Culinary Achievements

Will Mordido

Bocuse d’Or Team New Zealand Ready to Take the World Stage

Bocuse d’Or is more than just a gastronomic competition. The biennial chef championship celebrates chefs around the world and their passion for cooking.

Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the international finals event comprises 24 countries and will take place over two days in Lyon France, January 22-22, 2023.

The Bocuse d’Or Team New Zealand develops and supports the culinary craft of New Zealand’s younger chefs so that they may become the future culinary ambassadors, and mentors for the culinary arts in New Zealand and within the world of gastronomy.

Every two years, two committed culinary professionals are provided training, educational opportunities and mentoring to showcase the best of what New Zealand produces both nationally and internationally.

Bocuse d’Or Team New Zealand earned a spot at this year’s most prestigious gastronomic competition with their top five ranking in the Bocuse d’Or Asia Pacific 2022 selection. This is the first time any New Zealand entrant has made it to the final of what is recognised internationally as the ‘gastronomy equivalent of the Olympic Games’.

Team Aotearoa consists of Candidate Chef William Mordido and Commis Chef Szren Hamberger with Coach Ken O’Connell.

The team found Commis Chef Hamberger through a call on social media, and through tertiary institutes and word of mouth. The team needed a commis chef willing to commit to competing at Bocuse d’Or and to all the hard work that comes with it. Mordido noted that anyone can be taught to cook, but who they chose needed to have drive and passion too.

“What drew me most to Szren was her humble persona, eagerness and willingness to learn - and true dedication to her craft,” Chef Mordido said.

With Chef Hamberger on board, the team began preparing for the competition in November 2021. Due to impacts of Covid-19, the highly anticipated regional Asia event, which is usually held in a live competition setting, was moved to an online application. This involved creating a vegetarian recipe submission highlighting tofu as the key ingredient.

Having never developed a competition style dish based around tofu, while at the same time incorporating native Kiwi ingredients, the extensive application proved a big challenge. Team Aotearoa spent months trialling recipes and food concepts while working with a creative team including a director, graphic designer Alan Hughes of Chums Studios, a 3D printer, food grade mold specialist Emmanual Lee of Dynabyte PC, and Māori artist Jamie Boynton of Boynton Art.

Coach Ken O’Connell passed down knowledge from years of experience competing, and working in various kitchens. He guided both Mordido and Hamberger to create better food and refine their ideas.

“Ken helped us create Bocuse d’Or worthy food that will make New Zealand proud when we compete on the world stage in January,” said Commis Chef Hamberger.

The ‘Taste of Tofu’ dish was submitted via a carefully curated video paying homage to the team and their inspirations, and showing the dish’s creation. The video was produced by The Breakout Room and Brewery Studios, and filmed at Mr.Morris and Mamakan’s Velskov. It was this video submission to Bocuse d’Or Asia Pacific 2022 that earned Bocuse d’Or Team New Zealand their spot at the Lyon 2023 international finals.

The dish, ‘A Taste of Tofu’, is a multi-layered dish that truly embraces and highlights tofu - as part of the Bocuse d’Or criteria for this year’s selection. Almost every part of the dish consisted of tofu, while also incorporating ingredients unique to Aotearoa such as kawakawa and horopito. The chef team were inspired by New Zealanddefining elements like the native fern and kowhaiwhai patterns. One component was inspired by the Hāngī, the traditional Māori method of cooking underground using heated stones and earth.

Between now and January, the Bocuse d’Or New Zealand team will be solely focussed on training.

“Training involves a lot of recipe trials, time run throughs under strict competition conditions, and meetings with our designers and creative director to bring our platter concepts to reality,” Mordido shared.

The international finals have strict conditions of five hours and 30 minutes for the team to complete their creation.

One of the largest hurdles the team faces is funding their entry and travel. In some countries, Bocuse d’Or teams are funded by the local government, enabling them to take extra time off work and focus on refining their skills and practices. Team New Zealand are not in the same position and must juggle both work and training to compete in the Bocuse d’Or.

“Usually, when I am not training, I like to be outside and surrounded by my friends and family. Having to dedicate my free time to training for the competition means a lot less social time, but all these sacrifices are going to be worth it,” Hamberger said.

