The Editor's Hospitality Blog

Do you ever hit a creative brick wall, when you just can't conjure another recipe from even the deepest, darkest recesses of your mind?
It happens to us all - I have an article that needs to be written by the end of the weekend, and I still haven't been able to come up with a suitably impactful first line. Luckily for you, help is at hand.

Caterersearch's recipe channel offers hundreds of winning recipes from the country's pre-eminent chefs, making menu development a cinch on even the most brain-dead days.

With Blackburn Rovers meeting Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final this weekend, why not check out our recipe for Lancashire hotpot from Northcote Manor's Nigel Haworth?

Hospitality professionals wishing to purchase a commercial property or compare the value of their property to current market prices now have an invaluable

new tool at their fingertips, thanks to the launch of the Caterersearch property channel.

On our property homepage, you'll find news of all the latest property deals across the industry, including the latest on Claude Bosi's sale of his two Michelin-starred Ludlow restaurant, Hibiscus.

You'll also find our comprehensive, easily searchable database of properties currently on the market. And you'll be able to sign up for our forthcoming property newswire service, which will ensure you are always first to hear of the latest sites to hit the market.

So, whether you are looking for a riverfronting hotel in France, or a characterful village inn in East Essex, make sure you add our property channel to your favourites bar.

This week, Caterersearch features an exclusive interview with arguably the UK's greatest ever chef, Marco Pierre White.

Marco's attentions might these days be focused more upon his expanding restaurant empire; but he will be forever remembered as the first British chef ever to win three Michelin stars, and the world's youngest ever chef to do so. To read his thoughts on Ramsay, handing back Michelin stars and and his decision to head up the third season of TV's Hell's Kitchen, click here.

This week, more than a hundred of hospitality's biggest names and brains converged on London's Grosvenor House Hotel to participate in the judging of the 2007 Catey awards.

Michelin-starred chefs rubbed shoulders with public sector caterers, hotel chain supremos mingled with country-house hoteliers. All involved left the hotel with lips firmly sealed - but I can assure you that our judging panels have once again produced a set of winners that will sit well in the pantheon of previous recipients.

Cateys night this year falls on July 3rd, and you'll find the results of every category - including the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given every three years and was last won by Anton Mosimann in 2004 - here on Caterersearch on the night.

The latest series of the BBC's Great British Menu ended over the weekend, with Sat Bains, Mark Hix and Richard Corrigan combining to create a four-course meal showcasing the best of British ingredients at a banquet at the British Ambassador's residence in Paris.

The success of the show - and the seismic news that Delia Smith is about to re-enter the fray with a new series - got me thinking about my favourite foodie shows on the box. Here they are, in no particular order. Agree? Disagree? Either way, let us know.

John Campbell took me on a tour of his impressive kitchen within the Vineyard at Stockcross, the other day. John's cooking, which won him a well-deserved second Michelin star earlier this year, is based squarely upon the sous vide method. It's a method he promotes with an evangelist's zeal.

I love John's boundless energy and infectious passion for food. As we talked, he grabbed a marker pen off a passing chef and began to sketch out his blueprint for preparing perfectly-cooked cuts of meat on a nearby fridge door, like a white-coated Rolf Harris. I only hope the ink wasn't permanent ...

Of course, sous vide is nothing new, but it's the way John has built the hotel's entire food offering around it that is really interesting. John talks about 'de-risking' the business of serving food, and certainly there's a discernable calmness and order to his kitchen. Already, many eminent chefs are sending scouts down to the Vinyard to witness his system, first-hand.

Incidentally, my lunch at the Vineyard was phenomenal, and threw up some interesting taste combinations, such as lemon curd and scallops.

I'm off to the Hospitality Action Question of Sport dinner at Wembley Stadium tonight. The idea is that guests get wined and dined, check out the stadium's makeover and test their knowledge of sporting trivia, while the industry's charity makes pots of cash.

I'll report back tomorrow on what goes on. Meanwhile, to get in the mood, a few of us have racked our brains to contrive a 'top ten' of sportstars with hospitality connections.

Can you think of any we've missed?

Gordon Ramsay seemed set for a career-making sign-up to Rangers FC, before a cruciate knee ligament changed his plans. Lucky he could cook a bit ...

Terry Venables Current England assistant coach, El Tel once owned a nightclub called Scribes West on Kensington HIgh Street.

Lee Dixon Former Fat Duck shareholder Lee Dixon still co-owns the Riverside Brasserie on Monkey Island.

