Story of the week: Alain Ducasse’s restaurant at the Dorchester has been awarded a third Michelin star in an earlier-than expected announcement of this year’s round of awards, while Brett Graham scooped two stars for his Ledbury restaurant and one for his Harwood Arms pub. Meanwhile, editor of the 2010 Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland, Derek Bulmer, told Caterersearch why “rising stars” are an important indicator.
The Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel at Bolton Abbey in North Yorkshire became the lastest establishment to be presented with four rosettes in the AA’s January distribution of accolades. A further 12 restaurants were awarded three rosettes.
In other awards-related news, Gidleigh Park was named the best in Britain by online booking service Toptable, while Wedgwood in Edinburgh was named the best new restaurant outside of London by the 2010 Harden’s UK Restaurant Guide.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver announced that he is to launch a new restaurant in London this autumn in a joint venture with US chef and barbeque enthusiast Adam Perry and critically acclaimed Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes has unveiled details of his forthcoming restaurant Viajante, which will open east in London this year.
North of the border, a restaurant predicted to fail by Gordon Ramsay has closed three years after it opened. The celebrity chef – whose business Gordon Ramsay Holdings International posted a pre-tax loss of £4.3m this week – told Barry Larsen on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares that he should concentrate on French restaurant Abstract in Inverness and not expand his business to Edinburgh. And Northern Irish chef-restaurateur Michael Deane was forced to close his Michelin-starred restaurant in Belfast following severe flooding.
Following news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, humanitarian charity Action Against Hunger mounted an emergency response to aid survivors. It has sent a team to support the 100 field workers already on the ground, along with additional emergency supplies including water, sanitation relief equipment and food supplies.
In hotel news, Caterersearch revealed that the Zetter hotel in east London has unveiled details of its private members’ club, which it plans to launch at the end of this year. Meanwhile, hotels in Exmoor and Dartmoor were counting the cost of the extreme weather conditions with one proprietor reporting up to £25k in loss of trade.
The Hyatt Hotels Corporation is eager to add to its portfolio of 415 properties worldwide, either by buying hotels, signing management deals or by acquiring another brand. The newly-opened Rose Rayhaan by Rotana in Dubai has been officially confirmed by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest hotel. The Athenaeum hotel in London has confirmed that three members of staff in the sales and marketing department are facing the threat of redundancy.
ISS Eaton has won recognition for its best practice in diversity recruitment at a Scottish business awards ceremony. National catering group Host Contract Management, run by entrepreneur Jerry Brand, has signed a £50m deal with supplier Brakes.
Just 1% of packed lunches for primary schoolchildren come up to the nutritional standards set for school meals in England, a new report has found. A team of researchers from Leeds University examined 1,300 schoolchildren's lunchboxes and found that healthy foods like fruit and vegetables lost out to crisps and sugary snacks.
The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) has welcomed a legal move which it claims will promote competition in the pub sector. The war of words between pub operator Mitchells & Butler (M&B) and investor Joe Lewis rumbles on, as Lewis's investment vehicle Piedmont denied that it was trying to take control of the firm.
And finally, rising star Adam Simmonds has been promoted to executive chef at Danesfield House Hotel and Spa in Buckinghamshire and has had the Oak Room fine-dining restaurant named after him. Simmonds, who previously held a Michelin star at Ynyshir Hall in Eglwysfach, Powys, is now responsible for all food and beverage at the hotel and the four-rosetted Oak Room, where Simmonds was previously head chef, will now be called Adam Simmonds at Danesfield House.
Editor's Pick
The deadline for the 2010 Acorn Awards is looming large – get your entry in before 26 February
Enter now for the 2010 Catey Awards!
Win an evening at Nigel Haworth’s gastronomic event Obsession
The closing date for the 2010 Roux Scholarship is only weeks away
Quote of the Week
"Anyone who is coming with an invoice seems to be able to get here no matter what – they somehow just float above the snow. But anyone who is paying their own money is really struggling to get here!"
Alan Murchison considers the effect of snow on business