Pacific Prairie Restaurant News - August 2013

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sleepless nights, but we had it up over 1,000 degrees the other day and the extra flavour you get out of it is incredible,” said Lebsack, who plans to make it the mainstay of the kitchen for a variety of preparations, including slow-braised items.

The oven is fueled with maple wood from the property of Lebsack’s father, Alberta birch, and cherry and applewood from B.C. Although the equipment is a focal point, the key to the menu is Lebsack’s farmto-table ethos.

“We do want to keep it very casual, bringing in whole pigs and cows to butcher on site,” he said.

The restaurant has a local abattoir where meat is hung to Lebsack’s specifications, and local farms such as Viking, AB-based Nature’s Green Acres raises Landrace, Duroc and Tamworth pigs for Rge Rd. Lebsack spotlights the entire pig on the menu with items like a two-course “Nature’s Green Acres Whole Hog”, which starts with pork Chef Blair belly with arugula and fenLebsack. nel and proceeds to a secPhoto by ellenvphotog- ond plate of pork loin with raphy.com. smoked hock and beans.

A “questionable bits” menu section allows Lebsack Canada, represents a common gathto use items that come from ering place for farmers and diners whole beast daily prep, such as pork alike. “What the farmers are growing tongue or chicken heart risotto topped is what we’ll be cooking,” Lebsack with chicken livers, while other cuts told PRN. can be used in a kitchen board that Lebsack’s prized possession in the spotlight different charcuterie prepa46-seat, 1,700-square-foot restau- rations such as pheasant terrine, or rant is a custom-made, wood-burn- house-made sausages. ing oven that he and partner Caitlin Fulton purchased in kit format and Continued on page 5 built themselves. “It caused a lot of

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Home on the

Range

Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40010152

By Leslie Wu, editorial director EDMONTON—After a couple of years testing out his concept with dinners held in farmers’ fields, chef Blair Lebsack is looking to bring the farm to the city with the July 15 opening of his new restaurant, Rge Rd. The concept, named after the range roads found throughout rural

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AU G U S T 2 013

A meeting of farmers and diners Continued from page 3

Vegetable farmers also have their moments on the menu, with Gull Valley tomatoes dished up alongside house-made toasted bocconcini, or a green bean salad served with lemon curd, wild mushrooms, a poached egg and pecorino from local producers, The Cheesiry. All items on the menu are under $30, with two sizes on offer. “We didn’t divide up the menu into the typical appetizer, entrée and dessert structure, so people who come in and want four small plates can do so,” said Lebsack. The average check is $50, not including tax, tip or wine.

The wine selection, which ranges by bottle between $45 and $75, is 80 per cent Canadian, with occasional forays into Bordeaux and the Pacific Northwest. All glass pours come from within Canada’s borders and are priced between $8 and $14. Like the menu, it was important that the list demonstrate cross-country representation, but also reflect the best available, said Lebsack. “Whether picking up ingredients or wine, we have the same philosophy: we are very local, but if we see something good from further away, it’s more about trusting the source,” he said.

Lebsack is joined in the kitchen by sous chefs Colin McFall (former executive sous chef at Union Bank Inn under Lebsack), Davina Moraiko and Rob Ingram, and an apprentice from NAIT, Samson Su. Run by Fulton, who also acts as managing partner and sommelier, the front of house at Rge Rd is a mix of eclectic and traditional.

Sous chef Davina Moraiko in Rge Rd’s open kitchen, with the restaurant’s customized wood oven. Photo by ellenvphotography.com.

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With reclaimed wood, hardwood floors, and a distressed concrete wall, the aim for the space was “warm rustic rather than uber modern,” said Lebsack, who worked with Fulton and Jennifer Woch from Lori Elms Design Group.

Homemade light fixtures made from mill feeders and pulleys that resemble those found in a meat locker, and swing chairs in the entryway are intended to bring in a sense of whimsical fun. A featured sandstone wall reclaimed from the former Alberta Hotel brings a historical feel to the room.

Although they now have a brick and mortar location to call home, Lebsack and Fulton will continue the Rge Rd off-site dinners at local

farms. “One thing this has always been about is community,” said Lebsack. “We wanted to show we’re working with farmers to begin with – they’re the most important thing, even if we have to go and help them plant in the gardens ourselves to get the product.” Whether collaborating with farmers about what type of celeriac will be popular on the market, or experimenting with feeding apples to pigs to change their flavour profile, Lebsack said the interaction and exchange of information is valuable and fun for both parties. “It’s really the original form of networking,” he said.

can take it right over to the kitchen side of things and Robert can show them exactly how to handle it and how to cook it.”

McDermid, Ocean Wise manager at the Vancouver Aquarium and Clark, a co-founder of the Chefs Table Society of BC and former executive chef at the aquarium’s C restaurant worked together in founding Ocean Wise, and had The Fish Counter concept in mind for a few years, before finding the Main Street location to house it.

The 1,200-squarefoot space was formerly a clothing store and a great deal of work has gone into the transformation. “Ultimately, what we want is that clean, The Fish Counter owners, Mike McDermid and chef Robert Clark. industrial, raw feel,” said McDermid.

“We want it

By Elaine Anselmi, assistant editor to feel like a shop that has been there for 100 years.”

VANCOUVER—Two notable names in the The space, lined with exposed piping and sustainable seafood industry are opening up elemental components, is divided in two, with shop on Vancouver’s Main Street. Mike Mcthe fresh seafood counter on one side and an Dermid and chef Robert Clark of the Vanopen-concept kitchen on the other. “We’re not couver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program are hiding anything from anybody. People will be behind The Fish Counter, a fresh, sustainable able to see everything from the production seafood market, opening mid-to-late August. side, not only for fresh seafood and live tanks, “A lot of what we can hopefully accomplish but also for food production,” said McDermid. is to open people’s palates to these non-tra“Whether it’s fish and chips or fish tacos, take ditional, but perhaps underutilized and more out, or prepping meals they can take home and sustainable options,” co-director McDermid heat up, everybody will be able to see Robert told PRN. Built into the market/eatery concept Clark in full action.” is an educational component, familiarizing For the foodservice side, he said, they’re customers with new varieties of seafood. “We

“looking to have some great fish and chips.”

Another local chef, Ian Johansen, has been tasked with creating a light and crispy batter recipe. McDermid said the menu will be very flexible and fluctuate.

“Fish tacos, and fish and chips will always be on the menu … they will just vary depending on what is the most seasonal, local and sustainable; whether it’s Pacific halibut, lingcod, Pacific cod or whatever we can find that’s the right fit for the time,” he said. “But we can also vary that by using a local salmon or white fish.”

The concept returns to the duo’s Ocean Wise roots of an environmentally-conscious seafood offering, something McDermid said the Main Street neighbourhood was lacking.

“You can tell people what fish they should be eating because it’s the most sustainable, but if nobody in the area is selling it, it’s a moot point,” said McDermid. “We want to grow in that community so it’s possible to choose more sustainably.”

McDermid said there has been a lot of growth in both chefs and consumers using sustainable options. He noted local albacore tuna was previously overlooked because it lacked the bright red appearance of ahi tuna, yet it is one of the most sustainable tuna options. “All it takes is just getting people to try it. Once you try a taste of albacore tuna; that’s it,” he said.

“I think that’s the fun part too, and a lot of the chefs really enjoy that challenge.”

As far as supply goes, McDermid doesn’t see the concept as a wholesale outlet for restaurants. But, he and Clark will continue to be ambassadors for the Ocean Wise program and support all other businesses that are keen on sustainable seafood.

“Our niche is to be that community fish store,” said McDermid. “This is a marriage of two things I love: food and conservation. It’s something that is tangible, that we can really see the positive impacts from.”

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PAC I F I C / P R A I R I E R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

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thing that some chefs have removed from the restaurant experience: the dining room itself.

Just as pop-ups blur the lines of restaurant ownership and timelines with their “here today, gone tomorrow” mode of operation, so too do the mobile notions created through outdoor dinners like Diner en Blanc and communal meals such as those put out by Canada’s Group of Seven chefs.

As these roving chefs pack their bags and share their knowledge and time throughout other people’s kitchens, the concept of a restaurant starts to link more to the knowledge inside an operator’s mind, rather than the physical confines of a dining room.

Ultimately, the one component that cannot be removed from the restaurant concept is the customer. Legislators or politicians, operators or chefs can try and define the true meaning of a restaurant, but by spending their disposable income in concepts that they enjoy – and leaving by the wayside those establishments that don’t meet their dining standards – customers are the ones that shape that definition of a restaurant every time they lift their knives and forks.

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Deductive reasoning

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

Publisher Steven Isherwood ext. 236 sisherwood@canadianrestaurantnews.com

Volume 19 Number 4 Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News is published 6 times per year by Ishcom Publications Ltd. which also publishes: Ontario Restaurant News, Atlantic Restaurant News, Canadian Lodging News, Canadian Chains Directory 2065 Dundas Street East, Suite 201 Mississauga, Ontario L4X 2W1 Tel: (905) 206-0150 Fax: (905) 206-9972 In Canada 1 800 201-8596 Subscriptions: Canada & USA: $24.95/ year or $39.95/two years Single copy: $5.00 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to circulation department, 2065 Dundas Street East, Suite 201, Mississauga, Ontario L4X 2W1 Publication Mail Agreement No. 40010152 ISSN 1702-3483 GST number R102533890

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ecently, a proposal before the French parliament had the potential to change the name of the game, quite literally, for restaurateurs in France.

France has a long history of fiercely defending its gastronomic honour through provisions such as appellation d’origine controlee (AOC) labelling, which sets standards for wine, cheese and other beloved items from the country’s regions.

