Another of our monthly features where we report on the latest catering news from the hospitality industry.
Green Options ‘Not Costly’
Hotels and restaurants could be missing the opportunity to improve their environmental performance because they wrongly assume it is a costly process.
Research by the Institute of Hospitality and sustainability experts Envirowise found that more than half of managers surveyed in the hospitality sector felt ‘going green’ would increase their costs. And around 40% also said that the current economic climate was an added barrier to change.
But Envirowise experience has shown hotels and restaurants could save around £250 per employee per year by taking action to reduce waste – not to mention improving their credentials for eco-conscious tourists
Envirowise’s Matthew Rowland-Jones, says:
The average UK restaurant disposes of more than 100 tonnes of waste each year, including paper, cardboard, plastic and food waste. Yet simple steps could help the hospitality sector reduce waste and save money.”
Ramsay ‘Back on Track’
Celebrity TV Chef Gordon Ramsay claims to have emerged from his own ‘kitchen nightmare’ after his company was “battered by the credit crunch and bad publicity”. His business is now said to be recovering and set to post profits of £3 million this year.
Gordon Ramsay Holdings with 26 restaurants and pubs in Britain and abroad as well as cookery books and crockery, was on the brink of financial ruin a year ago.
The problems arose after he “ploughed millions” into restaurants overseas during the downturn. The brand was also hit by the disclosure earlier this year that meals served in its high-end venues were pre-prepared at a central kitchen in London.
Jo Barnes, company spokeswoman, said:
We will definitely see a significant return to profit in the returns to August. It will be back up to similar levels to the previous year. The individual restaurants, particularly in London, are doing well, and business is getting stronger by the day.”
Success for Staffs Venues
Catering businesses across Staffordshire have been celebrating success in the County’s Good Food Awards entered by 70 restaurants and pubs, recognising quality, excellence and the use of local products.
Competition judge Richard Morrey, of Service Science said:
It has been a tough year for the food and drink sector and we hope the competition will help raise the profile of businesses that provide high quality, locally sourced food and drink delivering exceptional quality.”
Winners included the Restaurant of the Year (European influence): Moddershall Oaks Spa, nr Stone.
Search for Top Chippy
Seafish have announced the top 10 fish and chips shops in the 2009 Fish and Chip Shop Of The Year Awards, sponsored by Heinz.
The 10 shops must now present to a panel of experts in the bid for the national crown. Each of the shortlisted shops will be visited by a mystery shopper and the top three will attend a Gala Awards Luncheon in London in January 2010.
The successful fish and chip shops, in alphabetical order, are:
- Atlantic Fish Bar, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Broughton Fish & Chips, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
- Daniel’s Fish & Chips, Weymouth, Dorset
- Finnegan’s, Porthcawl in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
- Fish & Chicken, Ballymena, Northern Ireland
- Great British Eatery, Birmingham, West Midlands
- Linford’s Traditional Fish & Chips, Peterborough, Lincolnshire
- Metro Fish Bar, Bury, Lancashire
- Royal Fisheries, Whitby, North Yorkshire
- Scooby Snax, Colchester, Essex
