F&H April Issue 2016

CONNECTING THE DOTS

The local-food movement is inspiring chefs to look at Canadian ingredients differently

DISHING IT OUT

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to dinnerware and cutlery choices

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CALIFORNIA DREAMING Golden State vintages have taken the lead in Canadian table-wine sales

JONATHAN GUSHUE RETURNS TO THE SCENE WITH HIS NEW RESTAURANT, THE BERLIN foodserviceandhospitality.com $4 | APRIL 2016

CONTENTS

VOLUME 49, NUMBER 2 APRIL 2016

40

27

14

Features

11 FACE TIME

Whether it’s eco-proteins or smart technology, the NRA Show aims to connect operators on a host of industry issues

By Jackie Sloat-Spencer

14 CONNECTING THE DOTS

35 CALIFORNIA DREAMING

The local-food movement is inspiring chefs to look at Canadian ingredients differently

By Andrew Coppolino

22 BACK IN THE GAME

PHOTOS: CINDY LA [TASTE OF ACADIA], COLIN WAY [NEIL McCUE]

After vanish - ing from the restaurant scene in 2012, Jonathan Gushue is back in the spotlight with his new restaurant, The Berlin

By Andrew Coppolino

27 THE SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM

While the day-to-day business of running a sustainable food operation is challenging, it is becoming the new normal By Cinda Chavich

Golden State vintages have taken the lead in Canadian table-wine sales

By Danielle Schalk

37 DISHING IT OUT

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to dinnerware and cutlery choices By Denise Deveau

DEPARTMENTS

2 FROM THE EDITOR 5 FYI 12 FROM THE DESK OF ROBERT CARTER 40 CHEF’S CORNER: Neil

McCue,

Whitehall, Calgary

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FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

1

FROM THE EDITOR For daily news and announcements: @foodservicemag on Twitter

and Foodservice and Hospitality on Facebook.

POWER SHIFT

F

“

The reality is today’s operators and consumers may be globally influenced, but they’re locally inspired

”

2 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

or several years now, consumers have been driving a multitude of changes at the restaurant level. They’re demanding better quality foods, they’re experimenting with reduced meat intake and they’re fuelling greater snack consumption (currently at its highest level, according to stats from the NPD Group). At the QSR level, consumer demand has grown the breakfast daypart, making it the largest segment.

Additionally, the appeal of local foods has never been as strong, as consumers continue to enjoy a love affair with foods from their own backyard (see story on p. 14 and The Produce & Protein Guide).

Whether this passion is based on price point, an interest in reducing the carbon footprint of transporting foods from farther distances, or both, the reality is today’s operators and consumers may be globally influenced, but they’re locally inspired. Underlining these changes is the strong need for convenience, value and transparency.

Are today’s consumers more fickle?

Perhaps; but they are also better educated, infinitely more demanding and increasingly ethical in their mindsets.

That means today’s operators need to be open to whatever change consumers are spurring or risk losing their customer base.

That was the underlying theme at this year’s Canadian Restaurant Operators Summit (CROS), held last month at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Toronto. Central to almost every discussion that took place through the day was the importance of the millennial cohort and its influence in shaping today’s changes (see story on p. 12). After decades of driving change, and leaving a lasting impact on the marketplace, the babyboomer influence is now in decline. In fact, quipped Robert Carter, executive director of Toronto-based NPD Group,

“The baby boomers are dying.”

Certainly the tongue-and-cheek comment sparked some guffaws from the crowd and may be somewhat extreme as a large portion of the boomers are not only alive and well, but have significant clout and money (more often than not, they are also paying for the expensive tastes of their millennial children) but the point Carter was making is clear — there is a marked power shift in today’s marketplace.

For the first time in years, the baby boomers have been upended by the millennial cohort, which is now the biggest demographic group. Not only do they boast newfound power but their value system is infinitely different from previous generations — a fact impacting how they earn and spend their money, where they spend it, and from a foodservice perspective, how, what and where they eat. Equally as important, millennials are comfortable and adept with technology, using it to customize and facilitate their lives in ways we could never have imagined. Not surprisingly, restaurant chains and independents alike are being forced to invest more heavily in technology in order to appeal to this burgeoning demographic. But, as we’ve learned only too well — don’t get too comfortable.

Before you know it, the technology will change and a new cohort will be nipping at our heels.

Rosanna Caira Editor/Publisher rcaira@kostuchmedia.com

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EDITOR & PUBLISHER ROSANNA CAIRA rcaira@kostuchmedia.com ART DIRECTOR MARGARET MOORE ideas@margaretmoorecreative.com MANAGING EDITOR AMY BOSTOCK abostock@kostuchmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR JACKIE SLOAT-SPENCER jsloat-spencer@kostuchmedia.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT DANIELLE SCHALK dschalk@kostuchmedia.com MULTIMEDIA MANAGER DEREK RAE drae@kostuchmedia.com DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER MEGAN O’BRIEN mobrien@kostuchmedia.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER COURTNEY JENKINS cjenkins@kostuchmedia.com SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER/U.S.A. WENDY GILCHRIST wgilchrist@kostuchmedia.com ACCOUNT MANAGER/CANADA STEVE HARTSIAS shartsias@kostuchmedia.com ACCOUNT MANAGER/CANADA MARIA FAMA VIECILI mviecili@kostuchmedia.com ACCOUNT MANAGER CHERYLL SAN JUAN csanjuan@kostuchmedia.com CIRCULATION PUBLICATION PARTNERS kml@publicationpartners.com, (905) 509-3511 ACCOUNTING MANAGER DANIELA PRICOIU dpricoiu@kostuchmedia.com FOUNDER MITCH KOSTUCH

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MONTHLY NEWS AND UPDATES FOR THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY

DELIVERING RESULTS

Restaurant Brands International records positive results for 2015

FYI ROLL OUT

New product launches play a significant role in Restaurant Brands International’s plans for future sales growth at both Tim Hortons and Burger King. Within the Tim Hortons brand, the focus has been on expanding the chain’s presence in different dayparts while defending its leadership in the coffee segment.

BY DANIELLE SCHALK

F

Meanwhile, at Burger King, the strat-

ebruary saw QSR giant Restaurant Brands International (RBI) release its first full-year results since its formation in late 2014.

The company’s year-end investor conference call was upbeat, with CEO Daniel Schwartz indicating a strong desire to drive continued growth and expansion for RBI’s brands. “In our first year as RBI, we set the foundation for long-term growth at Tim Hortons while building on the momentum at Burger King,” he says. “We continue to be focused on driving top-line growth and finding the right partners to bring great restaurants to our guests all around the world.”

In 2015, the company reported a global comparable sales growth of 5.6 per cent at Tim Hortons and 5.4 per cent at Burger

King. RBI also posted positive system-wide sales figures, with growth of 9.3 per cent at Tim Hortons and 10.3 per cent at Burger King. Schwartz highlighted new product launches as a key factor driving these positive results, including items such as the Nutella pockets, steak panini and buffalo chicken fries.

RBI successfully delivered on aggressive international expansion promises at Tim Hortons with 55 new restaurants — more than doubling its international presence to 113 units. Overall, the brand experienced net restaurant growth of 155 units (compared to 144 in 2014) for the year, driven by Canadian and international segments.

Burger King also continued its trend of strong growth in 2015, achieving year-over-

egy has been to launch “fewer and more impactful products,” says Daniel Schwartz, CEO. “[This year] is already off to a great start,” he adds. The home of the Whopper launched flame-grilled hot dogs as a permanent menu item in its U.S. restaurants in late February — one of the chain’s biggest launches in recent history.

year restaurant base growth of 4.4 per cent with the addition of 631 units. “We couldn’t have asked for a better first year for RBI and both of the brands under the RBI ownership,” says Schwartz. “We continue to be excited about future opportunities at Tim Hortons and Burger King and are committed to building long-term sustainable growth for years to come.”

GOING STATE-SIDE A key item on Restaurant Brands International’s agenda for 2016 is U.S. expansion of

the Tim Hortons brand. During 2015, the company closed underperforming restaurants in New York and Maine.

These closures were reflected in the U.S. market’s new restaurant growth of only one unit for the year. Despite last year’s uninspiring results, Josh Kobza, CFO, is optimistic about future growth. “Over the last few months, we’ve gotten a lot of traction with [Tim Hortons] in the U.S.,” he says. “We’ve started to make progress on the development side, signing up new area development agreements in Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis.”

