Mediterranean Match

Innside by Meliá joins forces with Gino D’Acampo to bring authentic Italian cuisine to its growing portfolio of UK hotels.

Words: Catherine Martin

When it comes to partnerships between hotels and chefs – particularly if both are already well established in their own right – success often boils down to being a good match for one another, whether it be personality, vision or standards. So when Meliá Hotels International were looking for a chef to curate a series of new restaurants for its Innside brand, it wasn’t only the cuisine that was a deciding factor. “Gino’s is a very popular, well-respected, and well-loved brand with a reputation for good quality and a fun dining experience,” explains Garry Fortune, Cluster General Manager at the Spanish hotel group. “The Mediterranean cuisine is a great fit and Gino will also be spending time in each of the hotels so guests can actually see him in the kitchen and around the restaurant – this was key for us.”

A preliminary meeting between Laura de Vega González, Meliá’s Head of Global F&B Development, and Gino D’Acampo Hotels & Leisure a number of years ago lay the groundwork for a possible partnership, but it wasn’t until 2021, with the ramping-up of development for the Innside brand that things really progressed.

“My restaurants are very much about creating a lifestyle experience so it has always been my aspiration to establish a partnership with a hotel operator,” says D’Acampo, adding that there are plenty of parallels between his company and Meliá. “We’re both committed to delivering the highest levels of service and we share the same vision; together we want to set a new standard for accessible, modern dining.”

And so after months of planning, a strategic partnership was announced earlier this year, with Innside hotels in the North of England the first to fly the Gino D’Acampo flag. In Manchester, which opened in 2015, D’Acampo and his team have taken over F&B operations to launch First Street Bar & Kitchen, investing £250k into new kitchen facilities as well as an extended terrace for al fresco dining. In Newcastle – a 161-key newbuild that made its debut in the summer – there’s a spacious restaurant and bar occupying a prime spot on the Quayside. And in Liverpool, a 200-cover open-plan restaurant, bar and lounge on the ground floor celebrated its opening just a matter of days ago.

D’Acampo has personally been involved in the development of all three, overseeing everything from the curation of the menus to setting the atmosphere. “As a chef, my number one priority is of course the food, but there’s so much more that goes into making a great dining experience,” he explains. “You need to satisfy all the senses to create the perfect environment. I’m not a designer but you can see my influences throughout my restaurants, from the colour palette – inspired by my favourite yacht company – through to the playlist.”

D’Acampo is also involved in the selection and training of the team, with each site operating with its own executive chef and brigade, all trained to the highest standards under Andy Owen, Executive Head Chef, and Jason Wass, Head of Back of House Operations. D’Acampo believes that both back- and front-of-house contribute to the overall guest experience,

360 Sky Bar at Innside by Meliá Liverpool serves cicchetti light bites while the newly-opened Newcastle outpost caters to all-day dining

“As a chef, my number one priority is of course the food, but there’s so much more that goes into making a great dining experience. You need to satisfy all the senses to create the perfect environment.”

GINO D’ACAMPO

stating: “I work with my senior team to identify and recruit the very best talent; it’s important to me not just to identify people who are highly skilled, but to find those who share my passion for amazing Italian food.”

And passion for Italian food is something D’Acampo has by the bucketful – you only have to watch one of his many TV appearances to see his enthusiasm. “Italian cuisine is in my blood; I discovered my love of cooking as a small boy and would spend hours in the kitchen,” he recalls adding that he always knew he wanted to be a chef. With Meliá, he’s determined to set a new bar for Italian dining, harnessing his extensive knowledge of artisan Italian suppliers through another of his businesses. “I’ve been importing and exporting quality, authentic Italian produce through Bontà Italia for almost 20 years now,” D’Acampo points out. “It means ‘goodness of Italy’ and is a perfect reflection of our Italian suppliers, be they a small independent family business or a larger operator; all are handpicked by me as being the very best at what they do.”

This produce is used to create the tasteof-Italy dishes, which all hail from the chef’s own books and TV shows. There’s a creamy burrata served with fresh tomato and chilli salsa, a parma ham and gorgonzola pizza, fresh filled pastas and risotto made using Arborio rice from Piedmont and Lombardy. There’s also a Pugliese lamb stew, veal Milanese and aubergine parmigiana, as well as an Italianstyle cheeseburger and steaks from the grill. “Curating the menu is one of my favourite things; there’s something for everyone, from incredible crowd-pleasers through to fresh takes on Italian classics,” confirms D’Acampo, naming the rigatoni with wild boar ragout on the new Autumn/Winter menu as one of his favourites. “Great food is dependent on great ingredients so my menus are heavily dictated by the seasons with an emphasis on quality seasonal produce,” he continues. The menu is also influenced by D’Acampo’s travels as well as the dishes his family have cooked for generations, and, in a neat touch, the menu descriptions are written by D’Acampo to include anecdotes or personal experiences.

Unlike most hotel-and-chef partnerships, this is a collaboration that extends beyond the dining room. “We’re not just opening restaurants but creating exciting new destinations for food lovers to hang out from morning until night,” confirms D’Acampo. In Newcastle, this translates as a spacious terrace on the banks of the River Tyne – an ideal spot for taking in the Quayside on a sunny day – while in Liverpool, there’s a 17th-floor sky bar with panoramic views of the city. As such, the vast menu caters to every possible taste for any time of day. There’s cappuccinos and cakes, cicchetti light bites, classic and contemporary cocktails – such as the wonderfully-named Mango Fandango and Jungle Boogie – and no less that ten different types of prosecco to choose from.

The venture also extends to Innside’s events spaces, with the team having created a series of menus for meetings, conferences and banquets. For D’Acampo, it was important to ensure that the concept is accessible to all – “we wanted to create new experiences for everyone to enjoy, whether you’re a guest of the restaurant, hotel, or attending an event or conference,” he notes – while Fortune believes that the offer will set the brand apart. “We knew that Gino’s would be able to suitably cater to both our leisure and business guests – they have created some amazing banqueting menus, which are a USP for our hotels that you don’t see from any other competitor,” he confirms.

According to Fortune, the new venues have been incredibly well-received, with the partnership successfully serving to enhance Innside’s lifestyle offer. “We now very much feel that we have destination restaurants within our hotels where guests from outside will want to visit,” he explains. “People associate Gino’s with a fun, lifestyle-quality standard of service and food, offering atmospheric experiences, which is exactly what makes us stand out.”

So successful has the venture been that there’s talk of expanding both nationally and internationally. “2021 has been a busy year with the official announcement of the partnership and so many new openings. It is likely that in 2023 we will see the Innside and Gino partnership grow across the UK with both Leeds and Glasgow very much in the pipeline,” Fortune concludes. “We also have a number of other Gino D’Acampo and Meliá partnerships planned across the world so hopefully these will come to fruition very soon so we can share more exciting news.”