The Caterer Blog

Compass Group is a big, big company that touches most of our lives in someway day-to-day whether we realise it or not.

The caterer, which provides services in staff restaurants, hospitals and schools throught the UK recently landed a plum job to provide services at Heathrow's new Terminal 5 for British Airways's (BA) customers and airport owner BAA's staff.

No doubt it's making a better job of feeding people than BA and BAA are of flying them from the new terminal.

Compass, unlike many of the pub companies, is upbeat about its prospects for 2008, which makes for a refreshing change from all the doom and gloom about at present.

Anyway, some Compass facts:

Compass purchases more than 3 million litres of gravy per year - enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool
If you put the amount of Jaffa Cakes purchased each year by Compass Group end to end they would run further than the entire length of the Metropolitan Tube Line
During the St. Patrick’s day celebration period, Compass UK serves more than 700,000 pints of Guinness.
At the Wimbledon Tennis tournament, more than 18,000 bottles of champagne are sold during the two week period or the equivalent of 72,000 glasses.
Compass sells more than 8 million cases of cold drinks through its partners each year. That's around 4.5 drinks per second every day, every year fact fans.

Compass Group goes Fairtrade bananas>>

A letter has reached Caterer Towers from the much loved Egon Ronay in which he offers his suggestions for the ressurrection of the much loved and currently troubled British pub.

In it he is quite right to say that the British pub is a national institution and it is certainly threatened by a series of bad luck but his solution is already a well voiced arguement; namely turning the pubs catering operations into that of a small restaurant.

While I cannot argue with Ronay that the British pub is a "uniquely British phenomenon", occupying a place in the heart of the British psyche in the same way the bistro inhabits that of the French, great progress has already been made in improving and introducing quality food in the British pub.

Look, for example at The Sportsman in Seasalter, Kent, which picked up its first Michelin star this year.

Gordon Ramsay is expanding his empire with investment in pubs too promising ten pubs this year adding to the Narrow in London's Limehouse, Devonshire House in Chiswick and the Warrington in Maida Vale.

Even the notion that pubs should turn into small restaurants is dismissed by the 2,000 plus sites under the control of Mitchells & Butlers serving in excess of 100m meals a week.

While Ronay's call for a thriving gastropub on every high street is laudable (and even welcome) the economic reality is that it just can't happen. As pointed out today by analysts Horizon there are too many eateries in Britain's mid-market already.

While I can't help but agree with Ronay, the evidence suggests his ideas are not going to happen.

Read the rest of this entry to read Ronay's letter in full.

Hilton’s Doubletree has come to the UK – quick we need an event to mark the launch!

"Well, there’s trees in the name and everyone’s obsessed with being green and sustainability these days."
Excellent
"And Doubletree is part of the Hilton family and you get family trees."
Sounds good, keep going
"So, families often show affection for each other with a hug."
Like it, like it
"So let’s get some tree huggers hugging trees in army fatigues…"
Brilliant. What was that last bit about the army? No, nevermind. Right, now we have to come up for something for Red Roof Inns…
"Well, there’s roofs…."

Hilton opens first Doubletree in Cambridge>>

Hilton recuits new head of global development>>

Oh yes. You are seeing this right. Don’t look for a neck-based seam – we’ve squinted hard and there isn’t one. Rhodes has gone all beef-cake on the world, before casting aside his modesty and posing, stripped to the abs and pumping some serious iron, for that bible to the overweight and image-obsessed; Men’s Health magazine

Exclusively, and in direct conflict with the sculpted hunk of man-muscle posing here, Caterer once had a peak at the pre-inflated Rhodes. Back in 1993 an impromptu uncladding at the tail end of a kitchen session revealed a torso more akin to a hairy-topped teaspoon than anything you’d want protecting you should Grossman have kicked off on the Masterchef set.

But, according to Men’s Health, the 47 year-old is up at 4.30am every morning crunching weights and tucking into the sort of punishing regime long-serving jail-birds and Travis Bickle-style nascent psychopaths embark upon.

Rob Hartwell is the 2008 Acorn Scholar. As part of a year’s development activity, he has been given a sabbatical from his sous chef role with Peach Pub Company to take a four-month cooks tour.

On leaving Fiji we shared a feeling of sadness to leave our own little island of paradise but this had been such a great start to the tour we can’t wait for stage two.

