found that our customers are adventurous enough in trying new starters and main courses, but prefer the tried and true when it comes to desserts – sticky toffee pudding and tiramisu will always have high uptake.

However, we’ve successfully introduced new desserts like a caramel and sea salt parfait by giving samples for diners to try.’

As in other restaurants, dessert sales are highest at weekends. Hayfield Manor is also one of the increasing numbers of hotels making a speciality of afternoon teas, where the selection of cakes, pastries and sweets overlaps with dessert production, helping to offset the cost of running a three chef pastry section.

High visibility always helps to sell desserts. Customers may find it easy to wave away the dessert menu when offered, but are less able to resist a wicked array of luscious puddings before their eyes.

One large Dublin pub with a brisk self-

Desserts from Kay’s Real Chefs, Real Food

service lunch trade found that dessert sales shot up when they put up a multi-tiered standalone display of whole gateaux, tarts and chocolate laced profiteroles just before the pay section.

At Longueville House in Co Cork, chef proprietor William O’Callaghan has put sweet temptation in front of his diners by reinstating the dessert trolley. Customers were delighted but AA inspectors were less

impressed and William was bemused when they deemed the innovation ‘old fashioned’ and threatened to remove a rosette unless it was banished.

Two years later, the trolley, as well as the rosette has remained, although William has found the trolley more useful for the busy weekend services rather than weekdays.

‘Most customers like to have three or four desserts, so we put out individual ramekins with sweets like crème brulée, fruit salads and mousses. Tarts and cakes like our chocolate opera gateau are all sliced and a large block of ice is covered with a cloth to hold a display of ices and chill the glass plates we use for cold desserts. The trolley has been a great success – people feel that they’re getting something extra and that helps to keep them coming back.’

Old fashioned desserts continue to 8

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 61

STAY INFORMED! T H E G O L D L I S T 2 0 1 0 : T H I S Y E A R ’ S G O L D M E D A L AWA R D S W I N N E R S & F I N A L I S T S

SEPTEMBER 2010

The Top 20

2010 Big Movers in this Year’s Top Hotel Operators

CLEVER APPS FOR SMART PHONES + MAGICAL MOLLUSCS & MARINADES + MARLFIELD RECIPES

Subscribe now to Ireland’s premier magazine for the hospitality and catering industry

Subscribe now and enjoy all the benefits of a monthly subscription: • Save up to 32%* off the annual rate • Get access to our highly popular features showcasing recession busting tips on how to run your business more efficiently, profitably and successfully • Enjoy FREE delivery to your home or work • NEVER MISS AN ISSUE of this essential must-read industrymagazine – now more than ever is accurate and authoritative business comment essential in making informed business decisions – STAY INFORMED, SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Log on to our website now Subscribe and SAVE! www.hotelandcateringreview.ie * Save 32% when you choose our 3 year term

62 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

DESSERTS hold sway across the board, in cafés and pubs as well as smart brasseries and fine dining venues. All time favourites like fruit crumbles, apple tarts and crème brulée are also being joined by a return of retro style in desserts like cheesecakes, baked Alaska and the 1970s glamour of black forest gateau – a desire for comfort food in tough times, sociologists say.

At The Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, executive chef Garry Hughes has included rice pudding, crème caramel and profiteroles on new menus and offers homemade lollipops, marshmallows and a child pleasing Willie Wonka style trolley at the end of a meal. In Cork and Limerick’s Cornstore Wine Bars, Padraig Frawley has perfected the ‘ultimate sherry trifle’ and Derry Clarke updates the cheesecake with spiced plums and ginger to be served with white wine chocolate ice cream at Dublin’s L’Ecrivain.

Leading restaurateurs agree that dessert success depends on understanding your customer base and giving them what they want, at a price they’re willing to pay. It’s equally important to offer only desserts that your team is capable of putting out at a consistently high standard.

London pâtissier William Curley advises that doing a few desserts

really well is better than having a long list – between four and six dessert options is plenty.

Limited staff and facilities may mean that buying in desserts is the best option.

