It’s difficult to say when exactly people began assembling meals from large spreads of food. Sweden and France were the first countries to formalize the buffet concept. The Swedish smorgasbord originated as a way to feed hungry out-of-town visitors who’d pop in read more...
Restaurants are like cars: Newer models can dazzle with flashy looks and marketing hype, but only after you test-drive those does their true performance comes to light. Dining during the weekends, over a six week period, at ten different ‘upscale’ read more...
Walk into any Hotel or Restaurant kitchen and look out for coloured cutting boards. Chances are that you will very rarely come across them. It’s like encountering the hotel manager in the hotel’s lobby nowadays. So what’s the big deal on read more...
A painter would be lost without his canvas in much the same way a chef would be helpless without service ware. Service ware is encountered in all restaurants kitchens and is one of the bridges that connect the diner and read more...
Why it is that businesses consistently claim to value customers, yet consistently deliver mediocre or at best: average customer service? Service in most restaurants in Sri Lanka – be it a standalone or in a hotel, is commonly a reactive read more...
When eating out, what do you consider foremost when choosing a restaurant? Studies confirm that people prioritise food and beverage type first, followed by location, price and value, atmosphere, and, last but not least; the level and speed of service. read more...
In the hospitality industry, happy employees make for happy guests, and, happy guests make for a full hotel and a hotel restaurant with a waiting list: it’s that simple. Not anymore! As more hoteliers start to demand self-sufficiency and enhanced read more...
Lean principles and practices is a methodology that is very much seen as something that works only in manufacturing. Not necessarily. If you were to dine at Xibei a popular chain of restaurants with more than hundreds of locations in read more...
A self-diagnosed coffeeholic, one of the important elements in my evaluation of a property is their coffee service, both within the guestroom and at any restaurant outlet. Given this beverage’s significance in everyday life, it’s a definite no-no for a read more...
Good mornings start with a good breakfast – and this has never been truer in the world of hospitality. With hotel restaurants increasingly becoming destinations in their own right, the revenue potential of breakfast cannot be ignored. The first meal of read more...
Of all the times you have dined at restaurants, how often have you seen a chef move out of his kitchen to learn what his guests really want and to give them the perfect dining experience? Even in these contemporary read more...
There are those who find a dining room bereft of a bar or open kitchen boring. They believe that open kitchens add so much to the restaurant and that the read more...
Like ‘Responsible Tourism’, the Chef in the 21st century will need to evolve into being a ‘Responsible Chef’. When I began my career, I remember that almost all the chefs I encountered were terrible communicators. Not because they were bad at read more...
New research on behalf of Champions 12.3 finds there is a compelling business case for hotels to reduce the amount of food they throw away. For every $1 hotels invested in programs to reduce kitchen food waste, on average they saved $7 read more...
Most diners, i.e. those who eat out regularly and know a thing or two about how good or bad a restaurant is, don't typically give restaurants a second chance if they are not given a great experience the first time read more...
Excepting one hotel, where the person showing us around sounded confident in what he was telling us and dealt with the initial enquiry somewhat efficiently, the interactions at the other hotels were below par. There was this one coordinator who read more...
The wedding functions, the year-ending corporate events, the Christmas parties and the New Year’s Eve dance are all over. December’s monthly revenue was high as hoteliers bid adieu to last year, exclaiming ‘All’s well that ends well’. Soon that euphoric read more...
Commercial kitchens are high energy users, consuming roughly 2.5 times more energy per square foot than any other commercial space, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Of that, as little as 40% is used in the preparation and storage read more...
Commercial kitchens are high energy users, consuming roughly 2.5 times more energy per square foot than any other commercial space, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Of that, as little as 40% is used in the preparation and storage read more...
Don’t get me wrong; I have high respect for executive chefs and their functions in large hotel F&B operations. But have you ever really challenged the position, or have you just accepted it as the norm in all circumstances?
Perhaps we read more...
In January this year, the operations manager of the ‘Indian Summer’ restaurant in Colombo 7, was arrested after Public Health Inspectors discovered deplorable levels of hygiene in the kitchen. Spoilt and expired food items including meat, vegetables and fruits were read more...
The worst manners come from receptionists at restaurants who labour under the illusion that it is a privilege for customers to spend money at their establishments when the truth is it is the other way round. The other month, I read more...
As intended, my last post, "Are executive chefs going the way of the dinosaur?", on the evolution of the executive chef position, triggered a lively debate. It was certainly not meant to suggest a systematic eradication of the position itself but read more...
You might ask; must all entrances to restaurants and bars be accessible for people with disabilities? Not really. As long as there is one entrance nearby, preferably the main entrance that is accessible - thus making it possible for people read more...
Let’s ask ourselves why hotels give away certain perks and benefits to guests. To answer that, we need to gain some insight on the general profitability structure of the hotel. An analysis of a hotel’s income and expenditure statement will read more...
“If you want to ruin the life of your enemy, tell them to open a restaurant” is the advice offered by Benny Se Teo. And when over 600 restaurants fail every year in Singapore, it does make sense. Remarkable advice read more...
They are back! For a few years we have seen rooftop restaurants and bars opening everywhere. New developments have them and existing properties are getting one. I love it! Rooftop venues were always my favorites.
I remember a project I was read more...
During a recent stay in Berlin, I had the chance to explore in detail one of this vibrant city’s culinary specificities, and I rediscovered a term that may be familiar to you: Frühstück.
This word – which some would like to read more...
