Ontario Restaurant News - September 2013

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September 2013 Vol. 28 No. 8

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Working on the

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THE COMBINE HARVESTS NORFOLK’S BOUNTY

IT’S A WONDERFUL DAY FOR PIE IN TORONTO

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A NEW FOOD CENTRE FOR DURHAM COLLEGE

NEW OVEN TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGY

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FEATURE: Buffet expectations and demands are changing for the restaurant operator. ORN explores how some restaurants are carving out their segment of the market.

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Herb Marshall, owner of Beach Street Station.

By Kristen Smith, assistant editor, digital content

he and his wife Sherry purchased in 2006 after moving from Toronto to the lakeside town of 8,000 people.

The Marshall’s 250-seat restaurant is already one of the largest food providers in the surrounding county and when the aptly-named Beach Street Station opens next May, the couple will have another 280 seats under their co-ownership.

He told ORN he would maintain the integrity of the conical-shaped, historic brick building. He plans on restoring the station to its original glory by getting rid of the drop ceiling that was built to retain heat in the 40s, making way for cathedral ceilings in the two-storey space, and

GODERICH, ON—Last month, the former Goderich train station moved from the back portion of the town harbour – where it sat since 1907 – to its new home on the shore of Lake Huron where it will become a 10,000-square-foot restaurant. It took the Laurie McCulloch Building Moving company three months to prepare to move the 400-tonne building 250 metres, a goal Herb Marshall has been working toward for three years.

Marshall is proprietor of the historic Park House restaurant, which

reconstructing a cantilever roof seen in old photographs.

Once the drop ceilings are removed, a raised catwalk down the middle of the station will be exposed, and Marshall said guests will be able to look down on both sides of the restaurant and have a view of the lake.

“Memorabilia will be key to this building; we have so many different pictures,” said Marshall, citing those who worked at the station, operations paraphernalia and route maps as examples. “It will definitely retain a sense of its history.”

Continued on page 3

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From a train station to a restaurant in Goderich Continued from cover

With dark wood trim and furniture, Marshall said the project will involve local tradespeople for all aspects including construction, plumbing, electrical work and furnishings.

The main restaurant will seat 120 in the former baggage area and a sunroom addition, and a patio overlooking the lake will add capacity for 90 more. A 70-seat coffee shop, open in the morning for those taking a stroll along the boardwalk, will have seating for 35 inside and outside and Marshall said those seats will act as a comfortable waiting area during dinner service.

“We’re lucky to have two solid tourism months,” said Marshall. He thinks the menu, with an average check of between $15 and $35, will appeal to those looking for an affordable outing as well as those looking for “chef-prepared entrees,” and have an emphasis on local seafood and grilled items, particularly steak.

The Nova Scotia native has four Red Sealcertified chefs from culinary schools around the province in his employ. “I’m looking for a mentor,” said Marshall. “I’m hoping to have someone come here who will fall in love with Goderich and work with me to develop the menu.”

Marshall’s plans for the municipally owned property don’t stop at the opening of the restaurant at 2 Beach St.: that’s just phase one.

Further plans include building a banquet and conference facility, a boon to regional tourism.

“Small towns are all competing for manufacturing jobs and companies to come and provide jobs. In Goderich, we’ve got the advantage of the fact that we’ve got such a beautiful place to live, with the water here and the beautiful harbour and sandy beaches,” said Marshall. “Tourism is very important to us because we see that as a method of somebody finding out about Goderich and maybe wanting to relocate and bring their business here or retire here.”

Marshall sees an opportunity to host a number of weddings and said the kitchen is being designed to accommodate both the restaurant and banquet-size events.

2 Beach St. (519) 524-4968, beachstreetstation.com.

Herb Marshall, front row, second from left. Photo by Jeremy Penn.

Left inset: Aerial view of the 400-tonne property. Photo by Rob Boyce, Your Life in Stills.

Serruya family acquires Kahala Corp.

TORONTO—A household name in Canadian frozen desserts has acquired controlling interest of U.S.-based QSR franchisor Kahala Corp., owner of the Cold Stone Creamery brand. As of Aug. 19, the Serruya family, founders of Yogen Früz, will steer Kahala’s brands to further expansion in both the Canadian and international markets.

“Kahala has a really unique platform and business position in the foodservice and franchising industry,” Michael Serruya, now Kahala Corp. co-CEO, told ORN. “It has such a significant platform, an amazing platform, with such a breadth of strong brands. I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to really leverage those brands and introduce them to international markets.”

In Canada, Kahala operates Cold Stone Creamery, as well as Taco Time which is operated through master franchisor MTY. In the U.S. and abroad, its brands include Blimpie, Samurai Sam’s, The Great Steak and Potato Company and Johnnie’s New York Pizzeria.

Serruya said he first expressed interest in the company about seven years ago, and the recent deal is the culmination of several years of strong persistence on the part of Serruya and his brothers Aaron and Simon.

“About a year ago, the opportunity arose as a result of one of the large shareholders, the Peterson Trust, wanting to sell off its shares,” said Serruya. “We’ve been very persistent and, needless to say, we’re very excited about where we are now.”

With the majority of Kahala’s brands focused south of the border, Serruya said they will look at the entire portfolio and identify, based on the competitive landscape in Canada, which of those brands would be best suited.

“We’ll definitely consider bringing as many of those brands as we can to Canada,” he said.

Despite Cold Stone’s popularity in Canada and partnership with Tim Hortons – which Serruya said would not change – he noted the family’s existing frozen yogurt brands, including Yogen Früz and Yogurty’s, would continue

to operate under a different team. “We’ve always viewed the ice cream consumer as being different than that of a frozen yogurt customer,” said Serruya.

One area for potential expansion is making the company’s brands available to the retail sector. Cold Stone products are currently on offer in U.S. supermarkets, and Serruya said that there is tremendous opportunity to move into the consumer package goods category.

Kahala founder Kevin Blackwell will hold the position of co-CEO. He and Serruya have known each other for more than 20 years.

“Alongside Kevin Blackwell and his team, I think we can really use the existing platform to expand both domestically and internationally, right now,” said Serruya.

In the future, he hinted that there is strong potential for further acquisitions. “The really attractive thing to us all along has been that, looking at the global landscape, Kahala has a really unique platform and to bring another brand into that would be very attractive.”

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Editorial Director Leslie Wu ext. 227 lwu@canadianrestaurantnews.com Senior Contributing Editor Colleen Isherwood ext. 231 cisherwood@canadianrestaurantnews.com Assistant Editor Elaine Anselmi ext. 226 eanselmi@canadianrestaurantnews.com Assistant Editor, Digital Content Kristen Smith ext. 238 ksmith@canadianrestaurantnews.com Senior Account Manager Debbie McGilvray ext. 233 dmcgilvray@canadianrestaurantnews.com Account Manager Kim Kerr ext. 229 kkerr@canadianrestaurantnews.com Production Stephanie Giammarco ext. 0 sgiammarco@canadianrestaurantnews.com Circulation Manager Don Trimm ext. 228 dtrimm@canadianrestaurantnews.com Controller Tammy Turgeon ext. 237 tammy@canadianrestaurantnews.com How to reach us: Tel (905) 206-0150

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he old adage says that happy customers will tell one person about their meal in your restaurant, but the unhappy diner will tell 10. What, then, should operators make of a new program proposed by London researchers that trawls Twitter for unhappy comments and then declares your establishment unsafe?

Students at the University of Rochester developed the system, ominously named nEmesis, to track the spread and scope of digestive complaints. By taking a wide sample of social media results for key terms around food poisoning or sickness, the program projects a rating as to which restaurants are most likely to make diners ill, comparing the results against those of local health departments.

Sounds like a potential public relations nightmare, doesn’t it? Using this program, prospective customers could be warned from

Mickey Cherevaty Consultant, Moyer Diebel Limited Marvin Greenberg Consultant Jack Battersby President, Summit Food Service Distributors Inc. Barney Strassburger Jr. President, TwinCorp Paul LeClerc Partner, Serve-Canada Food Equipment Ltd. Michael Stephens Director of Retail, Inventory and Wholesale, LCBO Ralph Claussen Director Food and Beverage Operations Woodbine Entertainment Group Adam Colquhoun President, Oyster Boy John Crawford Director of Sales-Canada, Lamb Weston Tina Chiu Chief Operating Officer, Mandarin Restaurant Franchise Corporation Matt Johnston Vice-president, Marketing, Moosehead Breweries Martin Kouprie Chef/Owner, Pangaea Restaurant Joel Sisson Founder and president of Crush Strategy Inc. Leslie Wilson Vice-president of Business Excellence Compass Group Canada Chris Jeens Partner W. D. Colledge Co. Ltd. Volume 28 No. 8 Ontario Restaurant News is published 12 times per year by Ishcom Publications Ltd., which also publishes: Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News, Atlantic Restaurant News, Canadian Lodging News, Ontario Chains and the ORN Buyers’ Directory.

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your dining room by a late night tweet from someone who could have eaten (or drunk) anything throughout the day before arriving anywhere near your establishment.

Lest this scenario sound farfetched, consider how the news of the infamous cronut burger broke this summer at the Canadian National Exhibition. Less than 24 hours after the first reported illness, well before any results or confirmation came back from the Toronto Board of Health, tweets from people claiming illness were reported internationally. By the next morning, more than 100 people had called in complaints.

And yet, maybe crowdsourcing food safety is a benefit, not a curse, of technology. After all, the now tainted reputation of the cronut burger brought attention to the real culprit... the bacon jam adorning the concoction that allegedly affected hundreds of people.

Bi t s

Publisher Steven Isherwood ext. 236 sisherwood@canadianrestaurantnews.com

Editorial advisory CounCil

O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Heinz cuts 600 jobs in North America post-acquisition PITTSBURGH—Three months after Heinz announced its acquisition by an investment consortium, the company is laying off 600 office workers in Canada and the United States.

Spokesman Michael Mullen told the CBC in August that the company will retain 800 people in Pittsburgh and 6,000 across North America after the layoffs are complete.

The $28-billion acquisition deal made news in February when a consortium made up of 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway, helmed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, took over Heinz.

At the time, there were 1,200 employees at the Pittsburgh location, said 3G Capital managing partner Alex Behring.

Bernardo Hees took over the CEO position at H.J. Heinz when the deal was finalized in June. Hees was previously CEO of Burger King Worldwide, also owned by 3G, and succeeded former Heinz chairman, president and CEO William R. Johnson.

When asked about 3G’s previous record of aggressive cost cutting during a press conference in February, Behring said “we’ve been involved in a variety of fields in the past, and some had a lot of cost optimization and efficiencies.”

For previous coverage of the Heinz acquisition, check out canadianrestaurantnews.com or the March issue of ORN.

Mississauga gets Afghan FSR MISSISSAUGA—The Chopan Grill opened in July at 2155 Leanne Blvd. in Mississauga.

Co-owner Najib Rahimi, a native of Afghanistan, opened the upscale, full-service restaurant after successfully operating the concept in Long Island, NY. Rahimi, who is also the chef, operates the Mississauga location with a Canadian partner, according to the Mississauga News.

The Chopan Grill offers 10 kebab dishes,

a nd

including a house special of marinated lamb chops, and traditional Afghani fare such as aushak, boiled dumplings stuffed with seasoned chicken or beef topped with garlic yogurt and lentils, and quabili palau, tender meat (often lamb) under rice mixed with lentils, raisins and julienned carrots.