So, argued politician Daniel Fasquelle when introducing the bill, the logical conclusion would be to extend these same requirements to restaurants: to reserve the name “restaurant” for those places that make everything from scratch, and remove the moniker from all other establishments.

It’s a radical notion, although not unheard of in Europe: French law requires bakeries designated as boulangeries to make everything from scratch, and restaurants in Italy are made to mark items that have previously been frozen on their menus with an asterisk and a “surgelato” label.

Fasquelle’s idea made it through the first reading in Parliament as an amended compromise, where restaurants would label only housemade items as such, leaving the rest for the customer to figure out the origin.

Setting aside the debate as to whether or not this standard would be practical to apply to all North American restaurants, consider for a moment the criteria by which we judge our own menus. In recent years, the industry rush towards labelling means that menus are now more likely than ever to contain a mention of what isn’t there, such as allergen, gluten, fat and sodium reduction labels. While in many cases, this is an invaluable and often lifesaving tool that is a boon to the diner, it means that to some extent, we’re slowly defining food more by what we choose not to add, rather than what we do. Just as some chefs write menus as a list of single ingredient descriptors (pork | cherries | air | etc.), this shift is worlds away from the lavish narratives on the menus of old.

Perhaps this idea of omission and pareddown menu prose is reflected in the biggest

Bits India Bistro on Vancouver Island VICTORIA—Kamaljit Mroke opened a branch of mainland-based India Bistro on Wharf Street in Victoria in June. He had been looking to move his family’s restaurant brand into Victoria for five years, according to the Times Colonist.

When Sauce restaurant closed in March after nearly a decade, Mroke said he had found the perfect location.

The Vancouver-based company runs 12 restaurants – including India Bistro on Davie Street in Vancouver – under various names with family members on the Lower Mainland and in Kelowna under additional banners Palki, Dawaad, Chatney and Handi.

Serving North Indian cuisine, the 140-seat restaurant uses charcoal to heat the tandoors, bringing out an “authentic taste” in the flatbreads. Other clay ovens are used for skewers of lamb, fish, beef and vegetables. The average check ranges between $15 and $30.

1245 Wharf St., Victoria. (250) 382-8662.

Pacific Rim offers grab-and-go VANCOUVER—Giovane café + winebar has launched a grab-and-go gourmet market, which offers house cured meats, cheese, olives and imported olive oils, as well as a variety of prepared meals. Located inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim, the market opened in mid-July.

Customers can also eat-in with familystyle sharing platters at a communal table.

To-go options include a “fake it so you don’t have to make it” dinner party option, a picnic basket, “candy bar”, and “meals on the fly” for airplane travellers.

Denny’s connects to customers VANCOUVER—Denny’s Canada has launched its own app offering loyalty rewards to customers as well as a social forum.

MyDenny’s is available for download to all

Leslie Wu, Editorial Director

and

customers in Canada, according to a July 23 release.

The app features mobile rewards and exclusive offers, as well as the opportunity to earn points from purchases that are redeemable in store. MyDenny’s users can also connect with friends through the app, inviting them to meet at the restaurant.

“Introducing a social aspect to smart dining allows us to reward and recognize our loyal guests while providing them the opportunity for feedback that we can put back into our restaurants,” Chandni Chaube, marketing manager for Denny’s Canada, said in the release.

Clay Oven growing in Winnipeg WINNIPEG—Clay Oven Hakka restaurant opened at 1 Portage Ave. in downtown Winnipeg in June. The restaurant is the third location owned by Trevor and Anita Ahluwalia, who also have Clay Ovens on Kenaston and Inkster boulevards.

With executive chef Shashi Sharma at the helm, the Clay Oven makes many ingredients in house and offers a variety of meat and vegetarian, vegan and gluten–free dishes.

The restaurant gets its name from roadside tandoors, or clay ovens, common in the many bustling cities in India. The tandoors offer fresh, traditional meals and are a common meeting place.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, representatives from Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh religions offered one-minute blessings at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Flavours offers taste of West Africa CALGARY—Temitope Esan recently opened Flavours Restaurant in Calgary at 4129 4th St. N.W., the former location of Istanbul restaurant, which closed after the owner retired.

BI t es

Esan got her foodservice start in the catering business, according to the Calgary Herald.

She repainted the restaurant, which seats about two dozen, in shades of green. Flavours offers Nigerian food – a collection of dishes from around the nation seasoned with nuts and chilies or habaneros– such as suya (thinly sliced, spiced beef), yam porridge, meat pies and kebabs.

4129 4th St. N.W., Calgary. (403) 719-2770.

Homer St. café opens VANCOUVER—Homer St. Cafe and Bar opened its doors in early July. The restaurant is housed in two of Vancouver’s iconic buildings, the historic Homer building and new Beasley building, according to a release.

Executive Chef Marc-André Choquette, who led the culinary team at sister restaurant Tableau Bar Bistro, created the menu. He and restaurant chef Tret Jordan will focus on comfort food inspired by rotisserie flavours, while sourcing local and responsible products. The menu will feature spice-rubbed chicken prepared on a Rotisol Grande Flame Olympia Rotisserie and daily roasts.

At the bar, the menu will feature craft beers, classic cocktails and a small wine list that pulls from around the world and will rotate weekly by the glass and bottle.

The décor draws inspiration from iconic French bistros and classic American banquet halls and showcases the beauty of the original heritage space while incorporating contemporary sensibility. A creative collaboration between designer Craig Stanghetta, Edison & Sprinkles and expert antique and architectural dealer Scott Landon, the space features industrial salvaged windows, doors and light fixtures, and mosaic tile.

898 Homer Street, Vancouver. (604) 4284299, www.homerstreetcafebar.com.

AU G U S T 2 013

Master of the house:

House of Commons executive chef Judson Simpson is Canada’s first Master Chef OTTAWA—Canada’s first Master Chef, Judson Simpson, always joins his staff in the kitchen of the House of Commons for lunch service; a habit that served him well in the rigorous examination process for the certification.

“I’m pretty hands on as an executive chef,” Simpson told PRN. A former national president of the CCFCC, Judson advocated to bring the Master Chef certification to Canada; a goal that was achieved in 2011 with a five-year exclusive deal with Humber College.

“I’m a life-long learner,” said Simpson. “I wanted to test the program, and also challenge myself.

The best way to validate the program was to actually do it.”

Although the program allows a four-year timeframe, Simpson finished it in two. The first year had both an online component and a pastry and garde manger exam, a topic dear to Simpson’s heart.

It’s crucial to have a solid background in garde manger, said Simpson. “You can’t be a good, solid chef if you don’t have experience on the hot line in fine dining and cold prep in general.”

For this year’s exam, Simpson practiced with dry runs in the kitchen, especially for the challeng-

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ing nutritional component, which required three courses: lacto-ovo, diabetic friendly and ovo-vegetarian.

For Simpson’s nutritional exam dish, he cooked a 45-degree salmon in a thermo circulator for 30 min, served with Spartan bread crumbs, horseradish, lemon and parsley over stewed beluga lentils.

“The judges thought the main course was a bit protein-heavy, but overall, ate very well,” said Simpson.

When it came to the dessert round, Simpson made a chocolate mousse cake with avocado and a warm lemon pudding with a gel coating and coconut foam.

The other component of this year’s exam was a five-course black box challenge.

One of the highlights for Simpson was his bacon-wrapped stuffed rabbit loin with figs and pistachios, served with a rice cake and celery root, topped with foie gras, caramelized apples and squash puree.

Simpson wrapped the loin in foil and cooked it in the oven. “It came out very juicy,” he said. “Sometimes the old ways are the best.”

Although Simpson has 20 years of competition under his belt, including the World Culinary Olympics as manager of Culinary Team

34573D_CC_RestNews_Ad_Layout 1 13-04-26 8:59 AM Page 1

Judson Simpson, executive chef of food services at the House of Commons.

Canada, he found the exam had exacting standards.

“The last time I’d competed was in 2004 at the IKA Culinary Olympics,” he said.

During the June exams, Simpson found himself literally running around the kitchen to get some of the components on the plate and show off as many techniques as possible in the allotted time.

A graduate of George Brown College, Simpson has worked in the kitchens at Fenton’s, Hazelton Lanes, the Inn on the Park and Napoleon’s as an apprentice, as well as a stint as executive sous-chef at the King Edward Hotel. He was also executive chef at the Chimo Hotel Markham before taking on his current role as executive chef of food services at the House of Commons.

Simpson said he firmly believes certification at any level is a necessary step for chefs, who should never stop learning.

“As a profession, we should always continue to challenge ourselves,” he said.

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PAC I F I C / P R A I R I E R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Celebrating with the CCFCC 1.

2.

By Leslie Wu EDMONTON—Chefs from all walks of life came together in early June to celebrate the Canadian Culinary Federation/Fédération Culinaire Canadienne (CCFCC)’s 50th anniversary.

“This is our future,” said CCFCC president Donald Gyurkovits at the opening ceremonies, where junior team members showed off their skills under the tutelage of senior chefs.

“This is the next 50 years.”

Former treasurer and national administrator Roy Butterworth issued a challenge to the young chefs in the room. “I want to see you up here at this podium in 50 years,” he said.

Butterworth, who has been the CCF treasurer since 1994, became a full time employee of the CCFCC June 1, managing the budgets for the CCFCC/CCI, Bocuse D’Or and Culinary Team Canada.

Jacques LePage, executive chef at Jacques Cookhouse Services, took on the position of treasurer. LePage was the former Eastern vice-president, a region that is joining the Atlantic provinces in a new unified Eastern region. In other geographic shuffles, Ottawa and Kingston is joining the central region.

LePage was also named chef of the year at the association’s gala night, where the new Culinary Team Canada cooked for attendees.

