Hotel and Restaurant Times June / July 2014

JUNE/JULY ‘14

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DOUBLE-TAKE AT THE DOUBLETREE THE THE BURLO BURLO BOUGHT BOUGHT OUT OUT AND AND RE-BRANDED RE-BRANDED –– DAVID DAVID MONKS MONKS INTERVIEWED INTERVIEWED

FOOD TRENDS ARE YOU IN THE GROOVE?

ALLERGENS MORE EU DIRECTIVES TO CONTEND WITH

RAI AWARDS IRELAND'S CREAM OF THE CROP RECOGNISED

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CONTENTS

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COVER: Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Burlington Road

CONTENTS NEWS APPOINTMENTS FÁILTE FOCUS FOOD ALLERGENS FOOD TRENDS WATERFORD IT DOUBLE-TAKE AT THE DOUBLETREE STREET FOOD RAI NEWS GREEN PAGE TOURISM IRELAND NEWS BOOKASSIST FÁILTE IRELAND NEWS IFSA NEWS BIM SEAFOOD DESTINATION IRELAND TO TRAIN OR NOT TO TRAIN GMIT NEWS ARAMARK DIT IHI STRATEGIC PLAN

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Hotel & Restaurant Times is circulated on subscription to Chief Executives, Directors and Proprietors of Hotels and Restaurants in Ireland along with Architects, Interior Designers and Suppliers to the Hotel and Restaurant Industry.

Managing Editor: Cyril McAree (01-6285447, cyril@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie) Business Development: Alan Doherty (01-2842909, alan@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie) Contributors: Pavel Barter, Cynthia Bifolchi, Des O’Mahony, Catriona Neary, Mary Hall, Conor Power, Frank Corr, IFSA, BIM, GMIT, Restaurants Association of Ireland, Tourism Ireland & Fáilte Ireland Printing: W G Baird All paper used in the production of this magazine comes from certifiably sustainable forestry.

ALL CONTENTS OF THE MAGAZINE ARE COPYRIGHT OF HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES: H&R HOUSE, CARTON COURT, MAYNOOTH, CO. KILDARE. TEL/FAX: 01 628 5447.

E-MAIL: editorial@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie WEB: www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie H&RT JUNE/JULY ‘14

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Good times Kilkenny, renowned for their hurling prowess, have added another string to their bow with Campagne taking the All Ireland title as the Best Restaurant in Ireland. They were presented with this much coveted award at the recent Irish Restaurants Awards event,which took place in the newly refurbished DoubleTree Hilton Burlington Road.

Over 900 people attended the gala evening that saw the best in Ireland’s culinary fraternity presented with a plethora of awards. It was great to see some of the lesser known establishments and practitioners recognised and acknowledged for their abilities and efforts. Another deserving winner on the night was Neven Maguire, who once again took the title of Best Chef in Ireland. Neven is one of life’s true gentlemen and a worthy ambassador of the title. He portrays the industry in a positive and enthusiastic way and attracts a lot of young people to follow their culinary dream. The nomination and awards selection process is independently audited by Ernst & Young to ensure that best practices and standards are adhered to throughout the process.A full report of the event is in this issue.

editorial

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EDITORIAL

Staying on the theme of food. Every day we are inundated with the latest food trends.

But how relevant are these to your business? Cariona Neary goes foraging for answers.

She spoke with Maureen Gahan of Bord Bia, a respected foodservice specialist, who outlines the top ten trends. These have been identified by Bord Bia and will help you navigate this ever changing arena. Before you feel compelled to follow the latest food craze, remember the one important lesson: the only trend that matters is the one that affects your customer base. As Maureen states, one critical factor is to “build power by being as close to your customer as possible.”

New food regulations are coming into force in December: an EU directive regarding allergens. This isthe result of new regulation, adopted by the European Parliament and Council in October 2011, on the provision of food information to consumers. From December 13 2014, it will become the responsibility of the foodservice industry to provide information on any of the 14 food allergens. This has the potential to seriously impact foodservice in regard to hotels, restaurants, food manufacturers and suppliers.