Facebook adds OpenTable to its mobile pages MENLO PARK, CA—Social networking giant Facebook announced a partnership with online reservation website OpenTable in August. An update will allow users to book tables through mobile Facebook pages at the more than 20,000 North American restaurants registered with OpenTable.

“There is no need to visit a separate site or open a separate app,” according to the statement on Facebook’s webpage.

Reports indicate the update is rolling out automatically.

In July, OpenTable announced it was taking over the reservation system of IAC’s Urbanspoon, a restaurant information and recommendation service and OpenTable competitor.

Valhalla Inn renovates its two foodservice options THUNDER BAY, ON—After a fire damaged Valhalla Inn’s Timbers restaurant in early January, forcing the casual concept to share space with the Thunder Bay property’s upscale Runway 25 Steaklounge, both restaurants are getting a fresh new look.

Renovations are set for completion in October, Mary McLellan, Valhalla Inn general manager told ORN, and are a part of a major investment in upgrades to the hotel over the next year.

“This is a major renovation project for the Valhalla Inn,” McLellan said in a release.

“Timbers restaurant has been a cornerstone for both our hotel and for the community of Thunder Bay since 1990.”

The renovation will relocate Timbers,

The easy reporting of illness on social media can be seen as a way to promote awareness, rather than the means of spreading malicious rumour, fear or, even worse, providing potential sources of litigation.

In today’s world of recalls and heightened consumer awareness about food, a restaurateur has to be aware of potential problems before an unhappy customer broadcasts rumours to the general public through social media.

Unfortunately, the sad math is that the people an unhappy diner can tell about a meal are now more likely to be counted in the thousands rather than a mere 10 – and that is a number that many operators would find it hard to swallow.

Leslie Wu, Editorial director

Bi t e s solely, to the existing Runway 25 space, allowing for 125 seats. Runway 25 will move over to the rebuilt Timbers space, with 104 seats and an all-new aviation-themed décor made up of wood and metal components.

The Valhalla Inn has been in operation since 1981 and hotel renovations will see all guest rooms updated with new carpeting, bedding and furniture over the next year – the majority have been completed already – as well as upgrades to the ballroom and event space.

Maple Leaf selling Rothsay TORONTO—Maple Leaf Foods announced on Aug. 23 that it is entering into a definitive agreement to sell Rothsay, its rendering and biodiesel business, to U.S. food waste recycling company Darling International Inc. The sale of Rothsay, which operates six rendering plants across Canada and a biodiesel facility in Quebec, supports Maple Leaf ’s “strategy to focus on effective capital deployment and profitable growth on the consumer packaged foods market,” president and CEO Michael McCain said in a release.

The transaction, a sale of about $645 million, is expected to close by the end of the year and, according the release, will be used initially to pay down debt. Upon completion of Maple Leaf ’s prepared meats strategy, management will consider appropriate deployment of surplus capital.

Corrections: *A story in the July issue of ORN listed Manchu Wok under MTY’s portfolio. Manchu Wok is owned by Hong Kong-based Café de Coral Holdings Ltd. and does not have any connection to MTY. We regret the error. *The “Buying in to green” feature in the August issue of ORN listed the LEED-certified Tim Hortons’ address incorrectly, as 969 Upper Water St., Hamilton. The address is 969 Upper Ottawa St., Hamilton.

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Owners of The Combine, Jennifer von Schleinitz and Ryan Rivard.

Harvesting the bounty at The Combine in Simcoe

By Leslie Wu SIMCOE, ON—A Norfolk son returned to the county after 20 years to open up The Combine, a 60-seat eatery, in one of the area’s historic houses on Aug. 17.

Chef Ryan Rivard and partner Jennifer von Schleinitz, former director of food and beverage at Toronto’s Drake Hotel, both work and live in the house which dates back to 1905, when the Cutting family, who also owned Simcoe’s lumber yard, bought a sizeable piece of land around the

business for family and associates.

“Our property is unique in that we have 13 neighbours in an L-shaped plot of land,” Rivard told ORN. The restaurant occupies the Cuttings’ personal house, and creating a commercial kitchen in a space that used to contain a sunroom proved to be challenging.

“We had to take out all the windows, reframe the walls and build a cinder wall to hold the ventilation hood,” said Rivard. The handmade brick oven needed to rest on a custom-made concrete base, and since

the property was fed by well water, a water line had to be brought to the property.

Rivard is joined in the kitchen by long-time friend Andrew Henderson – who maintained the property during Rivard and von Schleinitz’s transition to Simcoe – as well as Brendan Prong, Corrin Bolle and Todd Youngson, who helped general manager von Schleinitz develop the cocktail menu.

“They’re all interested in agriculture,” said Rivard. “After a 12-hour day, they still want to help me plot out the garden.”

O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

The food is inspired by Norfolk county and things that reminded Rivard of childhood, such as corn dogs made with spicy lamb sausage, housemade banana curry mustard and smoked tomato ketchup.

A nod to Lake Erie and Norfolk County’s famous perch appears on the menu as a taco, with charred Mexican corn aioli, pickled cabbage, fresh garden salad, guacamole and fried lemon. Mains range from $15.95 for pizza from the brick oven to beef tenderloin from Simcoe’s VG Meats for $32.95, and average check is $100 for dinner for two, including wine.

The restaurant extends its local sourcing policy to the beverage list, with Burning Kiln, Dover Vineyards, Smoke and Gamble and Frisky Beaver wines, as well as Norfolk-based Ramblin Road on tap.

“We’re lucky that there are fantastic Norfolk county wines, and we also wanted to try and stay pretty local on tap,” said von Schleinitz.

Although the cocktail list is still evolving, a staple includes a version of a Tom Collins (Stompin’ Tom Collins) with house-smoked gin.

“The agricultural produce in the area is phenomenal,” said von Schleinitz. “For a long time, the agriculture in the area was overshadowed by the large amount of tobacco being grown, but now we’ve got farmers coming to our back door with the best produce available.”

The restaurant also boasts a 2,200-square-foot garden, containing zucchini, pattypan squash, radishes, nine types of lettuce, as well as herbs such as chervil and lavender, and seven types of sweet and spicy peppers, which are harvested to make the restaurant’s sauces. A small corn patch with 21 plants is also an experiment for the future.

Although the garden supplements the produce being sourced from local

Brussels is back at The Beach TORONTO—Roger Stefan Wils took his chef whites out of temporary retirement to open Brussels Bistro, a French-Belgian restaurant in The Beach area of Toronto, on July 31. Wils operated Café Brussels on The Danforth from 1985 until 2007, after which he closed the restaurant and took a break from the industry.

“I did miss it and that’s why I’m back. I missed the customers most of all,” Wils told ORN. His new 40-seat restaurant is located at 1975A Queen St. E, and this fall, Wils is turning the upstairs portion of the approximately 1,700-square-foot converted townhouse into a 40-seat wine bar. There are two tables on the front porch and Wils is working toward opening a small, dining-only patio out front.

Wills said he put together a new menu and, after receiving some feedback, tore it up and went with something similar to what he made at the Danforth café.

“I’m still really sticking to the classic stuff,” said Wils, who, for now, is the only chef in the kitchen until he finds the right person to bring in.

“It’s important that I do it; feel out what we need and what we need to change,” said Wils, who had already made a couple of changes to the menu in the first three weeks of operation.

Wils sources from smaller producers for the French-Belgian menu, be it beef from Ontario and P.E.I, chicken and duck from Quebec and Atlantic Canada mussels for the menu’s 10 varieties of mussels and frites. With an average check of about $150 for two with wine, Wils said the duck confit and lamb shank are turning out to be signature dishes. The lambs, from L’Île Verte, an island in the lower St. Lawrence in Eastern Townships Quebec, feed on salted grass which changes the flavour of the meat. The farmers are replicating the flavour of pre-salé lamb, which feed on the salty marsh grasses in France, especially near Mont-St.-Michel in Normandy.

Guests get a rosy first impression of the bistro through a tinted glass and wood partition separating the well-stocked bar and main dining room. The growing wine list offers

more than 100 labels with a focus on champagne and sparkling wine.

Framed original lithographs – which used to hang in Wils’ former restaurant – adorn the French country yellow walls and with white table linens, Wils is aiming for fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere, including a fourperson bar table and four-seat chef ’s table. “It’s great for me because I get to talk to everyone,” said Wils.

1975A Queen St. East. (416) 694-0004, www.brusselsbistro.ca.

Roger Stefan Wils.

Bottom: The dining room at Brussels Bistro.

farmers, Rivard plans to expand it in the future and use its bounty for features on the menu.

“People have been coming up and offering apple, pear or cherry trees,” he said. “As we grow into the restaurant, we’ll add what we’re planting.

We’ve got an acre and a half of land, so there’s more than enough room.”

Since the couple lives on the second floor of the property, it feels like they are inviting people into their home, said von Schleinitz. When they wanted elements such as the parking lot to blend with the surroundings, she remembered learning about sustainable, drivable grass as an alternative to asphalt.

“Now, when you drive into the establishment, it feels like an old country lawn,” she said.

When arborists deemed two black locust trees on the property as compromised and requiring removal, the couple wanted to honour the fact that the trees had been a part of what locals recognized about the property, and had them milled and dried in tobacco kilns to feature throughout the restaurant.

Now, pieces of the trees make up the bar top, the kitchen pass that doubles as a kitchen table, serving boards and containers at the restaurant.

Although The Combine refers to the agricultural nature of this part of Ontario, said von Schleinitz, the name of the restaurant has another meaning for the couple.

“There is a double entendre as it relates to the fact we have combined our lives, as we live upstairs and garden in the back and have relocated to this part of the world to be able to do what we love to do in all aspects,” she said.

352 Norfolk St. South, Simcoe, ON. (226) 440-3369. Thecombine.ca. @thecombinegrows.

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S E P T E M B E R 2 013

Whatever Lola cooks

By Leslie Wu

Ernesto Rodriguez are bringing a new type of Mexican cuisine to Toronto with the opening of Fonda Lola in mid-September. “A lot of people now know the terms ‘cantina’ or ‘taqueria’, which are all fantastic and iconic types of Mexican restaurant,” Marquez told ORN. “But the fonda is something else altogether.”

The concept started as a way for small families or grandmothers to make extra income by preparing and serving meals

out of their homes. The comida corrida menu (literally, “eating while runTORONTO—Mixing grandmotherning,”) is designed around a fast and ly home cooking with molecular casual way of eating, said Marquez.

“It’s low key, and fresh, with a menu technique, industry veterans Andres Marquez, Howard Dubrovsky and that changes daily,” said Marquez.

Diners will be able to grab a quick, healthy lunch with aguas frescas (iced drinks with herbs or fresh fruit).

In the evenings, a small menu of 12 to 15 items will include a weekly tacos al pastor, with a vegetarian and meat option, huitlacoche quesadillas with “corn truffle” and Oaxaca cheese filling or carne asada tartare with tostadas, quail yolk, and pickled onions.

Desserts on offer will include house-made churros with smoked cajeta (aerated goat’s milk dulce de leche) with smoked chiles and smoked salt.

The first month will feature a lobster taco with shellfish sourced through Toronto’s Rock Lobster Food Co. Each of the partners brings a different skill set to the mix. Marquez, who will handle front of house, walked Left: Andres Marquez with the Fonda Lola concept at Brewers’ Plate earlier this year. Right: away from a partMarquez, along with partners Howard Dubrovsky and Ernesto Rodriguez, gutted the space ner and director that used to house Lafayette Bistro.

of operations role with Toronto’s Milagro Restaurant and Cantina to run pop ups that would eventually become Fonda Lola. He started the concept with Rodriguez, a former brand manager with Pernod Ricard, whose experience also includes marketing and event planning in Canada and Mexico City. Dubrovsky shut L.A.B. (Live and Breathe) restaurant, a modern Italian eatery using molecular gastronomical techniques, in March 2012.