Myles Fedun of the Shaw Conference Centre was declared the winner of the Tabasco national chef challenge, and Katelyn Pittman from Kelowna, B.C. won the Saputo Junior Chef Challenge.

Cooking camaraderie “Education is a big part of the next 50 years,” said conference chair Simon Smotkowicz.

Throughout the conference, a collaborative sense of knowledge-sharing pervaded the demonstrations and events.

“Gone are the days of hiding recipes and secrets,” said Connie DeSousa of Charcut Roast House, while demonstrating the art of blood sausage making with her partner John Jackson. DeSousa spoke about a past stage spent at a local restaurant trying to learn how to make its famed chorizo, only to discover that “the family was super secretive and would do everything alone in the spice closet.”

Jackson is enthused about how chefs are digging up old family recipes.

“We don’t want these skills to be lost.

Over time, we’re forgetting about what things taste like and what it should taste like.”

Carl Heinrich and Ryan Donovan from Toronto’s Richmond Station interspersed a demonstration of breaking down a whole lamb with a rundown of the whole beast butchering supply model they use at the restaurant.

Incorporating elements of the whole beast into different products in the kitchen such as mortadella (“a great way of getting rid of extra fat,” said Heinrich) and terrine (“it’s awesome because it can be made with kidney, lung, etc...and it’s all free,” said Donovan) allows greater cost savings and flexibility.

Overall, the demonstrations pointed to a way of incorporating the techniques of the past into a new model for the future.

“It’s so easy for chefs to say that ‘technology will take the soul out of my food’,” said Philip Preston, president of Polyscience, while showing off anti-griddles, sous vide baths and smoking guns.

“Instead, it’s a way to constantly improve their kitchen,” he said.

The 2014 conference will be held in Outaouais/Gatineau.

3.

4.

Left: 200 chefs in the sunshine outside the Edmonton Marriott at River Cree Resort. Photo by Dean Skoubis, Avonlea Photography.

Right: 1. Conference chair Simon Smotkowicz. 2. Chef of the Year Jacques LePage (left) and president Donald Gyurkovits (right). 3. Ryan Donovan, Richmond Station. 4. Philip Preston, president of PolyScience (left) and Joe Strybel, culinary marketing specialist at PolyScience. 5. A display commemorating the association’s 50 years. 6. John Jackson (left) and Connie DeSousa (right) from Charcut Roast House. 7. Carl Heinrich, Richmond Station. Photos by Leslie Wu.

Call of duty: inside an army kitchen EDMONTON—With pulled pork, grilled chicken and the regiment’s version of moose milk (a potent, eggnog-style drink containing multiple types of alcohol) on offer, the Edmonton Garrison hosted the CCFCC at its first catered onpremise event. Guests were able to clamber over a Leopard 2A4M tank, pose with weaponry, and experience a field dinner with service tents set up around the base.

The capacity for the Edmonton Garrison can reach 5,000 people and, at any given time, its 90 cooks could be called upon to feed 800 to 900 on base, depending on training operations and other field require-

ments, said Sgt. John Woroniuk, kitchen officer. He estimated that they do 400 covers at lunch, and 200 at dinner.

“One of the challenges is keeping people interested in their food, and meeting their expectations,” said Petty Officer First Class Troy McGregor.

With salad bars and soup options, as well as fresh fruit on hand, the Garrison foodservice staff take suggestions to vary the seven-week cycle the meal plans are centred around.

The kitchen includes woks, large soup kettles and television monitors to supervise larger areas.

Left: Sgt. John Woroniuk, kitchen officer. Right: Dinner is served in a field tent at the Edmonton Garrison.

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AU G U S T 2 013

Bratwurst and beer in Technomic study goes Vancouver’s Chinatown back to school CHICAGO—A recent report by Technomic, Inc. has put university and college foodservice under the microscope and revealed some disheartening trends for those in the industry.

According to the Canadian College and University Consumer Trend Report, the number of university and college students purchasing meals off-campus has increased since 2011 from 51 per cent to 58 per cent in 2013.

“To fuel growth of campus foodservice, college and university dining operators will want to consistently focus on improvements to overall value, menu variety and atmosphere at on-campus dining locations,” said Technomic executive vice-president Darren Tristano in a release.

“Menu variety in particular is key to boosting student patronage. Our year-over-year data indicates that there’s an increased demand for unique items, ethnic offerings and customization opportunities on college and university foodservice menus,” he said.

A key finding in Technomic’s study was that only 28 per cent of post-secondary students said they were satisfied with their institution’s foodservice program.

As well, menu variety and uniqueness ranked as important with the majority of students surveyed, and approximately 40 per cent of students wanted the option of substituting ingredients in their meals.

See the June issue of PRN for a feature on postsecondary institutions that are catering to their students and creating successful foodservice programs.

VANCOUVER—A beer and sausage parlour, Bestie, opened its doors at 105 East Pender St. in Chinatown in June. Owners Clinton McDougall and Dane Brown are sharing their love of currywurst with fellow Vancouverites.

The pair discovered their affinity for the sliced bratwurst covered in homemade curried ketchup and served with fries, instead of a bun, while in Germany on business with a design firm two years ago.

Brown told PRN they wondered why Vancouver didn’t have anything similar. “It’s such a simple and easy food and it wouldn’t be that hard to set something like that up,” said Brown.

“As North Americans, we sort of live in a sausage-deprived society compared to Europe.”

Brown and McDougall further discussed the concept when they got back in June of 2011 and decided they were both in a position (mortgage and kid-free) to take the entrepreneurial leap.

The restaurant works with a fifth-generation butcher who uses local, naturally raised, free-range meat. Brown said they visited every reputable sausage maker within a 200-kilometre radius and found John and Christine Van Der Lieck of Oyama Sausage Co. Brown said John, who is of Dutch and German heritage, knew exactly what they needed and created “a perfect currywurst sausage.”

The winning sausage was a pork Thüringer, a German variety with a finer mince, marjoram and balanced spices. The Thüringer appears on the menu at Bestie as a mainstay, while varieties of poultry, vegetarian, bison, beef and lamb sausage rotate.

The co-owners found a location at 105 East Pender St. in Chinatown and took six months to repurpose and build the 750-square-foot

building.

Designed

by Vancouver-based Scott&Scott Architects, the 22-seat restaurant features spruce wood, white paint, a copper-topped bar and custom-made tables with vibrant stools and benches bringing a “Bauhaus meets alpine house” aesthetic to the area.

“Currywurst was invented in Germany based on ketchup from Americans and curry powder from the British who got it from India,” said Brown. “It’s this hilarious cultural amalgamation that’s hugely popular in Germany and we thought ‘why wouldn’t that work in Chinatown’?”

Bestie also offers an assortment of side dishes, including sauerkraut, pickles, salads, and fresh baked pretzels. The side salad options are always changing and Brown provided watermelon, cucumber and mint and savoury roasted cauliflower as examples of a day’s options.

The drink menu includes local craft beers in three sizes, a few German bottled beers, red and white wine on tap, and an extensive selection of schnapps and digestifs. Nothing on the menu is over ten dollars and average check is about $16.

Above, from left: Clinton McDougall and Dane Brown.

Photo by Ben Nelms..Left: Sliced bratwurst covered in curried ketchup served on fries.

Bestie offers three modes of service to customers – that alternate with the different dayparts – beginning with counter service at lunch. “We want to keep it really fast for all the folks working in the area who want to grab lunch and go,” said Brown. “As soon as the rush dies down and it’s people coming in for an afternoon beer to hang out, we switch over to table service.”

On Friday and Saturday nights between midnight and 3 a.m. people can order through a former lottery ticket window at a booth that tranforms into a service counter.

105 East Pender St., Vancouver. (604) 620-1175, www.bestie.ca, @bestiewurst.

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PAC I F I C / P R A I R I E R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

By Elaine Anselmi

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Taking the LEED in sustainable design In Vancouver’s west end, the Cactus Club Cafe at English Bay’s glass-encased dining room barely disrupts the view from Beach Avenue through to the waterfront. The company targeted LEED Gold on the project, a mandate of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, which owns the restaurant’s site.

Cactus Club English Bay is estimated to save 18 per cent on operational cost when compared to a building that is built to the current code, says Jason Packer, senior project manager and associate at Recollective Consulting Inc., who worked with Cactus Club on the project. He notes that the actual energy savings is a higher number – 33 per cent – but because the building runs on gas rather than electricity, and gas comes at a significantly lower cost, the actual payback is less. “Energy cost savings for gas don’t amount to as much,” he says. “LEED rewards project points for savings on the cost of their energy, not on energy savings outright.”

“One of the most impressive measures undertaken was really aggressive management of the construction waste,” says Parker. “We diverted somewhere in the neighbourhood of 95 per cent of construction waste from landfills.”

The existing structure, previously a beach concession stand, was demolished and used for road base, with other materials sent to local facilities that separate and reuse waste in various ways, he says.

Both Cactus Club and Tim Hortons committed to using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood in their new builds—a

T

he Tim Hortons location at 969 Upper Water Street in Hamilton, ON fits the mould of the iconic Canadian coffee chain from the outside. A drive-thru window operates on one side of the brown brick building and the majority of the dining area is faced with windows. Operationally speaking, the restaurant runs at a cost of about 20 per cent less than a nearly identical location just five minutes away.

In April, Tim Hortons executives hung the company’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification on the wall of the Upper Water Street store that originally opened in 2010. The company has been working towards certification for that location from the beginning.

“The idea was to make it look just like a regular Tim Hortons. While it is something special, the idea was not to have different ‘green restaurants’,” John Macey, Tim Hortons manager of sustainable design, tells PRN. “We’re not doing it just for the sake of saying how green we are.

It’s not just how we build buildings: it’s delivery, sourcing and less packaging.”

