Why do people steal and what can you do to prevent it? The burglar does not always come in with a mask and crow bar. The burglar may be the person to whom you entrust responsibility and keeps you close. The burglar may be coming in the back door or front door. The burglar does ...
WHAT KIND OF FOOD LANDSCAPE ARE EHOs TRYING TO CREATE? I am raging, properly blood boiling raging. Working across Ireland with restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels, it now almost a weekly occurrence where an owner will declare ‘but the EHO says I can’t do that’ ‘but the EHO says I have to buy it in ...
A recent article in the Irish Times mentioned that the Bring your Own Bottle phenomenon is making a comeback. What does it mean? It means that you can bring your own booze to a restaurant and in many of the venues mentioned in the article, there was no corkage – a fee the restaurant charges ...
Alarming Rise in barely acceptable food offerings. There is much talk about local, sustainable, seasonal, and supporting independent businesses of every hue as they are the bedrock of our prosperity. However, there is a curious anomaly going on. The rise in food of a barely acceptable taste and nutritional quality is alarming. Without naming the ...
And start talking about Food Waste Prevention. Waste Management has become the new buzz word. We must manage waste, we must weigh it and cost it and then send it on its way. What an extraordinary way to do business. Creating the waste in the first instance is the problem and no amount of fancy ...
We can’t have it every way So, we want it every way. We want the convenience of fast food on every corner of our cities and towns and yet when we feel like it, we also want our cutesy little independent restaurant/cafe/ shop to be there when we take a notion to support them. Well- ...
Credit where its due. Having recently detailed an awful service experience in several restaurants, it is only right to balance the books and detail an exceptionally good one. Visiting Fallon & Byrne on Exchequer St in Dublin last Saturday night for the first time with 5 friends, there was a frisson of expectation given its ...
CHEF SHIFT Long ingrained habits it is said, take at least 21 days to break and move to a new way of doing/ being. The cheffing industry has long suffered from the habit of being precious, precocious, arrogant, aggressive, dictatorial and any number of other adjectives which have been used to describe this group of ...
STOP BLAMING YOUR STAFF ‘He looks terrified!’ As a well-groomed young man wandered from table to table with plates of food, the look of fear on his face intensified with each shake of the head from diners. ‘Not ours, or ours’. The section head – distinguishable from a hippie only by his air of ...
On a recent visit to the beautiful island of Ischia and the city of Naples in southern Italy, a culinary light dawned. Being a very big fan of systems, processes, and efficiencies and always on the look out for better ways to do things, a recurring theme emerged over the course of seven days. The ...
Fancy a Cuppa? Has the tea revolution begun? From anecdotal evidence, it is a slow boil. The last two decades has seen the exponential growth of coffee shops, roasteries, cafes, coffee culture. Across the globe, more than two billion cups of coffee are drunk every day. Dublin is the ‘second most “coffee crazy” capital city ...
On June 30th, 2022, respected food writer Katy McGuinness published an article in the Irish Independent describing what is currently happening in some professional kitchens in Ireland. Dr Deirdre Curran from NUI Galway published her findings on a study of working conditions in the hospitality sector in Ireland. 70% of her respondents experienced bullying. Anyone ...
YOU WANT HOW MUCH FOR THAT? When did the narrative about the cost of food change? At what point did we start believing that we could buy a quality chicken for €5.00? At what point did we start believing that a farmer could spend months nurturing a carrot from seed to maturity and we get ...
TIPPING- WHAT IS THE POINT? So, how has it come to this? The government are once again legislating on tips. As a very naïve seventeen year old many years ago doing work experience in a Fine Dining 5* restaurant, I made the startling discovery that my tips (as the only girl, I was a bit ...
WHY ARE WE SO CROSS? Alright, let’s all agree that the last 2 years has not been easy for anyone. For some of us it has been the most horrendous, grief stricken, heart wrenching time we could have ever imagined. For others, it has been less so with business improving, opportunities opening up, new ...