The trio is renovating the 1,900-square-foot space at 942 Queen St. that formerly housed Lafayette Bistro on their own, planning a casual feel for the 26 seats inside and 26 on the patio. A permit is also in the works to expand the outside space to a 40-seat capacity.

Like many small restaurants, Fonda Lola is driven by the principles and personal philosophies of the owners.

Marquez will be sourcing fair trade and sustainable items, from seafood to coffee, sugar and chocolate. “Small things can influence others’ behaviour,” he said.

A similar passion for Mexican wine will mean that Monte Xanic and Santo Tomas brands will be fixtures on the wine list, and the spirits will include Mexican craft brewers and tequila with solera aging in three phase barrels. House-made horchata, a Mexican drink often made with rice, will also be used as the basis for desserts and cocktails.

For Dubrovsky, the need to have an inclusive menu for vegetarians,

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| 7 gluten-free diners and other dietary restrictions is paramount. “I’d like to have a minimum of 50 per cent of the menu be vegetarian at all times,” he said. Dubrovsky, himself a vegetarian, plans to adapt traditional recipes, such as applying the tacos al pastor marinade to local zucchini in a vacuum sealer.

He’s also looking to put a spin on basics such as pickling, which will be done in house along with other condiments. “Typical Mexican pickling is very much on the sour side, with just vinegar and spices,” he said. “I’ll be adding things like hibiscus flower, and when you add sugar, it brings out a salty, sweet and sour fruit undertone with a beautiful fuchsia colour.”

Although some things on the menu will adhere to tradition, such as the salsa verde, some of it is more of a bridge to the North American palate, said Dubrovsky.

“It’s grandmother cooking, but think of it as a very hip grandma,” he said.

Fonda Lola is named after Marquez’s great aunt (“a genius baker,” he said) and is also the name of Rodriguez’s grandmother. “Your family is the best place to start a love affair with food,” said Marquez, who wants to share this message across Canada.

“We’re looking at a fairly aggressive expansion across different cities, such as Ottawa and Montreal,” he said. “We want to create a Mexican identity across the country.”

942 Queen St. W., @FondaLola.

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Durham College puts food front and centre

Rendering of the Centre for Food with completed agricultural fields. Courtesy of Durham College.

Darrin Caron, dean and principal of the Whitby campus, overlooking the main atrium. Photo courtesy of Durham College.

Restaurant under construction, looking towards a glass extension that will house one communal table.

By Elaine Anselmi WHITBY, ON—An apple orchard and extensive food gardens are planned for the fields surrounding Durham College’s Centre for Food, offering hands-on experience and an in-house food supply network for the school’s various culinary, agriculture and hospitality programs. Encompassing four production kitchens, a full-service restaurant and a model hotel room, the centre welcomed its

first batch of students in early September.

“The Durham region really comes alive in the fall when you have this partnership of the chef and the farmer, and you’re going to see that on campus,” Don Lovisa, president of Durham College, told ORN. “Our students are going to come out with a different and better understanding of that.”

In its first semester, the 36,000-square-foot building opened

to 685 students, and will eventually expand to 900 students. As well as Durham’s Culinary Management and Hospitality Management – Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism programs, the centre will house a new program for the college: Horticulture – Food and Farming.

“When you talk about hospitality, it’s such a broad term. Everything that we’re doing here is hospitality, from agri-tourism to foodservice,” said Lovisa. The restaurant – which

O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

got its name Bistro ’67 from a public contest that had more than 1,000 entries – will have a grand opening on Oct. 17. The restaurant will operate as a living lab, said Lovisa, offering positions for students within hospitality programs, as well as paid work for other students.

The 70-seat teaching restaurant is certified by the Green Restaurant Association, a qualification that involved considerations from construction through to operation, said Lovisa.

“They’re going to be learning in a green-certified restaurant. It will make them more responsible with their use of water and power, but they’ll also be able to go out with a farming student and pick fresh herbs or tomatoes,” said Lovisa. “We want students to really bring that concept of field to fork to wherever they work.”

The restaurant has its own dedicated 2,000-square-foot kitchen, operating alongside three other kitchens of the same size, dedicated to baking, large quantity preparation, and small quantity and short order items.

“We’ve worked very closely with faculty and industry to make sure they have the right equipment,” said Lovisa, pointing out the brand new Energy Star appliances. “The oversized kitchen is designed for instructional purposes.”

The dining area has a private meeting room at one end and a large communal table in a glass-enclosed building extension at the other. Lovisa said the menu will develop as classes and labs progress, and yields change with the seasons.

The restaurant will operate five days per week, and an area of the centre’s second floor will convert from three classrooms to a 150-seat banquet room. Lovisa said the banquet area will primarily be used for internal functions, and possibly for events hosted by the centre’s ambassador chef Jamie Kennedy.

“We want to be very careful not to compete with the industry that supports us. We’re very careful about not taking away the business from the local industry,” said Lovisa. “The last thing we want to do is divide ourselves from the industry. We want to be a part of them.”

From the second-floor restaurant, a polished concrete staircase runs straight down the back wall of the centre to the basement level, where a 150-seat auditorium faces a fully operational kitchen that is wired for broadcasting capabilities.

On the main level, a wine tasting lab will serve both students doing the wine and food-pairing component of their programs, as well as the public for community education courses.

Down the hall, past a living wall of plants reaching up to the second floor, a fully-accessible model hotel room offers all of the amenities of a standard hotel.

Lovisa joked that its purpose isn’t a refuge for the weary student, but another sort of learning lab that gives hospitality management students an opportunity to familiarize themselves with that type of space.

At completion, the project will cost approximately $20 million, said Lovisa. Though the food gardens and orchard are on hold until next spring, outdoor elements were integral to the conception of the indoor space.

“We tried to bring some of the natural materials of the earth into the building,” said Lovisa. The décor mixes polished concrete floors, FSCcertified wood products and a handcut, granite-stone wall.

Darrin Caron, dean and principal of the Whitby campus, said he has seen an overwhelmingly positive response from students and the community. Some students have even delayed their return to school in order to finish their program at the centre.

“Everywhere I go, people ask about this. It’s been such a positive story and people are so enthused,” he said.

Square One gets Food Central MISSISSAUGA—Square One Shopping Centre is entering the field of revamped food court offerings with a rebranded and renovated food court called Food Central, which opened in late August.

Square One joins a group of similar mall foodservice upgrades in the past couple of years. Toronto’s Eaton Centre opened its sculleryservice food court Urban Eatery in April 2012, Yorkdale Mall in Toronto opened an upscale, reservationfriendly dining area in June of the same year, and Etobicoke’s Sherway Gardens began a $350 million expansion project in January 2013, adding four new full-service restaurants.

Seven new retailers were added to the 19 existing foodservice options at Square One, including Amaya, Big Smoke Burger, Chipotle Mexican Grill (scheduled to open mid-September), Cultures, Shanghai 360, Su & Shi and Szechuan Express.

The impetus behind the new look was to create an elevated dining experience for guests, Elena Price, director of marketing for Square One, told ORN. JPRA Architects and MMC Architecture designed Food Central, which includes expanded seating areas, new restrooms and parenting facilities, as well as a new scullery service where eat-in meals are served on signature tableware, purchased through Los Angeles-based TableArt. “The additional costs of purchasing real tableware is balanced by the reduced costs of purchasing disposable plates, cutlery and glasses,” said Price, who estimates that the measures will reduce food court waste by 60 per cent or 720 tonnes of waste.

In addition to the new scullery service, Square One is also working on reducing its carbon footprint through the implementation of a Green Steps Program, which was

designed to create eco-efficient business practices.

Of an $84 million investment in phase one of Square One’s renovations, $20 million went towards the new foodservice options. When completed, the final tally of the development project will come to $320 million.

With 24 million visits per year to Square One, 41 per cent of visitors make a food and beverage purchase, and 75 per cent of those purchases come from food court vendors, said Price.

On average, there are over 20,000 visits to the food court per day.

Square One is managed by Oxford Properties and owned by Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) and Oxford Properties Group.

100 City Centre Dr. www.shopsquareone.com.

Square One Shopping Centre’s Food Central offers 26 foodservice options (below left) and expanded seating (below right).

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By Kristen Smith

Patrick Blessing at the Pie Commission walk-up window.

A piece of

the pie

TORONTO—Selling five-inch pies from a walk-up window off Queen Elizabeth Boulevard wasn’t the original plan when Patrick Blessing took over a back portion of a site at 935 The Queensway for The Pie Commission.

The site was supposed to be a production facility of savoury pies for a downtown foodservice operation and, when an appropriate location is found, Blessing will still put the idea into action. For now, the 2,500-square-foot kitchen and production space – a former prep kitchen for a west-end Max’s Market location – doubles as the solo foodservice outlet with a lower-level walkout, facing an industrial area.

Blessing told ORN he was amazed people found the shop so quickly. He opened in early August and had steady patronage in the first week. “I ask every customer ‘How did you find us?’” Many just happen to be driving by,” he said.

Blessing and co-owner Mike Dahm brought Owen Sokoloski on board as chef for the focused menu of five pies.

The Pie Commission offers braised beef rib, beef and beer,

butter chicken, chicken and cheddar mash and kale pies with an allbutter crust as a combo with salad and fries for $8.50 or in a handheld sleeve for $6.95.

“The Pie lends itself to so many different ethnicities and so many different foods; anything that is slightly saucy,” said Blessing.

He plans to add more creations over time and offer seasonal pies of the month and expand the salad choices.

Blessing, who has a background in investment banking, made the leap into foodservice with Dahm after seeing a market for high-quality convenience foods. The Pie Commission is modelled after British and Australian pie shops – of which Blessing and Dahm are fans – and adapted for the Toronto market.

“I’ve always had a love of pies and I’ve always wanted to start a business,” Blessing said.

He notes that pies are not something most individuals can whip up from scratch in under an hour at home.

Blessing visits the Ontario Food Terminal three times a week and Sokoloski makes everything, including the stock, in house.

“It’s quite a labourious process, making these pies,” said Blessing.

The Bier Markt expands to Ottawa OTTAWA—The Bier Markt will make its first move into the country’s capital next fall, serving up European brews just down the Hill.

The Ottawa location will open in a 10,000-square-foot space, formerly a Zellers, at 156 Sparks St. “Ottawa has been on the radar for a while now,” Robert Medal, operating partner at Bier Markt, told ORN. “It’s a viable market; it was just a matter of finding the right location.”

The Ottawa location will be the brand’s second outside of the Greater Toronto Area, where four locations currently operate. A Bier Markt will take over the space of the Douze

Vingt et Un steakhouse at 1221 Boul.

Rene Levesque in Montreal this November.

“We’re always looking for new and exciting marketplaces,” said Medal. “We’ll learn from being in Montreal, learn from being in Ottawa, and those [lessons] will dictate where we look next.”

Medal said the new location’s proximity to Parliament Hill would be an advantage. “It’s a great, very educated marketplace there. There’s lots of social centres and drinkers, and we’re excited to entertain them,” said Medal.

He noted that Ottawa, being a

very international city with international dealings and a representative hub for the nation, would be well suited to the Bier Markt’s northern European concept.