The good news is that there are specialist artisan suppliers who can deliver everything from simple well-made tarts to elaborate buffet centrepieces that are beyond the capacities of most kitchens. Even the largest kitchens sometimes find it useful and more cost-effective to buy in well selected desserts to relieve the pressure of large banquets and high volume occasions.

Most specialist dessert suppliers will also customise products so that establishments can offer desserts that are unique to their own menus. A win-win situation for all. u

Going Retro

Irish dessert menus are taking a trip down memory lane. Restaurateurs tell us the top performers on Irish menus today are: • Apple Crumble • Bread & Butter Pudding • Pavlova • Crème Brulee • Sticky Toffee Pudding • Brownies • Cheesecake • Tarte Tatin

Chapter One Chocolate Fondant with Grand Marnier Sauce First prepare the sauce. Place all ingredients in a pan over moderate heat, dissolve the sugar then simmer, 3 whole eggs uncovered, to reduce by one-third.

150g caster sugar Preheat oven to 180ºC. To prepare 75g dark chocolate (70% min), melted the fondants, beat the eggs and sugar 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled together until pale and creamy. Add the melted chocolate, butter and flour and 40g plain flour mix everything together.

Take four chilled ramekins and grease them thoroughly with softened butter, Sauce: then dust lightly with flour. Pour the Juices of 4 oranges mixture into the moulds and bake in the 100ml Grand Marnier preheated oven for eight minutes. The outside will be crisp and the centre still 1 vanilla pod, split and de-seeded runny. Turn out onto heated plates with a 30g caster sugar generous scoop of ice cream and drizzle with the Grand Marnier sauce.

Stalwart Favourites

NEWS

Black Forest Gateau Bart Glover of Kay’s Real Chefs, Real Food says this 1980s treat is growing in popularity once again

Panettone with Sherry-Soaked Prunes & Orange Bread & Butter Pudding Northern Ireland chef and Gold Medal Awards judge Paula McIntyre puts a continental spin on her version of homely bread and butter pudding, from her book A Kitchen Year, published by Gill & Macmillan.

Chop the prunes and soak in the sherry for a couple of hours. Place orange juice, zest 75g Agen prunes and honey in a large saucepan and bring to 75g Pedro Ximenez sherry the boil. Reduce to a thick syrup, about five minutes. Split vanilla pod and scrape seeds Juice and zest of 2 oranges into a separate saucepan. Drop in the vanilla 1 tbsp honey pod and add the cream; heat until scalded, 1 vanilla pod about two minutes.

Lightly butter an ovenproof dish. Cut crusts 400ml double cream from the panettone and cut into equal sized 4 large eggs slices. Butter the panettone and arrange in 152g caster sugar the dish so slices overlap slightly. Sprinkle over the soaked prunes and pour over the 1 panettone cold custard. Leave for five minutes to soak 50g butter at room temperature in. Set into a bain marie and bake for 3540 minutes, until golden and set, but still wobbly. Serves eight.

G’S GOURMET JAMS

100g butter 225g brown sugar 100g plain chocolate 2 eggs 200g self raising flour ¼ tsp ground cinnamon 150ml sour cream 3 tbsp strong black coffee 575ml cream 450g tin black cherries, stones removed jam 4 tbsp black cherry jam Brandy or kirsch 100g grated chocolate

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line three 20cm round cake tins. Cream butter and sugar together. Melt chocolate over hot water, then beat in creamed mixture. Beat in eggs one at a time. Sift flour and cinnamon together and fold into mixture with the sour cream and coffee. Pour into prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until well risen and firm to the touch. Turn out and cool on wire racks.

To assemble, whip cream. Drain cherries and reserve some for the top. Spread layers with cherry jam and sprinkling of brandy or kirsch. Stack layers with cream and half the cherries on first and second layers. Finish top layer with piped cream, reserved black cherries and the grated chocolate.

