Categories for news
Breakfasts are still Brutal
March 31, 2025 1:55 pm This is not rocket science, but it is a mystery. You don’t need a team of crack consultants to tell ... ...
Is the VAT reduction the Silver Bullet?
January 20, 2025 8:28 am Why the reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) rate to 9% is not the Silver Bullet. On engaging with a ... ...
It’s still about the money.
January 15, 2025 3:20 pm IT’S STILL ABOUT THE MONEY. Much has been written about the demise of the restaurant industry and how hundreds have ... ...
STEALING
January 19, 2024 11:41 am Why do people steal and what can you do to prevent it? The burglar does not always come in with ... ...
Fear for our Food Quality as EHOs differ.
August 16, 2023 12:46 pm WHAT KIND OF FOOD LANDSCAPE ARE EHOs TRYING TO CREATE? I am raging, properly blood boiling raging. Working across Ireland ... ...
FOOD OF MARGINALLY ACCEPTABLE QUALITY COMING TO A RESTAURANT NEAR YOU.
July 26, 2023 1:55 pm Alarming Rise in barely acceptable food offerings. There is much talk about local, sustainable, seasonal, and supporting independent businesses of ... ...
Can we stop talking about Food Waste Management
July 26, 2023 11:58 am And start talking about Food Waste Prevention. Waste Management has become the new buzz word. We must manage waste, we ... ...
Be careful what we wish for.
June 22, 2023 1:14 pm We can’t have it every way So, we want it every way. We want the convenience of fast food on ... ...
Credit Where its Due
April 5, 2023 2:18 pm Credit where its due. Having recently detailed an awful service experience in several restaurants, it is only right to balance ... ...
Chef Shift
April 5, 2023 2:14 pm CHEF SHIFT Long ingrained habits it is said, take at least 21 days to break and move to a new ... ...
Stop Blaming your Staff
January 16, 2023 4:19 pm STOP BLAMING YOUR STAFF ‘He looks terrified!’ As a well-groomed young man wandered from table to table with plates ... ...
Are we Selling our Culinary Souls to Chains?
October 6, 2022 12:49 pm On a recent visit to the beautiful island of Ischia and the city of Naples in southern Italy, a culinary ... ...
IT’S TEATIME.
August 16, 2022 2:39 pm Fancy a Cuppa? Has the tea revolution begun? From anecdotal evidence, it is a slow boil. The last two decades ... ...
Is this why we are still bleeding talent?
August 16, 2022 2:36 pm On June 30th, 2022, respected food writer Katy McGuinness published an article in the Irish Independent describing what is currently ... ...
THIS NARRATIVE MUST CHANGE.
November 11, 2021 12:28 pm YOU WANT HOW MUCH FOR THAT? When did the narrative about the cost of food change? At what point did ... ...
TIPPING – WHAT IS THE POINT?
October 28, 2021 1:23 pm TIPPING- WHAT IS THE POINT? So, how has it come to this? The government are once again legislating on tips. ... ...
WHY ARE WE SO CROSS ?
October 28, 2021 11:44 am WHY ARE WE SO CROSS? Alright, let’s all agree that the last 2 years has not been easy for ... ...
SERVICE SKILLS DEMISE
September 16, 2021 3:24 pm THE DEMISE OF SERVICE SKILLS IN HOSPITALITY. It might seem like whinging when there are much bigger issues to address ... ...
‘ONBOARDING’ TIPPED IT
April 28, 2021 11:39 am It was ‘onboarding’ that tipped me over the edge. Is there a corporate wormhole where perfectly acceptable words with a ... ...
SELF EMPLOYMENT LONLINESS.
March 5, 2021 12:52 pm Are you Lonely in Business Today? It’s a different kind of lonely. This loneliness of a business owner is an ... ...
DAYS LIKE THIS
March 5, 2021 12:41 pm ‘MY MOMA NEVER TOLD ME THERE WOULD-BE DAYS LIKE THIS’ Van Morrison It’s been a long time since I woke ... ...
AM I MISSING SOMETHING?