After a 10-hour flight, we arrived in Perth and then travelled down to Busselton, near the Margaret River, where my older brother lives.

The first night we were there, my brother laid on a traditional Aussie BBQ and I had the feeling that this would be the first of many.

The following day we headed off down the Margaret River, first to the chocolate factory where we watch the chocolate being made, so Sophie was over the moon for the rest of the day.

Second, we were off to the cheese shop where despite a wide selection, the produce is pretty average and the ones I tried were all a bit young and lacking in body. And all of this before breakfast!

After this very rich start to the day, we visited three superb vineyards; Hay Stack’s, Vasse Felix and Mad Fish, where the pinot noir was the highlight. It was exciting finding great new wines to drink, explore new flavours and continue to expand my palate.

Later on that week we went out fishing. This trip was not a success for us unfortunately, but a good day for the fish so on the way home we found a free-range organic spit roast chicken joint called ‘switch’. It was amazing and proved to me that the trend for fast-food places (like Leon in the UK) is also available in Australia. How wonderful to find fast food this healthy and also good for the environment.

At the weekend we set off on a bush camping and fishing trip to Pemberton, a little town in the Kerri forest where the second biggest trees in the world grow and it’s possible catch beautiful fresh water trout.

During our stay there, we managed to snag ourselves six of them for dinner. Our best catch of the weekend though was a 5ft striped Wobbegong shark off the beach during a night fish.

In the Australian tradition of accessing the best of Pacific Rim cuisine, this we marinated in a big plastic bag with lemon, herbs, garlic, chilli and soy sauce and grilled it over a wood fire – spectacular!

Although most waiting staff expect a tip, crossing their palms with silver is perhaps not something that crosses their minds.

Covent Garden’s Moti Mahal, which opened in London in July 2005, has introduced a novel weekly palm reading session of a Tuesday evening from 7pm until 10pm.

Palm reading - apparently highly respected in India - certainly ticks the box “something a little different”, although let's hope the waiting staff don’t lose out in the loose change stakes at the end of the night, or their won't be any future in it.

Moti Mahal restaurant review on Areyoureadytoorder?>>

Moti Mahal website>>

Premier Inn executives pictured with the hump and it’s nothing to do with the aborted tie-up with Travelodge.

Yes with the official launch of the first Premier Inn (PI) in Dubai tomorrow (8 April) there are cheesy photos to be taken and the bods at PI have excelled themselves, opting for the association game: Middle East and camels.

While not as lateral a leap in concept as Hilton’s Doubletree tree huggers, you have to note that the camel looks somewhat unimpressed.

Still, fair-play to Patrick Dempsey, PI managing director (the one on top) for going along with the idea of the man holding the reins Gerard Tempest, PI’s marketing director.

The budget hotel company is off to India next so here at Caterer we can’t wait for the take-a-tiger-by-its-tail pictures. Good luck Patrick!

Premier Inn gets set for first Dubai launch>>

Whitbread outsources food supply operation>>

After Andy Hageman, the self-confessed Basil Fawlty of Mortons House Hotel in Dorset, news has emerged of yet another Fawlty-style proprietor, curry house owner Mohammed Ullah, who has been dubbed as "Basil Balti".

Ullah, of Newport, Gwent, was given the unfortunate nickname after shouting and swearing at two diners and locking them up in his Indian restaurant in a row over a bill.

The incident happened after a woman became upset when she and her husband witnessed a fellow diner cut her head open in the restaurant's toilet, Newport Crown Court was told. The couple called for an ambulance and decided to leave. Because they hadn't eaten their main course, they decided to pay only for the food they had received.

Bad move.

In true Fawlty fashion, restaurant owner Ullah yelled: “You are f***ing rubbish” at the pair, waving his arms shouting “You make me sick” and “B*****ds, you're all the same” after they refused to pay their full bill, the court heard.

Ullah's defence lawyer said his remarks were “out of character” and he had received a good citizenship award from his mayor. He admitted to behaving abusively and was given an absolute discharge but ordered to pay £95 costs.

Innkeeping with Mr Fawlty

The Conservative candidate for London's mayor, Boris Johnson, got behind the bar of JD Wetherspoon pub the Furze Wren in Bexleyheath, south-east London, for a spot of unashamed publicity last week - while the combination of the Conservatives and Wetherspoon may be unpalatable for some which candidate will be the best for hospitality?