Construction on the Ottawa location will begin in 2014 and Medal said the space would be comparable in size to the Bier Markt on Toronto’s Esplanade. “With every Bier Markt, the design has evolved a little bit,” he said. “We’ll open in Montreal in November and learn from that design, and that will obviously impact the design in Ottawa.”

The former department store space is a part of the historic Sparks

Street Mall dating back to 1932, according to Yahoo News.

“There are some very unique, beautiful and historic elements in the building,” Medal said. He said the new design would pay homage to some of the original features, such as a mezzanine level.

The menu will continue in the style of existing Bier Markts, with food and beer pairings, and a strong focus on fresh ingredients.

With an expected capacity of more than 400 people, Medal said they look forward to the Bier Markt’s new locale.

“We love the city, love the people, love the culture,” he said. “We’re absolutely thrilled at the prospect of being in Ottawa.”

156 Sparks St., Ottawa. www.thebiermarkt.com, @biermrkt.

Photos courtesy of Bier Markt.

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He estimates about 65 per cent of customers are seeking hot pies and 35 are looking for a frozen one to pop in the oven later.

“Pie is one of those foods that is easily transportable,” said Blessing.

Mississauga-based Zebra Paper made a foldable sleeve, which turns the individual pie into a handheld food. “In my opinion, it’s the ultimate convenience food,” said Blessing.

He said he takes the food and business seriously, but with a mustached logo and “Bloody good pie” tagline, The Pie Commission owners are out to have some fun with the brand.

Future plans include selling gluten-free, vegetarian pies to natural food stores for retail and opening a downtown location as soon as the right spot – high pedestrian traffic and 500 square feet – becomes available in the core. He said once a location is nailed down it would take between three and six months to open.

Blessing said he hopes to expand even more in the next three to five years.

935 The Queensway, Toronto.

(416) 848-7424, Piecommission.com, @PieCommish.

Technomic starts looking at retail food operations CHICAGO—U.S.-based foodservice research firm Technomic is expanding its field of study into the retail industry.

With mounting competition between Technomic’s existing scope and retail foodservice operators, the firm has included prepared foods in its Consumer Brand Metrics (CBM) program, according to an Aug. 8 release.

“The program was created out of an industry necessity,” Sara Monnette, senior director of consumer insights at Technomic, said in the release.

“Organizations want to understand consumer sentiment toward leading retail foodservice brands and leverage this information to maintain competitive advantage, not only benchmarking towards direct retail competitors but restaurants as well,” she said.

CBM: Retail Meal Solutions assesses retailers on several factors including value, takeout, service and hospitality, and unit appearance and ambience.

Some of these categories will offer comparisons between the retail sector and restaurant industry, under the Restaurant Consumer Brand Metrics.

Technomic performs research studies for food manufacturers and distributors, restaurants and retailers.

For a feature on the rise of the retail prepared food sector, see Supermarket Sweeps in the May issue of ORN.

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SIR Corp. launches Scaddabush

Dominic Conte (left) and executive chef Steve Silvestro (right) make mozzarella.

MISSISSAUGA—SIR Corp. (Service Inspired Restaurants) is going casual with the launch of Scaddabush Italian Kitchen and Bar, a new concept for the chain.

Beginning with the opening of the first 9,000-square-foot location in Mississauga in late July – a site at 209 Rathburn Rd. West that formerly housed an Alice Fazooli’s – the company plans to open another Scaddabush location in Toronto at Yonge and Gerrard streets in the fall, SIR Corp. marketing manager Melissa Jones told ORN. “For us, it’s been a great run with Alice Fazooli’s, which is

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still doing very well,” she said. “We’re looking at Scaddabush as a new brand with new offerings that go in a different direction, but we’re still looking to maintain the Alice Fazooli’s brand.”

Scaddabush, Italian slang for “a bit of everything”, reflects the brand’s direction towards relaxed, casual and communal dining, said Jones. A feature of the restaurant is a fresh mozzarella program offered daily between 5 and 9 p.m., with six kitchen staff – overseen by executive chef Steve Silvestro – trained specifically to stretch mozzarella at a dedicated station in the dining room. Diners can order the

cheese three ways: Naked (with extravirgin olive oil, focaccia crostini, San Marzano tomato jam and sea salt for $9.88), with Pingue Prosciutto (with focaccia crostini, extra-virgin olive oil and fig jam, $15.98) and The Spaduch (melted mozzarella, focaccia crostini, garlic, anchovies and lemon caper butter sauce, $10.29).

The menu also features eightounce meatballs, prepared with certified Angus ground beef blended with ricotta cheese and parsley, marinated with garlic, porcini mushroom, black pepper and olive oil, and slowly braised in the chain’s “Nonna-inspired Sunday sauce.” The meatballs are offered two ways: classic or pepperoni and mozzarella-stuffed, and can be served over house-made pasta.

The restaurant’s design features dark-framed windows, cedar wood beams, reclaimed wood communal tables and wood shutters, aiming for an industrial and timeless feel, contrasting with the exterior brick and green spaces in the patio which seats 108 people. Inside the 268-person dining room, the casual feel is maintained with mismatched side plates, butcher paper with black wax pencils and large kitchen towels as napkins.

Right now, SIR Corp. plans to focus on Scaddabush and maintain its existing three Alice Fazooli’s locations in Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Oakville, said Jones.

209 Rathburn Rd. W., Mississauga, ON. scaddabush.com, @scaddabush.

ORHMA opposes Parkdale bar ban TORONTO—The Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) has appealed the City of Toronto’s adoption of a cap on bar and restaurant activity within designated stretches of Queen Street West in Parkdale. Initiated by ParkdaleHigh Park City Councillor Gord Perks, the motion will limit bar and restaurant activity to 25 per cent of total businesses within four designated stretches between Roncesvalles Avenue and Dufferin Street.

The ban was introduced as a result of what council deemed an oversaturation of bars in the neighbourhood, leading to raucous behaviour, late-night crowded streets and a lack of alternative businesses in the area, according to the staff report released on May 24.

Through Goodmans LLP, the ORHMA submitted the appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), stating that the ban will “punish existing restaurant uses in Parkdale

Village, by potentially making some restaurants non-conforming uses, even if those restaurants have not contributed to the late-night behaviour issues which the Parkdale Bylaws are attempting to address.”

The appeal also suggests that the ban ignores the designation of the neighbourhood as a mixed-use area and does not achieve its goal of mitigating late-night conflicts.

The ORHMA suggests that rather than this blanket method of limiting bar activity, property standards and noise by-laws would effectively reduce the sort of late-night problems that have arisen, without negatively impacting those restaurants not causing conflicts.

The OMB is expected to respond to the appeal in late fall, according to the ORHMA. For ORN’s interview with Councillor Perks, go to www.ontariorestaurantnews.com.

GOT NEWS? Email tips about openings, acquisitions and other news to lwu@canadianrestaurantnews.com for editorial consideration.

The changing face of buffets and all-you-can-eat restaurants

By Marni Andrews

W

ith increased customization and a growing number of competitors in the market, the world of buffets is changing for the operator. From the lavish indulgence of Las Vegas – a city that popularized the buffet concept for many visitors – to Canadian restaurants such as Mandarin and Vinnie Zucchini, ORN takes a look at how some operators are filling their plates and profits at the buffet line.

Diverse influences Although some buffet operators in the past may have focused exclusively on one type of cuisine, today’s operators are expanding their offerings to give the guest a customizable experience in terms of food and dining options.

Mandarin Restaurant’s 22 locations in the Ontario market offer about 130 Chinese and non-Chinese food items. President James Chiu has taken the restaurant well beyond typical Chinese-Canadian fare into prime rib on weeknights, sushi and an extensive salad bar. Seasonal menu changes are developed using customer tasting groups and a franchisee menu committee. Chiu told ORN he is noticing customers want more healthy and natural alternatives than they did in the past.

Weekend evenings, Mother’s Day and New Year’s Eve are the busiest times at the 350-seat restaurants.

Controlling food cost “The all you can eat/buffet type of foodservice establishment is a tough category to be successful in,” says Rick Williams, owner of Williams Food Equipment. “The challenge is maintaining food cost if you do not control portion size.”

Typically, buffet-style restaurants will accomplish this by minimizing plate size to a maximum of nine inches, says Williams, instead of the usual 10 to 10.5 inches for a dinner plate.

Williams says food quality can be

Managing customer perceptions

This page: Vinnie Zucchini buffet station (left). The Buffet at the Wynn in Las Vegas (right). Page 13, counter-clockwise from top: roast from The Buffet, Vinnie Zucchini buffet and G.E.T. Enterprises buffet offerings.

The consumer’s perception of hygiene at a buffet is an important consideration for the operator, since many people will touch tongs and serving utensils over the course of a dining period.

Some products are designed specifically to address these concerns.

Cooper-Atkins Corporation marketing communications leader Jillian Camarata, says that items that are popular with buffet operators include a handheld HACCP manager, which allows the user to take a quick food temperature, save the

For the chain’s 30th anniversary in 2009, they held a “Passport to Japan” contest where customers received a stamp on their Mandarin passport every time they ate at one of the restaurants. After five stamps, they could enter to win a trip for two to Japan. Mandarin received tens of thousands of entries, according to Chiu, and gave away 30 trips.

Danny Collis, president of manufacturers’ representative Collis Group, notes that while Mandarin’s heated wells are traditional style, away from the main buffet, they have used less traditional presentation for areas such as the roast beef carving station. “They have been successful using both old and new technology,” he says.

At Vinnie Zucchini, an Italian buffet with more than 100 madefrom-scratch items in Vaughan, ON, managing partner Domenic Brigante says a buffet gives the customer

freedom. “They can stay 10 minutes or three hours. It’s not the most romantic setting, but everything’s in front of you and your time is your own,” says Brigante.

Vinnie’s self-serve concept is laid out like an Italian piazza with a number of stations: pasta cooked to order, rosticceria, vegetables, grilled proteins, fish/seafood, stone oven pizzas, a salad bar, warm sweets and a dessert island.

On a good weekend, the restaurant puts through thousands of people, with two and a half turns an evening and potentially more than three turns for Sunday brunch. Brigante says that the restaurant’s food costs run in the high 30s percentage wise, largely because proteins are expensive.

“Our largest profit margin is with pizza. With our pasta, we use real cream and seafood so it’s not as profitable as it could be,” he explains.

difficult to maintain since warmers tend to dry out product and continue the cooking process. To ensure quality, both appropriate volume and regular turnover are necessary.

“With the cook-to-order trend, everything is fresher now,” says executive chef Scott Green at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas. Although he says labour is increased, savings on the back end mean less waste and a better product. “With the approach we’ve taken, the difference amounts to at least 700 pounds of food,” he

explains. “With a traditional buffet, you might throw away ten trash cans of food every night—things like cooked pasta and prime rib that you can’t keep overnight. Now we throw out, maybe, half a trash can. There’s not a downside and it’s more socially responsible.”

data and upload temperature logs to keep them on file, and the NotifEye, a wireless temperature monitoring and notification system that allows access to stored data around the clock over the Internet.

Food safety is a key customer expectation with a buffet setup, given that food is left out for much longer periods of time. One of Solutions JYJ’s most popular products for the buffet market is the Scrub Saver steam table pan liner that can resist up to 220 degrees Celsius, designed to prevent bacterial transfer and keep food warm, says vice-president Jean Desfosses.

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Designing ways

The power of portioning and presentation While it is not the biggest buffet in Vegas – that title belongs to the $17 million Bacchanal at Caesars Palace – The Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas was ranked second (and Reader’s Choice)

by USA Today for its variety and quality of offerings (more than 200 items at 16 stations, with 25 vegan options).