Before the restaurant was even built, Macey says the intention was to go for the certification and the site – an existing parking lot – was specifically chosen to contribute towards that goal.

“The idea was to find a spot where we could take advantage of the site, feeding into the sustainable sites credits [a part of LEED],” he says.

“We engaged the contractor in it from the start.

One of their ideas was to crush down the parking lot and use that as fill for the build out.”

Macey says that having multiple locations of

similar models – the Upper Water Street location is their 2400 Urban Design Model, as well as a second in Hamilton, a third was built in Cobourg, ON in 2008 – allows them to compare and study data on the return on investment for the upgrades. This data is crucial to the company’s plans, with ten more restaurants across Canada and the U.S. in the process of certification – including locations in Vancouver, Surrey and Langley, BC – and a goal of 30 by 2016 in the works.

“It’s expensive to run a restaurant. We want to help with this as much as we can,” he says.

“It’s no good if we can do it in one location and not anywhere else in the franchise.”

Although independent restaurants certainly share the concern of added cost, Nancy Brace, executive director of the Restaurant Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (RANL), says they also have less corporate policy and fewer levels to go through to make changes.

“In the small, independent restaurant that is freestanding by itself, everything ultimately comes down to the owner. If the owner is on board with it, and that’s their focus; there’s nobody to clear it with or hoops to jump through,” she says.

After noticing what they saw as a lag in the restaurant industry around sustainable practice, RANL released a one-stop-shop website for restaurants seeking resources on environmentallyfriendly operations. Michelle Marley, principal at Paradise, NFLD-based Terra Sustainability Consulting worked with RANL to develop the Online Environmental Foodservice Resource, with funding from Sysco.

requirement of LEED certification.

Macey says this policy has been rolled out at all Tim Hortons locations, a move that made both environmental and business sense. With FSC millwork coming at a cost of nearly 40 per cent more than other suppliers, Tim Hortons offered a challenge to their suppliers, says Macey. Tim Hortons standardized the use of FSCcertified wood in all of their restaurants and, “made it worth the mill’s while to get up to FSC standards and become the regular supplier,” says Macey. The move brought the price down from 40 per cent to a two per cent increase. “In a one-off scenario, this is not going to work, but in the volume that we do it, it makes sense,” says Macey.

In new builds, the use of low volatile organic compound (VOC) content paint is another aspect of sustainable practice that affects the indoor environment of the restaurant. Packer says at Cactus Club, materials were specifically chosen for their low VOC content. “Some of those [VOCs] are nasty, and known to linger,” he says.

“Not only are patrons of the restaurant benefitting from that but the staff and construction people are as well.”

While new builds offer opportunities to make these choices, Marley says older buildings can also be retrofitted and updated to operate more sustainably. She notes that something as simple as weather stripping on windows can offer great improvements. “Even if you’re in an older building, there are rebates and incentives for projects,” she says.

Macey says, having both new builds and

existing sites in their portfolio, Tim Hortons is also targeting LEED certification for the existing structures, under the Commercial Interior certification, which classifies tenant improvements to spaces.

Tim Hortons has the opportunity to use locations, such as Upper Water Street, as testing sites for new practices that could result in retrofits in other locations, says Macey. One test project currently in place is a coating that adheres to window panes, still allowing daylight in, but reducing energy consumption through heating and cooling loss.

“LED lights in accents, FSC-wood across all locations and low VOC paints are all standard across the board now because of test locations like this one,” says Macey. “There are little things you can do and see the benefit from in both the aesthetic and energy savings.”

Photos and graphics: This page: 1. Tim Hortons at 969 Upper Water St., Hamilton, ON. (All photos on this page taken at this location). 2. Drive-thru.

3. Employee stands under air curtain.

4. LED lit display case. 5. Plaques around the store note various aspects of green building initiatives. 6. LEED certificate.

Facing page: From top: Data from United States Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Star Guide for Restaurants.

Cactus Club English Bay dining room.

Photo courtesy of Cactus Club Cafe.

Nicole Fewell, owner of Cheezy Biz Food Truck. Photo by Jason Dziver.

Cactus Club English Bay exterior. Photo courtesy of Cactus Club Cafe.

“RANL recognized that while some restaurants in the province were, of their own volition, taking environmental action – mainly because the owners had a personal involvement or values in the environment – they wanted to do something to extend that message to the restaurant community,” says Marley. “We wanted to develop a resource that, yes, is good for the environment, but also had some really strong business value to the restaurant’s ownership.”

With a company mandate that green can be good for business, Marley says the resource assists operators in developing better practices in an industry where margins are tight.

As an accredited auditor for the Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice (LEAF), Marley has worked closely with operators on assessing and improving their practice, bringing their establishment up to LEAF certification standards—which have three progressive levels.

LEAF founder, Janine Windsor, says auditors do a full-scale assessment of the restaurant, looking at energy use, water use, purchasing, chemicals used for cleaning and operational practices.

“We come up with a score for them to give the restaurant a baseline, saying ‘this is where you are’, and then provide them with a specific list of recommendations to improve,” she says.

“If you think about it, to reduce your environmental impact you’re doing things like reducing your energy, reducing your water, your hot water, your food waste. All of those things are associated with most of the operating costs in a restaurant.”

WATER SAVINGS Between staff hand-washing and rinsing coffee pots, Macey points out how often the taps behind the counter at Tim Hortons are used, not to mention those in the washrooms and kitchen.

“Several hundred times per day, these [taps] are going on and off,” he says. A new installation at the Upper Water Street location is aerators built into faucets, reducing the amount of water used.

He says these low-flow initiatives are easy retrofits for existing restaurants as well.

Water conservation is an area that Marley says offers a great deal of opportunity. “Make sure you’re using low-flow toilets, tap aerators and low-flow fixtures in general,” she says. “Going to a low-flow pre-rinse spray valve can save 150 gallons of hot water per day.” Cost is dependant on the water rates for individual areas, but she says the device itself costs less than $50 and there is no compromise in efficiency.

In addition to waterless urinals and low-flow fixtures indoors, Cactus Club brought water conservation outdoors as well. An underground cistern stores rainwater run off from the restaurant’s roof and recycles it back into the irrigation system, says Packer. Automatic sprinkler heads throughout the garden also run off the rainwater system.

At Tim Hortons, Macey says the landscapers went with indigenous plants surrounding the Upper Water Street location that grow hearty enough to not require a sprinkler system.

AU G U S T 2 013

Saving up energy Seemingly small changes can have big returns over time, says Marley. She points out that replacing exit signs – which are constantly on – with an LED light can save $10 annually and bulb lasts up to 10 years.

Windsor says that when LEAF audits restaurants, it always offers the “low hanging fruit” options to ease restaurateurs into making more sustainable choices. Some of these include switching to LED or compact fluorescent lamp (CFL).

The Energy Star Guide For Restaurants shows that lighting contributes to 13 per cent of energy consumption in a full-service restaurant. “Lights are on all of the time, anywhere from 16 to 20 hours, every single business day,” says Marley. “It’s not just lighting for the sake of lighting, it’s also a big part of the restaurant atmosphere.” She says she sees a lot of opportunity to use energy efficient lighting, whether LED or CFL. “Changing to LED or CFL light bulbs comes at a bit of a cost, but nothing like getting new equipment,” says Windsor. “We try to work with what the restaurant already has.” She suggests designing a menu around the most efficient equipment in the kitchen and using a start-up and shut-down schedule to avoid unnecessarily running appliances.

Windsor suggests something as simple as

Keeping HVAC inside At Union Gas, Chetley says Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation is one of the top energy saving programs for the foodservice industry, with customer rebates ranging from $1,200 to $4,000 per unit, depending on the size.

Similar to lighting systems that operate on sensors, demand control ventilation reduces unnecessary energy output by synchronizing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems with room occupancy.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Guide for Restaurants, commercial kitchens use 2.5 times more energy than any other commercial space, with 25 per cent of all energy output going to HVAC. Heat recovery takes advantage of the heat coming from energy-demanding kitchen appliances and puts it back into HVAC systems.

Cactus Club English Bay used an aggressive system of kitchen heat recovery, says Packer.

“Kitchens produce a lot of heat. That heat is captured through the ventilation system as the kitchen is exhausted, and reused in the building for space heating in the dining area,” he says.

“There’s a huge opportunity for heat recovery in restaurants, in particular, because of refrigeration. They tend to move a lot of air through kitchens to keep them properly ventilated, that’s a lot of heat that goes out the ventilation system.”

Packer explains that the air moving out of Cactus Club’s kitchen is run through a confined

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www.pacificprairierestaurantnews.com keeping appliances off until it is necessary to warm them up and then turning them off in between lunch and dinner service, can seem commonplace, but is likely to be forgotten without a set protocol.

At Tim Hortons, Macey says they are working on creating efficiency schedules with franchise owners individually, to figure out what processes can be changed in each restaurant.

For example, rather than having coffee makers brewing all day, every day, store owners know their particular high and low traffic times and can set schedules for resting equipment.

Occupancy-sensored lights in bathrooms, fridges and freezers are other tools that can mitigate unnecessary energy usage, an area where Windsor says the largest financial savings can be found. “There are lots of little things that restaurants can do that cost little to nothing that can not only save some money, but also help the environment,” she says.

Chris Chetley, commercial/industrial marketing at Union Gas says the kitchen is a necessary area of improvement where energy is concerned. The challenge, he says, is that large equipment investments come at an upfront cost that can be hard to swallow—perhaps one of the reasons larger chain operations are more willing, and able, to invest the capital.

“The return on investment is definite, and the payback is huge,” says Chetley. “They are the two biggest drivers for us to stress.”