QUALITY HEREFORD BEEF PRODUCED BY DAWN MEATS

SELECTED AND SUPPLIED BY HICKS FOODS LTD CALL US TO DISCUSS YOUR REQUIREMENTS 01 4508399

The G’s Gourmet Jams product range include jams, marmalades, jellies, relishes, chutneys and sauces and are free from artificial colourings, preservatives or citric acid, and are available in 28g, 120g, 250g, 340g jars and 1kg and 3kg catering tubs.

Suitable for all your retail or catering needs.

G’s Gourmet Jams, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.

Tel: 057 87 31058 E-mail: gsgourmetjams@eircom.net Web: gsgourmetjams.ie

-

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 63

FOOD

NOTES

Flynn Leads Irish Honours

Winners (above) and some tasty macaroons (left) at the Blas na h’Éireann Irish Food Awards

More than 90 food producers from across Ireland were honoured at the third annual Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards in Kerry this month, with Cork’s Flynn’s Kitchens picking up the ‘Supreme Champion’ title for its spinach and ricotta cannelloni.

Flynn’s award-winning cannelloni was one of more than 1,000 products entered in the competition and blind tasted by 60 judges during two sessions in Cork and Kerry.

Also collecting gongs at Blas na hÉireann were Jerry Kennedy’s Butchers in Dingle, winner of the Rogha na Gaeltachta Award sponsored by Údarás; Blue Haven Food Company in Kinsale, winner of the AIB Award for Business Diversification; Killybegs’ Island Seafoods, recipient of the BIM Award for Seafood Innovation; Valentia Island Ice Cream Company, the Best Kerry Producer sponsored by Kerry Enterprise; Helvick Gold from the Dungarvan Brewing Company, voted Best New Producer in a category sponsored by Superquinn; and The Cake Stand in Newcastle, Co Down, Best Artisan Producer, sponsored by Bord Bia. As well as the awards, winners were presented with a prize fund and bursaries worth e20,000, sponsored by Bord Bia, Superquinn and Údarás na Gaeltachta.

Itsa Full of Clever Ideas

Recipes for hungry blokes and ladylike guests, ideas for making the most of the scraps in the cupboard on ‘bad mommy days’, advice for wow factor cooking, and inspiration for dishes to help resist the lure of the takeaway are among the many clever tips included in Domini Kemp’s new Itsa Cookbook, launched this month.

The book, written by The Irish Times food scribe, who runs the itsa chain of restaurants and bagel bars with her sister Peaches, is published by Gill & Macmillan and costs e19.99.

Award for Atlantis Wexford’s Atlantis Seafood has been awarded the British Retail Consortium’s accreditation (BRC), becoming one of a handful of Irish companies earning the food safety standard.

Businesses accredited by the BRC must demonstrate rigorous standards in production, packaging, storage and distribution. Pictured celebrating is Atlantis’s Mark O’Connor.

Rachel’s Chocolate Treats

Rachel Allen is expanding her brand name with the launch of a range of new chocolates available exclusively at The Loop in Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports. Her ‘Scrumptious Chocolate Collection’ includes a range of milk and dark chocolates, including the fetchingly named Gorgeous Molten Caramel, Chocolate Crepe Suzette, Lovely Café Latte and Crunchy Crispy.

64 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

Rachel launches her new chocolates with the help of Limerick man Jim Vallely.

FOOD

Get Set

MARILYN BRIGHT gets to grips with gelatine.

W

hat substance can cause Michelin-starred chefs turn to jelly? Watch any of the Masterchef/Great Menu television series and see grown men (and women) risk coronaries as they peer through chiller windows to see if their jellied confections will set before the final gong, or if they will be unmoulded only to collapse on the plate as grim faced judges look on.

Gelatine requires a bit of bravery and a lot of practice and experience, but can be manageable if a few basic principles are understood. Chefs like Escoffier and Cárème who created fabulous pieces montée with jellies and sugarwork might say that modern chefs have it easy with standardised forms of ready-to-use gelatine powder or sheets. Until the past 100 years or so, kitchens made their own gelling medium from boiled bones and cartilaginous material like pig’s trotters, ears and tails and calves feet. There was isinglass derived from boiled fish bones and skin, considered to be more delicate for desserts.

