7 minute read
SIMPLE IS BEST
KEEPING IT SIMPLE AND CASUAL
EXEC CHEFS ACROSS AUSTRALIA REVEAL TO CRAIG HAWTIN-BUTCHER WHY CASUAL SIMPLICITY IS THE ORDER OF THE DAY.
For exec chefs like Deniz Coskun of the Mantle Hospitality Group, premium and fine dining are dirty words. They’re also precisely what pub-goers are avoiding right now.
“I was in fine dining,” says Coskun, once of Brett’s Wharf and Tank restaurants, “but I switched to this group because I could see people want good food, but they want to sit down and relax with friends or family. They don’t want the waiter coming over and saying ‘this fish was caught yesterday at 9:10am’.”
The result, says Regan Porteous of Parlour Group, is the number one foodservice trend right now: “Keeping things simple”.
The Tudor Hotel, Redfern
Coskun and Porteous’ comments are reflective of what pubs across Australia are telling us. Tablecloths, foams and silver service are out, relaxed dining options and affordable menus are in. This casualisation of the dining experience harks back to the more traditional purpose of an Aussie pub – a great place for those of all ages and genders to convene, eat, drink and talk, without the costly experience more familiar in the higher echelons of Australian fine dining.
Pizzas at The Australian Heritage Hotel
Black bean nachos at The Marlborough, Newtown
“You have to be premium in the sense of what you offer, but I don’t think you should be gouging at people for it,” says Coskun.
QUALITY CASUAL
“People are expecting higher quality food from pubs these days,” says Lincoln Baker, GM at The Australian Heritage Hotel. “The old schnitty and chips isn’t cutting it like it used to. Pubs have been forced to have restaurant quality grub available.”
But it’s not just pricing that’s having to change. Telina Menzies, Executive Chef at Australian Venue Co says, “I know even myself as a chef, everything went a bit crazy – everyone was trying too hard with ‘molecular this’ and ‘molecular that’. People really seem to be winding it back. All the old-school dishes seem to be coming back into fashion. People are stripping back all the chemicals, the powders, and just really getting back into simple, wellexecuted food. I’m seeing it everywhere – not just on the plate but in settings and venues.”
HANDS-FREE SHARERS
Perhaps the most tangible result of this shift to casual dining is how customers are ordering and consuming their meals – shared platters, often enjoyed without cutlery.
“There’s a fair few trends of Italian [cuisine] making a comeback,” says Solotel’s Group Executive Chef Sebastian Lutaud. “Alberto’s Lounge, but I think what that trend is doing, if you look at Italian cooking it’s produce-driven, it’s not complicated. I really think that way of eating and sharing just keeps growing.
Carl Mower, GM at the Toormina Hotel, is witnessing precisely the same trend in regional NSW. “Most definitely the ability for diners to experience ‘a share platter’ [is a key trend]. People like to be able to dine and enjoy each other’s company, while enjoying the grazing experience.”
“We look at that in our pubs – people are just ordering for the table and sharing pretty much everything apart from the burgers,” says Lutaud.
DIFFERENT DAY, A DIFFERENT WAY
It’s not just what’s on the menu and how it’s consumed that’s changing, but the make-up of customer groups. Lloyd McKerrell, GM and Licensee at The Buena in Sydney’s Mosman says,
“I am seeing a change where people expect to be able to walk in with any version of their friendship circle and enjoy great quality food in a lively and inviting atmosphere. I regularly see people come in with their families for lunch and then two days later the same person has a table for eight with their mates.”
Those differing scenarios play out at different times but within precisely the same venue, which means hotels – and their menus – are having to adapt and rapidly.
“I know for me,” says Menzies, “menu planning and the sheer amount of venues that I’ve got, that I’m trying to strip the food back, less is more and being able to concentrate on, for example, the perfect mashed potato or pomme puree, a nice steak with a simple sauce. Rather than too many moving parts where there are too many factors to getting it wrong.”