Bocuse d’Or is the biggest experience Hamberger has ever participated in for her career and she hopes the competition will move her closer to her dream of working in France.

Both Hamberger and Mordido have aspired to compete on the global culinary stage since the early days of their cheffing careers. Mordido began his chef apprenticeship with SkyCity, progressing through various chef roles before expanding into other hospitality related positions and starting his own pop up restaurant business, BUKO.

Hamberger’s first ever job was in a Patisserie/Chocolate kitchen, in her hometown of Kerikeri. She then embarked on a chef apprenticeship at SkyCity, continuing her studies at Park Hyatt Auckland where she has now advanced to the position of Demi Chef de Partie in the Events Team.

“Having the honour of being associated with an international competition that compared to the Olympics is something I do not take lightly. I am really looking forward to showcasing our accumulated skills and representing Aotearoa on the world stage,” Mordido said, echoed similarly by Hamberger.

“I am looking forward to representing our beautiful country and its unique culture on the world stage in Lyon, France. I am ready to face the fierce competition overseas and create food for some of the world’s best chefs to judge. It’s very exciting to be surrounded by chefs from all around the world who share a similar passion as I do.”

In Lyon, France in January, Bocuse d’Or Team New Zealand will be judged by some of the best chefs in the world, with past judges including Thomas Keller, Rasmus Kofoed, Ferran Adrià, Wolfgang Puck and Heston Blumenthal. John Kelleher (AUT) will be NZ’s Jury Member on the tasting jury over the two-day competition.

There are a few ways to support to Bocuse d’Or New Zealand team. If interested in a formal proposal to be an official Bocuse d’Or sponsor, reach out to Sponsorship Manager Angie Wilson angie.bocuse@outlook.com

The team also have a Give a Little page givealittle.co.nz/cause/ bocusedornz

Information about fundraiser dinners can be found on Bocuse d’Or Team New Zealand social media platforms facebook.com/ BocusedorNZ and @bocusedornz on Instagram.

How to Mitigate the Rising Costs in our Businesses

By Richie Walshe, The Growth Coach

Prices are rising across the board, and now this is starting to show on your bottom line. Increased staffing costs, food costs, and all other costs are increasing. Margins are tight in hospitality, so we must have our fingers on the pulse and constantly be amending things as we go along. Continuous minor adjustments to maintain profitability is critical in an environment like this.

Here are eight things for you to do to help mitigate the rising costs, so you can continue to do more, be more, and share more.

Don›t be afraid to put your prices up - think it is all about service - 9 times out of 10, the only people concerned about putting prices up are your team, and you may have 1 out of 10 customers complain. In the environment we are in, you should be analyzing your pricing every three months.

Sell more - train the team to be upselling and cross-selling. What a difference an additional side, dessert or drink sale can make if everyone is on board with upselling is incredible. Look at upselling as enhancing the customer experience. Create a competition on who can sell the most sides or desserts for your team. This can also work on the bar, upselling snacks, or larger pours.

Implement a surcharge - our EFTPOS machines are changing. Talk to your provider about how you can implement a surcharge on credit / paywave transactions. Even a 1% surcharge will help and enable you to gauge the market reaction.

Take time to analyze products, and make changes to get a better GP.

Go through your expenses, are there other options? Be careful not to waste too much time on pennypinching savings, but you may find some significant savings by looking over all your expenses.

Analyze your team›s working hours - is there much standing around? Longer breaks? Split shifts? Wage cost is the most significant expense. Are we running our teams as efficiently as possible?

Check your wastage! This is one of the biggest drains of our industry. How are your team pouring beers? Are the chefs using everything they can to maximize the return on products they purchase?

Focus your time and money on internal customers and turn them into advocates. It costs a hell of a lot more to get new customers than it does to spend quality time on your current customers.

Time is what you need to have your finger on the pulse. Too many people get caught in the wheel and don›t schedule a time to be working on the business. If you don›t, opportunities are missed, and profit is lost.

A great start is to join me on the 10th of October for the RAISE YOUR STANDARDS, RAISE YOUR PROFIT workshop. Email me richie@thegrowthcoach.co.nz for further info.

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