THE DEMISE OF SERVICE SKILLS IN HOSPITALITY. It might seem like whinging when there are much bigger issues to address in our beleaguered hospitality industry but this is getting between me and my sleep. Trying to ignore this has not worked at all, in fact it just throws it into sharper focus. The loss of ...
It was ‘onboarding’ that tipped me over the edge. Is there a corporate wormhole where perfectly acceptable words with a clear beginning, middle and end go to die? In these pandemic times, there is frequently an infinitesimally tiny gap between normal and Michael Douglas in Falling Down. When did we stop hiring people? What was ...
Are you Lonely in Business Today? It’s a different kind of lonely. This loneliness of a business owner is an island all to itself. It has places where no one else can go. The cave of unspoken disappointments. The chasm of unpaid bills. The well of your marooned team. It is a pure form of ...
‘MY MOMA NEVER TOLD ME THERE WOULD-BE DAYS LIKE THIS’ Van Morrison It’s been a long time since I woke up in the morning and felt the heavy light of day on me. Being positive, resilient, strong and persistent is as hardwired into me as the hair on my head. This pandemic has hit some ...
HOW CAN THE CURRENT DELIVERY MODEL WORK FOR RESTAURANTS? ‘Everyone’ almost without exception thinks that having a restaurant quality meal/pizza/curry/ delivered to your home is a terrific idea. The game was well and truly elevated when Michelin starred restaurants began to get in on the act and fans raved about the results. It really caught ...
FOOD WASTE BEGINS WITH MENU PLANNING and continues with MENU DESIGN. The restaurant industry is about to reopen after a prolonged, painful period of enforced closure. Those restaurants that reopen will need to be lean, clean and ruthlessly efficient to keep a healthy bottom line. Food waste has been an ongoing conversation in the industry ...
The last few months have been tough. Now, as we prepare to reopen to all of the new realities post Covid 19, how can we ensure that we are legally compliant and viable? The primary concern for all businesses is the personal safety of staff, customers and self. It is important to state that the ...
Breakfast Blues Why do so many hotels, which do so many other things so well; serve brutal breakfasts? Of course, this may be about to change given that the monster that is the buffet breakfast may be consigned to the bin until Covid19 is history. It is an ongoing mystery in the hospitality sector ...
How do we provide hospitality while staying apart? How do we regain control and learn to live with COVID19? What Now for The Irish Hospitality Industry? Being part of an industry whose DNA is being hospitable to others at every turn, every day is an immense privilege. Being denied the opportunity to be hospitable is, ...
SERIOUSLY! WHY ARE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS STILL ADVOCATING PLASTIC BOARDS? It is incomprehensible in a world awash with information and awash in unwanted plastic from the Artic to Antartica, that our E.H.Os are still advocating plastic chopping boards, plastic gloves, plastic anything in fact. What is going on? It has been proven through scientific studies ...
FAMILY FORTUNE Many of Ireland’s best restaurants/ pubs/ eateries are owned and run by families, some third and fourth generation and beyond. They weather storms, innovate, get bigger and better and collectively employ thousands of people across the country. They are critical to the economy and the social fabric of cities, towns and villages. Not ...
‘IT TAKES A VILLAGE’ ’ There is a proverb that states ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. Could it follow then that it takes a community to change a culture. The recent Kitchen Charter initiative by Chef Network to improve the working culture across the professional kitchens of Ireland, has to be ...
Why are commercial kitchens and stress so often mentioned in the same sentence? What is it about commercial kitchens that can raise blood pressure while just thinking about them? Perhaps it is because in any given day in a commercial kitchen, chefs may experience some or all of the following, extreme heat – hob, fryer, ...
Georgina Campbell recently commented on what she felt are the poor levels of service in the hospitality sector in Ireland. No sooner was the ink dry on the article than numerous voices came to the defence of the service sector. Not true, they cried. Look at how much the Americans love us and haven’t we ...
Trying to define what makes a restaurant great is like trying to catch a moonbeam and hold it in your pocket. Is it the lighting, the food, the service, the decor, the ambience, the pictures on the walls? Is it the orchestral feeling you get when every instrument is in tune and the conductor is ...