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FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

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FYI

SECOND HELPING OF GOLD Marc Lepine made history at this year’s Canadian Culinary Championship, claiming top honours for a second time. The owner of Ottawa’s Atelier restaurant beat out 10 other chefs from across the country at the twoday competition held in February in Kelowna, B.C. Lepine first won the decade-old competition in 2012. Rounding out the competition’s top three were Matthew Batey (silver) of The Nash Restaurant & Off Cut Bar in Calgary and Alex Chen (bronze) of Vancouver’s Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar. The winning dish featured smoked steelhead trout with miso-molasses glaze, cured pork belly, barley-and-corn porridge and corn cob broth, paired with a single-vineyard chardonnay from Le Clos Jordanne in Niagara, Ont.

COMING EVENTS APRIL 8-10: Toronto Food & Drink Market, Enercare Centre, Toronto.

Website: tofoodanddrinkmarket.com APRIL 12: 2016 Localfare The Trade Show, RBC Convention Centre, Winnipeg. Tel: 877-296-2909; website: mrfa.mb.ca APRIL 12-14: Canadian Produce Marketing Association Convention and Trade Show, BMO Centre, Calgary. Website: convention.cpma.ca APRIL 13-15: SIAL Canada: The North American Food Innovation Exhibition, Montreal Convention Centre, Montreal. Tel: 866-281-7425; website: sialcanada.com APRIL 24-25: ApEx 2016, Cunard Centre, Halifax. Tel: 866-216-0860, ext. 227; email: bradm@mediaedge.ca; website: apextradeshow.ca APRIL 24-27: Rendez-vous Canada 2016, Palais des Congrès de Montreal, Montreal. Tel: 613-238-3885; email: kross@tiac.travel; website: rendezvouscanada.travel APRIL 24-30: Winnipeg Wine Festival, TBA, Winnipeg.

Website: winnipegwinefestival.com APRIL 25: 10th Annual Terroir Symposium, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Email: info@terroirsymposium.com; website: terroirsymposium.com APRIL 29-MAY 1: Eat Vancouver, BC Place, Vancouver.

Website: eat-vancouver.com MORE EVENTS AT http://bit.ly/FHevents

IN MEMORIAM Toronto chef Niels Kjeldsen passed away in February at the age of 71, following a short battle with cancer. Kjeldsen had a 50-year career in Canada and abroad as a chef at many leading hotels, including The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto’s former Truffles restaurant. In 1984, he was a member of the first Culinary Team Canada to win Gold at the World Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany. Kjeldsen most recently served as director of Culinary at Prime Restaurants Inc…After a long and valiant battle with cancer, Dominic Zoffranieri, a veteran of the Toronto culinary scene, passed away in late February. Zoffranieri began his career with Hyatt Hotels in the late ’70s, and then moved to Delta Hotels where he remained for many years. A long-time member of Toronto’s Escoffier Society, Zoffranieri was a talented and passionate chef who cared deeply about the industry. Zoffranieri was also a regular columnist at Foodservice and Hospitality magazine …Neal Noble passed away Feb. 28 due to complications from an infection and liver failure. Born in Fort Frances, Ont., Noble became an influential force in the culinary community, perfecting his craft at various hotels including the Sutton Place and the Metropolitan Hotel Toronto where he quickly progressed to corporate executive chef. During his long career, the graduate of Malaspina College in B.C. received two invitations to the prestigious James Beard House and won six gold medals in various culinary competitions. Noble leaves behind his wife Gwen and son Kyle, who continues his father’s legacy by running the catering company Noble founded, Noble Culinary.

6 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

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TOP TRENDS

Craft beer/microbrews is the number-1 hot trend in Canadian restaurants again this year, according to Restaurants Canada’s 2016 Canadian Chef Survey. Close to 500 professional chefs across the country identified the menu items and cooking methods at the peak of popularity, as well as up-and-coming culinary trends. Rounding out the top 10 trends are: charcuterie/ house-cured meats; ethnic sauces; locally sourced foods; food smoking; house-made condiments/sauces; gluten-free/food allergy-conscious; inexpensive/under-used cuts of meat; organic produce; and leafy greens.

RESTO BUZZ Toronto chef Cory Vitiello has opened a second Flock Rotisserie + Greens location in the space that once housed his restaurant THR&Co. The new site offers an expanded version of the original location’s menu, as well as beverage offerings including espresso, beer, wine and cocktails. New menu items include a five-piece fried chicken platter served with a cheddar biscuit, slaw and hot sauce ($17); cast iron-baked mac and cheese ($7) and spiced squash and lentil soup ($6)…Scott Bagshaw has opened his third Winnipeg restaurant. Máquè seats 38 and offers a menu of Asian-inspired cuisine including crisp sweetbreads with ginger dressing, black garlic, turnip pickle, orange and hazelnut ($19); duck confit with egg noodles, fermented bean and chili sauce, Chinese sausage and mustard greens ($19); and squid ink noodles served with minced prawns, spicy peanut sauce, cucumber, toasted peanuts and mint ($18)…MasterChef Canada winner David Jorge has joined forces with Joseph Richard Group for its newest endeavour, S+L Kitchen & Bar in Langley, B.C. The steak-and-seafood restauS+L Kitchen & Bar rant is a change from the group’s traditional pub fare, offering items such as fried cauliflower ($9); ribeye Wagyu steak, butchered in-house ($41 for 8 oz.); a porchetta sandwich with slow-roasted pork belly, chimichurri and arugula served on focaccia ($16); and fried chicken served with bourbon bacon, corn and mashed potatoes ($19)…The University of British Columbia’s upscale eatery, Perch, has closed its doors. The restaurant’s team decided to call it quits only six months after launch because the traffic required to fund the restaurant did not materialize.

Opening a new restaurant? Let us in on the buzz. Send a high-res image, menu and background information about the new establishment to abostock@kostuchmedia.com.

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FYI

IN BRIEF

Druxy’s Famous Deli has acquired Williams Fresh Cafe, resulting in a combined entity of 70 delis, cafes and kiosks across Ontario. The two chains will continue to operate as separate brands, however Druxy’s plans to explore opportunities that capitalize on menu strengths...Starbucks opened its first express store in Canada in February at Toronto’s Union Station. The 400-sq.-ft. store is the third of its kind in the world — two New York locations opened early last year…Winners have been announced for the 26th annual Ontario Hostelry Gold Awards being held later this month at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto. Winners include Toronto-based Bar Raval’s Grant van Gameren (Chef of

the Year) and Zoe Yanovsky and chef Ian Arthur of Kingston, Ont.’s Chez Piggy restaurant (Independent Restaurateur)…

Cineplex Entertainment has announced plans to build The Rec Room in Toronto in early 2017. The new Rec Room will be located across from the CN Tower and is the third unit in the works, the first of which is slated to open in Edmonton this spring…McDonald’s claimed the top spot on Franchise Direct’s 2016 Top 100 Global Franchises Ranking. Fellow restaurant franchises rounded out the list’s top five positions including Subway, KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut.

Award for his work in advancing employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Wafer owns six Tim Hortons restaurants in Toronto and has hired 127 people with disabilities over the past 20 years…Justin Witcher has taken the helm as the new executive chef at the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort on Vancouver Island, where he will help launch the resort’s new restaurant, The Bedwell Bistro, in May. Witcher previously served as chef de cuisine at Atlantic Group of Companies…Toronto mixologist, Evelyn Chick won the global 2015 Beefeater MIXLDN Cocktail Competition held in London, England in January. Chick triumphed over 31 international finalists with her “Endless English Summers” cocktail.

PEOPLE

Tim Hortons franchisee Mark Wafer has won the inaugural Restaurants Canada Leadership

SUPPLYSIDE

Egg Farmers of Canada will implement a transition from conventional egg production toward methods that take into account hen welfare, food production sustainability and more. This includes a commitment to cease the installation of any new conventional housing…Iowa-based ACP Inc. has appointed Mississauga, Ont.-based Chesher Equipment Ltd. as its Canadian product distributor. Chesher’s sales team will work to aggressively expand the Amana Commercial brand…

California-based Ventura Foods has acquired the sauces and condiments business of Torontobased Wing’s Foods. The newly acquired business will become Ventura Foods Canada, operating as a wholly owned subsidiary.

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SHOW PREVIEW

FACE TIME

Whether it’s eco-proteins or smart technology, the NRA Show aims to connect operators on a host of industry issues

BY JACKIE SLOAT-SPENCER

W

ith the foodservice landscape quickly evolving, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) team has prepared another education-packed, star-studded NRA Show to shine the spotlight on the issues that matter most to restaurant operators.