The Hoxton, Amsterdam
For the past two decades, hoteliers have worked hard to reinvent their restaurants, particularly to make sure they would be perceived as stand-alone and not hotel restaurants.
They did this in several concrete ways; I will only take five to read more...
One of the best ways to predict the quality of meals and service at a restaurant is to examine the restroom. Restrooms, including toilets, tiles and washbasins - are among the easiest rooms to clean. If a restaurant cannot keep its read more...
In the late 1930s, the Waldorf Astoria in New York became the first hotel in the world to introduce the in-room dining service. At the time the concept was Uber-luxury: guests could order a variety of food and have it delivered read more...
Inside view of the Roastery, close to central Milan piazza
Over the years, I’ve noticed several times, especially within our industry, what I would define as "Starbucks bashing.” I'm sure you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?
Here are some extracts read more...
Restaurants that offer only a buffet during mealtimes primarily persuade customers to serve themselves and when the customer is responsible for much of the labour and has some control of the service environment, it behoves the management to provide the read more...
On one hand, more and more farmers, in Western Europe at least, are really suffering and cannot find a sustainable business model that allows them to simply have a decent life. Some have to go on the street demanding support read more...
All of us who appreciate history, art, architecture and food cannot be indifferent to what is happening in Syria today. Damascus, a UNESCO World Heritage site and considered to be the historic cradle of civilization, has offered me so much read more...
I love pastry, and I admire pastry chefs.
For the last few years, I have witnessed what I call the “pastry oedipal complex.” It’s a fancy term for a simple phenomenon - pastry chefs are no longer relegated to their pastry read more...
It is indeed laudable when a hotel chef or restaurateur claims preference for local, fresh products, even possibly when it comes from their own garden or nearby farm. However, I am a bit wary when someone goes overboard with the read more...
Last week, I called a restaurant to book a table for dining. The call was answered after 6 rings by a staff member, whose name, I later found out to be Rudy. Here’s how the telephone conversation went:-
Rudy: ‘Eatallyoucan restaurant’. read more...
Whilst studying at the Ceylon Hotel School (now the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management), my 1st year internship was at at the 5-star Ceylon Inter-Continental hotel in Colombo. I was assigned to work in the main kitchen. read more...
Food and Beverage gurus will tell you that the restaurant menu has evolved greatly over the years. No doubt it has…in terms of the fantastic array of items today’s diner can choose from. The creative guys at your ad agency read more...
For the past two decades, the celebrity chef has been at the center of food and restaurant communication (sometimes perhaps excessively so). It appears, though, that for the past couple of years, there has been a new trend emerging - read more...
Can you fully assess how much creativity, investment, attention and career focus (just to name a few issues) are put into the “banquet, conference and events” segment compared to a signature restaurant or a bar?
To me, the discrepancy of time read more...
We in the hotel business have become somewhat spoiled when it comes to kitchen size and working conditions. Before everyone starts arguing the point, please let me explain.
The restaurant "Heimat" in Frankfurt stunned me by the size of its kitchen read more...
With cases of novel coronavirus growing at exponential rates, the hospitality landscape is drastically changing. Restaurants are no exception and have become ghost towns. Owners, employees and customers of these businesses are left wondering what to do in the short-to-medium read more...
At this very moment all of us are trying hard to come to terms with the emotional and financial repercussions of being in ‘lockdown’ owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. To keep our focus on getting through this 24/7 nightmare, read more...
The prevalence of Covid-19 around the world has forced everyone to become exceedingly reliant on delivery services. In Sri Lanka, it’s no different with everything delivered during curfew time, including things one would not typically expect to be delivered. The read more...
The restaurant business is a brutal one even in the best of times and tragically, there are an astronomical number of people who make and serve food for a living who recently have no jobs due to COVID-19. We are read more...
Partnering with third-party delivery services doesn’t come without its consideration for restaurants. It goes beyond getting that order across to the customer on time. In my previous article titled “How delivery services can make or break your brand”, I wrote read more...
Brand Standards are important and powerful tools in ensuring that your restaurant, pub, bar or hotel stands above the crowd. They guide the general direction of your service (and product, of course) offerings, setting the tone, ambience and vibe. However, read more...
Many believe that more than half of Colombo’s restaurants will not be able to resume operations because of the havoc wrecked by the coronavirus. The figure can get to be higher, if those that do re-open, fail to recognise that, read more...
COVID-19 caused the food-and-beverage industry to abruptly stop in its tracks. Many thought that it was a temporary pause. But as the weeks turned to months, and with places remaining eerily empty, realization that things were far from normal hit read more...
Who ever thought a microscopic virus can wreak havoc on the entire globe? Well COVID-19 has done just that by affecting millions of people apart from causing the death of more than half a million humans.
MICE, as we know is read more...
Before the virus stuck, there were two pressing problems that restaurants were facing. The 1st challenge was finding and retaining good labour in a food service workforce that was stagnating. The 2nd challenge was very narrow profit margins where rising read more...
On May 15, restaurants, cafes and bars in my home city of Vienna were allowed to open again, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. All the shops had opened one or two weeks earlier. I was eager to be able read more...
As we have seen, Covid 19 has resulted in sweeping changes across the spectrum of humanity – from the way we live, work, play and everything else. Terms like ‘social distancing’ and ‘new normal’ have emerged. Basically, we have changed read more...
Having dined in many Sri Lankan restaurants over a long period of time, hardly have I encountered the question ‘Are you allergic to any kind of food?” On the other hand, when travelling to cities both in the European and read more...