6%

REFRIGERATION

18%

SANITATION

13%

LIGHTING

28%

35%

FOOD PREPARATION

HVAC

Energy Consumption IN A FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANT

LOCAL SOURCING

space with a number of small tubes filled with a refrigerant, such as water. It acts as a conductor picking up the heat from the air to move into the dining space. “It’s not as if the hot air in the kitchen is actually being used in the dining room,” he says. “You don’t have the air actually mixing with the water. It’s a conductive material.”

One challenge facing restaurants, due to doors and windows constantly opening and closing, is maintaining a comfortable internal temperature without losing heating and cooling to the outdoors. At the Upper Water Street Tim Hortons, air curtains are mounted on the kitchen door and drive-thru window. “It creates a barrier, keeping outdoor air out, so we’re not heating or cooling the outdoors, as well as keeping smoke – from customers smoking [outside] – from entering building,” says Macey.

CONSERVATION ON THE ROAD Calgary-based Cheezy Biz food truck is one of the few mobile foodservice operators with LEAF certification. Owner Nicole Fewell uses new Energy Star equipment and operates on an “ecofriendly generator, so it doesn’t have to run at full force,” she says. “It’s also a diesel truck, so it’s more efficient.”

In October, RANL will host From This Rock, a repeat of last year’s culinary tour that saw a team of chefs tour the province cooking up a sixcourse meal, in six different communities, using all local ingredients.

“The chefs had to work with farmers to get the produce they needed,” says Brace. “We’re working with the Agrifood division of Natural Resources here to help facilitate meeting and matching chefs and farmers.”

Earlier this year, Sustain Ontario formed the Sustainable Restaurants Working Group with a similar goal of connecting stakeholders within the province’s local food movement. The group’s chair, Vanessa Yu, says sourcing is an area with the potential for a lot of growth.

In the long term, she says the group hopes to engage policy makers and align players to make local and sustainable food more widely available.

“We’re getting past the myth that if it’s going to be local, its going to be more expensive,” she says. “I’m working with 100km Foods to show that it’s not always going to be more expensive.”

Along with energy efficiency and zero-waste operations, a dedication to local sourcing earned Calgary’s Cheezy Biz food truck its LEAF certification. “For me, it was supporting local businesses and farmers, and products that are hormone and antibiotic free,” says Fewell. “It’s how I’ve always fed my family. I didn’t feel like I could change my philosophy in my business practice.”

Fewell notes that her commitment to local sourcing has garnered a great deal of positive exposure in the last year. “I’ve been really lucky this year with the attention I’ve gotten from critics,” she says. “I think it all ties together with the food philosophy. We love food and feeding people; what goes along with that is doing our part for the environment.”

Similar to implementing sustainable building initiatives, changes to sourcing policies can be challenging for large organizations with shareholders and various levels of authority, says Yu. Making local sourcing feasible for businesses of all sizes is a major goal for the group she says, as well as showing them the benefits and return on investment. “It’s the right time for local food,” says Yu. “It’s catching on and the pieces are coming together.”

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PAC I F I C / P R A I R I E R E S TAU R A N T N E W S

Waste management: what cutting down can mean for your bottom line

By Kristen Smith

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he Parker throws away less than a pound of waste per month. “There is no garbage other than what people bring in and leave,” owner Steve Da Cruz tells PRN. Da Cruz opened the 22-seat, 570-square-foot restaurant on Union Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown last October.

“While developing the business, I wanted to change a longstanding habit that has bugged me,” he says. Throughout his experience in the industry, Da Cruz was struck by the amount of cardboard coming in and out of restaurants. He spoke with distributors and suppliers who started using reusable containers for deliveries.

The zero-waste strategy was developed alongside the restaurant concept.

“We’re always looking to reduce even further; for example, when we first opened, we didn’t know what to do with bottle caps,” says Da Cruz. Now, someone from the Britannia Community Services Centre comes and collects them once a month for reuse. Da Cruz says The Parker wanted to challenge the standard business model.

Small and medium-sized operators (including franchise owners) are worried about day-to-day operations, says Bruce McAdams, assistant professor, school of hospitality and tourism management at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Often, restaurateurs are busy fixing the dishing unit or calling in another cook because of an unexpected rush and don’t have the time to come up with a new waste reduction strategy. Under the guidance of the Sustainable Restaurant Project (UGSRP), Guelph’s on-campus restaurant, PJ’s, has the time and resources to research sustainable methods and waste reduction and share knowledge with the foodservice industry.

Bio-fuel and composting Composting is simpler in some municipalities than others, but some restaurateurs argue it is the easiest operational change to make across the board.

Guelph, ON’s municipal waste pickup includes the compost stream. Bob Desautels, coowner of local restaurant the Woolwich Arrow, says a local farmer also picks up kitchen scraps to feed his pigs and oil recycling is arranged by a local co-op. EverPure turns waste oil into biodiesel through its Fries to Fuel program.

Biodiesel can be made from oils such as canola, sunflower or soybean.

Da Cruz works with recycling company Urban Impact which recycles soft plastics and compost from his restaurant. He says composting is an easy first step and is merely a matter of changing employee habits: such as putting food scraps in a separate bin.

“Responsible menu design means there is not a lot of waste anyway,” says Da Cruz.

In Richmond Hill, ON, the owners of Mavi Grill donate used grape seed oil to a farmer. Director and co-owner Parisa Sayad says there is also some interest from universities in obtaining spent oil for research.

“It’s very easy to donate oil,” says Sayad.

While the Turkish cuisine restaurant does compost, she says the municipality could make it easier by including it in its pickup program. “If it is easy, more businesses will be encouraged,” she says.

St. John’s recycling program is only a few years old and doesn’t include a compost stream.

Michelle LeBlanc co-cowner of Chinched Bistro has partnered with farmers who request food scraps for composting. She says this isn’t consistently viable because it requires storage space and many suppliers aren’t able to haul away the organic matter.

Reducing prep waste If you can’t compost food waste, LeBlanc says it can be controlled from within. The St. John’s restaurant saves vegetable trim for soup stock, as well as making its own charcuterie.

“We’ll get large cuts of meat or half an animal and use it in its entirety, so nothing gets wasted,” says LeBlanc.“Ordering locally, the product is better when it arrives so you’re not losing nearly as much as you would if you were ordering it from further away, so there is less waste,” she adds.

Mike von Massons, assistant professor and UGSRP advisor are having margins squeezed by food costs and it is becoming more expensive to haul garbage away.

“We get so wound up in the way we’ve always done things, we don’t stop to ask ‘is there a way

Evaluating plate waste “In North America, we have started to associate portion size with value and that’s where we really messed things up,” says McAdams.

It has been suggested that increasing portion sizes has contributed to more plate waste. McAdams and von Masson scraped plates with the UGSRP students at PJ’s in an effort to establish a framework for evaluating plate waste in foodservice. They found the average daily waste was 11.3 per cent, but also found the link to portion size wasn’t as strong as might be expected.

“Fish and chips was the biggest thing on the menu and the highest in calories, but actually had relatively low waste,” says von Massons.

Portion size wasn’t the biggest contributing factor to plate waste.

“What looked like it was having a bigger impact on the waste was the composition of the plate,” he says.

“What was contributing significantly to waste were sandwiches with fries – things with high carbohydrates. What we were seeing com-

we could do things better?’” says von Massons.

“Take a look at the prep process, because that’s probably the easiest thing to change. Prep is often rushed.”

He tells PRN of a restaurateur who weighed a bag of potatoes before and after it was peeled and learned that 30 per cent of the product was being thrown away as prep waste. The restaurateur decided to stop peeling potatoes based on this discovery. Other small changes can include putting less product out at buffets at one time, which translates into less waste and increased customer satisfaction, because the items are being turned over more often.

“I don’t think there is any one thing a restaurant can do other than pay attention,” says von Masson, adding the accessible actions will become apparent to the operator. ing back was fries or bread or some combination of the two,” von Masson adds.

He says this suggests people should be given a choice. When PJ’s began offering sandwiches with or without fries, plate waste was reduced to about eight per cent, with half the amount of fries sold.

Von Masson says there are ways restaurants can reduce waste, but it must also be economically viable. He suggests offering two sizes, and the option for steamed vegetables instead of French fries. “It allows us to continue to sell a side, but sell a side that is less likely to be wasted,” says von Masson. “There’s huge opportunity. We’re just starting to scratch the surface.”

He says waste can be a sign of an unhappy customer as “most of us don’t like to leave food on our plate.” With food costs anywhere between 20 and 40 per cent, there is opportunity to engineer plates and menus better.

“If we can find a way to reduce plate waste, it should go to the bottom line if it’s done in a way that maintains margins,” says von Massons.

DOWN THE DRAIN The City of Guelph’s water efficiency specialists audited PJ’s restaurant ­– located in the MacDonald Stewart Hall at Guelph University – after the UGSRP started in 2011.

McAdams says the results were comparable to any restaurant and they were able to address some of the low-cost suggestions.

Recommendations: • Fix leaks: a steady drip of hot water at a rate of about one litre per minute, wastes 525 metres cubed annually, worth $1,424 in water costs alone.

• Don’t thaw meat by running water over the items, which was done daily at MacDonald Hall. Assuming two taps are running for three hours a day, 5 days a week for 36 weeks, that amounts to more than $1,300 going down the drain.

• Connectionless steamers use about 11.4L per hour of use, while the boiler type uses about 151L per hour. The two are similar in cost.

• Efficient spray valves can save about $950 in annual water costs.

• Water efficient aerators are under $10 and are easy to install.

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AU G U S T 2 013

Technology and alternatives Some foodservice operators trying to minimize hauling costs are turning to onsite waste handling systems as disposal alternatives.

Compacting reduces waste within a selfcontained bin by using pressure, while pulping presses out the water. Decomposition, or liquefying, and dehydration are two technologies being explored for waste management.