Breakfast and lunch are the busiest day parts at Wynn’s buffet, though it does between 1,200 and 1,500 dinner covers, according to executive chef Green. A number of hotels nearby do not offer buffets so the Wynn attracts some of that market as well. One trend Green is noticing is larger-scale buffets moving toward restaurant-style operations.

“Buffets are trending toward being restaurants with more items cooked in advance. In the next year and a half, you’ll see a lot of those changes in this city and elsewhere.

People are looking for more options; they don’t want to eat food from big tubs,” says Green.

He says the traditional Vegas “shrimp cocktail buffet,” where most food is cooked ahead, is on its way out. Individual plates and homestyle

food is catching on through the use of cast iron dishes and decorative small plates. Green describes it as a transition to what a meal looks like at home.

“It creates the right environment when you’re eating in a room with hundreds of other people,” he says.

“A half-eaten lasagna doesn’t look so good but pre-portioning it onto individual plates helps us control how much we’re using. We can also add a little more cheese and sauce, which nobody minds.”

Territory sales manager Brad Stoeckel of Hatco Corporation – which makes heat strips, overhead lamps, refrigerated wells, heated bases and steam wells – notes that the increasing popularity of local and healthier food options involves extra care in holding them at hot or cold, since they may not necessarily have the shelf life of more processed foods. As a result, he sees operators preparing and presenting these foods in smaller batches so there is more turnover.

“This is perhaps where the preference for a heated base instead of a steam well would be more applicable. Food items do not have to be

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Collis has seen many buffet changes over the years. He maintains that traditional hot and cold wells are the best for temperature retention, but not for aesthetics.

“Operators struggle with heated wells, as they create a lot of heat and steam leaks out between the pans.

While heated shelves and overhead heat look nicer and more modern, you can’t take a six-inch deep pan, especially something with density, and expect a shelf that holds at 200 degrees and an overhead lamp will hold the same as a heated well. Induction surfaces are really nice looking but cost a little more,” he says.

“So customers struggle with cost, looks and practicality.”

Stephanie Michalicka, who handles sales and social marketing for Hendrix Equipment, says the use of induction units as an alternative to traditional heated surfaces can offer savings since the units are energy efficient with nearly all electrical energy converted to heat in the pan.

Induction units can be built into a countertop for a flush look or used as a standalone. “Induction is well suited for omelette stations or a stirfry area. These units offer safety and speed with quick cooking and controlled heat. It’s also excellent as a chafing dish warmer,” she explains.

Scott Ball, national accounts

manager for Master-Bilt, which offers refrigeration equipment, says more buffets are developing destination stations for diners. He says customers are looking for increased efficiency from equipment purchases with Energy Star items, rack refrigeration systems and master controller systems proving most popular.

“People are looking for a residential look and are getting away from the traditional bulky style and tables with skirting. They want things that don’t look like the traditional hotel,” says Mike Hewitt, vice-president and global sales manager for Forbes Industries, which offers mobile carts for foodservice and hospitality.

“The mobile table and induction furniture line is our fastest growing food and beverage product range.

Every year we’re doubling the size of the mobile, universal product range.

A lot of new properties know they’ll use this equipment, so they’re putting in floor plugs so you can’t see any wiring,” says Hewitt. “All of these trends are geared toward saving the operator money. They’re saving by utilizing induction units, so [there is] no solid fuel.”

Through Ocean Properties Limited head office, the 247-room Lake Louise Inn in Alberta recently purchased mobile units with incognito induction drop-ins to upgrade its popular buffet station that sees 200

breakfast covers a day during peak summer season, with 40 to 50 covers at night for the prime rib buffet and fish option.

General manager Kelly Anne Yeaman says the question on everyone’s mind at a buffet is, “how long has this been sitting here?” The Lake Louise Inn has streamlined buffet operations with an experienced team so that costs run about 34 per cent, despite being located in a national park nearly 200 kilometres from Calgary. Staff put out smaller amounts of food unless there’s a lineup and a buffet runner is responsible for checking to see what needs refreshing. “Floor staff has to be on it more and the kitchen is constantly producing, but there’s much less waste, and guests see new food being put out as they’re walking up so that’s a big deal,” she says.

Steve Updike, vice-president of food and beverage for Ocean Properties, with 125 hotels in North America, says that mobile induction units offer the flexibility of moving from a breakfast buffet to a meeting setting in the afternoon or evening.

“They’re not necessarily more cost efficient but they are more flexible.

We’ve been moving toward residential-style furniture that can move throughout a hotel,” he says. “You can put flowers on it and use it as a piece of furniture.”

served in large stainless hotel pans but can be presented on nicer platters or bowls to give the buffet a more upscale look,” he suggests.

Laura Bolser, director of marketing for Front of the House, which supplies buffet displays and complementary items, agrees that individual buffet plating is taking off. “It not only creates a more impactful buffet presentation but also controls food portions/food costs for the operator and is easy to replenish,” she comments. “With this style of serving, a buffet always looks fresh.”

G.E.T. Enterprises director of sales for key accounts, Matthew Streng, notes the definite trend of farm to table dining, where food freshness is very important. He says customers have told him many diners want to know their food is organic or sustainable. While G.E.T. offers eco-friendly dinnerware to support this trend, he has not seen the buffet segment adopt it yet.

“The traditional all you can eat seems to have evolved into many categories including café-style concepts in schools and institutional feeding programs,” says Russ Bellerose, president of Belleco Inc., which

supplies everything from toasters to pizza ovens to the hospitality industry. “Over the years, not only has quality improved, but presentations have also changed from the trough concept to high end, comfortable environments.”

He suggests that having a chef on property ensures higher quality for a buffet.

Since today’s restaurant environment is so highly competitive, and the margins for buffets even tighter, the need for quality control, service and reinvention has never been so critical.

At the Montreal Marriott Chateau Champlain, for example, food and beverage director Pascal Prouteau understands the necessity of standing out among a sea of hotel breakfast buffets.

“The décor has to be inviting and feel like home, but most important is the attitude of your staff because almost every hotel has [a breakfast buffet],” he says. “We’re well known for the attitude of our staff. The ambience they create is a big part of what people see. If the food is beautiful and well presented, it has a major impact on the quality perception.

We have lots of plants, pictures of old French chateaux and we created a little lounge with low armchairs where people can meet with a coffee.”

Prouteau says they used to offer individual yogurt but people often just wanted a spoonful or two so they changed over to yogurt in a large bowl.

“It’s not very environmentally appealing to have the individual containers and we also waste much less. Plus it’s more beautiful to have the big bowls and people don’t have to figure out which flavour it is.

We took away the individual cereal packages and put the cereal into plexiglass containers so people can take a one-quarter portion if they want. We have orange juice in a big jug. Guests have noticed. They are sensitive to these things,” he says.

Addressing the concerns of customers can most definitely allow a buffet restaurant to gain an edge. An operator who can respond to such customer concerns in a responsive manner will almost certainly reap the rewards of long-term loyalty.

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O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Jamie Martin (right) with mom Patricia and dad Jim. Continued from 13

Opened: September 2005 No. of seats: 300 No. of staff: 55 Customers: 2,500 per week Food: 150 items for lunch and dinner (full pastry, hot and cold stations with taco bar, soup station) Customer favourites: Steak grilled to order, rotisserie chicken, pot roast, meatloaf

Courtesy of Market Buffet & Grill in Barrie, ON.

Mom and pop buffet operations in high growth regions need to work smarter and harder to compete with ever-expanding chains in the segment. The good news is that they can use PR and online marketing to their advantage given the smaller size and opportunity for direct interaction with customers.

After eight years, the Market Buffet & Grill in Barrie, ON abandoned its paid advertising strategy this year in favour of a new approach to reach customers. They hired Amanda Sutton of Catalyst.

“We’ve been in the market a long time and people have come to know what to expect from us, but with the increasing competition, we felt it was time to expand our horizons and remain relevant,” says owner Jamie Martin who opened Market Buffet & Grill with his brother Steven in

2005 and whose mother Patricia and father Jim also assist with day-to-day operations.

“In my segment, it’s very hard for independents to succeed because costs are so high. At one time we were making 10 or 12 per cent then went down to one or two per cent. I look for deals on cuts of meat, et cetera. That’s a benefit of a buffet. I can serve what I want and am not tied to a menu aside from the staples,” says Martin.

“Where have all the buffets gone?

In the 80s, family night out was a buffet but they faded away. Now the larger family chains are moving in with bigger money,” says Sutton. “It’s scary for local business owners like Jamie because they don’t have the PR teams that the bigger guys have.”

The first campaign, Family Favourites, was customer focused. A contest through their new Facebook

page asked customers to submit their favourite recipe and stories to get the recipe added to the buffet, explains Sutton. They reached almost 300 new Facebook and Twitter followers and generated 150 votes for the three finalists.

The restaurant also invested in a new website with photos and a video asking “How do you buffet?” since people want to “see your personality online,” says Sutton. “We got wonderful responses and people started approaching Jamie with ideas and wanting to connect online. We got local media coverage from it too.”

The restaurant is in phase one of a four-phase PR plan. Media coverage by July had increased by 400 per cent over the previous month, according to Sutton. This fall they are starting a Go Local campaign to increase the use of locally grown food at the buffet.

Queen West and Beverley streets go boutique

By Elaine Anselmi TORONTO—Walk a few blocks east of the Beverley Hotel and you’re in Toronto’s booming Financial District. Head the same distance west and you’re engulfed in the young and artsy Queen West neighbourhood.

Executive chef Eric Wood told ORN the unique positioning of the restaurant and boutique hotel is a key part of the concept.

“Geographically, we’re right in between,” said Wood. “Philosophically, we’re right in between, too.”

Building the Beverley wasn’t a matter of finding the right space for the concept, rather finding the right concept to fit the space at 335 Queen St. West. In planning the hotel and restaurant combo, Wood said he and owners Michael Homewood and Mike Strong harnessed the fact that they are building in one of the city’s cultural hubs.

Under one roof and one name, the multifaceted property houses a 70seat, main-floor restaurant, a rooftop patio with the capacity for 70, a second rooftop patio overlooking Queen Street seating another 20 to 25 people and an 18-room boutique hotel. Wood noted that all aspects of the building are a part of the one concept, and staff will operate through the whole space, whether seating a guest in the restaurant or showing them to their room.

The menu on the main floor, la-

belled EAT, will rotate seasonally and bring in various international flavours. “We have a global palate, interpreted locally,” said Wood.

One feature on the menu that Wood said has carried through the various kitchens he has worked in, most recently as opening chef and operator at Hawthorne Food and Drink, is a compartmentalized meal. At Beverley, this bento box-style dish is the 4Play—four portions that change daily. “It’s what’s really, really, in season,” said Wood, noting it’s an opportunity for fun and creativity.

On the rooftop, cooks in a satellite kitchen consisting of a grill and fridge prepare the menu that Wood said is a lot more share-focused and casual than the main area’s. “We interpreted it as grill and chill,” he said.

Plans are also in the works for a 20-person bar in the basement that will open once the upstairs patios close for the season. Wood said the basement bar is prohibition era speakeasy style, with a focus on cocktails. With four mixologists on staff, the beverage menu at the restaurant – also aptly inscribed with DRINK – is a feature in all areas of the Beverley.