RESILIENT RESTAURANTS New restaurants openings are interesting. Many bring new ideas, push out untried concepts, expand our knowledge and exposure to world foods, new technology and streamlined processes. Most new openings include P.R, saturation coverage on social media and hoards of excited foodies following the next best thing. Some survive, many don’t. What is much ...
WHEN TO SAY NO TO THE EHO? Regulation is necessary in a fully functioning society. It helps us to stop at traffic lights, not get run over by trains, keeps buildings upright in a storm and protects us from all sorts of shenanigans by those who would rather not bother with rules. The hospitality industry ...
Having spent yet another day listening to a food industry client relate one unpleasant chef related incident after another, it is small wonder that chefs get a bad rap. The autobiographies of two of the most visible ‘bad boys’ in the industry confirm a suspicion that some chefs bring to the workplace a hefty amount ...
The Domino Effect of Menu Planning The menu has such hidden power that it can make or break a restaurant/pub/cafe business. It can be the reason why there is chaos in the kitchen, out of control labour costs and poor service. It has the power to generate profit destroying waste, increase utility bills exponentially and ...
Elevating Food from Fodder Fodder – noun ‘food, especially dried hay or straw, for cattle and other livestock’. On a corner of a Dublin street can be counted seven cafes. All have queues out the door at lunchtime. Having chosen one, queued briefly, decided to grab and go and once again faced the disappointment ...
There was a horrendous practice termed ‘death by a thousand cuts’in a far eastern country until the early years of the 20th century. While reading this morning of yet another restaurant closure in Dublin and the promise of another 25 to open in the near future; this practice came to mind. Is it ‘death by ...
THE PLASTIC ‘ELEPHANT’ IN THE RESTAURANT ‘ROOM’ Plastic is in the news at the moment. It has occurred to us that drowning our planet in plastic, intoxicating the fish that feed us, the air that sustains us, the rivers that nourish us, the seas that protect us is a horribly bad idea. This conversation has ...
A google search for ‘No Shows in Restaurants’ turned up 97,300,000 matches. Goes to show that this issue is pretty much universal. Why do people across the globe book a restaurant and then not show up, don’t phone, don’t text, don’t email, don’t snapchat, intsagram, facebook, whatsapp or bother at all to let the restaurant ...
Irish officialdom may need to examine its conscience in relation to how it is making increasingly stressful, conflicting, challenging and downright unreasonable demands on the ‘Brave’ ( as one well known bank puts it) who put their money down to keep those officials in jobs. Is there a valid reason why your officers, entreated with ...
Failte Ireland tweeted this morning about the great news that 190 New Chefs have just finished a ten week training course and are about to be welcomed into the industry. This is good news indeed and I am sure that restaurants all over the country will be lining up for this new enthusiastic talent. Having ...
The Self Employed Who in their right mind would be self employed in Ireland today? Government bodies, ministers, wanna be ministers, wanna be councillors are all over the self employed like a summer heat rash at the moment, vote cards in hand. But, reading a fantastic piece today by Elaine Murphy of The Winding Stair ...
Why are we Talking about Calories when Sugar seems to be the Problem? The Irish government is in the process of pushing through legislation which will oblige food service outlets to post calories beside dishes on menus. This debate has been trundling along for some time now with all sides digging in for their own ...
Food on the edge, the two day chef conclave in Galway was easily the most enjoyable, informative and thought provoking industry event I have attended for many years. It was also the most testosterone laden, in spades. The format resembled opening gifts on Christmas Day, you never know what you are going to get until ...
The great American Restaurateur Danny Meyer has a lot to say about hospitality, and as the owner of a great many successful restaurants in many different genres, he knows what he is talking about. Rereading his terrific book ‘Setting the Table’, it is striking that hospitality internally and externally at it’s most fundamental is a ...
Georgina Campbell of Georgina Campbell Ireland Guides recently noted “Many a good kitchen is let down by front of house, and poor serviceis an issue in too many establishments of all types, so proprietors urgently need to understand the value of investing in staff training.” So, we need to talk about the customer. Visting London ...