Ten candidates are running for London's mayor including Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone and the Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick. It's a vital position for hospitality operators in London: being Mayor of London means you are responsible for economic development and wealth creation in the Capital. It will be a vital four years for all hospitality operators in the Capital as we run up to the Olympic Games in 2012. London is the economic heartbeat for hospitality in the UK and a vital employer of Londoners but yet none of the three main party candidates outline how they will help this industry grow in their manifestos.

One issue on the agenda will be the Living Wage. All hospitality employers know that National Minimum Wage is currently £5.53 per hour (rising to £5.73 in October) and sometimes some employees receive less than that. Current Mayor Livingstone has backed proposals for a London Living Wage of £7.20, reflecting the higher costs of living in the Capital, alongside Green Party candidate Sian Berry. If such a policy is introduced it will have a massive impact on both hospitality employers and the life of hospitality employees.

Caterer is looking into this issue closely. So visit Caterersearch regularly to keep up with all the mayoral election news that matters to you.

updated 10/04/08: I told you there would be developments. Suprisingly four candidates, including Livingstone, Johnson and Paddick, all promised last night to ensure that London's hotels and hospitality employers pay a Living Wage.

I can't help it. I'm Northern. I like a pint of bitter and a bag of pork scratchings (pictured here in a swanky gastro pub served with guacamole!!??) when I'm whiling away the hours in the boozer.

However I was heartily disappointed when in one trendy London pub I read a chalkboard that promised home-made pork scratchings for £1.50 to add a salty edge to my pint of Doom Bar.

The thought of home-made pork scratchings made me realise how far this Yorkshire lad had come. No longer was I stuck in the back streets of suburban Sheffield drinking Barnsley bitter for £1.28 a pint tucking into a packet of Mr Porky's. I'd made it. I was in the heart of London town buying a pint for £3.00 about to munch on home-made pork scratchings. Wow.

Sadly my high was soon to be eclipsed by a low. 'We don't serve pork scratchings before six,' I was told - which I also took to mean 'You are far too over-weight to eat such a fat-based product and I am doing this for the good of your health Sir'.

It just goes to show the price of progress. Home-made they might be but the chef can't cook them before six leaving this punter hungry. Beware any pub advertising home-cooked crisps. You might not get them until seven. Heaven only knows what might happen if you ask for a bag of scampi fries.

Here’s a departure from dining etiquette: Yo! Sushi has partnered with games console maker Nintendo in a move that is actively encouraging playing with your food.

Yo! Sushi, which recently gained a new financial backer, is offering kids – and the young at heart – free Nintendo DSs to play handheld game Cooking Mama 2 on while they wait for their order.

Budding sushi chefs will be able to challenge other restaurant diners to a game via the console’s built in Wi Fi at two of the noodle chains stores Yo! Farringdon and Yo! Soho.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen has become an unofficial pollster for the London mayoral election after naming some of its burgers after the four leading candidates (Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick is pictured here in another bit of 'spontaneous' self promotion).

In the tradition of the red, blue and yellow fairy cakes sold during every general election GBK will call its own winner based on the sales of burgers in its Tower Place restaurant near London's City Hall.

The burgers are:

THE KEN BURGER
100% beef with salad, relish and a fresh chilli sauce
“Hot, fiery and a bit of a mouthful”

THE BORIS BURGER
100% beef with salad, relish and an aged Stilton dressing
“A bit cheesy with hidden depths, quite possibly a bit messy”

THE PADDICK BURGER
A fresh breast of chicken with salad, relish and a spicy satay sauce
“Golden, plucky, with a hint of spice”

THE BERRY BURGER
Puy lentils, green curry, potato, spring onion with salad and relish
“Good for you, with a bit of bite”

However such a competition puts this blogger in an ethical dilemma; does taste correspond with your political biases?

I went for dinner at the newly refurbished Café Boheme in Soho last night. Owned by Soho House founder Nick Jones, it’s always been one of my favourite hangouts and with all the recent excitement over the reopening in the press, I was keen to see what all the fuss was about.

Gordon Ramsay turning up to slam you on Kitchen Nightmares is not the reason chefs have sleepless nights, its the damn competition and turning a decent profit.

