Caterer & Hotelkeeper articles from September 2003

Caterer & Hotelkeeper archives from September 2003

NEWS Round-up.
September 4, 2003... Hostile move for Eldridge Pope? Channel Island-based pub company and food retailer CI Traders could launch a hostile bid for pub company Eldridge Pope. The move comes a week after the group announced it had been approached by Eldridge Pope...

Competitions round-up.(New Zealand/United Kingdom Link Foundation)
September 4, 2003... UK-New Zealand Scholarship for Students Chefs who will be aged 21 or under on 1 December 2003 still have time to enter a competition that could win them an all-expenses-paid six-week working trip to New Zealand. Organised by the NZ-UK...

Kitchen conversion.(Dennis Mwakulua)(Avenance)
September 4, 2003... Formerly a rap musician and a finance student, Dennis Mwakulua saw the light while working as a kitchen porter and is now one of the fastest-rising and hardest-working chefs in contract catering Dennis Mwakulua gives us a taste of things to...

Secrets of the Grove.
September 4, 2003... It's vast, it's ambitious and it has received a fair amount of pre-opening attention. But what's the substance behind the hype of the Grove? London's most talked-about new opening is not in London at all. It's about 40 minutes by car away...

FISHES.
September 4, 2003... The chance spotting by Matthew Owsley-Brown and his wife Caroline of a local eaterie for sale has spawned a successful Norfolk seafood restaurant It's a sure bet that a chef who calls his restaurant Fishes has a passion for seafood and...

Thompson joins Cordon Bleu.(Giles Thompson)(Cordon Bleu London Culinary Arts Institute)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Chef Giles Thompson, consultant for outside caterer Red Snapper Events, is leaving the commercial catering world to become executive chef at the Cordon Bleu London Culinary Arts Institute on 1 October. Thompson joined Red Snapper in March...

Summer in the Gulf - and things are heating up.
September 4, 2003... Hello from sunny Dubai - well, not just sunny but too damned hot, even though the summer is nearly over - where we have a busy time ahead of us this month. The International Monetary Fund conference is being held in Dubai and the Middle East...

RACHEL BAILEY.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Rachel Bailey is general manager of Everson Hewett's contract catering unit based in the City of London at insurance company Ace Group I've been here just over five months, in which time my team has doubled in size to eight. I joined...

Food is the key to coffee-bar profits.
September 4, 2003... Picture the scene: it's Sunday morning, the sun is shining and you're dying for a caffeine injection. Let's be decadent, you think, I won't make a coffee at home, I'll go out for one. So you head off to your local coffee shop for your daily...

Coffee break?
September 4, 2003... Does the news that Coffee Republic is reinventing itself as a New York-style deli mean the coffee-shop boom has finally run out of steam? Rosalind Mullen finds out Once again there's speculation that the coffee-shop boom has run its...

You can Trust English wines.
September 4, 2003... The National Trust is riding the New Wave and selling English wines at its licensed restaurants English wine is having a good summer - and not only the weather. The National Trust has linked with a key producer to sell its wines in all 84...

Raspberries.(Mark Raffan, chef de cuisine at Gravetye Manor)
September 4, 2003... During the raspberry season Mark Raffan, chef de cuisine at Gravetye Manor hotel in East Grinstead, Sussex, prepares enough coulis and preserves to last throughout the year. Here he shows food writer Michael Raffael how to get the best from...

BOOKREVIEW.(Book Review)
September 4, 2003... BY Shaun Hill Books on technique are much more difficult to pull together successfully than those which are recipe-centred. I speak from experience, having given up on a similar project 12 years ago, and having just finished a book which...

People on the move.
September 4, 2003... The Chester Grosvenor hotel and spa, north-west England's only five-star hotel, has appointed Ross Grieve its new general manager. Grieve has returned from the West Indian island of Mustique, where he was deputy general manager of the Cotton...