The annual tradeshow will be held May 21 to 24 at the McCormick Place in Chicago.

“The theme this year is called ‘This is My Show.’ The idea behind the campaign is that even though people come from different industry segments, the NRA show is where they can gather as a community and learn from different segments of the busi-

READY, SET, SHOW The Foodamental Studio (top) is home to education sessions, product demonstrations and hands-on learning; the NRA Show attracts 42,000 buyers each year

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ness,” explains Leana Salamah, senior director, Convention Marketing, Communications & Programming at NRA. On May 23, leaders will dive deep into the challenges of offering foodservice in retail spaces with the brand-new Foodservice at Retail Conference — an immersive event aimed at addressing recruiting, marketing and health-and-wellness trends in the growing segment. In response to a shift in consumer preferences toward health-conscious and sustainable foods, the show features seminars on “eco-protein” trends such as hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken and grass-fed beef.

“There is also renewed interest around food safety and sanitation this year,” Salamah adds.

Show organizers are offering start-up companies a reduced rate to entice them to exhibit in the Startup Alley pavilion.

Introduced in 2015, Startup Alley showcases innovative new companies. “We have also made a significant investment in the beverage-alcohol space,” adds Salamah. The NRA team has tapped Jon Taffer of TV show Bar Rescue and founder of Taffer Dynamics to emcee its Star of the Bar Competition, offer advice to bar and restaurant operators on the showroom floor and lead a crowd-sourced education session with English celebrity chef Robert Irvine

about what it takes to pull an operation back from the brink of failure.

In the World Culinary Showcase, attendees will be treated to live culinary demos by chefs such as Lorena Garcia, Ming Tsai and Rick Bayless. Plus, a new made-in-Italy food and wine expo called Bellavita will dominate 15,000-sq.-ft. of the showroom floor and be home to producers, top chefs and sommeliers from Italy.

Meanwhile, a special pavilion dedicated to Kitchen Innovation Award-winners will highlight equipment that delivers cutting-edge food safety, water savings, smart technology and lower labour costs. This year’s winners include Manitowoc Foodservice’s Multiplex N2Fusion Beverage System — a nitrogenized coffee system; Rational’s KitchenManagement System, which lets operators manage and control up to 30 Rational combi ovens from a central computer; and The Vollrath Company’s Stoelting AutoVend System, which dispenses up to two flavours and four toppings of frozen soft-serve in multiple sizes.

Instead of a key-note presentation, the show will host a panel discussion between its CEO Dawn Sweeney and three restaurant innovators on May 22. “It’s going to be more dynamic than a traditional panel session,” says Salamah. “We want to turn that on its head and change it into a dialogue between folks in the industry who are embracing and causing change.” l FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

11

FROM THE DESK OF ROBERT CARTER

G

en Y, Gen Me, Gen Next — whatever you call them, there is no hotter term in the foodservice industry today than “millennial.” Over the last five years, the “M” word, which generally refers to those born between 1982 and 1995, has taken the industry by storm.

And the millennial population is forecast to be the largest demographic in Canada by 2021. Furthermore, data from the NPD Group suggests this segment of the population currently accounts for 28 per cent of foodservice traffic in Canada, making it particularly relevant to foodservice operators.

Not only do millennials account for a large percentage of overall traffic in Canada, they also have a number of unique preferences when it comes to eating out. For example, they make up nearly 50 per cent of digital traffic at foodservice outlets and highly over-index when it comes to healthy options — often seeking out offerings naturally positioned or with “good-for-you” claims.

According to the NPD Group, healthy choices are extremely important for millennials, with 25 per cent of the demographic looking for healthier menu options. But what else does this cohort want?

CONVENIENCE

It should come as no surprise that millennials consider convenience to be one of the most important attributes when it comes to

THE

“M”

WORD

Operators would be wise to cater to this growing and influential demographic

foodservice. Off-premise eating is extremely popular with this demographic, accounting for 65 per cent of millennials’ restaurant visits compared to 54 per cent for nonmillennials. Furthermore, millennials also over-index for eating in the car or at work. As a result, visits often include take-out, delivery or a drive-thru lane.

QUALITY AND FOOD EXPERIENCE

Convenience aside, millennials are also sticklers for quality and experience. These consumers demand fresher, higher-quality ingredients and often prefer ethically sourced ingredients and corporate transparency. As a result, the fast-casual segment has

experienced continued growth. The fastcasual segment has honed in on healthy, customizable options coupled with a clean, modern, upscale atmosphere. As a result, we’ve seen some of the top QSR chains begin to take notice by integrating some of these fast-casual offerings into marketing and product efforts.

TECHNOLOGY

Millennials are much more engaged with technology than any other demographic. As a result, this group tends to over-index when it comes to utilizing and supporting the idea of technology at foodservice. A recent survey by the NPD Group found that consumers aged 18 to 24 were 91 per cent in favour of selfordering kiosks at QSR outlets. That number was slightly lower (80 per cent) for those aged 25 to 34. Furthermore, millennials are twice as likely to post something online when it comes to their foodservice visit. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest, millennials like sharing their experiences and are also highly likely to be influenced by others who do the same.

There is no denying millennials are a unique demographic and have different foodservice behaviours and expectations than previous generations. However, smart operators who are willing to re-evaluate goto-market strategies to cater to this growing cohort can reap significant rewards. l

Robert Carter is executive director, Foodservice Canada, with the NPD Group Inc. He can be reached at robert.carter@npd.com for questions regarding the latest trends and their impact on the foodservice business.

12 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

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HOMETOWN PROUD Spring salmon from the Skeena River is the star of this dish from Fable in Vancouver, which is served with North Arm Farm beets, fennel and herbs from a B.C. greenhouse

14 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

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FOOD FILE

THE LOCAL-FOOD MOVEMENT IS INSPIRING CHEFS TO LOOK AT CANADIAN INGREDIENTS DIFFERENTLY

PHOTO: FABLE RESTAURANT [SPRING SALMON]

STORY BY ANDREW COPPOLINO

anada’s bounty is an embarrassment of riches — from the “three sisters” of corn, beans and squash, which are the foundation of First Nations agriculture, and Prince Edward Island blueberries, to bison from the Great Plains and Red Fife wheat.

But despite the prevalence of ingredients grown coast-to-coast, culinary activist Anita Stewart wrote in her book Canada: The Food, The Recipes, The Stories, Canadians face the “collective challenge” of building connections between producers and consumers, between urban and rural.

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FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

15

FOOD FILE LOCAL LEGENDS The menu at Calgary’s River Café highlights local ingredients such as bison from Olds, Alta.based Kolb Farms

And whether chefs are following the 100-km diet or choosing to source ingredients within their own city, province or Canada as a whole, it’s clear the local-food movement is constantly changing.

Jamie Kennedy, owner of Toronto-based Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, describes it as “a feeling, a consciousness, a crystallization that’s hap-

pening all over North America.” He adds, “The local-food agenda is working against a very finely tuned global food-distribution system, and one that has been honed and entrenched since the world restructured and reorganized itself in the years after the Second World War.” But these days, ‘local’ is the buzzword in many restaurants.

“Restaurants boast about being local,” says Trevor Bird, chef-owner of Fable Kitchen in Vancouver. “It’s very nature-based, but it’s not a trend. It’s a way that people want to eat. They feel better about themselves.”

Bird’s menu walks the talk. Fable Kitchen’s wild salmon dish with beets, a fennel confit, potatoes and dill yogurt ($24) uses fish caught weekly from runs in a number of B.C. rivers, which means selections can vary — from spring salmon, to coho, to ivory. “The beets are cellared from local farms, usually Klippers Organics in Cawston or North Arm Farm in Pemberton, while the dill is grown in a greenhouse by Windset Farms in Delta, B.C.,” he says. For the tuna Niçoise salad ($22), he uses Pacific albacore tuna caught off the coast and pork cheek for the guanciale from Gelderman Farms of Abbotsford.

To continue the momentum of the local-food movement, it takes more than just an appreciation of the ingredient. Kristin Peters Snider, director of Operations at Calgary’s River Café says “You need a very creative chef who can take a humble ingredient (like a local turnip or carrot) and turn it into something delicious and menu-worthy.”