While liquefying is a continuous feed method in which all food waste eventually goes down the drain, dehydrating is batch driven and uses heat to remove the water and reduce waste by 90 per cent.

Scott Cherevaty, vice-present of sales and marketing for glasswasher and warewasher manufacturer Champion Moyer Diebel, says with restaurants producing between a quarter and half tonne of food waste – the heaviest waste stream component – it gets expensive to manage.

The Niagara based distributor has represented EnviroPure for about four years.

“With this system, what makes it pretty neat is that it turns your food waste into water and goes down the drain,” says Cherevaty. The system uses an organic product that extracts sulfite and multiplies bacteria to speed up the process

turning the waste into water in about 24 hours.

Depending on size, it can handle between 200 and 2,000 pounds of food daily. “The smaller the system, the less the payback benefits,” says Cherevaty.

“It’s a little bit slower in Canada to start; there’s been a far bigger take off in the U.S.,” says Cherevaty, who says there are units at Fallsview Casino, Scarborough Golf and Country Club and Providence Healthcare, which saw a savings of 44 per cent of its waste hauling costs.

With prices ranging between $20,000 to $30,000, large capital investments are often the first thing to be cut from the budget and the company is looking into leasing options so operators will be able to see the results.

He says high volume foodservice operations, such as hotels and universities, have demonstrated the most interest.

The wastewater is depleted, similar to grey water, and the company is experimenting with putting in holding tanks to use it on the property, although Cherevaty says it’s not suitable for a edible gardens. “Where we’re going with the technology, what we hope, at some point, is that we’re able to take the water that leaves the system and put it back in. That way, we’re not drawing on any water at all,” says Cherevaty.

Takeout and service items McAdams says most operators are driven primarily by cost-effectiveness when it comes to selecting takeout containers.

For the owners of Mavi Grill, the decision to go green was largely influenced by the Turkish restaurant’s health focus.

Sayad says offering compostable and biodegradable takeout containers and sandwich wraps allows the customers to freeze and microwave leftovers without worrying about chemicals leaching into the food. When she tells customers the containers are made of sugar cane, Sayad says it often opens the doors for a conversation about health and sustainability.

Compostable containers are often made from bagasse, sugar cane fibre waste left over after juice is extracted, which is completely biodegradable. Utensils made from 80 per cent starch and 20 per cent vegetable oil are also biodegradable and compostable.

At Cascades, communications and sustainability advisor Melanie St-Pierre says sustainability has factored into the business since it started in 1964. “Right at the start, we chose to use recycled fibre in our product, which was pretty innovative. At the time, everybody was using virgin fibre,” says St-Pierre. “We’re see-

ing the customer more and more on the lookout for environmentally responsible products.”

Cascade recently launched its Moka line of products. “We simply removed the bleaching step in the manufacturing of the products. As a result, the tissue paper is more sustainable, because bleaching is basically for aesthetic purposes,” says St-Pierre, noting a lifecycle analysis of the product indicates the environmental impact is 25 per cent less than whitened products.

St-Pierre says all categories of foodservice operators are becoming more sensitive to environmental issues and aim to reduce consumption. “We see that the interfold napkin is a growing trend; the way it is folded allows a reduction of waste,” says St. Pierre. She says it reduces consumption by 25 per cent by allowing customers to take one paper napkin at a time.

For those interested in purchasing environmentally preferable supplies, Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice (LEAF) recommends using those that are processed chlorine-free (PCF) and third-party certified by an independent party, such as EcoLogo or Green Seal.

Less is more

COMMON CENTS • Keep recycling, compost and garbage labelling consistent with municipal colours to ensure ease of use for staff.

• “Twin your bins.” Every time there is a garbage bin, a recycling bin should be right beside it.

• Insist suppliers provide recyclable materials.

• Encourage customers to bring their own takeaway containers.

• Turn down the A/C. Starbucks conserves energy by allowing air-conditioned stores to reach nearly 24°C instead of 22°C on warm days.

• Reduce water use. Starbucks saves water by using high-blast nozzles to clean pitchers instead of running the tap, and installing low-flow valves.

• “Insulating can have a big bang for your buck; the payback can be very quick,” says Desautels.

• The Neighbourhood Group of restaurants gradually moved to LED lighting, which Desautels says looks nicer than fluorescent bulbs. “In a restaurant you want everyone to feel good about everything,” he says.

Page 12: Main image designed by Stephanie Giammarco. Photos by Davide Gulielmo (paper) and Peter Mrhar (plates).

Page 13, clockwise from top left: Solar panels are used to heat water at the Woolwich Arrow in Guelph, ON. The Mavi Grill dining area in Richmond Hill, ON. Napkins hang dry at Chinched Bistro in St. John’s. The dining area at zero-waste Vancouver restaurant, The Parker.

ALL ABOARD: ENGAGING STAFF AND CUSTOMERS Starbucks has committed to reducing its cup waste. It aims to serve five per cent of beverages made in company-owned stores in personal tumblers by 2015.

Starbucks offers a 10-cent discount to customers who bring in their own travel mug as an incentive. In an effort to further reduce cupwaste Starbucks introduced a $1 reusable Starbucks cup in January.

“If a customer uses the reusable cup for one month, he or she will help avoid using more than a pound of paper or 3.5 pounds of wood,” senior

communications manager for Starbucks Coffee Canada Carly Suppa tells PRN. “The introduction of the $1 reusable cup was intended as a lowcost reusable option that, when coupled with the 10-cent discount customers receive when they bring their own cup, would help inspire many customers to start using a tumbler or reusable cup.”

In 1995, the company started The Ground for Your Garden Program. During the summer months, the program offers high nutrient, spent coffee grounds for home gardens.

According to Da Cruz, it is easier to find and hire like-minded staff than teach staff and change habits.

He says the key is creating a mindset, leading by example and effectively communicating ideas.

His staff gets excited about The Parker’s zero-waste strategy. “It becomes a point of pride,” he says. “The most important first step would be creating a consciousness among the entire staff.

It’s only with everyone on board that you can really make change.”

At The Parker, there are no hand towels and no straws. Da Cruz says the customers don’t even notice.

“We’re a restaurant and zero waste can be normal,” says Da Cruz, adding customers don’t know the high-end restaurant is zero waste until the bill comes. “All these things that could be considered normal are suddenly forgotten when the service is good, the atmosphere is good and people feel taken care of,” says Da Cruz.

PJ’s also has a strict no-straws policy. “You can’t even ask for one, let alone get one by default,” says von Masson. “At the very least, I think we should be asking people if they want a straw, not including them automatically.” He notes it’s only a matter of a few cents, but if value isn’t added, then margin is being wasted by something that simply gets thrown out.

The Woolwich Arrow received a five-year sustainability plan from students at the University of Waterloo. The students devised a challenge for Desautels to put to his staff encouraging them to come up with green ideas for a prize. One winning idea was to switch to reusable coasters. Desautels says hundreds are thrown away at the Neighbourhood Group’s three restaurants every day.

McAdams says the UGSRP plate waste study indicated garnishes and sauces were also wasted.

All the fish and chips were sent out with tartar sauce and about half went back to the kitchen untouched.

A couple years ago, the project’s bread waste study made the cover of the Globe and Mail. McAdams says they looked at the bread served automatically at a golf course, two restaurants and a banquet hall. On average, 35 per cent came back to the kitchen. The study suggested restaurants should charge for bread or stop bringing it automatically. “We’re starting to look at the automatic things we’re serving that are going out to tables,” he says.

He says some restaurants have stopped the practice of “auto-ketchupping” and foodservice operators should be looking to cut down on the amount of single-use items, such as butter containers and single jams.

McAdams says society’s acceptance of waste has increased. “We build waste into our costing model and pricing model,” he says.

He says the size of a menu is critical. “I think 100-item menus don’t make sense for anyone,” says McAdams.

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A Canadian tea trial

By Kristen Smith COWICHAN, BC—A Vancouver Island couple might one day be referred to as tea-growing pioneers. Victor Vesely and Margit Nelleman of Teafarm are in the midst of cultivating the plants on their 11-acre, North Cowichan property. Restaurateurs may soon be able get local tea and take advantage of fresh leaves for garnishes, salads, glazes and vinaigrettes.

“We planted two terraces of camillia sinensus as an experiment to see if we could make tea grow,” Vesely told PRN. “Because we were growing cantaloupe, honeydew and sweet potatoes, we knew we had some good heat units, and southern-facing slopes, good irrigation, amazing soil, and I like a bit of a challenge and risk-taking.”

Vesely said the 200 plants pulled through a rough first winter and two mild ones, which can be worse because of early frost.

“It’s been watching them evolve and take on the terroir,” said Vesely, who has learned snow acts as an insulator and has been responding to what the plants need as opposed to following a set of guidelines. Hungry deer chomping on the plants actually encouraged healthy, new growth, he said.

The plants will be ready for plucking when

Br i e f s Margit Nelleman and Victor Vesely of Teafarm.

the roots are established, which, in the perfect conditions takes between three and five years, said Vesely.

In about two years time, if everything goes smoothly, Teafarm will have a limited harvest of Cowichan tea — about 200 grams per plant.

More is being planted this year.

Teafarm supplies its artisanal blends to some small-scale hotel chains and is working locally with chefs. The blends are unique recipes and Vesely said it took a year to develop recipes for each of the signs of the Chinese Zodiac. “When you are drinking Pig, it’s a broken leaf Assemese, biodynamic, breakfast tea, with an organic Ugandan vanilla bean with a rose from the farm,” said Vesely.