Table talk.(miscellaneous brief articles)
September 4, 2003... Angry Aage pledges to prolong pizza boycott A Danish court has upheld a sentence against the pizzeria owner who refused to serve French and German tourists because their governments opposed the US-led war in Iraq. Denmark's Western...

Start the day with Anton Edelmann.(Breakfast with Anton event)
September 4, 2003... When Anton Edelmann announced in May that he was leaving the Savoy to join Sodexho it marked the end of an era not only for the London hotel but also for the restaurant industry. He'd been in charge of the Savoy's kitchens for more than 20...

Government plan to promote local foods.(UK)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The Government has launched an action plan to encourage public sector caterers to buy more locally produced food. The move is intended to improve the nutritional quality of food served in hospitals, schools and prisons, to provide a boost for...

Domestic successes buoy Gresham Group.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... A strong domestic market helped the Ireland-based Gresham Hotel Group to counterbalance the decline in US visitor numbers during the six months to 30 June. The Iraq war and the Sars epidemic hit trade but hotel occupancy remained unchanged...

Cover versions.(table linen)
September 4, 2003... It may not be Paris haute couture, but the way you dress your tables comes under as much scrutiny as anything paraded on a catwalk. There's more to table linen than a piece of cloth For Silvano Giraldin it has to resemble a crisp white...

Hilton unshaken by poor Scandic results.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Scandic, the Scandinavian hotel chain bought by Hilton in 2001, has put in a disappointing performance for the group. Hilton Group chief executive David Michels said the chain's current performance made him wish he had never bought the...

Independent panel chooses award winners.
September 4, 2003... The AA has named its award-winning hotels, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts in England, Scotland and Wales, ahead of the publication of its 2004 guides. For the first time, AA inspectors and a panel of independent personalities from the...

AA takes two rosettes from Michael Caines.
September 4, 2003... The number of restaurants awarded five AA rosettes has dropped from six to four in the 2004 edition of the AA Restaurant Guide. Chef Michael Caines suffers a double blow. Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Devon, where he is head chef, moves from...

Last supper.
September 4, 2003... Faced with the prospect of your last meal on earth, what would you eat and drink, and with whom? We asked Andrew McLeish to share his hypothetical moment What's the grub? Terrine of foie gras, one of my mum's home roasts, and...

Top chefs at Restaurant Show 2003.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Some of Britain's leading chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers and general managers will be converging on London's Olympia later this month to attend the Restaurant Show. The event runs from 15 to 17 September and will be opened by...

Greene King's early trading exceeds hopes.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Pub and brewery group Greene King said last week that trading for the first three months of the financial year had exceeded expectations. The group's Pub Company, which owns more than 1,650 pubs, announced that it had achieved a 1.2%...

Michel Roux named as Chef's Chef in AA Restaurant Guide.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Michel Roux, chef-proprietor of the Waterside Inn at Bray in Berkshire, has been voted the Chefs' Chef in the AA Restaurant Guide 2004. Roux said that he particularly valued the award because other chefs had decided he should receive it....

Is it the end for 'Fawlty Towers'?(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The Gleneagles hotel in Torquay, Devon, famed for inspiring cult comedy series Fawlty Towers, could be flattened. Owner Ray Marks said an application had been made to Torbay Council for the property to be demolished and replaced by 25 luxury...

Pitcher & Piano gets [pounds sterling]2m boost.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Wolverhampton and Dudley (W&D) is investing [pounds sterling]2m into flagging bar and restaurant chain Pitcher & Piano over the next year. Its 28 bars have received little or no capital expenditure for two years and, according to head of...

Award scheme to honour Sankey.(James Sankey)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Tony Singh, head chef and co-founder of Edinburgh's Oloroso restaurant, has launched an awards scheme in memory of his late business partner, James Sankey. Sankey died in January this year, aged 38, 10 months after suffering a heart attack...