Frankie Dettori This year's Derby winner lent his name to the chain of restaurants he launched in partnership with Marco Pierre White.

David Coulthard co-owns Monaco's "chic, affordable and accessible" Columbus Hotel with Malmaison mastermind, Ken McCullough.

Sir Alex Ferguson managed Fergie's pub after his playing career ended. Downstairs bar, the Elbow Room was apparently named in honour of his robust style of play.

Together, Sir Ian Botham and Alan Lamb (AKA Beefy and Lamby), are the face of British meat.

Shoeless Joe's Bars may not have worked out, but Victor Ubogu now runs a corporate hospitality company firm that's got a packed summer and autumn schedule.

Roberto di Matteo followed his Chelsea career by opening two restaurants, Friends and Baraonda, a stone's throw from Stamford Bridge.

(... to sound of barrel being scraped ...) Christian minister and erstwhile heavyweight boxing champion of the world, George Foreman is now making the world a thinner place, thanks to his Lean, Mean, Fat-reducing Grilling Machine.

The June issue of Chain Leader USA landed on my desk today. I'm no baby bird when it comes to portion sizes, but each month I turn through its pages with a mix of shock and awe, marvelling at the gut busting portions of beans, ribs and rice its ad pages carry. No wonder the USA faces such a spiralling obesity problem.

This month, one article caught my eye in particular. If you are currently struggling with the challenge of rethinking your food offering and marketing to take account of the growing trend towards healthy eating, spare a thought for the Fatburger restaurant chain. The canny execs at Fatburger HQ have cottoned on to the fact that their brand name might not strike quite the right chord in these health-conscious times. The result is a brand campaign to emphasise the fact that the name refers to the size of the burger, not its fat content.

Tastefully, the chain chose to launch the campaign straight after Easter, no doubt mindful that those abstemious souls that have observed the 40 days of Lent are in need of a Fatburger Triple King or three. The accompanying TV ad features Fat-fans waxing lyrical about Fatburger's "fantasy, bring-it-on, blow-your-mind" burger. Tellingly, the customer who describes a Fatburger as what a burger would look like "if Godzilla and King Kong were to make a burger" was apparently consigned to the cutting room floor.

On its web site, Fatburger advertises its Fatwear range of clothing, available in all sizes from small to extra large. You can't help guessing there's not much call for smalls.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was reading a book called The Perfectionist, about the life of three Michelin-starred French chef, Bernard Loiseau. I'm about three quarters of the way through it now, and thought I'd pass on what I've learnt so far.

Tragically, Loiseau's life story is defined by his suicide, in 2003. The owner of the Côte d'Or restaurant in Burgundy put a shotgun to his own head, rather than continue to bear the constant pressure of retaining his three Michelin stars.

Is The Perfectionist a good book? For me, it's at least a hundred pages too long, and the prose can at times be terribly overworked (quote: "the black truffle … does for French cuisine what a Wonder Bra does for an ambitious ingénue …"!) But as an insight into the world of French haute gastronomie in the second half of the twentieth century, and, in particular, Loiseau's complex world, Rudolph Chelminski's book works both as history lesson and cautionary tale.

After a week defined by the Cateys, it's nice to be able to sit back and enjoy a couple of bashes laid on by other organisations this week. Last night saw the Craft Guild of Chefs' annual awards at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London; tonight, it's the turn of the Academy of Culinary Arts, at Claridge's. Tomorrow, I diet ...

The Guild put on their usual uptempo evening. Host with the most Alan Dewberry, who MC-ed as energetically as ever, introduced Guild stalwarts David Mulcahy and Steve Munkley as the Ant and Dec of the chef world when he invited them on stage to run through the shortlist. Later, Lilia and Darren from Strictly Come Dancing lent a little Latin pizzazz to the evening.

The Guild has a lovely tradition of giving winners a dinner jacket with its motif on the left lapel, when they go on stage to receive their award - a nice bit of theatre that reminds me of the moment the winner of the US Masters dons the green jacket.

I was thrilled to see Simon Young of the Jumeirah Carlton Tower pick up the conference and banqueting award - he did such a sterling job for us when he hosted our Chef Conference a couple of months back.

All the winners were present except Marco Pierre White, who picked up the Special award at the end of the night. There to receive the trophy for him was Marco's group exec chef, Callum "I get free psychoanalysis as part of my salary" Watson.

I've now finished The Perfectionist, Rudolph Chelminski's account of the life and untimely death of three-starred French chef, Bernard Loiseau. What a sad story.