The Village Inn, Paddington
OPERATIONAL UPTICK
Simplified menus don’t just suit the customer – operationally they’re great for venues. With Menzies arguing it’s getting harder to find and retain chefs, stripping back dishes makes prefer sense.
Equally with the drive towards using seasonal, local produce – which suits venues trying to keep their costs down – pared-back menus are increasingly prevalent.
Solotel’s Lutaud says, “Produce-driven is going to be a massive one. Matt [Moran] is a director in Solotel and his ethos has always been around great produce. We still believe in that. Great produce, that’s done right.
“We don’t want to overcomplicate, and that goes for everything. We want to keep things simple so that diners can relate to it. They might go home and say they want to cook it, but it’s not quite the same. Because we want to put an element of surprise in it or use an unusual ingredient. That’s the biggest challenge – to keep things simple, but in the background there’s still a lot going on, there’s a technique behind it. There’s an ingredient where you think ‘wow, where’s that coming from?’ That’s how we try to look at things,” says Solotel’s Lutaud.
Regan Porteous, Parlour Group
SMALL MENU, RAPID CHANGES
Lutaud says this simplification of menus isn’t just happening in kitchens – menus themselves are now written down more simply. “Instead of adding 50 different things to the menu, it’s a smaller menu, changed more regularly,” says Lutaud.
“People want choice but too much choice confuses the guest, the right amount of choice.” says Jordan Toft, Merivale’s Executive Chef at the Coogee Pavilion, The Newport and The Collaroy. Straightforward menus answer that need.
For Lutaud, it’s also about making sure what’s on the menu is executed perfectly. “Operationally that makes things easier for us and the customers,” says Lutaud. “Labour these days is so expensive so we need to be a lot smarter about things.”
Pizzas at Toormina Hotel
Pig ‘N’ Whistle
Lutaud cites The Paddington [Paddo Inn] as a great example of where this has happened. “About 18 months ago we went in a direction that wasn’t the right one, and we started listening to people and what they wanted. We’ve gone back and simplified it as the venue got too large, with great ingredients. And we’ve seen a massive change in that venue, people are coming back twice or three times a week, and that’s what we want. If you have that restaurant or venue that’s just occasional, then you’re definitely losing that touch.”
It’s not just a city trend, either. Toormina Hotel’s Mower says: “the overall approach is keeping it simple and always fresh. We are heavily focused on ensuring that we exceed expectations, this includes making sure our menu changes seasonally, which allows us to utilise all the fresh produce that we can source locally.”
PRICE POINTS
Not only are menus getting simpler, but they’re also increasingly more affordable. Tight competition is keeping a lid on the prices venues can charge, with pubs not only competing with each other but with restaurants too. The result for diners is a boom in top-quality meals at a competitive price.
The Tudor Hotel, Redfern
“It’s great to be working in a time where customer expectations are as high as they currently are,” says The Buena’s Lloyd McKerrell, “it keeps us hoteliers honest, and ensures we are constantly pushing the boundary with our food offerings. Gone are the days where pubs can keep the same offering season after season. More often than not, we’re seeing pub meals rival restaurant quality food.”
Raised expectations aren’t without their challenges, of course. Australian Venue Co’s Telina Menzies says simplification helps with keeping costs down, but says “There’s a tightness around spend, 100%. Your food or bev spend is your biggest bill each week and the industry is getting harder and harder, more competitive, and it’s getting harder to make a dollar out of 15 cents.”
Toormina Hotel
One solution to these challenges is offered up by Mantle Hospitality’s Deniz Coskun: “Have a tiered structure, that’s my approach. Have a dish for $25 and have a dish for $70 for those who want it. I don’t think you need everything in the $40s or $50s. If you do that in the suburbs, you will not succeed.”
But despite the challenges, handheld foods, simple menus using local, seasonal ingredients executed with flair and quality service is the name of the game and venues doing it well are positively thriving.