July 20, 2020 12:26 pm HOW CAN THE CURRENT DELIVERY MODEL WORK FOR RESTAURANTS? ‘Everyone’ almost without exception thinks that having a restaurant quality meal/pizza/curry/ ... ...
MENU PLANNING AND FOOD WASTE
June 30, 2020 12:09 pm FOOD WASTE BEGINS WITH MENU PLANNING and continues with MENU DESIGN. The restaurant industry is about to reopen after a ... ...
REOPENING – WHAT NEXT?
June 29, 2020 12:29 pm The last few months have been tough. Now, as we prepare to reopen to all of the new realities post ... ...
BRUTAL BREAKFASTS
June 18, 2020 1:24 pm Breakfast Blues Why do so many hotels, which do so many other things so well; serve brutal breakfasts? Of course, ... ...
CLOSED – WHAT NOW?
June 17, 2020 12:45 pm How do we provide hospitality while staying apart? How do we regain control and learn to live with COVID19? What ... ...
PLASTIC BOARDS – WHY?
August 16, 2019 10:57 am SERIOUSLY! WHY ARE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS STILL ADVOCATING PLASTIC BOARDS? It is incomprehensible in a world awash with information and ... ...
THE FAMILY BUSINESS- FRAUGHT OR FUN?
August 12, 2019 12:13 pm FAMILY FORTUNE Many of Ireland’s best restaurants/ pubs/ eateries are owned and run by families, some third and fourth generation ... ...
ENDING TOXIC CULTURES
July 2, 2019 10:57 am ‘IT TAKES A VILLAGE’ ’ There is a proverb that states ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. ... ...
BOILING OVER
June 5, 2019 2:55 pm Why are commercial kitchens and stress so often mentioned in the same sentence? What is it about commercial kitchens that ... ...
RESILIENT RESTAURANT
January 21, 2019 1:09 pm RESILIENT RESTAURANTS New restaurants openings are interesting. Many bring new ideas, push out untried concepts, expand our knowledge and exposure ... ...
WHEN TO SAY NO TO THE EHO
October 19, 2018 8:33 am WHEN TO SAY NO TO THE EHO? Regulation is necessary in a fully functioning society. It helps us to stop ... ...
WHAT’S WRONG WITH CHEFS
September 19, 2018 1:28 pm Having spent yet another day listening to a food industry client relate one unpleasant chef related incident after another, it ... ...
HIDDEN POWER OF THE MENU
September 10, 2018 3:42 pm The Domino Effect of Menu Planning The menu has such hidden power that it can make or break a restaurant/pub/cafe ... ...
ELEVATING FOOD
September 10, 2018 3:38 pm Elevating Food from Fodder Fodder – noun ‘food, especially dried hay or straw, for cattle and other livestock’. On ... ...
WHY DO RESTAURANTS CLOSE?
September 10, 2018 3:30 pm There was a horrendous practice termed ‘death by a thousand cuts’in a far eastern country until the early years of ... ...
THE PLASTIC ‘ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM’
February 15, 2018 12:58 pm THE PLASTIC ‘ELEPHANT’ IN THE RESTAURANT ‘ROOM’ Plastic is in the news at the moment. It has occurred to us ... ...
NO SHOW – NO DOUGH
January 2, 2018 10:06 pm A google search for ‘No Shows in Restaurants’ turned up 97,300,000 matches. Goes to show that this issue is pretty ... ...
Interviews from recent course
November 12, 2016 11:22 pm Here are a some interviews from a recent course. ...
OPEN LETTER TO OFFICIALDOM
July 1, 2016 9:51 pm Irish officialdom may need to examine its conscience in relation to how it is making increasingly stressful, conflicting, challenging and ... ...
DOES KINDNESS HAVE A PLACE?
March 23, 2016 10:05 pm Failte Ireland tweeted this morning about the great news that 190 New Chefs have just finished a ten week training ... ...
WHO WOULD BE SELF EMPLOYED
February 19, 2016 10:08 pm The Self Employed Who in their right mind would be self employed in Ireland today? Government bodies, ministers, wanna be ... ...
WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT CALORIES
November 27, 2015 10:22 pm Why are we Talking about Calories when Sugar seems to be the Problem? The Irish government is in the process ... ...
Food On the Edge of the Future
October 23, 2015 10:23 pm Food on the edge, the two day chef conclave in Galway was easily the most enjoyable, informative and thought provoking ... ...
What’s a Word got to Do with it?
October 16, 2015 10:19 pm The great American Restaurateur Danny Meyer has a lot to say about hospitality, and as the owner of a great ... ...
We Need to Talk About The Customer
August 31, 2015 10:30 pm Georgina Campbell of Georgina Campbell Ireland Guides recently noted “Many a good kitchen is let down by front of house, ... ...
When Cooking is no longer Fun
August 19, 2015 10:25 pm Taking a perfect apple pie from the oven, transforming a bowl of ruby raspberries to a soft summer fool, poaching ... ...
5 Tips for Opening a Cafe
August 12, 2015 10:33 pm A café or restaurant is like an orchestra. If you have ever seen and heard one in full and perfect ... ...
I’m Over Slates, What’s Wrong with Plates?
July 18, 2015 10:36 pm A curious change has come over the restaurant/café/pub industry in recent years which I have been watching with interest. Many ... ...
Blathnaid Bergin, The Restaurant Advisor is featured on the Cookingisfun.ie Blog
September 11, 2014 11:29 pm If there is one word that seems to encapsulate Blathnaid Bergin’s consultative style it is practical. Anyone who has completed ... ...
Brutal Service, Spectacular Disconnection
December 18, 2013 11:34 pm Georgina Campbell recently commented on what she felt are the poor levels of service in the hospitality sector in Ireland. ... ...
Death of a Restaurant- Who Cares?
August 19, 2011 10:37 pm What does it really matter when another restaurant closes? It is just another business corpse to be tossed on the ... ...
Selling More Food – There is no Magic Bullet!
June 1, 2011 10:40 pm ‘It’s a question of doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well.’ (F.Prager- Founder of Movenpick) Irish Publicans are very good at ... ...
FARMERS JOURNAL
April 22, 2011 10:43 pm Doing for caterers what Feargal Quinn did for shops in his TV series Retail Therapy, professional restaurant adviser Blathnaid Bergin ... ...
REINVENTION NEEDED
April 21, 2011 10:58 pm QUESTION I run a 60-seater restaurant in a reasonably busy market town in the South East. Our offering is not ... ...
MAKE FOOD WORK IN YOUR PUB
April 21, 2011 10:45 pm Pub Challenge Another Pub is in trouble. Money has been carefully spent on refurbishing it in an effort to entice ... ...
TV3 INTERVIEW
February 10, 2011 10:59 pm We were on TV3 – The Morning Show yesterday morning. ...
INDEPENDENT – BOF
February 2, 2011 11:00 pm Can restaurateurs return to school to boost their profits? Blathnaid Bergin says there is more to running a successful food ... ...
IRISH EXAMINER – BOF
January 10, 2011 11:02 pm Check us out in The Irish Examiner – January 8th 2011 Download the PDF here ...
COMFORT: CARE: SAFE
January 5, 2011 11:04 pm January 5th 2011. The New Year period saw frantic efforts to inject joy, optimism and all round good cheer into ... ...
THE RISK TAKERS
November 28, 2010 11:05 pm Having just completed the first exhilirating and energising 12 Week Certificate Course in Restaurant & Kitchen Management at the School ... ...
CORK HOSPITALITY
September 27, 2010 11:23 pm Trying to define what makes a restaurant great is like trying to catch a moonbeam and hold it in your ... ...
LIFT OFF
September 13, 2010 11:24 pm August 23rd 2010 and a group of very enthusiastic people with a dream to open a food service business hit ... ...
GETTING TO GRIPS WITH YOUR KITCHEN
July 26, 2010 11:26 pm Many publicans would much prefer that someone else would worry about their food operation while they look after what they ... ...
CROATIAN ODYSSEY
July 20, 2010 11:06 pm For a country which has been gifted with some of the greatest natural food resources in europe, Croatians take their ... ...