In my first posting, I described how the first half of the book introduces Loiseau within the context of the great French chefs of the past fifty years. In the second half, the author cements the image of a chef whose gastronomic confidence and lack of personal self-confidence seem to flourish in tandem. We learn of his invention of a system of binding sauces with vegetable purées; and one of his defining creations, frogs' legs with garlic purée and parsley juice, is described in enlightening detail. But at the same time we witness him working ever harder to hone his offering, becoming overly embroiled in building works at his restaurant and incurring mounting debts ("Bernard had mortgaged his future to Michelin").

Other magazines and websites may be content to focus on a single subset of the hospitality industry, but here at the Caterer Group we like to challenge ourselves.

I like to think of us as a great, big bag of Revels with all the toffees removed - lots of different flavours, none of them disappointing. All facets of the industry are covered, from restaurants to hotels and from pubs to corporate dining, and at times this can make for some pretty varied working days for us journalists.

Take today. At lunchtime, Caterer Towers were visited by frozen meal suppliers (and Cateys sponsors) Apetito, who were keen to present their palatable new range of primary school meals. I tried the lasagne and the meatballs and can confirm that neither would have me calling my mum and asking her to pass me a burger through the school gates.

Three hours later, an impeccably attired gentleman in tails was leading me through the corridors of Buckingham Palace and past the famous first floor balcony from where the Royal Family have done some of their best waving, to a teatime reception at which the new City & Guilds Level 2 dimploma for butlers was unveiled.

The palace was, well, palatial. In common with many of London's poshest addreesses, there was Moulton Brown in the loos. And, inevitably, there was a plate of Duchy biscuits on the sideboard.

I'll write more about the course in next week's Caterer. Suffice to say, it sounds fascinating, and a positive step towards improving levels of service in this country. Course modules such as "introduction to wines, spirits and cigars", "maintaining surfaces and antique furnishings" and "country sports" had me tempted to jack in this editing lark and retrain.

Who's your favourite fictional butler? Mine's Batman's butler, Alfred (pictured).

This week, the Hotel Cateys reach their judging stage. Posting blogs may be tricky: I'll be holed up all day in a succession of central London hotel rooms chairing judging sessions, and when I do surface, the only news I'll have to report will be our winners - which are top-secret until the autumn.

So here, in the meantime, is a little competition to keep you amused (I confess: I lifted all of the questions from a round in this week's University Challenge.)

If you know the answers, fill in the comments box below and send them in to me. If I receive more than one set of correct answers, I'll choose my favourite tiebreaker answer. I'll send a bottle of champagne to the winning entry.

One: In which Hollywood director's movies does the Big Kahuna Burger repeatedly appear?

Two: Which cartoon characters work at Burger World in Highland, Texas?

Three: What is Milliways Restaurant otherwise known as?

Tiebreaker: what is you favourite fictional restaurant, bar or hotel?

The AA's chief hotel and restaurant inspector, Peter Birnie, joined us at the first judging sessions of the Hotel Cateys at the Dorchester Hotel this week. I took the chance to pop out for a bite with him afterwards, to witness an inspection first hand.

We went to Rhodes W1, Gary Rhodes' new fine dining venture at the Cumberland Hotel. I loved
the restaurant's Kelly Hoppen-designed interiors - the crystal chandeliers that dominate reminded me a bit of Superman's ice palace in the Christopher Reeve movies. Our initial concerns that we had hit the restaurant on a quiet night were soon dispelled, as the place filled up steadily.

So, how does an AA inspector inspect? In short, with huge care and a huge attention to detail.

Thanks to the Guardian's excellent Word of Mouth food blog, I have discovered a brilliant list of some of the world's strangest restaurant concepts.

These are five of the weirdest in no order - but perhaps you have others to beat them?

The Pol Pot-themed Khmer Rouge Experience cafe in Phnom Penh takes tasteless dining to new heights.

At Dinner in the Sky in Brussels, guests eat at a table hanging 50m up in the air.

Today, I had lunch at Texture, the new London restaurant set up by Le Manoir graduates and current Caterer and Hotelkeeper cover stars, Agnar Sverrisson and Xavier Rousset.

There's quite a buzz around Texture, and it's easy to see why. Under the beautiful mouldings of its high ceilings, I enjoyed a spectacular meal. Sure, there were enough confits, emulsions, cracklings and wafers to justify the restaurant's name. But what impressed me most was the clarity and intensity of flavours. My first dish, Tomato and Artichoke Textures, grabbed me by the lapels and transported me back to summer evenings spent watering the tomato plants in my mum's greenhouse. And, if the sensation of being on a fishing boat on the South China Sea, brine on your lips and sea wind in your face, could be captured and served on a plate, it would probably taste something like Texture's Mediterranean tuna smoked with Asian flavours.