Winteringham Fields is taken off the market.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The two-Michelin-starred Winteringham Fields restaurant has been taken off the market after the dramatic improvement in the health of co-owner Annie Schwab. The 42-seat restaurant with rooms, in Winteringham, Lincolnshire, was put up for...

Accolade for Dukes hotel.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Dukes hotel in St James's Place has been voted London luxury hotel of the year by readers of The Good Hotel Guide 2004, Great Britain and Ireland, published today (4 September). It's one of 10 hotels to receive a Cesar award by the guide,...

Chevillard takes top post at Pebble Beach.(Pierre Chevillard)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Pierre Chevillard, former head chef at Chewton Glen hotel in Hampshire, is the new head chef of Pebble Beach restaurant in nearby Barton-on-Sea. Chevillard, who left Chewton Glen in June (Caterer, 12 June, page 16) after more than 20...

Restaurant guide editor quits AA.(Neil Haidar)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The editor of the AA's Restaurant Guide 2004 has resigned after just one year in the job. Neil Haidar, who became editor following Simon Wright's acrimonious departure last year, leaves next week. He is moving to France to work and...

Hotel stars get red shift.(Twenty hotels get AA Hotel Guide 2004 red stars)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Twenty hotels, including London's One Aldwych, trade black stars for coveted red stars in the AA Hotel Guide 2004. All are automatically included in the AA Top 200, a list introduced last year to single out red-star establishments,...

Insurance hikes will hit smaller businesses.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Restaurants, pubs and bars face dramatic hikes in insurance costs as the culture of blame and claim threatens to rocket out of control, insurance companies have warned. Public liability insurance, which covers businesses against claims...

OVER; TO YOU.
September 4, 2003... With public liability insurance premiums on the rise at pubs and restaurants, we ask: Do you think we're becoming a more litigious society? Emotionally, I believe we're becoming more litigious, but whether it happens in practice is another...

Big names under fire.(Harden's Hotel Guide 2004)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... A third of hotels in the UK and Ireland are not good enough, according to the first edition of Harden's Hotel Guide 2004. Neither are those in Paris and New York - the two international cities featured in the book. Editor Richard Harden...

stockwatch.
September 4, 2003... The end of August did not see a dramatic pick-up in activity on the London Stock Exchange, with the FTSE Leisure & Hotels suffering a slight drop in value, falling 2.34% from 3177.9p to 3103.5p. HILTON GROUP fell 5.6% last week, dropping...

your landlord's rights.
September 4, 2003... Paul Dunbar, who heads the property litigation team at law firm Rooks Rider, considers law of forfeiture There are a number of things your landlord can do if you fail to observe the repairing covenants of your lease, or if you do not pay...

Letters Caterer.(Letter to the Editor)
September 4, 2003... It's an employer's job to keep the workers cool I write with regard to your article, "Kitchen staff bake and TUC calls for new law on high temperature" (Caterer, 14 August, page 6). Employers should be aware of the Workplace (Health, Safety...

Whittaker retires from Compass.(Frank Whittaker)(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Frank Whittaker, sales and marketing director of Compass UK and Ireland, is taking early retirement and leaving the group at the beginning of next month. Whittaker, a member of the Compass board, joined Sutcliffe Catering in 1990 from...

Contract catering Round-up.(includes multiple records)
September 4, 2003... Baltic centre picks Compass division Restaurant Associates, the fine-dining division of Compass Group, has won a six-year contract to run a 50-seat cafe bar and 120-seat fine-dining riverside restaurant at Baltic, the modern arts centre in...

Suppliers Round-up.(includes multiple records)
September 4, 2003... Rotten reseller convicted The man who sold rotten and rancid chicken to schools, hospitals, care homes and supermarkets has been convicted and now faces jail. Peter Roberts, who was found guilty in his absence and who is believed to be...

Global report.
September 11, 2003... North America USpower blackout hits Wendy's sales The massive power cut in the USA last month hit sales at fast-food chain Wendy's International. The company recorded just a 0.4% increase in same-store sales in August, claiming that...