Commercial gelatine is colourless and tasteless with uses beyond simple jellies and moulded shapes. It provides stability for mousses and patés and cold soufflés, makes clear glazes for patisserie and terrines and helps to make ice cream smooth.

And the chopped jelly can be used to lend jewellike sparkle to cold buffet displays although this type of garnish has pretty much disappeared everywhere except at culinary exhibitions.

Many professionals prefer to use gelatine sheets rather than powder form, but in any case, the first principle is that it must be completely dissolved with soaking and slight heating in whatever liquid is being used. Strings or clumps of undissolved gelatine are extremely unpleasant to find in a finished dish. Set the bowl of liquid and gelatine over a pan of hot water and stir until completely clear and it should be noted that

gelatine that has been allowed to reach boiling point will not set.

Textbooks tell you that 15 grams/three sheets are sufficient to set one pint/500ml of liquid.

But here is the scary part where only practice and experience will see you through – there are lots of variables and inhibitors. Acids like lemon juice and vinegar lessen the setting power of gelatine, so a great proportion of gelatine to liquid is required for a strong set. Enzymes in fresh fruit like pineapple and kiwi fruit inhibit setting altogether, but cooked or canned is fine.

For mixtures to be served unmoulded, size determines the strength of set required as a large or intricate mould needs a stronger gel and a longer setting time than a small individual serving. The same holds true for a terrine meant to be sliced, a rock on which many a competition chef has perished.

Fruit juices, wine and clear stocks are often used as dissolving liquid for gelatine mixtures, depending on whether the end use is sweet or savoury. Some mousses and desserts like panna cotta use a milk or cream base and it is important that the soaked gelatine is not added to a hot milk or cream mixture, as it will separate into curds and whey. Allow the milk to cool a little before stirring in the gelatine.

Water-based jellies are not suitable for freezing as they will return to liquid when thawed.

However, moulded soufflés and cream- based dishes not intended for long storage freeze well, provided they are set in ordinary refrigeration before freezing. Care must be taken to cover dishes closely so that condensation doesn’t form ice crystals that will cause the jelly to liquify.

Some chefs working in volume find it helpful to allow individual mousse-soufflé mixtures to set, then open freeze on trays before wrapping individually for storage. u

SKILLS

Cucumber Mousse Fresh tasting cucumber mousse goes well with poached or smoked salmon as a starter or cold buffet main course.

½ large cucumber 3 tsp salt 3 tbsp wine vinegar 15g gelatine 90ml hot water 300ml cream 450g cream cheese ¼ tsp Cayenne pepper Pinch of salt Finely chopped chives and parsley Peel, deseed and cut cucumber into fine dice. Place in a bowl with salt and vinegar and mix thoroughly. Turn into a colander, weight with a heavy plate and leave to degorge for at least one hour.

Press cucumber in a clean cloth to remove as much liquid as possible.

Dissolve gelatine in hot water, then whisk in cream until smooth. Mix in cream cheese gradually, and whisk until smooth. Mix in cucumber and pepper, then taste mixture and fine tune seasoning with a bit of sugar and a little more vinegar if needed. Mix in the chopped herbs and put mixture to set in lightly oiled moulds. It will need to set overnight. Makes about 10 portions.

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 65

FOOD

RECIPES

Midas Meal

Carbury Chicken Liver and Foie Gras Parfait

Executive chef Garry Hughes and his kitchen brigade in The Shelbourne Hotel served a lavish banquet to more than 350 attendees at this year’s Gold Medal Awards. An amuse bouche of Wright’s gravalax of Atlantic-caught salmon was followed by Carbury chicken liver and foie gras parfait to start, a main of Hick’s roasted fillet of Hereford beef with port jus, and a lemon meringue tart served with orange and grapefruit sorbet for dessert.

A tasty selection of macaroons helped polish off the meal.

We asked Garry for some of the recipes.