As a Christian, there was very little chance for me to witness a pilgrimage to the city of Medina, the second-holiest city in Islam after Mecca. The center of the city is restricted to Muslims, so I stayed at a read more...
We have all heard of the 80/20 rule. But I am willing to bet most of you have not heard it in conjunction with the words “food cost.”
A good friend of mine who was an executive chef explained it to read more...
Rooms? Spa? Restaurants? Service?
You can probably guess the answer just by looking at your own posts. Some may say I’m biased but take a look at this survey (source: localmeasure.com) that I recently found in my archives. It compiles information read more...
Hospitality industry staff members have had a forced hiatus of two months (or more, in some cases) due to the curfew that was enforced from March and lifted in May of this year. Of course, being away from the profession read more...
How important is coffee? As travel came to a virtual standstill and hotels frantically incorporated an endless series of new norms, examining how best to serve coffee became a pandemic priority. Simply put, coffee is an amenity guests will not read more...
Dubai’s most famous market, the Gold Souk is generally considered to be the largest gold bazaar in Arabia and one of the best places in the world to shop for fine gold, whether you’re looking for big-ticket items or everyday read more...
There is a trickle of diners returning to their ole’ jaunts but mostly regulars, which gives hope but not that much to feel the Covid menace was just a one off - a temporary fright right out of the blues, read more...
Few things are more off-putting to a customer than an overcrowded restaurant and this happens despite the best intentions of the operator. Restaurateurs in pursuit of maximizing the amount of customers they can squeeze in, use elaborate table plans, continually read more...
When people hear the term food cost, they generally think of the simple calculation of cost / selling price = food cost %. This calculation does little more than give you a percentage. Understanding and controlling food cost is much read more...
What type of hotelier are you? An aubergiste, entrepreneur, restaurateur or undecided? Your F&B strategy may tell the story. But first of all: No single hotel F&B strategy fits all. There is only “a good strategy” – the one that’s right for read more...
Which type of hotelier are you?
In part one of this blog series, I introduced the idea that there are four types of hoteliers, and that your approach to F&B can tell you a lot about which category you fit into. I believe read more...
In part one of this blog series, I introduced the idea that there are four types of hoteliers, and that your approach to F&B can tell you a lot about which category you fit into. I believe there is a strong alignment read more...
The aubergiste, the entrepreneur, the restaurateur and the undecided (c) Thibault Prugne & Stéphane Bellon
In my very first post of this series, I suggested that the F&B strategy in a hotel is largely driven by the executive’s experience and attitude to the read more...
The aubergiste, the entrepreneur, the restaurateur and the undecided (c) Thibault Prugne & Stéphane Bellon
In my final post on the subject of hotel F&B strategy driven by management, I want to look at a type of hotelier I call the read more...
(l. to r.) Sarah Benahmed, Sébastien Boulay, Franck Pelux
Congratulations to Franck Pelux, Sarah Benahmed and Sébastien Boulay for their first Michelin star at Lausanne Palace (Switzerland).
And my compliments to General Manager Ivan Rivier for having gone against most traditional approaches in read more...
Enter the age of pandemics. As we battle new variants, COVID-19 vaccines may well be here to stay - where getting inoculated against the coronavirus may turn out to be an annual health measure requiring us to get a fresh read more...
Room service from The Bristol, Paris (photo credit: Claire Cocano)
Who would have thought a year ago that booking a hotel room was the key to a gastronomic meal? Check out what is happening right now in Paris, while all the read more...
Let’s take a second and talk about the geography of a restaurant. The guest is seated in the dining room, the chef is back in the kitchen, and for a long time there was only one reliable way for the read more...
Like many, I love going out to eat regularly - in particular, and as with so many others, during the weekends. The dining-out experience, amidst a not too crowded restaurant, with the tolerable ambient noise was something I looked forward read more...
They all predicted that the hotel buffet as we knew it will disappear, perhaps forever; but it has survived-albeit with some modifications to prevent transmission of disease.
For now, self-serving has lost its appeal and is taboo. It’s unknown when the standard read more...
The art of coffee at Four Season Hotel, Milano
Bean to bar, crop to cup, farm to table, field to fork, fork to fork, bean to cup. Do any of those phrases ring a bell? It’s very likely that you’ve heard read more...
Let me start off by making a controversial statement. Personally, I don’t believe the old adage ‘the customer is always right’. In fact, I believe that it is entirely possible for the customer to be 100% wrong. Here’s another controversial read more...
Stéphane Bonnat (from Bonnat Chocolat) visiting a cocoa farm to elaborate with farmers on the tastes he wants.
In my last post, I spoke about Transparency regarding the origin of the product and the grower behind it, and how to communicate it read more...
The Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021, has for sure created sweeping global trends across almost all spheres of business. Suddenly, almost everyone was forced to rethink the way they did business, learning, leisure and lived life. One of the read more...
Soon after the 30 year war on terrorism ended, Sri Lanka had been enjoying a steady increase in tourism growth during the 2010s.Alas…this new found success came to a grinding halt with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like all other countries in the read more...
The Dorchester announced the launch of a new afternoon tea for children, created in collaboration with the Year - 4 pupils of Manorfield Primary School, Poplar, Tower Hamlets.
Priced at £10 per child, the tea was launched on 2nd August and runs read more...
Restaurants as we know them were basically invented in Paris in the mid-18th century, and yet surprisingly little has shifted about the way we do things. A guest arrives, sits down and is presented with a menu. The guest considers read more...
Last weekend, Omnivore food festival 2021 in Paris provided us with a great sample of the best Latin American cuisine.