River Café, recognized as a pioneer in the local-food movement when it opened in 1991, was, along with Toronto’s Canoe restaurant, one

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TASTE OF HISTORY Canoe’s Taste of Acadia menu drew inspiration from the region’s native ingredients

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a culinary tribute to unique times, places and people that helped shape Canada. “Canadian food is never really defined but when you dig, there’s a lot of great things that have happened in history that are tied to food,” says John Horne, executive chef.

The Taste Canada series launched in February with a Taste Acadia menu inspired by the ingredients, flavours and cooking techniques used by the French settlers.

Horne and chef de cuisine Coulson Armstrong were inspired to develop a menu that transformed classic Acadian dishes, such as fricot (an Acadian stew), using local ingredients from the land and sea.

Inspiration for the dishes was also drawn from historical cooking techniques such as cooking on charcoal, preserving vegetables and rehydrating ingredients. “Guests love it when there’s a connection to Canadian food and its history,” says Horne. “This time around we’ll

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on the actual menu, talking more the food comes from.”

In mid-March, Taste Acadia was replaced with Taste Haida Gwaii. The region, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands is an archipelago on the north coast of B.C. “There is such deep history on that island that most Canadians don’t know about,” says Horne.

The menu ($100 per person) is chock full of fish, shellfish, kelp and sea asparagus. “They’re already harvesting seaweed and getting ready for the herring and salmon runs,” he says. Some food will be prepared in traditional bentwood boxes, which are made by steam-

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ing cedar planks and bending them into cooking boxes. There are also wine and beer pairings based on regional specialties, such as berries.

The next stop on Taste Canada will be Manitoba, where the culinary scene is heavily influenced by a large Polish and Croatian population. — Amy Bostock

of a few restaurants focused on Canadian regional, seasonal cuisine, according to Snider. The menu reflects the local terroir with items such as Olds, Alta.-based Kolb Farms’ bison hump rubaboo (a type of stew) with yellow-foot chanterelles, Saskatoon berries, foraged ramp, fried sage, Hakurei turnips and Poplar Bluff potato; and the Fish & Game Board featuring bison pemmican, smoked Steelhead trout, game terrine, wild boar prosciutto, house-cured salami and Albacore tuna rillette ($32).

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FOOD FILE LOCAL CHAMPION Chef Anne Desjardins,

consultant and instructor at Ecole Hotelière des Laurentides in Ste-Adele, Que., began championing the use of local produce in restaurants in the ’80s. At the time, she says some of her peers thought she was crazy. Since then, the local food trend has grown significantly. “I would say that customers are more and more concerned about [buying local foods] and have a greater understanding of the concept of eating local,” says Desjardins.

“Chefs also want to have things that are local and sustainable on their menus, but they have to [be realistic],” says Desjardins, noting that chefs don’t have to go as far as foraging in order to serve locally sourced dishes.

Canada’s local food trend still carries an air of elitism that Desjardins hopes to see dissipate as the trend continues to grow. Plus, the cost and time commitment required to source local products are keeping some operators from joining in. By Desjardins’ estimate, only a small percentage of restaurants are serving 100-per-cent locally sourced products, but she has high hopes for the future. “I think that ‘local’ is something that is in evolution. In hospitality schools and culinary schools, the new cohort of chefs really think about [local food],” Desjardins says. “When you make people dream of it, maybe one day they will achieve it.” — Danielle Schalk

GUELPH GOES GREEN

T

he team at The University of Guelph in Ontario has long been a proponent of “cooking local” and strives to offer fresh, locally grown ingredients at its campus dining spots.

As part of the university’s “food revolution,” the 100 Mile Grille, located on-campus in Creelman Hall, uses handmade 100-percent local ground chuck and sourdough from a local bakery for its burgers; locally grown lettuce for its salads; and local russet potatoes and cheese curds for its poutine offerings. All of the University of Guelph’s foodservice operations purchase produce from the nearby Elmira Produce Auction Cooperative Inc. (EPAC) — a locally owned fruit and vegetable wholesaler established in 2004 — which supports 75 farmers, including Don’s Produce, Sergeant Farms, Organic Meadow and Field Gate Organics.

However, the university’s commitment to sustainability goes far beyond local food sourcing. In 2011, it launched “I am Reusable” — a program that provides reusable take-out containers at foodservice outlets on campus. When customers return the reusable container, they receive an “I am Reusable” card good for another take-out container next time they visit. More than 9,000 containers have gone through the system to date, reducing waste within the university and diverting paper and disposables from landfill. Diners also have the option of bringing their own dishes and are rewarded with a stamp on an Enviro Card (collecting 10 stamps gets you a free entrée) or a 50-cent discount on their purchase. — Graeme Garland

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moving away from primal cuts of meat, into secondary, less expensive cuts — such as pork and lamb belly, flat-iron beef and bison striploin — that require more imagination and culinary finesse. “In the case of our current menu, we’re serving a pork rib chop instead of, for example, pork loin; bison hump instead of bison tenderloin.”

River trout — which River Café serves with Great Northern white beans, smoked mussel vinaigrette, trout crackling and Sudo Farms butternut squash ($40) — bullberries, pulses and other raw ingredients that are grown in the west, she adds, can also generate a good return on investment.

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NATURE’S BOUNTY River Café in in Calgary serves up local, seasonal favourites such as asparagus and fiddlehed soup (left) and pickerel with summer vegetables

When it comes to making purchasing decisions, Kennedy recognizes a disparity between how independent owner-operators — what he calls “fiefdoms” of 10 to 12 employees — and the larger institutions can adapt locally sourced foods to their menus. “That fiefdom can make those [local food] decisions. It’s much harder to do through the greater public sector, institutions and colleges.” But, the question of whether or not local food can make money for a restaurant is not really the issue, Kennedy readily admits. “Quite honestly, at the end of the day, it’s not going to make too much difference to the bottom-line whether you source locally or whether you have a mixed bag.”

Training and education are key components to the local-food movement and, for many, it starts with culinary students. At Holland College in P.E.I., which is home to the Culinary Institute of Canada, the curriculum explores the food history of regions across the continent and local products, ingredients and traditional dishes. At Ontario’s Stratford Chefs School, instructor Randi Rudner says the school addresses the themes of local food and sustainability over the course of the two-year program. “In a commodities course, we address how considerations of sustainability might affect purchasing decisions,” Rudner says. “Each week, a group of students gives a presentation tangentially related to the course material, but focusing on the politics and ethical questions that arise. For example, when we studied eggs, the presentation examined the supply-management system that governs egg sales, and how that adversely affects small and niche suppliers.”

It’s clear the discourse around the local-food movement is changing. A crop grown in a specific region of Canada can become a natural part of a menu and not a “political stand,” says Kennedy. “It’s creating an economy where there wasn’t one before. That means money back into the local economy.” l

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COVER STORY

After vanishing from the restaurant scene in 2012, Jonathan Gushue is back in the spotlight with his new restaurant, The Berlin STORY BY ANDREW COPPOLINO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN HRYNIUK |

speaks with the courage of his convictions: about food, about the craft of cooking and teaching his cooks, about his own restaurant in the burgeoning food scene in revitalized downtown Kitchener, Ont. — and about facing his struggle with alcohol.

Opening The Berlin — a first for the former executive chef at Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ont. — is a milestone for the 44-year-old in a couple of ways. It represents the first time he’s had his own restaurant, and it marks his return to the industry after vanishing from the restaurant scene with personal troubles in 2012.

The married father of three left Langdon Hall the night of Dec. 28 — leaving his mobile phone and car behind — and wasn’t heard from for days. His disappearance blew up on social media and the mystery

22 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

remained a hot topic until he was located by police, drunk, in a Montreal hotel about two weeks later, safe and honest with himself about his alcoholism. He quietly left Langdon Hall a few months later and set about getting his personal life and career back in working order. “I’ve learned a lot about alcoholism,” says Gushue who has been in rehab and admits his drinking was out of control. He acknowledges the situation and says, “I know what I need to do.”

As for The Berlin, it’s a concept 10 years in the making and something he’s been intensely focused on. He recounts a conversation with world-renowned chef René Redzepi in Toronto about a decade ago during which the Noma chef asked him, “Why don’t you have your own restaurant?”

Gushue says he didn’t have an answer then, but the comment stuck with him and he kept asking himself, “Why don’t I?” FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

23

COVER STORY Now, three years later, he’s built his own venue — a process he calls stressful yet cathartic. “It’s exciting and it’s liberating,” he says. Given that he was looking for a space in Toronto, it’s also serendipitous.