A survey by Unilever's Knorr, conducted last month, asked chefs what puts them under pressure most at work.

Surprisingly it’s not AA Gill sitting out front, pen poised, although the apparent relentless march in global food prices is likely to cause a few grey hairs in coming months.

The Chef Pressure Survey of 120 chefs found that the two biggest causes of stress are competiting (78%) and profit (82%) – that need to stay a step ahead is causing sleepless nights.

Perhaps surprisingly, around half of chefs (52%) don’t think marketing is important either. However, I can’t help thinking that bums on seats equals turnover, which is a basic requirement of profit, so someone somewhere is missing a trick.

No 10 video - Hightlights from Gordon Ramsay in Hell's Kitchen>>

Rob Hartwell is the 2008 Acorn Scholar. As part of a year’s development activity, he has been given a sabbatical from his sous chef role with Peach Pub Company to take a four-month cooks tour.

Working in Sydney

For the last six weeks I have been having the time of my life; meeting new people and experiencing exciting new foods, lifestyles. I’ve even been getting into a normal sleep pattern, sleeping for at least eight hours and eating at regular times. I’m almost feeling human again.

Life is not a bit the way it was when I was cheffing. But I am here to learn and besides, I’ve had a real craving to cook again. Like a drug addict going cold turkey, I feel the same without my kitchen; my thoughts become clouded and I can’t switch off - I find my self analysing everything that passes my lips. I need to cook!

I arrived in Sydney alone as Sophie, my girlfriend and travelling partner, were staying in Melbourne.

I checked in to the Railway YHA, where as a lone traveller with an extensive knowledge of food, I refused to eat the regular diet of instant ‘super’ noodles which every one was shovelling inside themselves. If this wasn’t a sign that I should start cooking I don’t what was!

I quickly made friends with three Irish guys who were missing their home foods. That night I knocked up a really good Irish stew for the four of us. When the rest of the hostel saw this, our dinner parties grew rapidly and since then I and my range of willing helpers have been cooking every night for increasingly large numbers of diners. And the budget? The equivalent of £2.40 per head max! I’ve been so excited that I’ve managed to change so many people’s diets for the better. All of this simply compounded my craving to get back into a professional kitchen again.

I’d arranged a couple of stages in Sydney. The first is with working at Bill Granger’s restaurant called, imaginatively enough, Bill’s on Surry Hills. Originally from Melbourne, Bill has always had an interest in food. But it wasn't until he moved to Sydney to study fine art that he realised his real passion was cooking.

Congratulations to Daniel Cox who has made history by becoming the first contract catering chef to win the Roux Scholarship.

Cox, who can be seen in action with the other finalists on Caterer TV, works for Compass Group’s Restaurant Associates (RA) at investment bank UBS.

He was crowned 2008 Roux Scholar at an award reception at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park on Monday evening (21 April).

RA, Compass’s fine dinning division, has been fighting contract catering’s corner well this year adding a rare Michelin star to the sector’s honours for its joint-venture with Gary Rhodes, Rhodes W1, at the Cumberland hotel in London this January.

Compass’s team of chefs also enjoyed a record-breaking stint of competing at February’s Hotelympia show.

Roux Scholarship>>

Exclusive: Gary Rhodes and Anthony Demetre on winning another Michelin star>>

Albert Roux signs deal with luxury Leeds hotel>>

Contract caterer Graysons has unveiled more former Compass executives as part of its team and the origin of its company name.

With a slightly heavy heart I have to reveal that Wendy Richard is not a shareholder nor is Graysons a homage to the late, great John Inman a fellow star of Are You Being Served?

The hit BBC show was set in the fictional Grace Brothers department store and is the reason for this slightly laboured joke.

In fact Graysons financial backer former Compass chairman Sir Francis Mackay says the name, or a derivative of, was a City Livery catering brand from the days of Grand Metropolitan.

It effectively disappeared when Rank Group bought Mecca Leisure in 1990.

The deadline for the Excellence in Food & Drink Awards 2008 is fast approaching (29th May) so don't miss your chance to gain the recognition you deserve for delivering award worthy food and drink products to operators around the country.

Now recognised as a coveted accolade for suppliers, the Awards, run in association with 3663 First for Foodservice, shine a light on products that deliver that bit extra in terms of taste, appearance and usability.