With an average check of $50, Wood said the goal is to attract regular clientele from within the area, as well as visitors looking for a taste of the city, while spending the night. “As much as we’re this hub for the neighbourhood, people who live in the neighbourhood aren’t going to stay

here,” said Wood. Catering to outof-towners, the hotel was designed to show off the Queen West area. “Boutique hotels are amazing because you’re staying in that neighbourhood and getting the cultural vibe of it.”

Starting on the second floor – where a grey felt wall reads STAY in black lettering – The Beverley has three room options, ranging in size and price. Rooms are minimalist, subscribing to what Wood calls an “everything you need and nothing you don’t” philosophy. Each room is different and decorated with a unique Queen West, black and white photomural. One room, Wood pointed out, displays a photograph of his bicycle that was parked outside on the day the photos were shot.

“Hotels are a very complicated animal but we’re a small hotel,” said Wood. “Our mantra is really simple: Eat. Drink. Stay.”

335 Queen St. West, Toronto. (416) 4932786, thebeverleyhotel.ca, @beverleyhotelTO.

Top: Executive chef Eric Wood on the front rooftop patio overlooking Queen Street at the Beverley Hotel. Left: The main floor, 70seat dining room. Photos by Elaine Anselmi.

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BeverageNews A MONTHLY REPORT ON THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

It’s a small pub, after all

Above: “The world’s smallest pub.”

This photo: The 100-foot space at the bar can accommodate eight people.

Canadians at SIP awards LAS VEGAS—Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers, based in Beamsville, ON, took home a platinum award for its Unfiltered Gin 22 from the Spirits International Prestige (SIP) Awards, an international spirits competition held July 30 in Las Vegas.

The results of the consumerjudged competition were announced in August.

In its fifth year, the event attracted 306 brand entrants, both established and up-and-coming, from 20 countries.

TORONTO—Duke Pubs was thinking small when it opened “the world’s smallest pub” outside the Duke of Westminster at 77 Adelaide St. West in Toronto earlier this year. The 234-squarefoot pub holds a mere eight people in a 100-square-foot guest space. Designed by Steve Forler from Squarefoot Design Inc., the space also serves as street signage for the Duke of Westminster, which is located in the basement of First Canadian Place.

Brown-Forman Corporation earned platinum and gold in the Canadian whisky category for Collingwood and Canadian Mist Whisky, respectively.

Kealy Beverage Company, located in Abbotsford, BC, took home a gold in the vodka category with Kealy’s Moonshine.

Geoff Dillon

Jack Daniel’s expanding its distillery LOUISVILLE, KY—Brown-Forman Corporation is spending more than $100 million to expand the Jack Daniel Distillery to accommodate increased demand.

Announced in late August, the expansion will include adding stills, barrel warehouses, and related infrastructure, according to a release.

The expansion is expected to add 90 full-time jobs over the next five years. Construction will start in the fall and is expected to be complete by 2015.

The expansion will be located on the existing property in the Lynchburg area and use the same source of cave spring water, according to the

release. The Jack Daniel Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in the United States, according to the company, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The company said that the Jack Daniel’s brands grew nine per cent in global net sales in the last fiscal year.

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O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

By Elaine Anselmi

I

n the 1950s, Jerry Maahs owned one of the first Chicken Delight franchise units in Milwaukee and, in an effort to maintain the quality and temperature of the fast food, developed Halo Heat food holding. Using a stainless steel box lined with thermal cable for heating, Maahs created a better method of transporting hot food in cold Wisconsin winters. He continued to develop the Halo Heat system and eventually sold his multiple franchise units to focus on equipment manufacturing under the title Alto-Shaam.

“He went around selling holding ovens, with the bulk of their products based around thermal cabling,” says Claudio Baldinelli, national sales manager for Alto-Shaam. “It used to be all about the equipment, now it’s all about the food.”

In the beginning It comes as no surprise that a restaurant kitchen centres around the food it produces. Rational Canada president Louis-Philippe Audette says their combi-oven technology is largely the result of reverse engineering an ideal dish.

“What the customer wants is the perfect product. How the equipment works, that’s for engineers. Cooks just want perfect food,” says Audette.

“Let’s start by this result, how do we cook the perfect chicken? Then, in the background, [the oven] is like another sous chef.”

He says in 2004, a major breakthrough at Rational was to teach the equipment how to cook. “The oven works, with the settings and all the parameters, like autopilot on an airplane. It can cook by itself,” he says.

Alto-Shaam’s portfolio has diversified greatly, offering a full line of

cooking, holding and blast-chilling equipment—all with this central focus: the food.

Corporate chef Tom Field is behind the counter at Alto-Shaam’s test kitchen in Concord, ON, trying out new equipment and opportunities for its existing line. Tasked with showing potential customers how their menus can be supported by Alto-Shaam’s equipment, he says, customers will often come in and learn that the equipment opens up even more doors for their food offering, as well as adding other benefits.

There have been various stages in the development of oven manufacturing; Baldinelli notes that convection ovens were an essential step in this process that revolutionized the market.

Danny Collis, president of Collis Group says three factors have been driving forces behind the direction

Corporate chef Tom Field prepares fresh cut fries in Alto-Shaam’s test kitchen.

of oven design: speed, flexibility and footprint.

“I think speed is something people are always looking for,” says Collis. “No one likes waiting in line for anything anymore.”

The desire for speed is a reason, Baldinelli says, microwave convection is growing astronomically.

Footprint and flexibility are largely tied together since reducing the amount of equipment in a kitchen subsequently minimizes space requirement.

“Operators are always trying to reduce the footprint of the stores to get down their capital cost,” says Collis. “There has always been a space requirement in Europe, out of necessity. The footprints are so much smaller they have to use the best appliance for their yield.” In North America, Collis says some of the most revolutionary technology to enter kitchens has come from European designs, notably combi-ovens that pair convection and steamer technology.

“The range isn’t dead, [kitchens will] always have one, but because of these [combi-ovens], they’ll be able to have a smaller footprint,” says Baldinelli.

For à la carte cooking, Field says the range definitely has its use, but says the programming opportunities offered by new equipment are a great advantage to chefs. “With your hands free and your mind free, you can be doing all these other things,” he says. “It’s predictable, stuff cooks faster, more evenly and consistently.

It’s changed the kitchen layout.”

Peter Van Zant, sales and purchasing for Canada Food Equipment, says these electronics have been one of the biggest changes to commercial ovens. “You can put 30 or 40 chickens into an oven and push one button, walk away and come

back and it’s finished,” he says. Van Zant says these advances are coming from a larger number of equipment suppliers vying for the top spot. With so many more competitors in the market than there were 30 years ago, he says, there is an increased need for each to outdo others in speed, accuracy and efficiency, to keep their share.

Baldinelli says ranges with convection ovens were a starting point for the evolution of oven technology.

“The first step in the evolution was convection, and that revolutionized ovens in North America,” he says.

Predating those conventional range-top ovens are the traditional cookers, often specialty equipment such as wood-fired, or tandoor ovens. Even within this segment, Alex Chernov, owner of StoveMaster, says there has been development in construction and practice.

“Many ovens built in the past, traditionally, they don’t have the insulation,” says Chernov, who started out building custom fireplaces and now counts stove masonry as at least half of his business. “They used sand, salt, ash or clay—which doesn’t have the same insulating properties. Now, I use ceramic wool.”

In the process of building a brick oven for a soon-to-open Turkish restaurant in North Toronto, Chernov says he uses contemporary products and applies them to the classical process. “I am keeping with the tradition,” says Chernov. “I don’t change the fundamentals of what the oven is supposed to do.”

He says, for example, using brick to build tandoor ovens, which originated from dug-out holes in clay ground, offers more insulation and heat retention. Having developed from clay holes to built clay pots, Chernov says, “I think that’s real progression.”

MAINTAINING YOUR EQUIPMENT Tip number one: With combi-ovens, Baldinelli says the key to prolonging the life of the unit is regular maintenance of the water filtration system. “The biggest problem is improperly filtered water.”

Field says that with AltoShaam’s boiler-free technology, there are plenty of savings in terms of cost, but you need proper water filtration, especially with the levels of chlorine in the water.

Tom Field fills combi-oven tray with hickory wood chips for smoking.

Photo courtesy of Stovemaster Ltd., www.stovemaster.com.

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Photo courtesy of Stovemaster Ltd., www.stovemaster.com.

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Providing versatility in a range of cooking options Audette’s chef whites hang on the back of his office door at the Rational Canada head office and test kitchen in Mississauga, ON. He started as a corporate chef with Rational in Germany in 2003, where he was first introduced to combi-oven technology.

“I had already been working there for six months and I didn’t even know this testing lab existed,” says Audette. “They brought me into the lab and handed me a chicken and said ‘cook it’.”

He fumbled with the vague demand, but followed orders, selecting “chicken” and “roast” on the oven. When the oven started buzzing, he put the chicken in, questioning whether a temperature or timer needed to be set. His manager told him there was no need.

www.ontariorestaurantnews.com “I watched the bloody thing cook for 45 minutes. It was like watching a television show,” says Audette. “It was the best chicken I’d ever tasted.”

Rational’s combi-ovens were developed in the 1970s when company founder Siegfried Meister married the concepts behind Turkish steam baths and convection ovens.

“It enables the chef to kind of open up the capability of their cooking,” says Audette. He gives the example of Bar Isabel on College Street in Toronto, where chef/owner Grant van Gameren is using two Rational ovens for his Spanish menu and the fresh-baked bread he has begun selling from his window.

He says another chef/owner, Ryan Shapiro of Thyme Bistro in Vineland, ON is taking full advantage of the versatility combi-ovens offer, using the efficient level control feature that allows for various different Wood-burning oven at Queen Margherita Pizza.

Wood-burning ovens: a hot ticket item On entering some of Ontario’s pizzerias, the marketing component of specialty wood-burning ovens is evident. Chernov says the major difference between the customized brick ovens that he builds and the more common deck ovens is the mass of the unit, not the source of heat, as is commonly thought.

“One myth is that it tastes better because of the wood smoke, but that’s not true. With pizza, it cooks on the floor of the [brick] oven. There’s no smoke on the floor, so unless you lift it up and hold it in the smoke, it’s not getting that smoky taste,” he says.

“What gives it the unique quality is the mass radiant heat.”

Whether a pizza, bread or tandoor oven, Chernov says the insulated brick walls of the unit store the heat produced – by fire or gas – and radiate it back to cook the contents.

“In a traditional pizza oven, the brick has that radiant heat that cooks pizza all around,” he says. “A deck oven, made of just metal, can’t do the Neapolitan-style because it doesn’t have the same mass to hold that heat.”

With deck ovens primarily purchased in one piece, having the sort of mass you find in a customized oven is unlikely, Chernov notes the

average weight for a 48-inch brick pizza oven is 3,000 pounds. Commercial manufacturers have the challenge of building equipment that is lightweight enough to move in one piece to lessen the mass and insulation needed.

Among brick ovens, there is still great variance in the necessary mass of a unit depending on its intended use. For this reason, Chernov says he prefers to speak directly with customers about their needs.

“It’s about the process of talking to them and understanding their goals—I don’t see it as one piece of equipment. I don’t have known specs,” he says. “It might be a standard model but size, et cetera, will change.”

Of the brick ovens, Chernov feels that the pizza oven is actually the most universal, since it can be used to cook a broad menu. Since the heat source in a pizza oven is constant through the cooking process, and therefore always recharging the temperature, the mass of the oven – though significantly higher than a commercial oven – is less than that of a bread oven, as it depends less on heat holding. In the bread baking process, the fire brings the temperature of the oven up but is snuffed out once the bread goes in, therefore the mass of the oven is much higher to maintain the temperature.