“Kitchener never really occurred to us, but if you look at our original business plan of what we wanted, it is this exact space.”

Gushue and his business partner, Ryan Lloyd-Craig, opened in the city’s central downtown on Dec. 21, 2015. The restaurant’s name captures both the historic Germanic past of the city — Kitchener was called Berlin until 1916 — and Gushue’s vision for the food. “The reason we opened this restaurant was to do something that was fair and something that could offer value. You can get great product and you can offer it at a good price. So many people say if you buy organic or grass-fed beef, you can’t possibly offer that to your guests at a proper price. That’s just not the case.” Among his favourite local suppliers are Chassagne in Puslinch, Ont.; Blackview Farm in Listowel, Ont.; and Sebringville, Ont.-based Antony John and Soiled Reputation.

The design and build-out took time. There were the usual delays with regulations and code standards for ventilation systems, chair purchases to be made and getting the dining-room floor just right, but Gushue won’t comment on the restaurant’s renovation costs, saying he was more concerned about meeting timelines. The design process began in June 2015 and the doors opened for a private event on Dec. 10, 2015.

Lloyd-Craig says the new restaurant, which is open for lunch Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and for dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., appeals to a wide range of clientele.

“There are young professionals, lawyers and those self-proclaimed foodies looking for a new upscale restaurant,” says Lloyd-Craig. “We do get a lot of people from Toronto, Hamilton and Burlington on Friday and Saturday nights [but] during the week, it is mostly locals.”

In what is Canada’s 10th largest metropolitan area, the building is

24 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

iconic Kitchener: its earlier iterations as a grocery and then a hardware store date back to the late 1800s. It was a popular downtown business, Peter Martin’s 41 Restaurant, until a few years ago and retains those old bones. The 3,300-sq.-ft. main dining room seats 114 while the multi-purpose rooms on the second floor can accommodate another 145 guests. “We can do seated events for 24 and a standing reception for up to 40 in the boardroom, which is set up with AV equipment,” Lloyd-Craig says. The larger room upstairs can accommodate 70 seated and 100 standing. The main dining area also features a goodsized bar and a living wall of herbs from Living Fresh Flower Studio and School in Kitchener.

Gushue describes the kitchen as modular and Japanese in style with a “kitchen counter” that allows guests to watch the cooks as they work.

The centrepiece is the Grillworks wood-burning hearth, which is constantly in use. The Medieval-looking mechanism has two 24-inch grills that are manually cranked up and down. It’s a unique piece of equipment, and Gushue’s cooks use it for just about every ingredient.“We have fun playing with it. It brings everyone in the kitchen together because every section of our menu is tied into it in one way or another,” he says.

That menu, offering five appetizers ($9 to $16), five mains ($15 to $42), three desserts ($10 to $13) and a daily cheese feature, has stayed true to the original business plan and most Saturdays, the restaurant breaks the 200-customer threshold. People have been happy with the selection and the price point, which are in line with the fine-dining industry, according to Lloyd-Craig. “If we find some terrific grass-feed beef for a weekend and we need to charge more, we do it. We did a special appetizer on a Saturday night and had to [increase] the price by $6. We sold almost 60 of them.”

Gushue is quick to praise Waterloo Region’s farmers and producers and draws on them to create food he describes as modern European.

“But I still want the opportunity to use other techniques and styles I’ve learned during my travels through England, France and Japan. I love the noodle tradition of Hungary, spätzle in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. These are fascinating traditions of food. It’s funny how close they are but how different they are.”

Gushue, who lives in nearby Cambridge, Ont. with his family, recruited Andrea Hennige, a veteran of the Waterloo Region food scene, as restaurant manager. “She naturally understands the dining room,” he says. “She gets how to deal with customers and staff.” A number of former colleagues from Langdon Hall have also joined him: sommelier Wes Klassen and bar manager Stacey Anderson, among others. Along with sous chef Kempton Munshaw, he has a crew of 12 cooks (he had 43 at Langdon) and says that though there is a responsibility similar to other positions he’s had, he feels more in control here. “When it hits the fan here, it’s up to me. And I think that’s great.”

At the same time, he believes cooks need development. Gushue is a pragmatist and knows their engagement benefits the restaurant and manifests itself as good quality work and employee retention. “You owe them more than a paycheque. They owe you their best hard work.

If you are teaching them, they are constantly engaged but I don’t want them just to toe the line. I want people coming out of this kitchen to be creative and think for themselves.”

On the topic of other ventures in the works, Gushue is cagey. “We have had offers for new properties that are going up in Waterloo FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

TASTES OF PERFECTION (clockwise from far left) spiced pork belly and Manila clams with pickled red onion and marinated fennel; Toast to Spring made from Dillons gin, lillet, toasted lavender and lemonade foam; the kitchen counter in the main dining room allows guests to watch the cooks work; herbs from local suppliers adorn the walls; Ballotine of rainbow trout with celeriac, apple and walnuts

Region and have a larger project that we have always been interested in.

That’s really all I can tell you now.”

Despite the stir his disappearance generated on social media, there is a peace, an equanimity, in Gushue’s demeanour. “I’m probably having the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” he says. Yet, while he’s forthcoming and animated in talking about his personal issues, you can sense he is being cautious. “As far as coping strategies, I stay the course and do what needs to be done, and not forget. You don’t want to get into that corny adage of ‘one day at a time,’ but I accept life on life’s terms.”

It’s clear he’s taken stock of where he is in his career and at the same time has rediscovered a submerged aspect of himself. “It’s not totally unexpected that I’ve found it, but it’s a discovery about relationships. I did once think people were absurd for having relationships with other people as friends or professionals. That belief that people help people — I thought that was madness and that everyone is conniving. That’s the typical mind of an alcoholic. They say you point out in others what you hate most about yourself,” he says.

The reflection prompts him to return to the positive thoughts of how he and The Berlin have been warmly welcomed in Kitchener.

“People have been so good to us. We’ve been so well received and get people regularly coming up to the kitchen just to say thanks for opening this restaurant. I’ve never heard that in my life.” l FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

25

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SUSTAINABILITY

While the day-to-day business of running a sustainable food operation is challenging, it is becoming the new normal

BY CINDA CHAVICH

hen New York chef Dan Barber announced he would serve “garbage” at a banquet for international leaders in Washington last year, he put the global issue of food waste in the headlines.

Barber recycled leftover juice pulp into veggie burgers with carrot top marmalade and created fries from corn destined for cattle feed. Like his pop-up restaurant, Wasted, whose menu took root in the overlooked byproducts of the food system, the goal was to educate diners about the kind of edible ingredients we routinely discard.

Vancouver chef David Gunawan had a similar message when he offered Ugly Duckling Dinners at his newest hyper-local restaurant, Royal Dinette. Using “usually overlooked, often discarded off-cuts and outcasts,” Gunawan created a menu that included chicken FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

27

SUSTAINABILITY consommé clarified with eggshells and potato peel ice cream with coffee caramel made from potato skins leftover from prepping gnocchi and coffee grounds. “We have finite resources so it’s natural to be mindful of what we consume,” says Gunawan who also follows a sustainable, farm-to-table path at his Vancouver restaurant, Farmer’s Apprentice. “The Ugly Duckling Dinners are an exaggerated form of our intention. The message is to conserve food and educate people — before you throw this thing away, think of the implications.”

Those implications are serious. Canadians waste 40 per cent of the food we produce.

If food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas producer after China and the U.S., contributing to climate change and ultimately to our ability to produce food.

THE SUSTAINABLE TABLE

This focus on food waste is only one part of the puzzle when it comes to the latest trend in restaurant kitchens — sustainability.

YOUR CARBON FOOD-PRINT

In her new book, “Greening your Hospitality Business,” consultant Jill Doucette says the green movement is not a trend, but rather, “a paradigm shift in commerce. Consumers, particularly millennials, are not only shopping for value, they are shopping to see whether your values are aligned with theirs,” she writes. “By making choices such as shopping local, promoting organics and selecting regional wines, craft beers and spirits, you can connect with a conscious clientele who understands the impact of their spending.”

Doucette developed the non-profit

28 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

TIPS FOR GOING GREEN When greening a restaurant, there are many building and operational components to consider:

Do an energy audit to determine your total energy use, then take steps to conserve energy. Start by switching to energy-efficient LED lighting, turning off fans and equipment when they’re not in use, upgrading HVAC systems and replacing aging appliances with Energy Star-rated equipment.