Lunch done, I popped into nearby Selfridges to see my friend, the store's food and restaurants director, Ewan Venters, and to check out his new Wonder Bar. The Wonder Bar is based around a wine tasting dispenser that allows customers to choose from 52 fine wines in three measures: 25ml, 75ml and 125ml.This 'wine jukebox' means you can sample wines you might not have come across before (some 25ml nips cost less than a pound), or which you might not be able to afford by the bottle (top of the list is a 1996 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Premier Grand Cru, which markets at £70 for 125ml).

To use it, you buy a credit card that can be loaded up to a value of £1000, and which can be topped up. Then you insert the card into the juke box, choose a wine from the wine list, and press the button corresponding to the measure you require.

I whacked £10 on my card, opted for a warming 175ml measure of 1998 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Marques de Murrieta Rioja, and still had 20p credit left for another day.

The Wonder Bar is a brilliant idea that empowers customers to drink however much they want of whatever wine they want. What a pity then, that Trading Standards Officers have tried to spoil the party by raising concerns that the dispenser contravenes UK alcohol measures legislation.

I found a dusty old book at my parents' house this weekend, which set me thinking about the hospitality industry's continuing problem with public perceptions of its potential to offer a worthy career path.

Called Careers for Boys, the book was published in 1938 and features a range of insights into the various jobs and professions open to young men seven decades ago that are quaintly dated. "It is a mistake to assume that the coming of the motor age has done away with the necessity for veterinary surgeons", begins one chapter; while another states that "Today, as ever, the sea has an irressistible appeal for the manly, adventure-loving type of British youth".

I scanned the contents page for any mention of catering and hotelkeeping, and found none. Finally, under a concluding round-up at the back of the book entitled "Other careers", I found hotel and restaurant work listed among other such marginal pursuits as brewing, the Ministries and plantation work ("Life in distant parts of the Empire always has a strong appeal").

When I left University in the late Eighties, it never occured to me to enter the world of hospitality. Indeed, when a friend of mine accepted a full-time job managing a restaurant in Bristol after we graduated, I remember thinking her choice a very odd one. In the four years since I joined the Caterer, my views have altered hugely, to the extent that, if I had known 20 years ago what I do now I reckon I would have spurned journalism in favour of a career in hotels.

I can understand why hospitality held such low currency for careers officers seventy years ago. Hotels were far fewer in number than now; and the restaurant and contract catering booms were still decades away. But why does the image problem persist in 2007?

I think we need more role models the general public can relate to. When youngsters think about hospitality, Jamie, Gordon and Marco spring to mind, along with the poor, beleagured drones they bark at. But these public figures are atypical of the industry.

Instead, we need to ensure that the mention of hospitality conjures images of job satisfaction, international travel, creativity, even glamour - for these are all pleasures that a career in hospitality can offer. Do children appreciate that GMs can live in style in exotic locations around the globe? That sommeliers are courted by wine merchants and get to tour vineyards and champagne caves? That hotel reception staff get to speak to a huge range of people, anonymous, famous and infamous? And that all these job functions, carried out well, can create enormous personal fulfilment? Probably not.

How we alter misconceptions, I don't know. But I have a nagging doubt that hospitality is no better at shouting about itself now, than it was in 1938.

Congratulations to Trunkwell Mansion House proprietor, Bob Walton, who has been named as the new chairman of the Restaurant Association, and to Richard, Earl of Bradford, proprietor of Porter's Restaurant in London, and the association's new vice-chairman.

The two were in top form at this week's Restaurant Association 40th anniversary dinner, hosted by 2007 Catey Lifetime Achievement award-winner, Richard Shepherd at Langan's Brasserie in London.

Walton presented a gift to Manny Franks, the oldest serving member of the association, who promptly joked that the presidency and vice-presidency were mere sinecures. "The committee used to work far harder in the past, than it does now", he told guests, to much laughter.

I congratulated Richard Shepherd on the excellent, pink Beef Wellington served to guests. "That was the easy part", he told me. "The hard bit was getting 80 portions of ice cream up two flights of stairs without them melting." The ice cream came courtesy of event sponsors, Movenpick.