From green girl power with Brazilian Chef Alessandra Montagne to the Peruvian powerhouse Pìa Leòn, this year’s portfolio of chefs displayed read more...
New Mexico native Shannon Tebay has become the first American to head up the American Bar at The Savoy in London, and the second woman since Ada Coleman. Tebay will start her role next month, having spent the last seven read more...
Since the coronavirus pandemic a lot has happened. In the hospitality arena it has change the way we operate and move around, where the ‘eating out’ experience has altered beyond our wildest dreams. We now have to wear a mask read more...
In the manufacturing world, variability can destroy. It is the enemy of quality. If a product purchased today differs from the same product brought last week, the company making it can kiss the customer goodbye.
In the service landscape, however, particularly read more...
Staying one step ahead of the competition in the hypercompetitive restaurant industry requires more than simply tinkering with the menu. Serving tasty food doesn’t do much good if customers don’t stay long enough – or never even walk through the read more...
Canadians are spending an ever-increasing portion of their food dollars in restaurants. (Shutterstock)
Restaurants are playing an increasingly important role in the food culture of North Americans. In the United States, food prepared outside the home represents more than 50 per cent read more...
The Covid pandemic sent consumers scurrying for food deliveries. Furthermore, widespread lockdowns, topsy turvy work schedules along with a plethora of related concerns rocketed delivery services to a new level of everyday importance.
A new report by ResearchAndMarkets concludes that “The read more...
Panettone is one of the most popular fruitcakes in Europe. Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Nothing says Christmas quite like a fruitcake – or, at the very least, a fruitcake joke. A quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it read more...
The survey on “The Restaurant of the Future: A Vision Evolves,” carried out recently by Deloitte reveals that the demand for frictionless digital experiences continues to top the list of several preferences rapidly fueled by COVID-19.
“It’s been said that the read more...
Order the "Beef Case" at Papi Steak and you'll hear your meal coming before you can see or smell it.
At David "Papi" Einhorn and David Grutman's Miami steakhouse, ordering the off-menu $1,000 tomahawk steak is literally a sight to behold. read more...
Make no mistake wine can be intimidating – particularly if you find yourself among wine snobs who casually drop terms such as ‘chewing’ or ‘unctuous’ in conversation. Okay, you probably don’t need any help recognizing a white wine versus a read more...
Tourism providers, especially hotels recognise that families with dependent children represent a significant proportion of the travelling population, and are an important market. Many hotels make it a point to appear “family-friendly”, so as to attract parents with children by read more...
Breaking news, the nigirizushi (the emblematic rice canapé topped with fresh fish) might not be as Japanese as we believe it is.
The method of this staple of the Japanese cuisine is said to have its roots in an 8th century Chinese preservation method. read more...
Smartphones at the table. Food blogs. Photographs of perfect meals posted online before anyone has taken a bite. Amateur restaurant reviews. Many people don’t just want to cook good food and eat it. They want to review it, blog about read more...
While the phrase “ghost kitchen” may conjure up images of haunted houses, the reality is a bit more mundane.
Ghost kitchens are food prep operations with no waiters, no dining room and no parking lot – really, no public presence whatsoever.
But on read more...
A situation we are all familiar with – you arrive at a restaurant, curious about the experience you’re about to have, probably hungry and eager to discover the menu items that will make your mouth water.
As soon as the order read more...
Ovolo Hotel Group has dropped meat from its menu for a second year running, in what is believed to be a world-first commitment by a hotel group to a vegetarian-led food offering. Ovolo Hotels announced the global move; Plant’d, this read more...
From the rise of click and collect to the advent of dark kitchens, the very concept of the restaurant is undergoing major changes. Even before the pandemic hit, consumers were moving away from the physical location of the restaurant, a transformation read more...
Experts in etiquette tell us that we ‘eat’ rather than ‘drink’ soup because it is part of the meal.
As explained by John Ayto in his book ‘An A-Z of Food and Drink’, “The etymological idea underlying the word soup is read more...
I must confess, I have no formal qualification or industrial exposure to the area of Food & Beverage, apart from being a foodie and moderately capable in a kitchen - although my aversion to cutting, chopping, and washing pans would read more...
Ben Groundwater recently wrote an article carrying the abovementioned title in the Traveller newsletter. He listed seven countries or rather labeled them as been among some of the planets best food destinations, where local hotels were serving tourists a poor read more...
Sri Lanka is unquestionably going through the toughest time that the country has ever faced in its 73-year independence; a crippling economic crisis that has not even escaped the rich; for the first time they are finding out that having read more...
As the chain of mid-range Italian restaurants run by star TV chef Jamie Oliver went into administration,, the reactions were mixed. Some may mourn the closure of these restaurants, which offered a veneer of breezy cool and authentic “Italianness”. But, ultimately, read more...
A Major event is a large-scale activity, with strong public interest and media coverage. Most importantly, these events create a sense of fun and vibrancy, providing the visitors with a leisure and social opportunity beyond the everyday experience. Usually they read more...
I imagine in my biases about Gen Z and Millennials that when they think of coffee, they think of Starbucks, or some other place that serves milkshakes with espresso. But that is not the vision of coffee that pops into read more...
Readers might remember that very recently I wrote an article about the most dismal biriyani that I had ever eaten in my life, at a wedding held at one of the oldest heritage hotels in Colombo. It was so tastelessly read more...
A globally growing public health epidemic affecting millions of people, where several cases of customers suffering mild to extreme, sometimes fatal allergic reactions to restaurant food have been reported in the past. This has been occurring long before COVID-19 and read more...