Add back in the port and reduce until all the liquid is gone, let cool, season and serve.

250g fresh chicken livers 50g foie gras 150g unsalted butter 250ml red port 3 shallots – finely chopped Spray of thyme Pink salt Pepper

Lemon Tart with Meringue

Sweat the finely chopped shallots with a little butter and thyme in a pot until soft.

Add in the red port and reduce to a syrup.

Melt the butter and blend with the foie gras and chicken livers, add in the port, reduce heat, season with pink salt and pepper. Pour in glass jars and seal with lid.

Steam from 8-10 minutes, remove from heat and quickly cool by placing in iced water. Serve with toasted brioche or country loaf brushed with a little truffle oil.

250g unsalted butter 300g sugar 5g salt 2 eggs 50ml milk 1 vanilla pod 600g plain flour 10g baking powder Pulses/beans to bake blind

Red Onion Marmalade 200g finely chopped red onions 1 bottle red wine ½ bottle of red port Seasoning

Marinade the onions for 24 hours in the port and wine. Strain and sweat off until soft, this should take one to two hours.

66 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

For this recipe you will need some nonstick tin moulds.

Pastry

Cream butter and sugar together, add salt and vanilla. Add eggs one by one, then add the milk and sieve in the baking powder and flour. Roll into an even ball, wrap in cling film and leave in fridge for one hour to chill. Roll out to fill non-stick tart mould and rest in fridge for one hour.

Bake blind by filling the tart base with pulse and cling film. Bake at 180° in a preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove pulses and continue to bake until golden brown. Remove and let cool.

NEWS

Lemon Filling

250g lemon juice (no pulp) 250g sugar 250g cream 7 whole eggs

Bring cream to the boil, whisk in sugar. Add lemon juice to the eggs and then add cream and sugar mix.

Blend and strain. Fill tart shells and bake at 85°/gas mark three with no fan.

Meringue

100g egg whites 200g caster sugar 5g egg white powder

Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl and place over a pot of simmering water whisking all the time so the egg whites don’t scramble. When the sugar has dissolved in the egg whites (rub the mix between your fingers and the texture should be grain free). Put the bowl on the mixer and whisk

until cold. Pipe on the top of the tart and glaze under the grill.

Serve with an orange and grapefruit sorbet.

Raspberry Macaroons

50g sugar 200g egg whites 2g egg white powder 420g icing sugar 260g ground almonds 20g red food colouring

Sieve icing sugar and ground almonds together. Whisk egg whites, sugar, egg white powder and colouring together, fold in the dry ingredients. Pipe on to non-stick sheets and leave until a firm crust has formed. Bake at 140ºC with no fan for nine minutes. When cold, match up sizes and fill with raspberry jam. u

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 67

PRODUCT NEWS p With over 25 years’ experience, Flamingo Display is one of Ireland’s leading experts in the display and decoration business, offering a wide range of Christmas decorations for the hospitality industry.

Decorations range from the traditional to the contemporary and can be specifically themed, and also include decorative tree packages.

Readers are offered a 10% discount on Christmas decorations.

To see the range on offer visit Flamingo Display at Unit 21 Fashion City, just off the Ballymount exit 10, on the M50.

Opening hours: Monday-Friday, 8.30am-5pm and Saturdays all through November and early December. t: 01 429 5070 e: info@flamingodisplay.com w: www.flamingodisplay.com p Good Food Ireland member G’s Gourmet Jams offers a range of handmade artisan jams.

G’s Gourmet Jams are traditionally handmade in small quantities and stirred by hand, which gives the products its unique flavour and homemade taste.

The jams have become a hit with the hospitality industry, featuring on hotel breakfast buffets, as well as in cafés and restaurants.

Based in Abbeyleix, the family owned business also offers a range Christmas gift sets and hampers.

t: 057 87 31058 e:gsgourmetjams@eircom.net w: www.gsgourmetjams.ie p A family owned company, Portagas, which has plants in Co Armagh and Co Monaghan, offers gas products for the catering industry.