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food items to cook together. “During service, within the same compartment, he’ll put in a pizza above, he’ll do steaks below that, the next level he’s pan searing chicken, and the next level French fries,” says Audette.

He notes that chefs like Shapiro can design menus around the variety of foods that can be cooked at one time.

To mitigate the risk of spoiling, the oven indicates what foods can go in together. For the ones that require high humidity, the oven would restrict the user from choosing a dry-baked item to go along with it.

“We taught our oven to be very flexible. If it’s the same temperature and same environment, you can cook it together,” says Audette.

Baldinelli says the Canadian market is more educated in this sort of technology than it was when combi-ovens came to Canada in the 90s.

“It used to be a niche market, consid-

ered a large quantity thing,” he says.

“Now, I find we will go to explain how it works and people [already] understand the concept.”

Providing the option of steaming, baking, proofing, poaching and so on, Baldinelli says he is seeing more interest from the smaller operators. In turn, he says combi-ovens are coming in smaller sizes to accommodate a small kitchen.

Collis says his company is always looking for multipurpose items to lessen the cost and need for space in its product line. “You really, theoretically, can do a really big tremendous menu on a combi-oven,” he says. Another product that he says is rolling out in the U.S. and is an upcoming trend in Canada is a rapid cook oven that looks like a conveyer oven.

“I was skeptical when I first saw the oven because I thought there was no way you can produce that much

food with it,” he says. “There are some restaurants using this particular oven for everything. The menu diversification is incredible.”

He explains that the Ovention has a programmable timer in conjunction with the conveyor belt on either side. “On the right side, you punch in pizza, it slides into the cooking chamber, and then it stages the next product on the left.”

The option of cooking more with less has been the trend in oven development, says Baldinelli. At AltoShaam, rather than customers coming in looking for equipment to cook a set menu, Field says the majority is pleasantly surprised by the options that equipment affords them. “What chefs get excited about the most is the smoker [function],” he says.

“Once they come in, their minds are opened and they think, ‘I can make this?’”

Creating international flavours

itself isn’t revolutionary, that sort of equipment is put into a restaurant as a focal point.

Chernov spoke with an Iranian restaurateur looking for equipment to bake sangak bread, which requires an oven with a pebbled hearth. Differing requirements can be met with traditional ovens, and Chernov says much of what he is doing is adapting the methods of that culture.

In Alto-Shaam’s test kitchen, Field says this has been a big year for Caribbean cuisine. With a number of restaurateurs looking for equipment to fit their needs, he has been working with different recipes to

expand their Caribbean menu using the combi-oven. “They give me a few menu items and I customize them for demos,” says Field. For Caribbean concepts, he’ll offer a jerk chicken but also try a jerk pork that can be cooked at the same time.

Van Zant says Canada Food Equipment has an extremely diverse clientele and the majority is looking to buy equipment appropriate for a particular cultural cuisine.

“Name a nationality, I’ve got them coming through the door,” he says. “They know what they’re going to cook, they just need to get the right thing to cook it with.”

As the Canadian demographic rapidly changes, so too does the cuisine.

As well as cooking various different dishes at once, ovens are catering to different styles of cooking as well.

Particularly for restaurants appealing to a certain international flavour, the oven itself can be a major selling point.

“We just signed on board with a company, Earthstone,” says Collis. “They’re making menu-specific items for people that want to turn out wood-burning style pizzas.” He says that although the technology

Louis-Philippe Audette in Rational’s test kitchen.

MAINTAINING YOUR EQUIPMENT Tip number two: Chernov says, as far as maintenance goes on his brick ovens, the only area that gets used and needs replacing is the floor.

“We make floor tiles completely replaceable,” he says.

“Other than that, it’s probably going to last longer than the building.”

What’s cooking?

A coming trend in cooking technology is a heavier influence of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and food safety procedures on equipment design.

Both Rational and Alto-Shaam are offering digital HACCP recordings on their combi-ovens and agree that this technology will become standard protocol. “HACCP is a growing trend,” says Baldinelli.

“You’ll always have a log of what you cook.”

Audette says attention to operating procedures is the biggest trend currently, due to food safety and changing policies around documentation. Rational’s combi-oven is built with a USB port to share cooking parameters. “With the Kitchen Management Software, you hook it up to an Ethernet port and pull HACCP information, at any point,” he says. “In the industry, we’re going to see this become more and more important.”

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Sept. 19: The Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals, Toronto Branch New Members Night, Cirillo’s Culinary Academy, Toronto. For information, go to: www.cafp. com.

Sept. 19-22: PEI International Shellfish Festival, Charlottetown Festival Grounds, Charlottetown. For information, go to: www.peishellfish.com.

Sept. 20-22: Savour Stratford Culinary Festival. Stratford, ON. For information, go to: www.savourstratford.com.

COMING EVENTS Golf Course, Hammonds Plains, NS. For information, email: brianna@rans.ca.

Oct. 20-22: Canadian Coffee and Tea Show, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver.

For information, go to: www.coffeeteashow.ca.

Oct. 26: 2013 Canadian Hospitality Foundation Ball, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Toronto. For more information, go to: www. thechf.ca.

Nov. 13: Ontario Culinary Tourism Summit, Oct. 9: Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto.

35th Annual Gold Tournament, Glen Arbour CHF_2013_ORN:Layout 1 8/19/13 9:23 For AM information, Page 1 go to:

O N TA R I O R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

www.ontarioculinary.com.

Nov. 25: The Food Industry Association of Canada Golden Pencil Award Ceremony.

Concert Hall, Fairmont Royal York, Toronto.

For information, go to: www.goldenpencilaward.com.

Feb. 10: Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals 40th Top Management Night, International Centre, Mississauga, ON. For information, go to: www. cafp.com.

Mar. 2-4: 2014 Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association Show. Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto. For information, go to: www.crfa.ca.

DON’T MISS OUT ON THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY’S BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR! ENTERTAINMENT ALTEREGO • EMCEE KEVIN FRANKISH • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013

THE CANADIAN HOSPITALITY FOUNDATION REQUESTS YOUR PRESENCE AT THE

GATSBY MANSION COME AS A FLAPPER OR COME AS YOU ARE COME AS A DAPPER GENT OR A SILENT SCREEN STAR RAISING FUNDS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS TO BRING THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST STUDENTS INTO THE HOSPITALITY, FOOD SERVICE AND LODGING INDUSTRIES

MITIGATING RISK WHILE DIVERSIFYING MENUS While cooking various dishes in the same unit can be a huge time saver for the chef, the possibility of transferring allergens can be a real concern for guests. Marilyn Allen, an allergen consultant at Anaphylaxis Canada, explains the risks when it comes to allergen transfer in cooking units.

“An allergen is triggered by the actual protein. It would have to be physical particulates passing, not just odour,” she says. “There has been incidents of steaming with fish, for instance, when proteins were dispersed.”

Allen notes that studies have found in some cases, the protein from allergens were diffused through steaming and broken down enough to be inhaled. “Sometimes, with overwhelming allergens (roasting peanuts for instance), it’s possible the protein would be broken down enough to inhale at that moment and possible a minor reaction could occur, but not full anaphylaxis,” she says. In this case, it is more the individual preparing the dish that is at risk of inhaling the steam than a guest served something from the same oven unit. “Could those tiny portions of protein from a product steaming in the oven attach to some other food going in the oven? It begs the question,” she says.

With allergens, reactions are not scientifically based on the smell alone, they have to be ingested in some manner, says Allen. “The actual proteins are usually fairly large and can’t get through the mucous membrane. For some reason, steaming fish has been recorded to be fine enough to break through that barrier.”

To mitigate the possibility of ingestion, Allen suggests cooking allergens below other items in the oven unit in case of spilling and covering items to reduce splatter.

“I’ve worked with chefs and said, ‘even on a barbecue, it’s OK to do two things at once, as long as you put one into a tin foil container so it’s not going to get splattered’,” she says.

Oven at Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto. Photo courtesy of Stovemaster Ltd., www. stovemaster.com.

Invest in your industry – buy your table and tickets now at www.thechf.ca PLATINUM SPONSORS

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INNER CIRCLE SPONSORS A. Lassonde Inc. • ARAMARK Canada Ltd. • Compass Group Canada Ltd. Diversey Canada, Inc. • Fairmont Hotels & Resorts • LG Electronics Canada • Starwood Canada BENEFACTOR SPONSORS Ecolab • Hunter Amenities International Ltd. • McCain Foods Canada Prime Restaurants Inc. • Traffic Tech Inc. • Yak Communications (Canada) Inc. CANADIAN HOSPITALITY FOUNDATION 300 Adelaide Street East, Suite 339, Toronto, ON M5A 1N1 Telephone 416.363.3401 Fax 416.363.3403 Email chf@theohi.ca www.thechf.ca

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Gluten-free, the Canadian way Feds beefing up Canadian producers Su pply

The Food and Drug Administration has set regulations for gluten-free labelling, establishing a national standard in the United States.

As of Aug. 5, 2014, operators ordering gluten-free products from across the border will know that they meet the same standard as in Canada. Manufacturers will only be able to claim products are gluten-free if there is less than 20 parts per million (.002 per cent) of the protein, which is found in wheat, rye and barley.

In 2004, the year the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law, sales of gluten-free products were $560 million, and rose to $4.2 billion last year. According to a report by market research firm Packaged Facts, the sales of gluten-free foods and beverages are expected to exceed $6.6 billion by 2017 in the U.S.

Toronto’s new food garden TORONTO—A vacant space at 369 King St. East is the site of Toronto’s newest urban farm. The space is slated for development by TAS Design Build in the next few years, but in the meantime, the developer has partnered with Fresh City Farms to transform 500 square feet of the lot into an urban food garden.

“We thought how awesome it would be to create a temporary place where local food can be showcased,” Fresh City co-founder Ran Goel told ORN. “One of the challenges with urban farming is how difficult it is to find land, especially in an area like that. We thought that would be a great place with all of the people walking by, and it’s a nice juxtaposition with the buildings around and the King Street traffic.”

The harvest at the lot will primarily go to the volunteers who grow it, said Goel, as there is not currently enough yield to supply Fresh City’s food basket program or the local restaurant industry, although this is in Fresh City’s sights for other locations. “That’s something we see as a crucial part of the long term for us,” he said.

“Restaurants are a classroom for a lot of people, where they go to learn about food.”

Teaching the public about food issues and opportunities is a goal Fresh City shares with the industry and Goel sees The Farm Lot as an outlet. “It’s an education space, essentially,” said Goel. “By growing right in the city, in this case right in the downtown core where thousands of people walk by, we’ll get them thinking about food.”

He said the goal is to show that food can be grown in that urban setting and have the public questioning why more food isn’t being grown downtown and in surrounding areas.

“When the public is polled, food isn’t really top of the agenda,” said Goel. “One of the reasons why food is not a big item is that it’s seemingly plentiful right now, you go to any supermarket and it’s chock-full. People don’t have a broader sense of the implications.”

Fresh City, TAS and neighbouring organic beauty and health product store, The Detox Market, hosted the Farm Lot opening party on Aug. 22. The event offered garden tours, viewings of food documentaries and food and drink provided by local purveyors including Indie Alehouse, Nice Buns Bakery and Urban Acorn Catering.

“We are looking to make that area a venue for events like this,” said Goel. “We started a bit late this season but we’re hoping to have a whole lineup next season with a farmers’ market once a week and other food events.”