Any chef who is worth his or her salt would no doubt have heard of Gordon Ramsey, Anthony Bourdain, Jamie Oliver and Alain Ducasse.
Today though, I’ll like to write about Massimo Bottura, a two-time winner of the ‘Best restaurant in read more...
It's another good year for Copenhagen as, for the second year in a row, a restaurant in the Danish capital has been named the best on the planet at the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards.
Geranium serves a meat-free, seasonally based Scandi menu read more...
"My dear girl, there are some things that are just not done, such as drinking Dom Perignon ‘53 above the temperature of 38° Fahrenheit." --- James Bond in Ian Fleming’s movie ‘Goldfinger’.
In my time at the hotel school I recall read more...
A food safety researcher explains another way to know what’s too old to eat.
Avoiding unseen food hazards is the reason people often check the dates on food packaging. And printed with the month and year is often one of a dizzying array read more...
Serendipity 3, a popular East Side restaurant in New York, known for its extravagant and expensive desserts sells the world’s most commercially priced, (expensive) sandwich. It’s a champagne-breaded, gold-flake sprinkled grilled cheese sandwich that costs US$ 214.
Called the Quintessential Grilled read more...
They say that nothing is free in life, but one bar in Zamora, Spain has taken this concept to a totally different level. The Spanish bar sparked outrage for charging its customers for every time the waiter comes to their read more...
There are 4 reasons for the dent in the bottom of the bottle (properly called the “punt,” which I will refer to it as hereafter).
Historical: The punt was originally put in the bottom of a bottle because it’s extremely difficult read more...
Sam Panopoulos a chef in Canada created the Hawaiian pizza. He was neither Hawaiian nor Italian. Born in 1934, he moved to Canada when 20 and ran a restaurant with his brothers in Ontario. A visit to Naples –the birthplace read more...
Say you overheard a person at a crowded bar tell someone, “Time for one more hanky-panky before we call it quits”, you’ll probably think there is some mischievous behaviour, perhaps a dishonest or shady activity with a playful sexual connotation, read more...
Which is the healthier drink – tea or coffee?
Scientists have discovered that regularly drinking coffee or tea can provide a variety of health benefits. So, whether you start the morning with a heady burst of caffeine from an aromatic and read more...
Aliya, Ceylon Sailor, Serendib, the Baroness, Paddington, Tusker, Everlasting Summer, Orient Expresso…they all have two things in common. Firstly they are all cocktails. Secondly, and most importantly, the principal ingredient or base spirit is Sri Lankan Arrack.
The pear-shaped island’s drinking read more...
If Your Challenge is Food & Beverage Then – Meet Your Maker
Everywhere you look it’s bleeding. The patient is so messed up it’s not even funny. It will never fix itself. You need CORE on your side.
CostOperationsRevenueExecute
Patrick is a self-made read more...
You’re not imagining it—some water really is better than others.
For many, water is simply water. As long as it’s potable, any eight glasses a day is the same as another. But anybody who has paid a modicum of attention to read more...
The pandemic has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives—the way we now communicate, the way we shop and most importantly, the way we dine. More and more of today’s customers demand a digital offering from all tiers of read more...
"I've seen colleagues at tastings down litres of wine and get so drunk they can barely remember their names."
When it comes to tasting and valuing wine, most of us couldn't tell a 2009 Chateau Latour from a boxed Tesco red. read more...
In his novel “the Sun Also Rises” Ernest Hemingway wrote “We lunched upstairs at Botin’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta”. If Hemingway praised the restaurant, read more...
The world’s best restaurant is unsustainable. Owner René Redzepi said the Copenhagen restaurant Noma (the name is a syllabic abbreviation of the two Danish words; nordisk (Nordic) and mad (food), would shut its doors to regular service in 2024. Noma will transform into a read more...
Not really. Re-discovered? Yes. The term orange wine, sometimes referred to as macerated wine, is an old but newly reawakened trend in the world of wines. Orange wine is growing the way rosé did years ago. Recently demand for it read more...
A run down on what you need to know of AYCE.
Humans by nature set their expectation of taste to some extent on the price. Have you heard someone excitedly talk about a cheaper-priced buffet offering? I’m guessing hardly, if not read more...
Nettie’s House of Spaghetti in New Jersey, USA, recently banned children less than 10 years from its dining room by posting the following on social media.
“Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the read more...
École Ducasse, a network of schools dedicated to the transmission of outstanding French expertise based on excellence in culinary and pastry arts, has announced a series of “new innovations in line with gastronomic trends”.
Ecole Ducasse consists of three schools in read more...
Part of the ritual of eating a meal in a good restaurant is the waiter/waitress asking customers whether they are enjoying their food and if there is anything else they can get for them.
Support isn’t just about resolving a customer’s read more...
Sampling beers above the locations that inspired them make this a brewery tour like no other.
Pssssch. That’s the irresistible sound of a freshly-cracked can of Point Lookout Lager from Straddie Brewing Co, which I’m opening on a Cessna 172 flying read more...
Thinking of getting into scotch? Huh…where does one begin? First of all, scotch as you most probably know refers to whisky. Secondly, Whisky is the spelling in Scotland whilst the Irish and the Americans spell it as whiskey.
Incidentally, it is read more...
When Steve Jobs was dying of cancer, he wrote a list of things he had learned about life. One of them was: “Eat your food as your medicine. Otherwise, you have to eat medicine as your food.”
Sadly, Aerated drinks and read more...