It’s uncertain who will police this - some believe it will come under the auspices of the FSAI. The new rules will require that all food allergens are highlighted in the list of ingredients, as well as on foods that are sold loose or eaten out of home. These include meals served in restaurants and canteens, food sold in retail outlets, food packed on the sales premises or, at the consumer’s request, in takeaways, deli counters, supermarkets, butchers and food stalls.

On a positive note, the indebtedness of Irish hotels is showing some light on the horizon. According to a recent IHF report, indebtednessis down €5.3 bn, from €6.7 bn in 2011,although an estimated €1.4 bn of debt still requires attention and support. A report by economist Professor Alan Ahearne, presented prior to the IHF conference, stated that despite substantial progress over the last two years, indebtedness remains a pressing issue for many hotels outside large urban areas such as Dublin. The report shows that while debt per hotel bedroom decreased from €113,250 to €92,750 over the last two years, progress has been uneven. Advances have been made in urban areas, especially Dublin city, which have been successful in attracting international investors. However, many medium-sized and smaller hotels, especially outside of urban areas still require investment and debt restructuring.

Commenting on the report Stephen McNally, President of the IHF said: “A financially sustainable hotel industry is crucial if Irish tourism is to live up to its full potential in terms of growth and employment. Since 2011, tourism has created more than 23,000 additional jobs and it has the potential to create 40,000 more jobs by 2020 based on conservative estimates. However, this can only be achieved by bringing overhanging debt down to manageable levels and making investment funds more accessible to hoteliers.”

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Cyril McAree Editor

NEWS

NEWS London calling

Suzanne Murray, Society of British Neurological Surgeons; Azeta Seery, Fáilte Ireland; Declan Morrin, Embassy of Ireland, London; and Joyce McElroy, Tourism Ireland, at the business tourism event in the Irish Embassy in London.

Kinsale Hotel wins TripAdvisor gong

Blue Haven Hotel Kinsale has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award. Blue Haven is a boutique hotel situated in the centre of Kinsale.

Highway to shell An award-winning Irish culinary butter, which has been prepared using organic shellfish sourced from the pure Atlantic waters of West Cork, Ireland, has been launched to the catering market. iASC Irish Shellfish Butter, developed by the Irish Atlantic Seafood Company, is designed for chefs looking for an ingredient to enhance seafood and fish dishes. The butter is made from mussels, crabmeat and pure Irish butter, using natural ingredients, including foraged wild Dillisk [also called Dulse] seaweed.

‘Til debt do us part Ireland’s hotel sector continues to face challenges arising from unsustainable levels of overhanging debt according to a new report by economist Professor Alan Ahearne. Speaking in advance of a major investment conference hosted by the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) today, Prof Ahearne said that, despite substantial progress being made over the last two years, indebtedness remains a pressing issue for many hotels outside large urban areas such as Dublin.

With total hotel debt estimated at €5.3bn (down from €6.7bn at the end of 2011), Prof Ahearne’s report reveals that a further reduction of €1.4 billion is required to bring hotel debt to a sustainable level. This would return hotels to a financial position where they could operate on a long-term sustainable basis and commit to investment in ongoing maintenance, refurbishment, renovation and innovation - and thereby grow employment.

The report shows that, while debt per hotel bedroom decreased from €113,250 to €92,750 over the last two years, progress has been uneven. whilst Dublin city has been successful in attracting international investors many medium-sized and smaller hotels outside of urban areas still require investment and debt restructuring.

Prof Ahearne states that part of the solution should involve making funds in the recently announced Ireland Strategic Investment Fund available for investment in hotels that are viable but undercapitalised.

Stephen McNally, President of the IHF states: “A financially sustainable hotel industry is crucial if Irish tourism is to live up to its full potential in terms of growth and employment.

Since 2011, tourism has created more than 23,000 additional jobs and it has the potential to create 40,000 more jobs by 2020 based on conservative estimates. However, this can only be achieved by bringing overhanging debt down to manageable levels and making investment funds more accessible to hoteliers.”

“It is in everyone’s interest to ensure that hotels have strong balance sheets and access to equity finance – allowing hotels to invest in product development, maintain and upgrade hotel room stock for the benefit of all guests.”