With dinner over, Bob Walton took a few of us across the road and signed us in at the Ritz Casino. For someone whose only experience of gambling is a pound each way on a 100-1 in the Grand National, the casino, with its Venetian chandeliers, murals and fine-dining restaurant offering Chinese, Thai, Lebanese, Indian and Western food, was a revelation.

The following morning, I conducted an interview with one of the leading lights of the Ark Foundation, whose remit is to protect hospitality workers from all forms of addiction. I opted not to mention the previous evening's activities ...

Last night, superchef Alain Ducasse, the man with the most Michelin stars in the world, hosted a star-studded dinner at his new restaurant at London's Dorchester Hotel before it opens to the public tonight.

Welcoming us, Monsieur Ducasse promised not to serve frogs' legs, if guests promised not to mention the rugby world cup.

The table plan read like a who's-who of the UK dining scene: Mark Hix, Tom Aikens, Marcus Wareing, Raymond Blanc, Philip Howard, Michel Roux jnr, Gary Rhodes, Giorgio Locatelli, Henri Brosi, John Campbell, Theo Randall, Sir Terence Conran and many others came to meet the great man and sample his food. At the end of the meal, all of them lined up like kids outside a sweetshop, to view the magnificent kitchen Monsieur Ducasse has had put in at the restaurant.

The sight of so many top-drawer chefs in one room prompted the Vineyard's John Campbell to tell me: "if a bomb drops on the Dorchester now, you'll have nothing to write about anymore in the Caterer!" I replied that it would leave UK foodies dining on beans on toast from then on.

Christopher Cowdray wouldn't have been at all pleased to see a bomb land on us. Christopher is the CEO of the Dorchester Collection. As our seared scallops course arrived, Christopher pointed out to me the amoeba-thin shaving of dried tuna that topped the dish, and which moved like a flickering flame in the heat rising off the scallop below. Stunning.

Have you ever wanted to know the secret to attracting the very best hospitality workers to your company? Or wondered what other companies do to be selected as one of Caterer's Best Places to Work in Hospitality? Look no further.

Hospitality recruitment specialists, HR on Tap have sent me a list of reasons why some companies fail to find good staff. There's some good stuff here, I think:

Are you looking in the right place? An advert in trade press will hit people in the right industry, but most readers will statistically be outside your region and most will probably not be looking for a new job. Local papers have similar problems – you get the location right, but not the industry or job seekers. Spread your net wider and it’ll be easier to catch the right people.

Are you offering the right package? Too much money is just as bad as not enough! You need to be competitive but without either making applicants suspicious or imagining the job is more senior than it really is.

Are you looking for Mr / Ms Perfect? Be realistic – it’s really rare to find the absolute perfect match of experience, skills and qualities that you imagine the role needs. How much of it is essential and how much can you train? The more open-minded you are, the more candidates you’ll have to choose from.

Are you flexible enough? If you offer flexible working, flaunt it! It’s a major plus for many people to know that they’ll get a decent work/life balance or be able to work around the school run. Be explicit about this in your adverts

Do you have to advertise? You might find that your perfect candidate isn’t actively looking for a job. Do your homework and you might just find that gem hiding away somewhere, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to coax them away.

Are you prepared to train someone? It might not be as painful as you think. How about someone from a completely different industry? Just because they’ve never worked in your industry before, doesn’t mean they can’t. And if they have transferable skills from another industry, you’ll probably find training doesn’t take nearly as long as you’d think.

Are you well known as a good employer? If not, why not? It’s not all about the money. For some people, switching employers is a big deal and they need to know they’re doing the right thing. You don’t have to be a huge corporate to have a strong employer brand! Get known as a great place to work and you’ll soon reach a point where great people approach you, rather than you having to hunt them down.

Think like a marketing expert! If you can get your head around how to attract customers, then attracting staff isn’t so different. Understand your audience, know where to find them, give them what they’re looking for.

Don’t try to change people. If you want to find real star performers, put talent first (the behaviours and actions that come naturally and are hard to teach) and skills, experience and qualifications last. It might take a couple of days longer to train the person in the skills you need, but it’ll be worth it in the long run. Trying to change behaviours might succeed to a degree, but rarely to any great extent.

Having spent the last five weeks of my life planning my social calendar around the BBC1 hit series Mistresses, I was devastated to find out last night that next week is the last episode in the series. What am I to do?

But all is not lost as The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar's search to find a new member to join his rather scary team, with the softener of a six-figure salary, kicks off next Wednesday (25 March, 9pm, BBC1).

So, here at Caterer Towers, we were rather keen to spot that one or two of his would-be apprentices hail from our jolly old industry.