Food critic Mr Sitwell: 'No food should be served on a plate with a right angle'
From sliders to suggestively large pepper grinders, here's a rundown of useless home ware that will ruin a good meal.
“Modern” food trends have a lot read more...
Pizza, the world’s most popular and favourite fast food has ancient roots, but what was it that eventually propelled it towards global domination?
It was in late 18th-century Naples that the pizza as we now know it came into being. Naples read more...
Everyone knows that they should tip their servers well; in fact, the general rule, in North America at least, is 15% nowadays, but some people prefer to aim higher—or even tip with other gifts. Such is the story of lottery read more...
Meet the top 3
Number 1: Kimball Musk - Net worth: $500 million
Entrepreneurship runs in the Musk family. Chef, restaurateur, and owner of The Kitchen Restaurant Group—and yes, brother to Elon—Kimbal Musk is a South African-based chef known for owning a read more...
Those of us who saw the film “Hell or high water” may recall the scene where the main role of a Texas Ranger played by Jeff Bridges goes to a little restaurant in a small Texas town, with his partner. read more...
A recent question posed by a young individual on a Facebook group asked the community for their advice on opening his or her (it was an anonymous post) restaurant. Having some knowledge and insights of my own on the topic, read more...
After a group of teenagers went out to a restaurant by themselves for the first time and weren't extremely knowledgeable on how to calculate a good enough tip for their waiter, they decided to return several days later with a sincere and sweet read more...
‘The times they are a-changin' goes the song, and indeed they are. The writing is on the wall for paper menu based menus. The long-cherished idea of trying to appease everyone – ‘all things to all people’ is vanishing.
The challenges read more...
McDonald's is unquestionably the most popular fast food restaurant in the world. Each day, the restaurant serves about 1% of the world's population, which astonishingly is a near 70 million people. Interestingly, it is estimated that one-in-eight Americans have worked at a McDonald’s at read more...
How many of you have flashbacks of your mother yelling at you “don’t put your elbows on the table” when dining? I bet many of us ‘ole timers’ do. Is this an old fashioned rule that has lost relevance in modern dining etiquette? read more...
The challenges faced in space travel not only include the absence of gravity and the luxury of space inside the spacecraft, but also the deprivation of eating tasty food. We tend to conjure thoughts of eating food in space as read more...
Not many people, including those living in the US have heard of Pal’s Sudden Service. I hadn’t, until very recently. Infact, on the surface, there’s nothing all that amazing about Pal’s. Thirty one locations concentrated within an 80-mile radius surrounding read more...
Waiters or servers are probably aware that the primary goal when serving food and drinks is to do everything possible to ensure that the people who visit their restaurant receive it safe from contamination. They are probably also aware of read more...
When the The New York Times and The Boston Globe recently published exposés in which employees of award-winning chef Barbara Lynch described their abusive work environments, we weren’t surprised.. Anyone who has spent years working in restaurants probably wouldn’t be surprised, either, As sociologists read more...
Attending a National Bartenders competition held recently at a 5-star hotel, I had to hastily change my seat once the contest commenced. Although it was a 5,000 mile view of the performing contestants’, I realised no sooner the first competing read more...
Recently, there has been a surge in unique accommodations and culinary offerings in the Norwegian fjord region. One of the standout experiences is Iris Expedition Dining, a restaurant that offers a truly unique food experience. This exclusive dining spot is read more...
During the pandemic, there was obviously an issue with buffet service due to touchpoints and how operators controlled these. Some hotels completely removed buffets from their restaurants. Those who persisted with it, replaced the ‘choose and pick yourself’ experience with read more...
Today’s media can stage-manage just about any job to appear glamorous. Take for example: a chef in a restaurant. By showing an overhyped celebrity chef, suspend an ommlette in midair with the flick of the wrist, before making it land read more...
The International Wine & Spirits Competition has unveiled its annual list of top-rated liquors, as selected by its panel of distinguished industry experts. When it comes to the Scotch whisky winners, there’s quite a lot to unpack. The results are quantified read more...
Dining with half a dozen old school mates at a popular restaurant, I encountered an annoying experience – one that I have observed occurs very often and yet stays overlooked, because many customers treat such behaviour as insignificant.
Let me explain. read more...
Restaurants are known to be prone to the occasional culinary faux pas. One of them is serving food or drink which you the customer discovers is not what he or she expected – be it by taste, or food that read more...
Coffee is unique among artisanal beverages in that the brewer plays a significant role in its quality at the point of consumption. In contrast, drinkers buy draft beer and wine as finished products; their only consumer-controlled variable is the temperature read more...
Sampling a country’s most popular and traditional dishes can be one of the best parts about visiting or moving to a new country, and a great way to immerse oneself in the culture of a new place. However, these much read more...
You have good manners, right? After all, when you were young, you were schooled in the art of eating properly, where, you were taught to keep your elbows off the table; not talk while eating; not to slurp your soup read more...
While perusing Facebook the other day, I came across an article titled ‘Chefs Reveal The Red Flags We Should Look Out For In Restaurant’. The expose highlighted some of the critical things that diners often take for granted when visiting read more...
…and how social media is pushing back.
The history of restaurants, food and, especially, fine dining, is deeply tied to the history of immigration to the U.S. and French cultural power in the early 20th century. Not surprisingly, the story that read more...
What is the first meal of the day and is usually the last meal a hotel guest experiences, before they check out in the morning? Breakfast of course! Hotels probably serve more breakfast than any other meal, and yet, in read more...