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OTTAWA—The federal government is putting $14 million into the Canadian beef industry as a part of the Growing Forward 2 policy aimed at fostering innovation and supporting Canadian suppliers. The money will go towards a research cluster of Canadian beef experts, scientists and academics looking to increase the Canadian beef industry’s position in the market.

“Working with industry and academia, our government is making strategic invest-

ments to help the sector meet the growing global demand for high quality, safe beef and to ensure the Canadian cattle industry remains competitive and sustainable for the future,” said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in an Aug. 20 release.

The cluster will focus on specific areas of the industry including quality, food safety, health and wellness of the animals, feed production and environmental practices, according to the release. “Research drives the

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improved production efficiencies that enable cattle producers to raise more beef using fewer resources,” said Martin Unrau, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president.

The results of this investment will build on research from an initial investment of $8.7 million under Growing Forward in 2009. Research funded through the first policy targeted decreasing production costs, improving feed efficiency and reducing animal health problems.

WE’RE LINKEDIN, ON FACEBOOK AND TWEETING DILIGENTLY. Canadian Restaurant News has developed a social media strategy in an effort to foster conversation within the restaurant industry and get feedback from readers. Our editorial staff is out and about in the community, at industry events and conferences, getting in on the discussion and connecting with operators through social media. Focusing on targeted platforms – and using them well – is our key to providing real-time reporting at events, sharing relevant information and driving new readers to the website and brand. Go online for your fix of Canadian Restaurant News, now with a fresh look, more photos, increased daily news updates and new interactive features. Read the magazine how you want and when you want with our smartphone and tablet-compatible digital edition. Reach the restaurant community in its inbox with our twice-monthly Restaurant News Report: breaking national coverage and in-depth regional news provides dedicated content to the industry in an easy-to-read format. The e-newsletter is sent out the first and third Tuesday of each month and hits industry leaders with dramatic pass-along readership. www.canadianrestaurantnews.com

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S E P T E M B E R 2 013

Putting food on The Table OSHAWA—Operator Carol Cavallari has taken a distinct approach to supplying her restaurant, The Table, with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Not only does she grow produce for the restaurant at her home, she has transformed her outdoor plot into a 2,000-square-foot, no-charge, community garden for the neighbourhood.

“I walk through the garden 10 times a day,” Cavallari told ORN. A sign at the top of her front yard reads: “This humble garden, plus three fruit trees out back, will produce about 1,000 pounds of food.

That is 250 four-pound meals for a family.” The sign’s message changes often, offering trivia and tips.

In its first season, the garden’s bounty is used in the Simcoe Street restaurant’s dishes. Half of the yield, which is grown on her front lawn and on fruit trees in the backyard,

goes to the restaurant, while the rest is offered for free to the public.

Cavallari supplies her restaurant with a variety of freshly picked produce including kale, leaf lettuce and spinach, Swiss chard, squash, tomatoes, onions, peppers, red currants, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, beets, beans, berries and about 20 different herbs.

“Swiss chard [is] growing strong; it’s been supplying the restaurant for more than a month,” said Cavallari, also chef at The Table.

Cavallari said if she moves things around for the next growing season, and plants the side portion of her yard, she could easily triple her yield.

“I’m able to bring garbage bags worth of kale to the restaurant,” she said, noting the garden has saved her more than a thousand dollars so far.

For Cavallari, that isn’t the point.

“It’s not about money, it’s about community,” she said.

The “lifestyle restaurant” has one communal table that seats 34 people and serves breakfast and lunch. The menu offers more than 20 salads, four soups daily, dips and sandwiches. “We’re able to say ‘Hey, try the Swiss chard salad today because that came straight out of the garden two hours ago’,” she said.

Cavallari feels it is simple to grow food – even in a couple of planters – for your own restaurant.

Cavallari said the garden yields enough to supplement her stock and inspire people, which is part of the philosophy of The Table. “There are people that are so inspired that they come and they bring us things from their garden.”

20 Simcoe St. South. (289) 240-8720, @TheTableByCarol.

Local food in high demand OTTAWA—Expanding the local food presence in the Canadian market has proved beneficial to producers and the food economy as a whole, according to a recent report by the Conference Board of Canada. The report suggested food grown and consumed locally across Canada should be more deeply integrated into the national food distribution system.

The Centre for Food in Canada

report Cultivating Opportunities: Canada’s Growing Appetite for Local Food, released on Aug. 20, noted there is a growing market for local food stemming from an interest in quality, nutrition, food safety, the environment and supporting the local economy.

The report stated that a wide range of businesses are benefitting from increasing the local food supply

network and among the top of the list are foodservice operators who cater to a more high-end or niche market.

In Ontario, 24 per cent of the food grown in the province stays within those borders, according to the report. This is higher than the national average of 20 per cent and just behind Quebec, who leads the country with 29 per cent consumed within the province.

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From left: Rich’s Fort Erie plant manager Scott VeRost, Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin, Rich’s vice-chairman Mindy Rich, Kim Craitor, MPP for Niagara Falls and Rich’s chairman Bob Rich Jr. gathered to commemorate the plant’s 1963 opening.

Rich’s plant turns 50 BUFFALO, NY—Rich’s chairman Bob Rich Jr. was on hand on Aug. 21 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company’s Fort Erie, ON plant, located at 12 Hagey Ave. Rich, who began his career at the facility when he launched the Rich’s Canada business in 1963 with three associates, was presented with a signed Canadian flag from plant manager Scott VeRost.

The event had 225 attendees, including Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin, Kim Craitor, MPP for Niagara Falls and Jim Bradley, MPP for St. Catharines, ON and minister of the environment.

Over 50 years, the plant has gone

from three to 250 associates, and produces 300 products a year, including bread, parbaked bread, cinnamon buns, rolls and pizza, with five million cases made annually.

“Our Fort Erie plant has such a great story and has always held a significant place in Rich’s history since it was the first venture outside of Buffalo,” said Rich in a release. “It gave me the opportunity to build our sales and marketing offices as I travelled to all 10 provinces during those years.”

Rich’s Canada includes sales and marketing offices, a second plant in Woodbridge, ON and 365 total associates.

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PE OPLE

Left to right: Kim Hernandez, executive chef of Skin+Bones, Leslie Steh, executive pastry chef at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, Martha Stewart, lifestyle guru (top), Joshna Maharaj, assistant director of food services and executive chef at Ryerson University (bottom), James Rilett, vice-president, Ontario of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).

After parting ways with chef Matthew Sullivan this spring, Skin+Bones co-owners Daniel Clarke and Harry Wareham announced that Kim Hernandez is the new executive chef at the Leslieville restaurant.

Clarke told ORN that Hernandez started in her new role on July 10.

“Kim’s ingredient-focused approach, and her attention to clear and defined flavours, are really what set her apart in our search,” said Wareham in an August release.

Hernandez said making people happy is what drew her to cooking. “It’s an ideology from [chef] Thomas Keller and it’s a simple truth that often gets forgotten when the trends, aesthetics and politics of this industry get in the way,” said Hernandez, who was born in the Philippines and raised in Toronto.

She has worked under chefs Victor Barry and David Lee at Splendido and spent time working in Britain.

Leslie Steh is the new executive pastry chef at the Trump International Hotel and Tower. The Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef will oversee the dessert and bread programs for the Chocolate Lab and STOCK Restaurant Bar and Lounge, according to an August release.

Steh has worked in notable bakeries and hotels around the world, opened Toronto’s Petit Four Bakery in 2007, and honed her skills in some of Toronto’s best-known French bakeries including Ma Maison, Tournayre Patisserie and Senses Bakery at SoHo Metropolitan Hotel Toronto.

“Chef Steh brings a wealth of local and international dessert experience to the table and will add her own unique flair to the hotel’s sophisticated food and beverage program,” said Todd Clarmo, executive chef at STOCK Restaurant Bar and Lounge.

Martha Stewart will be making a stop in Toronto for the Delicious Food Show at the Better Living Centre in October.

The lifestyle guru will headline the threeday event starting with a ribbon cutting on opening day for media and VIPs. She will appear on The Food Network’s Celebrity Kitchen for an on-stage cooking demo and talk at 2 p.m. on Oct. 25, followed by a signing session for her 80th book, Cakes. “Martha’s Pick” tags will adorn some of the products and food she has chosen as favourites at the show.

“I look forward to seeing the best of what the country’s food industry has to offer and sharing some of my favourite cooking techniques with attendees,” said Stewart in an Aug. 20 release.

Joshna Maharaj became Ryerson University’s assistant director of food services and executive chef in mid August.

“I’ve spent many years with my fist in the air, railing against administrations to make changes and now I am the administration in charge of making that change,” she told ORN. Maharaj, who recently worked with The Scarborough Hospital and Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children to shift their foodservice to more local and homemade methods, will be focusing on sustainability, variety and competitive pricing at Ryerson.

The newly-created position came in tandem with the announcement that Ryerson has a new foodservice management agreement with Chartwells.

Maharaj will be working with Chartwells towards goals such as a five-dollar plate. “Accessible price points for students is a priority,” she said. “Students are savvy and know exactly what they’re asking for. Ryerson has a great opportunity to invest in terms of what food

looks like on a campus and nurture that community.”

Students will also see adjustments to the menus and pricing, said Maharaj, with a wider variety available for vegan, halal, vegetarian, kosher and gluten-free diners. She will also be involved in developing a new website for the school’s foodservice operations advertising daily specialties and engaging students through social media to share recipes.

James Rilett is the new vice-president, Ontario of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA). Rilett took over on Aug. 13 from Stephanie Jones, who resigned to relocate to the West Coast, according to a release.

Rilett was former chief of staff to several Ontario ministers, and also managed stakeholder relations for the premier’s office. Recently, he was vice-president at government relations consulting firm Pathway Group.

This is the third person in the Ontario vicepresident position in as many years: Ron Reaman held the job from October 2010 to April 2012, when he left the association to become senior vice-president, partner and national lead for Fleishman-Hillard’s Canadian Food and Agribusiness practice. Jones assumed the role in June 2012, moving internally from her position as vice-president, membership of the association. She has been with the CRFA for 14 years.

Pradeep Batra is now executive chef at The Westin Prince Hotel in Toronto.

Batra has more than 19 years of culinary management experience in Canada, the U.S. and international markets. He also has significant experience with the Starwood and Westin brands, having served as the executive chef at The Westin Waltham-Boston for the past

seven years and leading culinary teams as executive chef at the Sheraton Suites Eau ClaireCalgary. At The Westin Calgary, he worked under chef Fred Zimmerman. “[Batra] brings a wealth of hospitality experience to this role and we know that his creative menus, inspired by his local and global experiences will help to recharge and renew our guests, whether at the hotel restaurant or a catered signature event or meeting,” said Westin Prince general manager Ashok Baghel in a release.

Steve Wuthmann has been named executive vice-president of human resources at Tim Hortons, starting Sept. 30.

Wuthmann has more than two decades of experience in HR and operations. He is joining the coffee chain from Parmalat Canada, where he held successive positions of executive vice-president, supply chain, and senior vicepresident, human resources.

In his new role, Wuthmann will direct all human resources functions at Tim Hortons including organizational engagement, capability, alignment and performance.

GBS Foodservice Equipment has named Gabe Riverso as the new vice-president foodservice.

He will oversee the company’s cross-Canada sales team and assist sales representatives in client relations.

Riverso has worked in the foodservice industry in southern Ontario for more than 21 years and will bring this experience to managing the foodservice and hospitality side of GBS, working with existing vendors and building new relationships.

GBS distributes more than 200 products across Canada, with a focus on foodservice, hospitality and the retail sector.

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