Install low-flow faucets and fixtures to conserve water, avoid running water and only wash fully loaded dish racks.

Replace caustic industrial cleaning products with nontoxic, eco-friendly, biodegradable ones. Look for third-party certified products.

When choosing furniture, flooring and even paint for your restaurant, think about the carbon footprint of the product, the chemicals used in the production of materials and fabrics, whether there’s ongoing off-gassing and how you can recycle the item at the end of its life. Look for products made locally, low-VOC paints and millwork, materials with GreenGuard eco-certification and bamboo, cork or other eco-friendly flooring.

When building a new location, consider solar or geothermal energy systems, heat pumps, site selection and sun exposure. Design the building with low E-glazed and clerestory windows to capture natural light and solar hot water systems for in-floor heating. Incorporate wind power, green roofs and drought-resistant landscaping. Design and build to LEED certified standards.

Vancouver Island Green Business Certification (VIGBC) program, a thirdparty green audit for restaurant, retail and office-based businesses. “On a square-foot basis, hospitality businesses are huge when it comes to energy consumption,” says Doucette. She recommends adopting green FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

SOURCE: LEADERS IN ENVIRONMENTALLY ACCOUNTABLE FOOD SERVICE [TIPS FOR GROWING GREEN]

BEEFING UP EFFORTS Earls Restaurants strives for 100-per-cent “consciously sourced” and humanely raised ingredients

To run a truly sustainable foodservice operation, restaurant owners and chefs must look at the big picture, from where they source their ingredients to how they heat their buildings, conserve water and manage the entire waste stream — practices that can help restaurants reduce operating costs and stay competitive, while targeting the socially conscious and connected millennial generation.

“Today’s restaurant consumer is much more educated and more aware of both the foods they’re eating and the environmental side of the restaurant business,” says Robert Carter, executive director of Foodservice for Toronto-based NPD Group.

Carter says consumer interest in clean, ethical food is up about 10 per cent in 2015.

“Generally, what we see is interest in food sourcing, antibiotic-free, hormone-free choices,” says Carter. “We group this all together under the Clean Food Movement. A clean benefit is a big catch-all, but we believe clean food represents $1-billion in sales in Canada. Overall spending in foodservice is flat, so that increased spending on clean food is pretty dramatic.”

A recent survey by the U.S. National Restaurant Association listed local sourcing, food waste reduction and environmental sustainability among the top 10 trends for 2016, with 41 per cent of chefs surveyed predicting environmental sustainability as the fastest-growing trend in restaurants over the next decade.

CREATING A SUSTAINABLE CULTURE When chef Chris Whittaker opened Forage

restaurant in Vancouver’s Listel Hotel, he did it with a culture of sustainability in mind. This meant having the entire organization, from

management/owners down, committed to the idea of a sustainable food program. “I like to

think we are sustainable due to a combination of things — not only the practical equipment

retrofit and our purchasing practices, but also paying staff a fair living wage,” he says.

In terms of day-to-day implementation, a

big focus is on reducing waste. “We have a

zero-waste facility so it’s daily sorting of every-

thing and repurposing stuff — using all parts of the vegetable, all parts of the animal.”

He says it’s getting easier for chefs to

adopt this culture. “We get approached by a lot of suppliers and see a lot of small farm-

ers coming online — and most local farmers, even if not certified organic, are growing organically,” he says.

But, he notes, it’s a more challenging way

to run a business. “When I do my ordering it’s

SUSTAINABLE SNACKING At Vancouver’s Forage Restaurant, seafood is sourced by adhering to Ocean Wise standards

not just one call, there are five or six farmers, a couple of fishers, a bison producer — it’s a

lot more work on the administrative side. The menu is more work, too, but it’s good work.

We change it two or three times every two weeks, it keeps me motivated.”

At Forage, energy use has been reduced

by 26 per cent — even though business volume is up by 40 per cent. “The whole hotel

operation is focused on sustainability — they have solar panels, recycling and composting containers in guestrooms, a heat-recovery

system and retrofits” that started a decade ago, culminating in the newly refitted (and

relaunched) Forage restaurant four years ago.

On the staffing side, a sustainable kitch-

en helps motivate and retain cooks. “We’ve seen turnover below the industry average, with a core group in the kitchen that has

stayed, which helps a lot. But even now I’m finding it tough with so many new restaurants opening.”

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

29

Fish Hook owner/chef Kunal Ghose was an early sustainable operator, opening the popular Red Fish, Blue Fish in Victoria in 2007. Diners still line up daily for the Albacore Tuna Tacones with Spot Prawn Mayo ($6.50) at the harbourside take-out window, but Ghose now has plenty of company in the green dining scene. “Red Fish, Blue Fish was the first 100-per-cent Ocean Wise restaurant on Vancouver Island,” he says. “Now, you stand out if you’re not doing these things.”

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLIES LOOKS AREN’T EVERYTHING Ugly Duckling dinners at Vancouver-based Royal Dinette utilize “outcast” ingredients to create culinary masterpieces

practices, from measurable energy savings through building and equipment retrofits, to water conservation, recycling and “shortening the supply chain by supporting a more local model.”

In Victoria, B.C., there are now 40

VIGBC-certified restaurants, including several in the downtown core that have formed a Food Eco-District of carbon-neutral establishments ranging from the tiny AJ’s Organic Café to Fish Hook, Tacofino, Big Wheel Burger and Zambri’s. They’ve collaborated on urban garden projects to supply herbs and greens to member chefs and joint marketing initiatives to promote their sustainable mission.

New

The hospitality industry has the power to influence what people eat and the buying power to impact the way food is produced.

Chefs are in a unique position to shift the focus of farmers, fishers and wholesalers — Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program is just one example of how demand has increased supplies of sustainable seafood and expanded consumer choice.

But with major chains now adopting green initiatives — think A&W’s hormone-

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SUSTAINABILITY SETTING A SUSTAINABLE EXAMPLE CALGARY’S SAL HOWELL has

long been a leader in the sustainable food movement — her River Café and Boxwood restaurants, both set in city parks, are undeniably green destinations. “From very early on it was about organic, sustainable growers, their methods of production and scale,” she says.

“It was about the quality of the food and it was the right thing to do.”

Howell’s

sustainable

journey

began with a culinary philosophy and has grown over 25 years to include an organic wine list, an in-house water puri-

River Café was the pilot restaurant for the national

fication system and a zero-waste kitchen. She show-

Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice

cased beer and wine from the western Cascadia

(LEAF) green restaurant certification program, which

region, partnered with a local organic farmer to cre-

now boasts more than 50 members across Canada.

ate a kitchen garden and replaced flowers outside the restaurant with edibles.

Howell says reaching each milestone pushes her further. “The definition of sustainable for River Café

Recycling was the next step, growing into a com-

is environmental, economic and social,” she says.

prehensive composting program. “We started sorting

“We need to be economically sustainable beyond

milk cartons and glass, now we have a complete

running a successful business. It means fair pricing,

‘table-to-farm’ solution for all compostable matter,

equity and pay for the whole supply chain, and the

including meat and fish.”

well-being of our entire sustainable community.”

and steroid-free beef and antibiotic-free chicken, or McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Denny’s plans to switch to cagefree eggs — ethical sources are strained.

McDonald’s uses two billion eggs annually, with Denny’s serving another 400 million.

“A lot of big manufacturers are starting to understand that consumers and chefs will pay more if they believe there’s a benefit,” says Carter, citing Maple Leaf Foods’ commitment to reducing the use of antibiotics by its pork and poultry suppliers, and line of “raised without antibiotics” products.

“Restaurants are saying ‘We want to be in the game of the clean-food movement, but how do we source that food?’”

For Earls Restaurants, the goal is a 100-per-cent “consciously sourced” and humanely raised menu at its 66 locations across Canada and the U.S. by April this year, says communications manager Cate Simpson. “In the U.S. we serve only certified sustainable seafood, including shrimp and prawns,” she says. “Each location uses local, ethically raised, free-run chicken, raised

CANADIANS WANT CANADIAN CHICKEN

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without antibiotics, and cage-free eggs.

We serve only 100-per-cent certified Black Angus beef raised without the use of steroids, antibiotics or added hormones.”

Earls serves 750,000 lbs of steak and two million lbs of Black Angus chuck each year for burgers, at an added cost of 15 to 25 per cent. Simpson says buying humanely raised pork and bacon remains challenging — even Chipotle Mexican Grill removed pork carnitas from the menu last year due to short supply — and squid is problematic.