Over the past few years, bars and restaurants around the world have implemented gentle to strict children bans, sometimes with weirdly specific parameters. In 2013, Houston's La Fisheria banned children under 8 after 7 p.m. In 2014, Old Fisherman's Grotto in Monterey, California discouraged read more...
A nutrition specialist explains what’s behind the beloved comfort food.
Preparing a bowl of chicken soup for a loved one when they’re sick has been a common practice throughout the world for centuries. Today, generations from virtually every culture swear to the benefits of read more...
Arguing with guests is a cardinal sin in the service industry. It’s arguably the hardest part of the job: People working in the hospitality industry are required to be nice to people – even to those who don’t deserve it. read more...
Have you noticed that supermarkets are now investing in the space and equipment to not only provide grab-and-go items like sandwiches, hot dogs, pizzas and other premade ready to eat food, but are also expanding their food service offerings by read more...
The thing we call a tea would taste just as sweet if we called it by any other name. Tea is one of the most universally recognised words on the planet. Wherever you go, you can drink a cuppa of read more...
US researchers say they may have discovered why some people get a headache after just one small glass of red wine, even though they are fine drinking other types of alcohol. The University of California team says it is due read more...
Many full service restaurants report growing sales. However, more sales don’t necessarily translate to more customers. The dining out scenario is a constantly changing moving target and it’s hard to measure merely at the cash register.
Restaurants have been raising menu read more...
While elaborate, multi-ingredient cocktails are delicious, there's a special synergy in two-ingredient drinks. Sometimes, the mixture of two components can provide a wondrous result with a more complex taste than you'd expect. Such is the case with the Rusty Nail, read more...
Fast food, long known as one of the cheapest ways to eat, no longer feels affordable to many diners. Even value deals are getting more expensive. The positive aspect of all this is that, it is one more reason to read more...
It’s been a hard four years for the restaurant industry.
When the pandemic hit, restaurants were some of the most impacted businesses. In the US, an estimated 72.7K closed due to covid.
But now, there are signs of re- growth: Yelp listings read more...
A butcher shop in Japan has a long, long waiting list for its croquettes.
I don’t mind waiting in lines to pick up my food, or pre-ordering cool stuff months before it comes out. But CNN reports that there’s a specialty butcher shop in western Japan’s Hyogo prefecture read more...
Some people are anti-buffet while there are others who love them - to each their own, I guess!
I love buffets…I mean really good ones, and having eaten in many, I’ve come to realise a few things that differentiate a good read more...
Today we will look into some scenarios when food might have to go to the bin. So, let’s see what are the acceptable reasons to waste food in professional kitchens.
But before we begin, we must define what ‘food’ is:
Food is read more...
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for the rise in solo dining stems from the fact more and more individuals are living alone now more than ever – especially young adults who are looking to meet new people.
According to the Pew read more...
Not only are restaurants are being hit with worker shortages, they now face rising labour costs. The thorny problem is there just aren’t enough humans who want to do the work. Stepping in to address this long drawn out labour read more...
Few industries are as competitive as the restaurant business. Many restaurants, especially fast casual restaurants, seek the best ways to increase foot traffic and consumer base to gain that competitive edge and increase revenue. One underrated tool these establishments should read more...
Restaurant reservations can be made over the phone, online or via an SMS message. A reservation guarantees diners a table at the restaurant of their choice when they arrive at the prearranged time. Likewise, when restaurants accept reservations, it benefits read more...
Food safety should be a culture in restaurants. Training and retraining falls on management to make sure restaurants are on the up and up during inspections Food safety is a top concern in restaurants, but as employees get less and read more...
More and more restaurants including the casual dining and high-end (fine dining) ones, keep asking “Why are there fewer customers in my restaurant than last year?" it’s a question that has frustrated many. As a result, it has led to read more...
A patron of a restaurant checks in at the host stand and the host offers to take the patron’s coat. The patron declines, is shown to the table, and then places the coat on the back of the chair with read more...
The most seductive culinary myths have murky origins, with a revolutionary discovery created by accident, or out of necessity.
For the Caesar salad, these classic ingredients are spiced up with a family food feud and a spontaneous recipe invention on the read more...
Summer means salads. And salads are even more delicious with a good dressing.
Most salad dressings are temporarily stable mixtures of oil and water known as emulsions.
But how do salad dressing emulsions form? And how can we enhance our emulsions for read more...
". . . The dates have little to do with when food expires or becomes less safe to eat"
Humans get sick with listeria infections, or listeriosis, from eating soil-contaminated food, undercooked meat or dairy products that are raw or unpasteurized. read more...
I heard the late, great Fred Newell once talk about a Jack Nicholson exchange with a waitress in the movie “Five Easy Pieces” that illustrated how rules or company policy can generate conflict with customers instead of giving them what read more...
A food chemist explains the process from milk to mozzarella.
Cheese is a relatively simple food. It’s made with milk, enzymes – these are proteins that can chop up other proteins – bacterial cultures and salt. Lots of complex chemistry goes into the read more...
My professional career began over 30 years ago in a fine-dining French restaurant called “The Palm Terrace.” I started as a busboy, and then worked my way up to various roles.
However, the job that transformed me; the one that made read more...
On a recent Thursday afternoon at a Denny's in Long Beach, California, a 4-foot-tall robot glided toward Diane Deconnick's table. Its three tiered trays could have hauled a feast, but they were empty except for a bowl of soup and read more...
Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that choice, you decide to order a traditional meat read more...
Gen Z doesn't see fast food the same way as older generations.
Diners in the age group are less likely to say that fast food is a good deal, Morning Consult found.