Is innovation available at the flick of a switch?(contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell)
September 11, 2003... Six weeks on from the new office move and it feels like home. What we hadn't planned for was the high temperature, and when it peaked at 97[degrees]F something just had to be done. (Saying "Well, this was a waste-of-make-up day" came to mind.)...

people On the move.
September 11, 2003... Chris Durant has joined Warwickshire contract caterer Hopkinson Catering in the newly created position of business development director. He was director of the hotels and restaurant division of contract caterer Aramark. The Greene King...

www.caterer.com C.(Hotel du Vin )(Harrogate hotel opens)
September 11, 2003... The man with du Vin The Hotel du Vin empire continues to expand, with the opening of the sixth property, in Harrogate, next week. And there could be quite a few more in the pipeline yet. We ask co-founder Robin Hutson about the present,...

Everything starts with T.(Lexington Catering has T-Mobile contract)
September 11, 2003... Unlike most start-ups, contractor Lexington Catering began life with a major deal - feeding 5,600 UKstaff for telecoms giant T-Mobile. Bob Gledhill talks to the former Avenance directors who founded the new company Senior directors from...

Holidays are coming home.(hotel industry marketing campaigns)
September 11, 2003... It's been two years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. So how has the UK hotel industry responded to the subsequent decline in international and corporate business? Samantha McClary reports Two years ago today something...

Cocktails will make a Mint.(new restaurant and bar Mint Leaf)
September 11, 2003... London's new Mint Leaf is making a name for itself not just as a restaurant but as an innovative venue for cocktails, thanks to its experienced bar staff I keep hearing lots about Mint Leaf. The new restaurant and bar just off Shaftesbury...

Last supper.(chef-proprietor Nathan Outlaw)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... What's for eats and where would we find you? Grilled mackerel with soused vegetables followed by spit-roast Cornish leg of lamb, new season peas and carrots and mashed potato, then fresh strawberry and raspberry trifle (with hundreds and...

table talk.
September 11, 2003... Chinese scientists clone Bangkok hotel Chinese ingenuity in counterfeiting has scaled new heights - forget pirate DVDs, Rolex watches and designer clothes, and think luxury hotel instead. The Hong Kong-based Peninsula Group was shocked to...

A giant leap for Atul Kochhar.(chef opens own restaurant)(Benares)(Illustration)
September 11, 2003... Atul Kochhar was one of the first chefs to win a Michelin star for Indian cuisine when he worked at London's Tamarind. Now he's running his own restaurant, Benares - and it's a steep learning curve, as he tells Gaby Huddart Life will never...

Old Nutter fined [pounds sterling]2,000 for sewage offences.(restaurant owner Rodney Nutter)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The father of TV chef Andrew Nutter was fined [pounds sterling]2,000 by Rochdale Magistrates' Court last week after pleading guilty to two charges of discharging sewage effluent from his restaurant into a tributary of Cheesden Brook. ...

Thai government backs UK.(United Kingdom to promote Thai cuisine and culture)(Thai restaurant winners)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The UK has been chosen to spearhead a global promotion of Thai cuisine and culture because it is judged to have the best Thai restaurants outside Thailand. A new Q Mark award was unveiled to 15 UK restaurants at the launch in London last...

Kathy Lette takes over as writer in residence.(Savoy Hotel)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Guests at the Savoy hotel in London can look forward to three months of non-stop partying following the appointment of novelist Kathy Lette (right) as the hotel's 2003 writer in residence. The feisty Australian, whose appointment will...

Hayley opens seventh conference and training venue.(Hayley Conference Centres )(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Hayley Conference Centres has opened its seventh conference and training venue and plans to open five more centres in the next eight years Wotton House near Dorking, in Surrey, opened at the start of this month, following a [pounds...