“Squid, in Canada, is the only elusive product,” she says. “Humboldt squid is the only sustainable squid available right now — calamari may just have to come off the menu.”

ON THE GREEN LINE WASTE NOT, WANT NOT Arc restaurant at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver recycles and composts everything in its kitchen and participates in a gleaning program to help reduce food waste at the farm level

The day-to-day business of running a sustainable food operation is challenging, but may be the new normal.

At Victoria’s Big Wheel Burger, owner Calen McNeil is proving that even fastfood can be carbon neutral. “Restaurants are one of the highest carbon-producing

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businesses per square foot,” says McNeil, who recycles and composts 90 per cent of all waste at Big Wheel Burger. “It’s not that expensive to do — you’re going to be paying to remove your garbage anyway. It’s a totally workable model.”

Fairmont Hotels has long embraced green business practices, too, with “sustainability teams” at each property. Vancouver’s Fairmont Waterfront has a top Green Key Eco-Rating, with a rooftop food garden that’s been buzzing with bees for more than two decades. Nothing goes to waste, whether it’s recycling mattresses or kitchen scraps.

An “on-demand” system uses scales to determine when waste pick-up is necessary, reducing removal costs. “There are literally no garbage cans in the kitchen — we recycle and compost everything,” says Alessandro Vianello, chef at the Waterfront’s Arc restaurant. Turnip and radish greens are sautéed with potatoes, juiced for sauces, or puréed for pesto. “We also participate with gleaning (the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been com-

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SUSTAINABILITY mercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest) and food-recovery projects — nothing is ever wasted.”

The rooftop garden now includes vertical Invictus Urban Farm structures (a squarefoot gardening system) to expand food production and composting on site, with crops ranging from kale and chard to lettuce, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, chilies and herbs.

With food costs rising, Vianello says it’s now cheaper to make the sustainable choice of buying from local farms. “Nearly 80 per cent of our products are local,” he says. “Produce comes in ripe and pristine — high-quality products with a better yield because we don’t have to waste as much.”

When chef Chris Whittaker opened Forage restaurant in Vancouver’s Listel Hotel in 2012, it was in a purpose-built space designed to be sustainable on many levels, from the farm-to-table philosophy to the energy efficient HVAC. “I think the key is having a culture of sustainability,

with your entire business, from employees to management, completely buying into the concept,” says Whittaker.

In Forage’s zero-waste kitchen, “everything we use is recycled, composted or sent to a waste-to-energy company,” he says.

Their sharing plates menu reduces food waste and it no longer serves free bread with meals, one of the industry’s biggest waste streams. All ingredients are used — fish heads fermented to fish sauce, fruit peelings turned into vinegars and shrubs for cocktails, potato skins leftover from making gnocchi crisped and smoked for potato skin bar snacks.

Seafood is sourced by adhering to Ocean Wise standards and Whittaker

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favours Salmon Safe or Environmental Farm Plan-certified farms for meat and produce.

While he says “it’s a lot more work on the administrative side,” going green is a great marketing tool, brings new customers and makes for an engaged, loyal staff. “Our business is up by 30 to 40 per cent,” he says.

“It was the right move.” l

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POURING FOR PROFITS

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

Golden State vintages have taken the lead in Canadian table-wine sales

BY DANIELLE SCHALK

C

alifornia wines continue to reign supreme in the Canadian market, boasting retail sales topping $1 billion for the second year in a row, according to the Wine Institute of California (WIC).

“California wines have been on a real growth curve over the past seven or eight years … to the point where in 2015 we became the top-selling import table wine category in Canada, surpassing France and Italy for the first time in history,” says Rick Slomka, director of the WIC’s Canadian office in Burlington, Ont. He credits fruit-forward taste profiles and a strong quality-to-value ratio as key factors in the vintages’ Canadian success.

Despite four consecutive years of drought, Slomka says California’s wine production has been virtually unaffected. In fact, grape production figures show counterintuitive results. “In 2012, 2013 and 2014, [production] was above average in terms of harvest size,” says Slomka, noting 2015 was down in comparison but still “around the norm.”

Though California wines have long been

GREEN, GREEN WINE popular in the Canadian market, there has been a shift in which varietals consumers prefer.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay continue to be category leaders, with Beringer, J. Lohr and Robert Mondavi labels leading the pack for both varietals. However, other grapes are capturing attention, including Pinot Noir and Moscato.

“Another big success story for California over the last five years has been the emergence of red blends, as opposed to specific varieties,” adds Slomka. These wines — vinified from a combination of grape varieties — have proven particularly popular among the younger cohorts. Slomka lists Apothic Red (approximately $15), Menage à

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

California, along with many of the world’s wine-producing countries, has been putting an increased focus on sustainability in its winegrowing and production practices. At the core of these practices is water and energy conservation, maintaining air, water and soil quality and the preservation of local ecosystems.

The state boasts several certification bodies, including the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing program (CCSW-Certified).

In fact, in 2015, 64 per cent of cases were certified under CCSW-Certified, Lodi Rules, Napa Green and/or Sip Certified.

“Hopefully this summer we will also be able to have recognition on our labels indicating what wines are sustainably grown,” says Rick Slomka, the Wine Institute of California’s Canadian director.

Trois Red (approximately $17) and Cupcake Red Velvet (approximately $14) among the topselling labels.

These emerging favourites have not gone unnoticed at Cactus Club Cafe restaurants. “California really jumped on the bandwagon and is producing a crazy amount of Moscato,” notes Sebastien Le Goff, sommelier and service director at Cactus Restaurants Ltd. “It’s [popular] across the board [in Canada] but it is definitely seasonal. It’s easy drinking, especially for the summer months.”

Le Goff says California wines are popular at Cactus Club Cafe’s 29 restaurants across the country.

“Our number-1 selling red wine by the glass is actually [California

Karma’s] Cabernet Sauvignon ($13/6 oz.) in our Toronto location,” he adds.

Canadians’ penchant for the Golden State’s grape elixirs does vary by province. “In Toronto, California is number-1,” he explains. “On the west coast, B.C. wines are number-1 and California comes second.” Albertans also love their California wines and exhibit a preference for Zinfandel — such as The Prisoner (offered by the bottle at $88) — that is unmatched by other regions.

Beyond regional differences, both Slomka and Le Goff agree Canadians’ taste in wine is subject to a generational divide. Younger clientele are favouring lighter California offerings, while their older counterparts remain loyal to “bigger, bolder varieties.” It would seem California’s wine producers are privy to the call for lighter wines. “I think the alcohol level in California wines has been reducing in the past couple of years,” says Le Goff.

“Some wineries that were selling wines at 14 to 14.5 per cent alcohol are now selling those with 13 to 13.5 per cent.” l

FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

35

Ontario Hostelry Institute

Chefs Supplier s Hotelier s Educator s Media Restaur ateur s Ar tisans Students

2016 GOLD AWARDS DINNER Excellence - Passion - Achievement - Success. These words have underscored the mandate of the Ontario Hostelry Institute for more than 25 years. Each of these attributes is difficult to achieve in any industry and the Hospitality, Foodservice and Tourism industry is no exception. Every year the Ontario Hostelry Institute ensures that these attributes do not go unnoticed by acknowledging and celebrating these achievements at the Annual OHI Gold Awards Dinner.

The OHI Gold Awards are awarded to members of our industry who exemplify passion, achievement, success and whose commitment to excellence enhances not only the industry but also the image of Ontario and Canada among thousands of diners, travelers and vacationers year after year.

Join us to celebrate these amazing men and women on Thursday, April 21st, 2016 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. Partake in our continuing legacy. Tables and tickets are available for purchase at www.theohi.ca or by calling 416-363-3401.

Ontario Hostelry Institute 300 Adelaide Street East #339 Toronto ON M5A 1N1 Tel: 416-363-3401 Fax: 416-363-3403 www.theohi.ca

EQUIPMENT

DINING IN STYLE New collections, such as the Mesh line from Rosenthal, add style to a table

DISHING IT OUT

PHOTOS: RENARTE NORTH AMERICA

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to dinnerware and cutlery choices

F

BY DENISE DEVEAU

or restaurateurs and foodservice operators, there’s a distinct reason for using certain dinnerware and cutlery. Whether the focus is on function, form, style or substance, there are plenty of available options.

For Geoffrey Morden, executive chef at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, those choices are all about consistency, quality and supply. That’s especially important on days when the conference facility may need to serve up to 4,000 meals in a sitting.