“The culinary component of fresh tea leaves is a whole new world which happens a little bit in Hawaii,” said Vesely. He cites oolong-style tea rolled and dipped in chocolate for the local Feast of Fields at Alsery Farm and earl grey short bread and chocolate cakes as examples. He said Teafarm wants to develop

Sharpest brew in the tool shed

a relationship with the chefs and establishments they supply.

“We are hands-on, small-batch artisanal branded tea, so we’re pretty selective about who we work with,” said Vesely, who said the business is building capacity.

Teafarm uses companion planting to ward off pests and doesn’t use synthetic components. “We seek out the flavour of the plants and the ingredients. The tea actually tastes the way it smells,” said Vesely.

“We’re growing our capacity to do more berries; cranberry, blueberry and a variety of other berries to get some more of those fruitier flavours, but we want them out of the ingredients, not out of the chemicals,” he said.

Vancouver approves tasting lounges for microbreweries VANCOUVER—City council recently approved zoning changes which will allow craft brewers and distillers to operate a small onsite bar. The bar must serve alcohol made on premise and operators – who were previously limited to selling to-go bottles or give samples – can now operate lounges between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m., according to the Vancouver Sun. The new laws stipulate that the lounges can be no larger than 850 square feet and occupy no more than one third of the building. The move brings the city in line with provincial guidelines which relaxed liquor laws for brewers, distillers and wineries as of March 1.

Conrad Gmoser, a co-owner and head

brewer at Brassneck Brewery, which opens this month, said the change will make the business more viable. “If you think of other beer cities that people who love beer are really interested in, going to the brewery is a big part of it,” he told the CBC, adding Vancouver is expensive and the competition is fierce.

Josh Michnik, co-owner of 33 Acres Brewery, also welcomed the change. “Craft brewers, we’re just small businesses,” he said. “These lounges will just help us afford to pay our rent.”

Two parts of the city could see several lounges open within walking distance of one another. The area around Main Street between 2nd Avenue and Broadway is home to start-

ups Brassneck Brewery, 33 Acres and Main Street Brewing as well as R&B Brewing. Red Truck brewery plans to open this year on East 1st Avenue with a full-service diner.

The area around Commercial Drive and East Hastings is home to Coal Harbour Brewing Company, Storm Brewing, Parallel 49 and Powell Street Brewing, and soon-to-open Odd Society Spirits distillery and Bomber Brewing.

Under the zoning change, which will be reviewed next year, microbreweries can only hold two special events per month. Provincial requirements stipulate the lounges must offer “a reasonable variety” of hot and cold snacks and non-alcoholic beverages.

CALGARY—Born from a home-brew tool shed, the aptly named Tool Shed Brewery Co. recently launched in Calgary.

Co-owners Jeff Orr and Graham Sherman created three brews: the People Skills Cream Ale, Red Rage Ale and Star Cheeks IPA. Without a large enough brewing facility to meet Alberta’s minimum production requirements, the pair teamed up with the folks at Dead Frog Brewery in Aldergrove, BC.

Kirkwood to represent Jose Cuervo in Canada TORONTO—As of July 1, the Kirkwood Group is the Canadian representative for the Jose Cuervo brand.

The appointment news by Proximo follows a March announcement that the privately owned spirits importer was taking control of the tequila brand in North America.

The Kirkwood Group is a familyowned national sales and marketing company representing wines, spirits, beers and ready-to-drink beverages.

According to a release, the Canadian Proximo portfolio has increased by almost 600 per cent in the last three years.

Winemakers looking to beer COMOX VALLEY, BC—The owners of Vancouver Island’s east coast Beaufort Winery, Jeff and Susan Vandermolen, are venturing into the beer brewing business. The couple opened the winery in 2006 and plan to open Comox Glacier Brewing by the end of next year.

The microbrewery would be entirely separate from the winery, according to the Comox Valley Record.

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Macallan shows its age Bodegas TORONTO—A global plan to shift the focus of all Macallan single malt scotch 18 years and younger from age to colour has come to Canada.

Brand ambassador Marc Laverdiere and one of the Edrington Group’s masters of wood Stuart MacPherson were on hand at the Shangri-La Toronto in late June to discuss the four

new classifications – gold, amber, sienna and ruby – which will phase out the older products, including cask strength, sherry oak and fine oak, at the LCBO. “Initially, no doubt, education will be key.

Restaurants in the past would arrange their offerings in terms of age – 12, 15 or 18 years – from light to rich,” Laverdiere told PRN. “The new range is naturally linear.”

The range, matured in a combination of American and Spanish sherry casks, is named 1824 after the year that Macallan was founded.

A symbol of Macallan is Easter Elchies House (shown left, behind MacPherson and Laverdiere), built in 1700 and part of the 390-acre Macallan estate.

From left: Stuart MacPherson and Marc Laverdiere.

Beronia turns 40

TORONTO—To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bodegas Beronia, winemaker Matias Calleja Ugarte and area export director Christopher Canale-Parola stopped by Patria restaurant in Toronto in late July as part of a Canadian tour.

Beronia began as a small winery founded in 1973 by a gastronomic society (a popular pastime among residents of northern Spain), said Canale-Parola.

Originally producing just reserva and gran reserva wines, Beronia merged with Gonzales Byass in 1982 and expanded its portfolio.

Ugarte led a vertical tasting through Beronia’s Gran Reservas from 1973, 1982, 1994 and 2006 to illustrate how the winemaking style has evolved throughout the decades.

“In the 70s and 80s, our winemaking style

was focused on acidity, which shifted in the 90s to focus more on structure,” he said. “The winemaking style evolved later to include more rounded wines that balanced the acidity.”

Left, winemaker Matias Calleja Ugarte and right, area export director Christopher Canale-Parola.

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COMING EVENTS Aug. 18-20: Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo, Los Angeles Convention Centre, Los Angeles. For information, go to: www.westernfoodexpo.com.

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.

Oct. 4-6: Fraser Valley Food Show 2013, TRADEX, Fraser Valley Trade & Exhibition Centre, Abbotsford, BC. For information, go to: www.fraservalleyfoodshow.com.

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 information, go to: www.thechf.ca.

Oct. 27: Connect Show, Vancouver Convention Centre West, Vancouver. For information, go to: www.connectshow.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.

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Tim Hortons’ gluten-free choice Celebrating the future of hospitality and foodservice

OAKVILLE, ON—Canada’s QSR coffee giant has introduced an alternative option to its menu of baked goods, soups and sandwiches.

Tim Hortons’ gluten-free coconut macaroon is now available in stores across Canada in pre-

packaged portions of two to prevent cross-contamination.

“We’ve made a commitment to our guests to provide balanced menu choices, and the new gluten-free coconut macaroon is an example of that,” Donna Finelli, vice-president marketing, food and merchandise, Tim Hortons, said in a release. “Given the growing number of people who have celiac disease and gluten intolerance, we’re making it just a little bit easier for friends and families to enjoy eating together at our restaurants.”

The macaroons are certified glutenfree through the Canadian Celiac Association (CCA) Gluten-Free Certification Program. According to the release, the meringue-style cookie is the first QSR menu item in Canada to be certified gluten-free through the CCA’s program.

Restaurateurs and CCFA seek ban on sow gestation crates More than 100 members of Canada’s restaurant industry are sending a strong message to the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC): that gestation crates need to go.

The petition, started by the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA) is asking the NFACC to ban the holding of pregnant sows in metal crates, barely larger than their bodies, according to the CCFA. The NFACC banned the practice of con-

fining sows in cages for their entire lifespan this spring. This ban allowed for the confinement of pregnant sows within the first 35 days of gestation, as the crates keep sows from becoming aggressive during that period, according to the Vancouver Sun. Restaurants across the country signed the petition, including Vij’s Restaurant in Vancouver, Calgary’s Vero Bistro Moderne, and Saskatoon’s Calories Bakery and Restaurant.

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TORONTO—The Canadian Hospitality Foundation (CHF) is both celebrating and supporting the future of hospitality, lodging and foodservice in Canada with the 2013 Canadian Hospitality Foundation Ball.

The annual event, held this year at the Toronto Sheraton Centre Hotel on Oct. 26, benefits hospitality and culinary students across the country.

Proceeds from the ball go toward approximately $200,000 in scholarships that the foundation awards to students in hospitality, lodging and foodservice programs.

Various levels of sponsorship are available for the event that brings together members of the industry to support its future workforce.

The CHF was established in 1962 by the Canadian Restaurant Association (now the Canadian Restaurant & Foodservices Association) and has been administered and managed by the Ontario Hostelry Institute since November 1993.

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Rubbermaid weighs in MISSISSAUGA, ON—The Rubbermaid Commercial Products line was on display in July at the International Centre in Mississauga, ON. The event attracted end-users and distributors to test out some of Rubbermaid’s products geared towards the foodservice industry.

A recently released, fully dishwasher-safe digital scale for commercial kitchens was on display. Numair Khan, senior manager, product marketing for Rubbermaid Commercial Products told PRN it is the first of its kind available to the foodservice industry.

He demonstrated that the non-waterproof part of the scale slides out from the encasement, where any sort of food particles or grease would come into contact, so the shell and plate can be run through a commercial dishwasher. The digital scales come in stainless steel and black antimicrobial resin, and offer measurements in pounds, ounces or grams.

All items in Rubbermaid Commercial Products’ line will be available across Canada this fall.

Atlantic beef heads west the cows must be fed highquality grain and vegetables, and have a finished weight of between 700 and 900 pounds and the meat must be federally graded at least AA. Producers are third-party certified by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

The brand has at least three producers involved and plans to expand in relation to the market. Jan Holmes, program officer for the PEI Culinary Alliance, told PRN Photo courtesy of Prince Edward Island Beef. the project has been in the works for two years. “It helps CHARLOTTETOWN—A new beef brand to strengthen the message of launched in P.E.I. in July. Prince Edward Iswhat we produce here on Prince Edward Island Certified Beef is a joint initiative of the land,” said Holmes, noting beef is one of the PEI Culinary Alliance, the PEI Cattle Producgreat products that come from the island. She ers, the Atlantic Beef Products Plant, and the said P.E.I. beef has received excellent reviews departments of Agriculture and Forestry, and from chefs and restaurants.