‘Although only in its infancy, Portagas has been well received in restaurants, hotels and public houses throughout Ireland. Gas flames are preferred by professional chefs due to their even heat, infinitely variable temperature control and instant on/off capacity, all of which provides a better quality of cooking.

Advances in gas oven technology have also made them a favorite as they have more heat control than a conventional oven and they turn out better quality food. This is due to a moist heat which is produced through gas cooking which makes baked goods especially turn out more moist and with a better crust,’ says Malachi Molloy, director of Portagas.

‘Not only is this highly efficient and controllable fuel clean burning, it also has the potential to make the energy requirements of any business a lot more cost effective.’

t: 04890 3752 2471 e: info@portagasni.com w: www.portagasni.com

Tomás Hayes, ceo, Kerry County Enterprise Board; Noel Riordan, VAL-PM Solutions; Tom Curran, chairman of Kerry County Enterprise Board; and Seanie Murphy, VAL-PM Solutions, at the Kerry County Enterprise Awards 2010.

p VAL-PM, the maintenance software provider, has been announced joint winner of the Kerry Enterprise Board Awards.

VAL-PM offer web-based software that allows businesses to schedule and track their maintenance through efficient use of resources.

The software enables hotels to integrate their maintenance into one easy-to-use system.

The product is a ‘pro-active approach to maintenance which will extend the life of assets and equipment’, says VAL-PM chief executive Seanie Murphy.

t: 066 947 6214 w: www.valpm.com p Kraft Foods hosted celebrity chef Kevin Dundon and 30 Sodexo chefs in the Pallas Foods Test Kitchen in Blanchardstown recently, where Kevin demonstrated a range of recipes and tips to include Philadelphia in every course at all times of the day.

Kevin kicked off with some innovative breakfast ideas including Mixed Berry Fool with Toasted Granola (pictured). Given the audience of workplace chefs, Kevin concentrated on the versatility and stability of Philadelphia. It is an extremely stable cheese and will not split when heated. He demonstrated this in two ‘crowd pleaser’ lunch mains Fish Pie with Chive Scented Philadelphia and a deliciously simple Philadelphia Spaghetti Carbonara.

For lunch desserts he made a Philly Meille Feuille and a Coffee Trifle both of which are good on portionability and will hold well in a chiller. The full range of Kevin’s recipes and clever ideas for cooking with Philadelphia can be found online at www.philadelphia.ie/professional.

t: 01 605 2600 e:kencoirl@krafteurope.com w: www.philadelphia.ie/professional United Coffee has provided a range of coffee solutions for Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny.

Automatic bean-to-cup Tiger machines, which serve barista-standard speciality coffee at the touch of a button have been installed in each of the two restaurants.

To add some barista-style theatre, a Black & White Touch CTS has been installed to serve the bar areas and the conservatory area. It produces high quality espresso shots at the touch of a button and the cool touch steam wand allows staff to hand-finish drinks.

A Bunn Titan bulk brewer was installed in the 1500 delegate convention centre to deliver high volumes of quality coffee for the many conferences and events at the hotel.

The Lyrath team opted for Grand Café 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee and United Coffee’s business development manager Sean Francis worked with the hotel’s general manager, Patrick Joyce, to develop a signature drink; a three-shot cappuccino, that’s totally unique to the hotel. ‘It’s extremely popular. We’re able to charge €4.75, a mark-up of 40% on a standard cappuccino, so its proved to be a real profit driver,’ said Patrick.

t: 086 817 7186 w: www.unitedcoffee.ie

If you would like to promote your products or services within this section please call Hilary O’Shaughnessy on 01 764 2700.

68 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ AUGUST 2010

PROMOTIONS

Who’s Doing What...

1.