Overture for Aria in Prague.(musical theme for boutique hotel)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The Czech capital, Prague, is to get a new, 52-bedroom boutique hotel with a musical theme. The Aria, which opens on 19 September, has four floors dedicated to different musical genres and guestrooms that honour artists and composers from...

CONTRACT CATERING NEWS.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Hospital contract Medirest, the healthcare division of Compass Group, has won a contract to operate a Caffe Ritazza coffee shop at the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust in Uxbridge, Middlesex, where it already provides catering and domestic...

Middle Eastern magic.(Fakhreldine)(Restaurant Review)
September 11, 2003... Fakhreldine is London's latest mecca for both Middle Eastern food and slick design - a touch of modernist Lebanon in London Meze, hummus and kibbe might now be familiar concepts to the British market, but old images die hard. While the...

Listen to the experts.
September 11, 2003... Visitors to Caterer Jobs Live 2003 can get the lowdown from some of the industry's high-flyers and check out some top hospitality companies at CVLive. Chris Druce reports For anyone looking to enter the world of hospitality, change the...

Done deals.(Prima Hotels purchases Le Meridien Royal Terrace hotel)(Balmoral hotel sold)(Chesterton International sells Brome Grange)
September 11, 2003... Prima buys Terrace The four-star Le Meridien Royal Terrace hotel in Edinburgh has been sold to Prima Hotels for close to its asking price of [pounds sterling]8.5m. The hotel was one of Le Meridien's former Principal hotels and is the ninth...

Foliage.(Restaurant Review)
September 11, 2003... With only a few days of summer remaining, an autumnal feel is evident on the menu at the Foliage restaurant in London's Mandarin Oriental hotel The nights are drawing in, the autumn equinox is almost here and Chris Staines is focusing his...

Woodroffe sells control to Yo! Sushi managers.(Simon Woodroffe)(restaurant chain)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The management of conveyor-belt restaurant group Yo! Sushi has bought the 14-strong chain from founder Simon Woodroffe and plans to expand the group aggressively. The [pounds sterling]10m deal was backed by Primary Capital, which has...

Simply Chefs joins forces with Hocaps International.(hospitality and chef recruitment)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Hospitality recruitment company Hocaps International has merged with chef recruitment specialist Simply Chefs. Simply Chefs, founded in 1992 by ex-chef and Egon Ronay inspector Peter Chapman, has joined Hocaps International's existing chef...

JWMarriott eyes up Europe and China for expansion drive.(luxury hotels)
September 11, 2003... JW Marriott, the luxury arm of the Marriott International hotel chain, has revealed an ambitious plan to double its number of hotels and break into the European market. The company has already tripled the number of JW Marriott hotel and...

Two Hilton hotels to test out automatic customer check-in.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Hilton is testing self-service check-in in two US properties, with a view to rolling it out across all brands. Starting in October, the 2,035-room Hilton New York and the 1,544-room Hilton Chicago - two of the company's biggest properties...

Scientists plan extra sensory deception on the human tongue.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Scientists in the USA claim to have discovered a molecule that stops bitter tastes being absorbed by the tongue. The so-called "bitter blocker", adenosine monophosphate or AMP, occurs naturally in trace amounts in, among other places, human...

McDonald's wins USobesity battle.(teenagers blame chain for weight problems)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... McDonald's claimed victory in the latest obesity-related legal battle last week. However, experts said claims against fast-food operators would continue in the USA and probably spread to Europe. For the second time this year, a New York...

Changing times for staff catering.(fewer company cafeterias)
September 11, 2003... Declining customer demand and moves by clients to reclaim expensive office space and cut costs means the days of the sit-down staff restaurant are numbered, claims a new report from consultant Catercheck. Its survey of 80 corporate catering...

Edelmann bows out after 21 years in the Savoy's kitchen.(chef Anton Edelmann)
September 11, 2003... History will be made tomorrow (12 September) when Anton Edelmann leaves the Savoy hotel in London after 21 years. Edelmann, who joined the hotel on 3 October 1982 aged 30 and is its longest-serving chef des cuisines, said he felt ready to...