Innovation and Advanced Learning.

“The brand itself is new, but the way pro“Our investment in the development of a ducers raise the beef isn’t new,” said Holmes. premium certified beef brand reflects a strong Predominantly an export brand, Dolan commitment to create a more profitable beef Foods will distribute Island Beef to restaurants industry and return higher prices to producers, and specialty meat shops in central and westwhile supporting rural communities across the ern Canada. province,” said George Webster, minister of agToronto chef Mark McEwan is on board as riculture and forestry, in a release. the brand advocate and spokesperson. “I love Involved farmers receive a premium for the story of the Island, you can’t find a more the extra effort to meet the qualifications: pristine environment to grow a potato or raise the beef must be raised on P.E.I family farms, a steer,” said McEwan in a release.

Alberta barley gets an $8 million boost CALGARY—Agriculture Canada has put up $8 million to fund a variety of projects aimed at increasing barley production and its food manufacturing presence. The recipient of the grant, the Alberta Barley Commission, has 28 projects under its Barley Research Project Cluster that will benefit from the investment.

“We’ve been trying to work on increasing opportunities in the food industry because most people just think of barley in either beef and barley soup, or beer,” Linda Whitworth, market development manager for the Alberta Barley Commission told PRN. “We’ve been working hard to push barley forward; to make it easy for consumers to try barley so that there is some consumer pull, and that works all the way through to the food industry.”

The Agriculture Canada funding will go towards improving barley production from a cost-effective and sustainability perspective

and broadening the market for the use of barley in food manufacturing, said Whitworth.

One activity of the cluster is analyzing the research on barley in connection to glycemic response and diabetes. “The hope is to qualify for a health claim from the Food Directorate of Health Canada – in addition to its pre-existing health claim for lowering cholesterol – for barley’s ability to balance glucose levels,” she said.

Another project in the cluster aims at creating a blend using barley flour, which tends to have a stickier consistency due to high beta glucans, with other wheat flours. The goal is to introduce an optimal flour blend that also allows manufacturers to take advantage of barley’s existing and potential health claims.

“There’s been consultation with industry [members] to find out what their typical commercial practices are,” said Whitworth.

“The idea is, if we can work with industry to

determine what their typical practices are for commercial food production; we can work on recommending blending of whole grain barley flours that maintain food safety standards, fit into their protocol and maintain consumer preference.”

Whitworth said the grant money is also going towards developing two-row hollis food barley that has enhanced quality traits such as a sturdier stem to prevent it from blowing over in high winds, and a higher yield of kernels per stock. Hollis barley is the best variety for food manufacturing specifically, she said, because it has the highest beta glucan content and a fragile shell that falls off in the combine, therefore not requiring further processing before use.

Whitworth said the cluster funding would work towards building a consistency of supply and allow barley to “become more economical to be used in the food industry.”

S u p p ly

Maple Leaf goes cold turkey TORONTO—Canadian foodservice giant, Maple Leaf Foods, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its turkey breeding operations. Maple Leaf will continue to supply turkeys, sourced from its former holdings, according to a July 22 release.

“Divesting our turkey growing operations will allow us to focus on, and direct capital to, growth and innovation in our value added turkey processing business,” Maple Leaf Foods president and CEO Michael H. McCain said in the release. “The transaction ensures a long-term supply of high quality turkeys at competitive prices.”

The transaction will see Ernald Enterprises Ltd., operator of 1,200 acres of agricultural land and five commercial turkey and chicken growing operations in southern Ontario, take over Maple Leaf ’s six commercial turkey farms. A long-term supply of live turkey for Maple Leaf was a part of the agreement with Ernald.

Cuddy Farms Ltd., a producer and distributor of commercial turkey eggs and poultry, will take charge of the six breeder farms and hatchery operations.

Supporting sustainable seafood RANCHO DOMINGUEZ, CALIF.—A group of North American seafood suppliers joined forces to form Sea Pact, a coalition of industry leaders striving to advance environmentally sustainable fisheries and aquaculture practices.

Vancouver’s Albion Fisheries and Seacore Seafood in Toronto have joined U.S. suppliers Santa Monica Seafood, Seattle Fish Co., Fortune and Fish Gourmet and Ipswich Shellfish Group in contributing to a long-term sustainable seafood industry by improving fishing and fish farming systems.

The six companies plan to pool resources and knowledge to sponsor improvement projects.

“We are excited about Sea Pact’s ability to generate impactful change by leveraging our combined influence and strength to produce more sustainable seafood options for the future,” said Guy Dean, CSO at Albion Fisheries, in a release. “I am positive that together, our geographically diverse international membership can create an industry driven difference to the fishing and aquaculture practices and systems that we source from.”

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Photos: 1. John Jackson and Connie DeSousa, owners of Charcut Roasthouse.

2. Mathieu Mercier, winemaker at Osoyoos Larose.

3. Robert Hund, president of foodservice at Manitowoc Company, Inc. 4. Brian Wood, CEO of the Restaurant Equipment Distributors.

5. Sean Heather, owner of Salt Tasting Room.

Connie DeSousa and John Jackson, cochefs and owners of Calgary’s Charcut Roast House have been chosen as Canadian community leaders for Cook It Raw’s online community, a gathering of chefs that meet annually to share thoughts about how world issues, from social and cultural to environmental, relate to cuisine.

DeSousa and Jackson will also be opening up CharBar in Calgary’s Simmons building in 2015.

Other international representatives include JP McMahon of Aniar in Galway Ireland, Matt Jennings of Farmstead in Rhode Island, USA and James Lowe of Young Turks.

Winemaker Mathieu Mercier has joined Osoyoos Larose in the Okanagan Valley. He was born in Cognac, France and grew up working on a vineyard at his family’s estate.

“I learned at a young age the significance of every detail when striving for the best quality,” said Mercier in a release.

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He holds a master’s degree in viticulture and oenology and spent time at vineyards in Chile, the Napa Valley and Bordeaux expanding his skills.

“The incredible potential of the Okanagan Valley became obvious to me when I arrived here. The climate is very good, with a lot of sun exposure and spectacular day to night temperature variations,” said Mercier, who will work with the Osoyoos Larose team to help create wine that expresses the South Okanagan’s unique terroir.

The Manitowoc Company, Inc. has a new president of foodservice as of Aug. 1.

The company’s July 10 release announced that Robert M. Hund, most recently executive vice-president of Manitowoc’s Crane Care division, will report to Glen E. Tellock, chairman and CEO. Hund’s experience includes vice-president, worldwide marketing and product management of Manitowoc Cranes, as well as product

VANCOUVER—The British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA) added eleven local luminaries to its Hall of Fame in July.

A mix of operators, chefs and other standouts in the hospitality industry, the inductees will be honoured at the Vancouver Italian Cultural Centre on Sept. 30. Established in 2004, the hall of fame was designed by the BCRFA to recognize excellence in B.C.’s restaurant industry.

Included in the active restaurateur category is Gastown operator Sean Heather (see April 2013 PRN’s cover story), who just opened another location of his 10-restaurant empire, Salt Tasting Room, in early July in Kitsilano, BC. Heather joins fellow active restaurateur inductees Jeff Donnelly, founder and president of The Donnelly Group, which owns and operates 15 restaurants — including Bimini's Tap House, The Lamplighter, Granville Room and Bar None — and Paul Smolen, owner of Hart House Restaurant.

Another Donnelly Group member, Jay Jones, who rejoined the team as executive bartender and brand ambassador in January 2013, was one of the industry award inductees, as well as Julian Bond, executive chef, program director and COO of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA), and Ernst Dorfler, owner and chef of Five Sails.

John Neate, founder of JJ Bean Coffee Roaster, which includes cafés and wholesale, represents the coffee and beverage category, and Christine Coletta, owner of Coletta & Associates Okanagan Crush Pad received an induction into the friend of industry awards. Joining Coletta in the category were Joy Metcalfe of Joy's Journal and Caren McSherry, founder of The Gourmet Warehouse, cookbook author and host of The Saturday Morning Chef on BCTV's morning news. Wally Shaw, founder of the British Columbia Chef 's Association and co-founder of the Canadian Federation of Chefs and Cooks, received a posthumous recognition in the pioneer category.

development manager, mining and construction equipment division for Caterpillar.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bradley University, a Master of Science in industrial engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Millikin University.

Halco. As CEO, Wood will manage and co-ordinate business operations at R.E.D. Canada.

As vice-president, business development, Forster will assist in establishing a plan to develop R.E.D. Canada’s marketing, new business development, as well as shareholder relations.

The Restaurant Equipment Distributors of Canada (R.E.D. Canada) announced two appointments to newly created positions at the organization. Brian Wood has been named chief operating officer and Linda Forster is now vice-president, business development.

Wood has worked within the foodservice industry for more than 30 years in management, sales, marketing, branding, sourcing, product development and vendor negotiations.

Prior to his appointment, Wood was the chief operating officer for Browne, and before that, was president and COO of Browne-

Cookbook author and former food editor of Canadian Living magazine, Elizabeth Baird, was named to the Order of Canada in late June.

She has published more than 25 cookbooks and is currently a contributor to the Toronto Sun. Baird is a longstanding advocate of local and seasonal cooking and a founder of children’s nutritional program non-profit Breakfast for Learning.

Other culinary arts representatives appointed to the Order of Canada include Jamie Kennedy in 2010 and Anita Stewart in 2011.

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