1. The Hunters Yard at Mount Juliet which is offering a three for two nights promotion this month 2. The Wyatt Hotel, Westport where newlyweds can escape for a ‘minimoon’ 3. Erwin Verhoog, general manager of Hilton Dublin with Mexican chef Margarita Carrillo at the Taste of Mexico festival 4. The new webapp for the Moran Hotel Group

ALL THAT JAZZ If it’s October it must be

jazz time. The Gresham Metropole geared up for this year’s Cork Jazz Festival, running seven jazz stages throughout the hotel over the weekend. Rates for three nights’ B&B cost e329pps, two nights room only for e209pps. In the River Lee Hotel B&B and two tickets for the jazz started from e169 per room per night.

WINE OF THE TIMES Ely’s Wine Club kicked off again

last month. Running at the original Ely in Ely Place, Dublin 2, the weekly wine appreciation evenings include tastings of four wines from each region showcased, with food matching on the night. Starting last month with Tuscany, the Wine Club will also tour Languedoc, New Zealand, Spain, Australia, Bordeaux and the US. Tastings are priced e30 per person, e35 for Bordeaux on 4 November. The wine bar has also launched its six week wine appreciation course. Running from 5 October, the six week course costs e245, includes membership of the wine club and supper each evening.

2.

OVER THE MOON

The Wyatt Hotel in Westport is offering a ‘Mini-Moon’ break for newlyweds to help them kick-start their honeymoon. Couples can stay in the hotel’s bridal suite, enjoy three night’s B&B, chocolates, flowers, an evening meal and bottle of wine in JW’s Brasserie, for e499.

TRUFFLE HUNTING The Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt

is celebrating the elusive White Alba Truffle with a six course dinner on 5 November. The meal, created by head chef Jonathan MacIver, will be held in association with Vanilla Venture Ireland. Tickets cost e150 per person, with proceeds going to the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association. Organisers will be hoping to raise further funds with an auction following dinner. Lots include a rare White Alba Truffle and an evening at the chef ’s table at Gordon Ramsay at Powerscourt.

3.

DOWN MEXICO WAY

The Hilton Hotel at Charlemont Place in Dublin ran its second Taste of Mexico festival in September featuring Mexican food from renowned Mexican chef Margarita Carrillo and the hotel’s executive chef Chad Byrne. The festival marked the bicentennial anniversary of the Independence of Mexico. Events included a Mexican BBQ night and a Corona night with a live Mariachi band, Salsa lessons, and a raffle for a return trip to Cancun Mexico with five night’s accommodation in the Hilton Cancun.

REACH THE SUMMIT Just reading the press release was enough to exhaust us, but

superfit adventurists heading to Westport on 13 November to take part in the Westport Sea2Summit (S2S) Adventure Race can rest their weary heads at the Westport Plaza & Castlecourt Hotel Resort. The race includes running, cycling and a hike of Croagh Patrick, and to get participants on their way, the Castlecourt is hosting a free motivational talk by Padraig Murray, winner of Gael Force and director of the Sea2Summit event. Guests staying in both hotels can avail of a special two-night stay with breakfast each morning, a high carb two-course meal on Friday to set participants up for the challenging day ahead, and a hot buffet meal and prizegiving on the Saturday night. Race participants are also offered free use of the thermal suite in Spa Sula to help soothe their aching bodies, and for those who want to cap the weekend with a boogie, free entry into C2 nightclub. The package starts at e179pps in the three-star Castlecourt Hotel and e199pps in the four star Westport Plaza.

4.

The Moran Hotel Group is the latest hotel group to go mobile, launching mobile services developed with Bookassist’s Webapp. The webapp is accessible directly at the mobile address m.moranhotels.com and gives quick and simple access to customers using iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry Torch and other popular touchscreen devices.

With the webapp platform supplied by Bookassist, customers of Moran Hotels do not have to download apps from an appstore or marketplace - instead, visitors to the Moran Hotel Group website on the regular web address www.moranhotels.com who are using a mobile browser will be automatically redirected to the new mobile webapp.

UPWARDLY MOBILE

THREE FOR TWO Mount Juliet in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny offered a limited deal in September and October. Book in for two nights’ B&B for e189 per room and receive a third night free. The deal runs until 31 October and is available to a maximum of two adults. u

HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010 69

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

PAUL GILL The Claregalway Hotel director and chair of the Galway branch of the IHF reveals how the hotel’s latest innovations are helping to grow business.