For chains like McDonald's, the solution isn't as simple as $5 meal read more...
One restaurant is suing another over who originated the globally loved curry in a case that has captured national attention.
Butter chicken, a rich tomato-based Indian curry that makes mouths water around the world, was invented by a man named Kundan read more...
Automating food is unlike automating anything else. Food is fundamental to life – nourishing body and soul – so how it’s accessed, prepared and consumed can change societies fundamentally.
Automated kitchens aren’t sci-fi visions from “The Jetsons” or “Star Trek.” The read more...
The popularity of vegan diets continues to increase around the world. Indeed, in 2023, the vegan food market grew to more than US$27 billion. The term “vegan” usually refers to foods that contain no animal ingredients (meat, poultry, eggs, milk, fish, read more...
“We are given a belly button and told not to eat it, but lick the juices from it,” was the line that got me to drop everything and keep reading this review of a $775/head Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain. It’s written by John Ferris, a read more...
"The guest always remembers the host that treated them kindly" - Homer
The first impression I got from the host was hardly what a guest would expect from this purportedly high-caliber restaurant in the newest property portrayed as a ‘dream city’ read more...
Controversial heading, isn’t it? Yes, because controversial headings garner readership. As a writer and marketer, I know it all too well. But in the case of this article, I feel it is justified. That’s because, I believe that the use read more...
Humans are always delighted by the idea of getting food from machines — whether it’s the old automats of the 1900s or a replicator from “Star Trek.”
But what’s the difference between a restaurant and what is functionally a vending machine? If it’s read more...
Brandy
Good to know:Brandy is a spirit distilled from red wine. Fine brandies are aged for extra flavour in wooden casks. Hangover hell? Brandy contains high amounts of impurities.
Calories:Around 80 in every 35ml shot.
Pros:Because brandy is a distillation of red wine, read more...
White Wine
Good to know: White wine is made from the fermented juice of grapes stripped of their seeds and skins.
Calories:Around 130 calories per 175 ml glass; slightly more in sweeter wines.
Pros: American researchers found that grape flesh contains the chemicals read more...
Tourists flocked to see the “macaroni eaters” cram noodles into their mouths.
A hungry visitor strolling through the narrow streets of 19th-century Naples would have encountered a wealth of food options—some more tempting than others. Vendors hawked meats and cakes, women cooked read more...
Sri Lankan cuisine, often overshadowed by Indian food, offers a rich blend of flavours, making it a distinct and diverse culinary tradition of its own.
One reason why so many people in neighbouring countries may be ambivalent about Indians is because read more...
“Would you prefer tea or coffee?”
How often have we all heard this from the restaurant waiter after dining at a restaurant? Many times I’m sure, since serving tea or coffee after dinner is a common practice in several restaurants.
It all read more...
Five years ago he took the prestigious Michelin Guide to court and lost over an unfavorable review of a controversial soufflé. Now French chef Marc Veyrat has launched a fresh salvo against the fine-dining bible, banning its inspectors from his read more...
I’ve worked in the hotel sector for over 40 years and there have been more changes in the past five years than the last 40. So much has happened in such a short space of time. Thanks to rapid innovation read more...
A straightforward breakdown of every Johnnie Walker color, from mixing-friendly Red to prestigious Blue, helping you choose the right bottle for your taste and budget.
Johnnie Walker’s famous colored labels have been walking across whisky shelves for over a century, but read more...
One of the things I find when doing restaurant consulting is that owners and management frequently have not considered the comfort of their guests while dining, and work solely on making sure the food and service is a good quality. read more...
The Crazy Part
It may sound nuts, but here goes...
You should be changing your prices EVERY SINGLE MONTH.
What?
It sounds crazy, right? But hear me out. Over the last two years, restaurant owners all over the country have struggled with volatile price read more...
One of the articles we carried last February was “The room attendant - The navy SEAL in a hotel”. It described the room attendant in the housekeeping department as holding one of the toughest jobs in a star class hotel read more...
Here's what all those fancy words on your wine label really mean.
If you're new to drinking wine or simply can't decipher what those frilly words on the label mean, here's a quick guide to explaining everything.
I'm certainly not a certified sommelier, read more...
Let’s take a second and talk about the geography of a restaurant. The guest is seated in the dining room, the chef is back in the kitchen, and for a long time there was only one reliable way for the read more...
Restaurant reservations culture is out of control.
The digital promoting players are more than a hand full, reservations systems that actually can assist your business to success are limited and unaffordable for individual restaurants, so you are left with chaos and read more...
Yes, I read restaurant reviews before I dine out, especially when I’m traveling or visiting a restaurant for the first time. The reviews themselves don’t carry a lot of weight with me though. Because, most reviews simply tell me whether or read more...
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and soon, there might not be such a thing as free breakfast either.
To the despair of hotel guests everywhere, the longstanding perk is disappearing as popular hotel chains rethink their offerings and read more...
CSMD – Conference Services Managers’ Disease and Its Devastating Effects on Your Hotel’s Bottom Line
I first diagnosed CSMD at Hotel Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada where I held the position of hotel manager in the early 2000’s. I call it read more...
Holidays should be about relaxing, enjoying yourself and making memories – not obsessing over a “perfect” eating plan. A healthy diet is built over months and years, not in a single week (or two). Instead of restricting what you eat, read more...
Running a restaurant has never been easy. Margins are thin, competition is fierce, and customers’ expectations are higher than ever. But even in challenging times, some restaurants thrive while others struggle to keep their doors open.
After working with hundreds of read more...