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FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

37

EQUIPMENT WONDERFUL WOOD The Frankfurt Beech Wenge line of wooden tableware from Zassenhause lends a rustic feel to restaurant settings

The dinnerware choice is a simple, sturdy white design from U.K.-based Steelite that can handle day-to-day usage and is easily replenished. “Colours may be in vogue now, but in two or three years they may not be,” Morden says. “Turnover can get very costly, so it’s often better for operations like ours to stick with more standard designs. Sure, we would love to pick more contemporary upscale stuff, but the reality is we have to take other factors into consideration.”

STEELING THE SHOW The Even flatware collection from Sambonet is crafted from lowmaintenance stainless steel

One of those factors is that the kitchen runs a sizeable Rational cook/chill finish operation, which means plates have to be the right dimensions to maximize the space on racks.

Another is plate covers. “I’d say 90 per cent of the meals we serve need to be lidded and stacked before they are run out. While it would be nice to have square or rectangular plates, manufacturing a custom lid would cost four to five times a standard stainless steel one,” Morden notes.

Flatware is a simple contemporary modern design by New Yorkbased Oneida chosen for its clean look and weight. “When choosing cutlery, we have to think about the weight and what that means if servers have to walk long distances. Also, the finish is important.

Plated silver might be fine for higher-end hotels, but stainless steel is much less work.”

When choosing suppliers, Morden looks for a good track

38 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

record of reliability that can consistently provide replacements and has a portfolio that can take care of all Shaw Centre’s needs, from cups and saucers to signature pieces for buffets.

At Scaddabush, colour and variety are the drivers behind the concept’s rustic Italian theme, says Mike Cappiello, VP, Alice Fazooli’s, Scaddabush for SIR Corp. in Burlington, Ont. With three locations and plans for four more in the coming months (two Alice Fazooli’s conversions and two new sites), he says the new dinnerware and cutlery fits in with the resurgence in Italian-style, homemade, premium food. “We’re striving for the most Italian kitchen-type with our smallwares,” Cappiello explains. “So we have a mishmash of generously sized plates, bowls and side plates that suits a non-linear, non-structured atmosphere. Not everything matches but it’s all indicative of what you would find in a traditional Italian kitchen.”

Going the multi-colour, multi-shape route may come at a slight premium, he says. “But the rustic category is growing so there’s a lot more to choose from and it’s a lot more affordable than it was. It’s not as cheap as white, but [the premium] is not enough to be a detriment to our profit model.”

Whether it’s classic white for a high-volume operation or home kitchen-style smallwares in a more intimate restaurant setting, Bill Horosko, president of Tableware Solutions in Mississauga, Ont. says restaurateurs should think about consistency and availability of immediate supply when determining what fits best for their environment.

Plain, white ceramic that is simple and ergonomically

TAKE IT AWAY

There’s no question that eco-friendly packaging for disposable and takeout containers has become a key mandate for many foodservice operations. But the decision also has to make good business sense, says Dan Olson, co-owner of Railtown Cafe in Vancouver, where takeout accounts for 80 per cent of its business. “We do whatever we can to make sure disposable items are made of 80 to 100 per cent recycled materials. Bamboo and wood forks and knives are beautiful, but they’re also 50 cents a piece. We would have to raise prices to absorb the cost of that.”

For cutlery, he looks to biodegradable content such as plant/ potato starch. His disposable plates of choice are composed of sugar cane fibre, which is both renewable and compostable. The kraft takeout containers are made from 100 per cent recycled paperboard. “We can never claim to be 100 per cent compostable or biodegradable for everything, but we get as close as we can to that standard,” he says.

Interest in eco-friendly and/or sustainable disposable products is growing year-over-year, says Peter Bozzer, director of procurement, Flanagan Foodservice in Kitchener, Ont. “Caterers, in particular, get more requests to supply carbon neutral events. Typically they look at cutlery first.”

Popular cutlery choices include wood and bamboo. Bozzer confirms, however, that cost is indeed a factor, with some items starting at double the price of traditional plastic-based cutlery. “Others can cost three to four times as much.”

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

designed has long dominated basic choices, with some chefs opting for value-added features such as surface designs, unusual shapes and embossments. Heat retention is often a consideration as well. “Chefs want the confidence that the dishes they choose can keep the presentation consistent no matter how far the table is from the kitchen,” Horosko says.

A parallel trend gaining ground these days is the “cottage industry-type” movement that features varied colours as well as complementary materials such as stainless steel and wood.

The hottest trends in recent months is charcuterie boards and sharing platters and vessels, he reports.

As a much longer term investment, the main factors for choosing cutlery are weight and balance,

Horosko explains. “Whatever the composition, it should be properly balanced all the way through so they are comfortable and functional. These features matter to consumers and can make a huge difference.” Stainless steel is the

option of choice for mainstream demands, while a new and unique offering on the cutlery horizon is PVD (physical vapour deposition) coatings, with finishes ranging from copper and gold to black, which are comparable to silver

plates in pricing.

Whatever the budget or theme however, Horosko says choices ultimately boil down to one principle. “Everybody wants the highest perceived value they can get.” l

STAY IN THE LOOP Sign up for KML’s weekly Newsblast to find out everything you need to know about what’s happening in the foodservice and hospitality industry, as well as fast links to access resources and information.

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CHEF’S CORNER

BRITISH INVASION Michelin-starred chef Neil McCue returns to Calgary to serve up British-inspired fare at Whitehall

BY DANIELLE SCHALK

N

pipework bar designed by McCue to reflect the style of an “old-school British bar” with a modern twist. The 82-seat restaurant is comprised of two distinct spaces, the lower dining room and bar — which offers both lunch and dinner — and the private dining room, dubbed “The Other Room.”

McCue says his pursuit of a Michelin star has shaped his culinary style. “If you put three perfect things on a plate, they can only judge you on those three perfect things,” he explains. “It really teaches you to strip back.” His style is reflected in Whitehall’s simple, British-inspired fare. “It’s about the flavour and the technique,” he says. “It’s recognizable food and it’s always approachable.”

The menu includes double-baked cheese soufflé ($16); bison rib tartar with charcoal, kohlrabi, truffle and rye bread ($21); Berkshire pork belly served with turnips, smoked apple, goat’s cheese and black pudding ($28); chestnut honey-glazed duck breast with endive, orange, marmalade and potatoes ($30); and rice pudding with cinnamon milk mousse, crunchy flakes of dehydrated fried rice and vanilla ice cream for dessert ($12).

As the chef works to establish Whitehall as a leading restaurant on the Canadian dining scene, he is already planning future concepts.

“I’d like to do a proper pub — English done really well,” says McCue, adding that after opening in Calgary he plans to take this concept to other Canadian cities including Vancouver and Toronto. l

BITS & BITES

Favourite kitchen tool: “My cleaver” Favourite food memory: “My mom’s lamb with mint sauce”

40 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY APRIL 2016

Ultimate comfort food: “Rice pudding” Favourite restaurant: “Etxebarri in Northern Spain”

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

“A professional What do golfer” you do in your spare time?

“I golf, snowboard and read”

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

PHOTOS: COLIN WAY [NEIL McCUE], DREAMSTIME.COM [BITS & BITES]

eil McCue laid the groundwork for his culinary career while cooking alongside his grandmother in his hometown of Barnsley, England. To this day, the chef is inspired by her simple, ingredient-driven approach to food. However, it was when McCue began his culinary education at Barnsley Technical College in South Yorkshire that he truly fell in love with the kitchen. “The first day I went to college, I got my hands on a whole chicken and we had to [break it down],” he recounts. “As soon as I got my hands on that bird, it was one of those love affair moments.”

After finishing school, McCue worked at restaurants in England such as Chewton Glen in Hampshire and Auberge Du Lac in Hertfordshire, before coming to Canada at the age of 27 to become the sous chef at Cambridge, Ont.’s Langdon Hall. He spent six years in Canada, where he helped open Catch in Calgary and Square in Toronto.

Ultimately, a desire to attain Michelin star-ranking led the chef back home to England. It was while working at Curlew Restaurant in East Sussex that McCue achieved his goal, retaining a Michelin star for three years. His next goal was to open his own restaurant, so after talking to former colleagues from Calgary, McCue returned to Canada where he opened Whitehall in the Bridgeland neighbourhood of Calgary in late 2015. Named in part for the Palace of Whitehall in London, England, the restaurant features white tin ceilings and a

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