A lot of companies didn’t have them for the last two years – when you rang to enquire they’d say a party was the last thing on their minds, they didn’t know if they were still going to have a job. But there is more certainty in the market now, which has been led by the multinationals. They are doing really well again in Galway, which is great.

How’s the hotel industry faring in Galway?

We heard you guys have some of the highest rates in the country…

How’s business?

Confidence has taken a knock in recent weeks and we have definitely seen an impact on business. It all coincided with the announcement about Anglo. The upcoming Budget is scaring a lot of people. The main urban areas aren’t showing any decline but outside that we’re definitely seeing a drop. It was a surprise because things were certainly starting to stabilise and the first few weeks of September were actually very good.

Are you expecting an upswing next year?

I hope so. For us, business is looking good for next year and we have a lot of good things on the books from March to December. We’ve worked very hard on that this year and it is starting to pay off.

You’re known for your innovative offers, such as the free petrol vouchers. What else have you been up to?

We got great mileage out of the Monday Millions lotto ticket promotions last year and we’re considering doing it again. We bought tickets for anyone who spent more than e10 in the hotel.

We spent about e600 but we definitely got it back in terms of goodwill and word of mouth. It also encouraged people to spend their winnings with us. One customer won e500 and came back and organised a party in the hotel. They took seven rooms and spent a total of e2,500! We were hoping for someone to win the million but it didn’t happen unfortunately. I am always trying to think of quirky ways to market the business. All the time spent in the car driving to IHF meetings offers a great opportunity to take time out and think about the business.

What’s coming up this Christmas?

We’re preparing for the Christmas party season now and we’ve decided to bring back our X Factor party nights due to popular demand. We started them when we opened and ran them for three years, from 2004 to 2006. We retired them the last couple of years but a lot of customers have asked for them so we’re doing it again this year. We were the first hotel in Ireland to do them, but I know a few others around the country are running them now.

Is the Christmas party back?

Yes, there seems to be a bit more of a demand this year, thankfully.

70 HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW ❖ OCTOBER 2010

We have a question about some of the rates in the Hotels.com survey. Theirs and the Bookings.com rates differ significantly and it certainly doesn’t tally with what we’re getting back from CityOccupancy. As a whole Galway is performing well but it’s not as high as suggested. The average rate across the sector is e65, running from e95 in five star to e56 in three star.

Like everywhere in the country we have been experiencing difficulties. We’ve been talking to local politicians, sitting them down when they come into our hotels and making them aware of the plight of hotels right now.

We feel the banks are supporting some properties which is leading to unfair competition and we need a level playing field. I think there has been a lack of understanding among politicians of how serious the situation is but we have been trying to explain it to them.

If you were Minister for Tourism what would you do to help boost the market right now?

I’d look at how we’re marketing Ireland overseas. There has been no growth in international tourism for the last 10 years and the UK market has been very stagnant. We have to look at how we are going about it. As hoteliers we were so busy servicing the domestic market in the boom that we didn’t cop the decline overseas. We all have to work together to change that now.

I’d also quickly abolish the e10 travel tax. I don’t think it’s the actual cost of the tax that’s the problem, it is that a lot of airlines are not considering flying to Ireland now because of it.

It’s the principle. Michael O’Leary says the only two countries where airports are not growing passenger numbers is here and the UK, and they’re the two that have the travel tax. It is definitely something that should be reconsidered.

Our biggest challenge however is stimulating the market.

We have to coax the Irish consumer out of their fear of spending. The domestic market has been very good for us in the downturn though so the big thing is to make sure that Irish people don’t get bored of us. We have to continue to invest back in our product. That is difficult when business is so challenging but I think the rates are at the bottom now and things should show signs of improving. As a result of the downturn Irish hoteliers are definitely becoming more innovative with the products we’re offering and I think that is standing to us now. u