Taking a perfect apple pie from the oven, transforming a bowl of ruby raspberries to a soft summer fool, poaching wild salmon to dusky pink; these are some of the exquisite pleasures of being a cook. To those for whom food is a fascination and constant source of satisfaction, cooking is not only therapeutic but ...
A café or restaurant is like an orchestra. If you have ever seen and heard one in full and perfect performance, it is a joy. However, if the guy with the triangle, or the lady on the flute, or the dude on the bass makes their entrance a split second too early or late, chaos ...
A curious change has come over the restaurant/café/pub industry in recent years which I have been watching with interest. Many have been really good, such as the idea that anyone can open a café, restaurant, pub, take away or pop up; just as long as you have the money and the passion- more anon. Which ...
If there is one word that seems to encapsulate Blathnaid Bergin’s consultative style it is practical. Anyone who has completed the Ballymaloe 12 Week Certificate course will already be familiar with her no-nonsense yet expert approach to setting up a business in the Irish food industry. One of the key elements of the Ballymaloe 12 ...
What does it really matter when another restaurant closes? It is just another business corpse to be tossed on the mountain of others whose bones are long since scorched by the sun. What does it matter and does anyone really care? Working in the industry, I see the struggle day by day. I hear the ...
‘It’s a question of doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well.’ (F.Prager- Founder of Movenpick) Irish Publicans are very good at what they do. They love their pubs and are proud of what they create for their very loyal, if slightly more impoverished customers. They are constantly looking at ways in which the business can be ...
Doing for caterers what Feargal Quinn did for shops in his TV series Retail Therapy, professional restaurant adviser Blathnaid Bergin has never been busier, writes Yvonne Kerr. Farmers Journal Country Living – 16th April – View PDF
QUESTION I run a 60-seater restaurant in a reasonably busy market town in the South East. Our offering is not quite fine dining, but at the upper end of the bistro scale and influenced heavily by classic French cooking. Traditionally we were a restaurant where people came for special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, or family celebrations. ...
Pub Challenge Another Pub is in trouble. Money has been carefully spent on refurbishing it in an effort to entice in new customers (and keep the old) and stave off the recession by keeping the offering fresh. However the menu and the kitchen team have not been subject to the same refurbishment as the owner ...
Can restaurateurs return to school to boost their profits? Blathnaid Bergin says there is more to running a successful food outlet than good cooking… Read the full article on Independent.ie >
January 5th 2011. The New Year period saw frantic efforts to inject joy, optimism and all round good cheer into the uncertain times ahead. A lovely program on Radio 1 on Jan 31st at midday focused on positivity and all agreed that it was good to be positive and great to give thanks. Amen to ...
Having just completed the first exhilirating and energising 12 Week Certificate Course in Restaurant & Kitchen Management at the School one thing is clear, it pays to be very well informed. As my work in the industry continues, I am advising operators who are facing seismic challenges. I have such admiration for people who are ...
August 23rd 2010 and a group of very enthusiastic people with a dream to open a food service business hit the ground running with a colourful and fun introduction to each other and the realisation the the next 12 weeks is going to really hard work and a lot of fun. Personal profiling for strengths ...
Many publicans would much prefer that someone else would worry about their food operation while they look after what they were born to do- ‘create a convivial atmosphere and serve a great pint’. That however is the first and most critical mistake any publican with a food operation can make. How many publicans would walk ...
For a country which has been gifted with some of the greatest natural food resources in europe, Croatians take their culinary tradition fairly lightly. Having recently extolled the virtues of our little shoreside haven, we went on to discover that great food is a somewhat infrequent occurence in this neck of the country. We were ...
Croatia is an interesting country. we are in southern croatia, about 20 minutes south of Dubrovnik in a gorgeous seaside village called Cavtat. Two weeks to chill out. At 8.15 it is already 27degrees but the gentle seabreeze allows some relief. a brisk walk around a jagged peninsula is hardly exercise when the view is ...
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