Rising costs hit expansion plans at Wetherspoon.(pub group JD Wetherspoon P.L.C.)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Shares at JD Wetherspoon wobbled last week after the pub group claimed that increased bureaucracy and regulatory costs under new licensing reforms had curtailed expansion plans. Tim Martin, founder and chairman of the 638-strong group, said...

in brief.(Ibis opens Carlisle hotel)(hotel staff strike in San Francisco)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Ibis reaches 42 in Carlisle Budget hotel chain Ibis has opened a 102-bedroom property in Carlisle. The hotel, which is based in the new [pounds sterling]20m leisure development in the city's Botchergate area, is Ibis's 42nd in the UK and...

Dog's dinner of a menu.(Trianon Palace hotel serves customers' dogs)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... A hotel in France has launched a menu with a distinctly canine flavour to it. The menu, at the Trianon Palace hotel in Versailles, is designed for its customers' dogs. It features dishes such as poached queen's hambone with spring...

Half-year profit wobble at AGA.(AGA Foodservice Group)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Half-yearly figures from AGA Foodservice Group show a 6% drop in pre-tax profits from [pounds sterling]11.6m in the six months to the end of June last year to [pounds sterling]10.9m for the same period this year. Turnover increased by 30% to...

Campbell builds the team.(David Campbell )(official chef for rugby union team)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Rugby-playing chef David Campbell is about to boot normal life into touch. The senior sous chef at Surrey's Pennyhill Park hotel - seen here (left) with England number 8 Lawrence Dallaglio - is the official chef for the England rugby union...

Grosvenor House awaits decision on new operator.(London hotel)
September 11, 2003... Employees of the Grosvenor House hotel on London's Park Lane have been told that a decision on who is likely to take over the operation of the hotel is expected within the next 90 days. Four groups are thought to be in the running to take...

Is France's cuisine crown slipping?(Spanish cooking praised)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... French chefs in Britain have described the food in France as "traditional", the chefs as "small-minded" and believe their homeland has lost its title of gastronomic nation of the world to Spain. Their criticisms followed the publication of...

Review OFTHEREVIEWS.
September 11, 2003... 7 September INDIA KNIGHT enjoys pub food with an old friend at THE KINGS ARMS in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire The chalked-up menu was hideously misspelt - "procutio", "sharukrut, "paprica" and "grolls" (girolles), which isn't...

It's good to talk.(self-service check-in takes away personal touch)(Editorial)
September 11, 2003... Have you seen those adverts on TV that depict a car as a refuge of peace in the hurly-burly of the modern world, a place where a driver can retreat from everything and relax in his own space, cocooned from interaction with the rest of humanity?...

Restaurants Against Hunger Week 13-19 October Supported by Caterer & Hotelkeeper.
September 11, 2003... Can't decide how to participate? Here are a few tips: Add an optional extra [pounds sterling]1 to your customers' bills for the week Get in touch with your local suppliers and organise a tasting evening, raffling products and prizes...

Restaurant round-up.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Bigger pizzas have helped to boost profits despite continued tough trading conditions in London according to Ask Central, operator of Ask Pizza, Zizzi and new chain Jo Schmo's. Ask increased the size of its pizza from 9in to 11in earlier...

Rhatigan quits Seaham Hall to launch his own brand of escapism.(Simon Rhatigan plans own hotel)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Simon Rhatigan, managing director at hotel and restaurant group Tom's Companies, which owns the 19-bedroom Seaham Hall, County Durham, has left to start his own venture. "This is absolutely an amicable separation. Running Seaham Hall has...

Jurys Doyle sales are pegged back.(hotel chain)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... A weak global economy and the impact of the Sars outbreak on long-haul travel held back sales at Irish hotel group Jurys Doyle in the first half of 2003. In the six months to 30 June, turnover fell by 6.5% to g123.7m ([pounds...