The Caterer Blog

It is very rare that we at Caterer try and use our influence when enjoying meals out (nothing worse than "do you know who I am?" after all).

However, I can reveal that the Caterer team today forced the sacking of two chefs at one of our local hostelries.

Upon entering the Revolution bar in sunny Sutton for a leaving do lunch, the group envisaged quick, friendly service, tasty pub grub and general conviviality.

It all started well as the drinks orders were made, but it soon went downhill.

Many start out young dreaming of being the next Gordon Ramsay but this was not the case of his protoge Angela Hartnett who had dreams of a different kind.

Poor Angela suffered when she started her career with the stress of being a full-time trainee under Ramsay Hartnett admitted at last week's Good Food Show that the stress of being the only woman to get a bollocking in the kitchen from the man himself regularly made her return home to Wales in floods of tears.

During one break for Easter Hartnett admitted to a disturbed night's sleep dreaming of the restaurant burning down in flames just so she did not have to return to the Hell of the kitchen.

Worse though were her dreams about Marcus Wareing. At the time Wearing had the keys to the restaurant and was responsible for its opening on a daily basis. Hartnett confessed that the stress of the job was so much that she would often dream that Wearing would never turn up to open the restaurant because 'something unfortunate' had happened to him on the way to work.

With an Italian mother Hartnett might have a few Sicillian contacts who specialise in 'something unfortunate' happening...

Today Ultimate Leisure has formally changed the name of its business to Premium Bars and Restaurants. Although I fear it is too late I use this blog to make an impassioned plea: if a last minute veto can be cast I urge Ultimate to heed my advice. Don't bother. It's rubbish.

Hospitality has an obsession with terribly unimaginative names for businesses. Just a few of my favourites include: Pubs'N'Bars (note the upper case N), The Restaurant Group (unbelievably a group that manages restaurants), The Hotel Corporation (go on, have a guess) and, perhaps the worst of the lot, The Food and Drink Group.

There are a fair few of this genre of names that have not been taken so for any business looking for a quick change to a state the obvious name, here is a handy list.

Corporate Contract Catering (for all your corporate catering needs)

London Restaurants and Bars (You can change the name depending on where you are based, Leeds, Bath, Wigan... etc etc)

South-West Taverns (Equally applicable to any region)

Premier Hotel Group (perhaps a little bit too close to Premier Inns, Travelodge or Premier Travelodge's)

and to top it off - The Premium Casual Dining Group...

You can have them all for free.. anyone requiring additional consultancy can contact me here

Although the creation of a new catering giant with the merger of BaxterStorey and Holroyd Howe simplifies the sector slightly, it’s still a challenge to stand out from the crowd.

So hats off to Harbour & Jones (H&J) who have been busy bees on the tendering front and showed real attention to detail on a recent bid.

Having had the client’s current provider described as similar to a high street cinema brand, such as Odeon, when what she was after was a service more akin to The Electric on London’s Portabella Road, the team new what they had to do.

Therefore as part of H&J’s presentation they hired The Electric and put on a film as part of their presentation, which is certainly one way to communicate your creativity.

Needless to say they won the contract.

Compass arm in multimillion-pound deal at Bank of England>>

Vodka Revolution wins Harbour & Jones new deal>>

Last night the great and the good of the pub and brewing trade descended on Parliament to quaff free booze and celebrate the work of the all-party Parliamentary beer group.

An impassioned speech was given by Michael Turner, chairman of Fuller’s and the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), reiterating calls for the Chancellor to freeze beer duty in his forthcoming Budget while warning that Britain’s pubs were under serious and sustained pressure.

Labour MP John Grogan, head of the all-party Parliamentary beer group, joined him by offering an olive branch to Tesco’s boss Sir Terence (Terry) Leahy after he described him as being the “godfather of British binge drinking” earlier this month for his cut price approach to selling booze.

He offered his best wishes for the festive season to all who had joined him and said he would even express these wishes to Sir Terry – despite the resounding jeers and boos from the on-trade at the mention of his name.

Well, if the beer group is to make true on its promise last night to see supermarkets stop selling alcohol below cost, every little helps.

John Burton Race has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently, starring in execrable reality show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" and then realising, via the media, that his estranged wife had shut his Michelin-starred Dartmouth restaurant New Angel in his absence.

However, it seems he has fans across the globe, if an e-mail received at Caterer towers is anything to go by.

"Hi from Australia," the e-mail begins. "My husband is a wristwatch enthusiast and after watching John Burton Race for the second time in the (Channel 4) Dartmouth series, he wonders what make the watch is that he wears - it is gold with a brown strap."