Mr McNally states that the hotel sector has a critical role to play in contributing to recovery in Ireland’s tourism sector and in the wider economy. In 2013, tourism accounted for 4% of GNP with €5.7 billion in tourism revenue, of which, €4.3 billion was attributed to foreign exchange earnings (overseas visitors).

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NEWS

Texas rangers

Talbot stands tall

Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland; celebrity chef Kevin Dundon; journalist Caitlin Ryan, contributor to CultureMap Austin; Ruth Moran, Tourism Ireland; and Tourism Minister Michael Ring, on the opening day of the Austin Food and Wine Festival.

Princely sum for Irish hotels The value of Irish hotel sales will exceed €350m by the end of 2014, according to property consultants, Savills Ireland. In their latest report on the hotels market, Savills report that €115m worth of hotel sales have taken place so far this year and a further €107m are sale agreed. Speaking at the Irish Hotel Investment Conference, Tom Barrett, Head of Savills Hotel and Leisure Division said, “At the half way point of the year, the value of hotels sold or sale agreed in Ireland has already exceeded the 2013 total of €200m. In addition, there is approximately €105m worth of hotels currently on the market, so by the end of the year, we firmly expect that sales will be well in excess of €350m”.

However, Ireland’s hotel sector continues to face challenges arising from unsustainable levels of debt according to a new report by economist Professor Alan Ahearne. Prof Ahearne said that, despite substantial progress, made over the last two years, indebtedness remains a pressing issue for many hotels outside large urban areas.

Funding boost for Dublin landmarks A new visitor attraction at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, and the development of a new whiskey museum on College Green, are getting a €300,000 funding boost, under Fáilte Ireland’s Capital Investment Programme.

“These two city centre projects should prove a hit with tourists. St Patrick’s Cathedral gets more than 370,000 visitors every year and many of them want to learn more about the Cathedral. The new interpretative centre will tell the story of the Cathedral, and the development of Dublin,” said Minister Varadkar.

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The four-star Talbot Hotel Group has announced the purchase of the Oriel House Hotel in Ballincollig, Cork. This is the fifth hotel to be added to the group’s portfolio. Pictured is Philip Gavin Managing Director of the Talbot Hotel Group with Patrick Dillon the General Manager at the Oriel House Hotel and Cormac Pettitt, owner of the Talbot Hotel Group.

The wild ones Around one million people in Germany will see images of the Wild Atlantic Way in a TV documentary entitled Weltbilder (‘Images of the World’), which airs in July. A crew from ARD, a national German TV network, was in Ireland- guests of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland. Pictured is Frank Jahn, ARD TV correspondent (left), and the ARD production crew, with local surfers Nigel Plummer, Simon Gormley and Finn Gormley, in Doolin.

Made in Chelsea DoubleTree by Hilton has opened the doors to its latest upscale London hotel, situated in the heart of Chelsea. Jurys Inn Chelsea has re-branded and will operate as DoubleTree by Hilton London - Chelsea under a franchise agreement with Hilton Worldwide. The hotel will continue to be owned and operated by Jurys Inn and present general manager Anthony Barrett and his dedicated team will continue to run the hotel on a day-to-day basis.

Joe Quinn, Chief Operations Officer for Jurys Inn, Sajeev Amendra, Head Chef, Anthony Barrett, General Manager and Peter Stack, Regional Operations Manager for Jurys Inn.

NEWS

Rosy future for McLoughlin’s

Kingspan constructs the future for Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby has signed a 10-year agreement with the Kingspan Group, the world’s leading provider of sustainable building materials, for the naming rights to what will now be called Kingspan Stadium. The agreement will result in significant investment for the game of rugby at all levels within the Province. Kingspan, whose global headquarters are in Kingscourt, County Cavan, has been a sponsor of Ulster Rugby since 1999.

‘McLoughlin’s Restaurant at Dublin’s AA 4 Star Roganstown Hotel and Country Club in Swords, Co. Dublin, has been awarded an AA Rosette for culinary excellence. Set in a 300 acre estate in north county Dublin, 11 miles from the city centre, the golf and spa destination is owned by Ian McGuinness, who previously worked for Siemens and Microsoft.

Oil be back Local company Donegal Rapeseed Oil is rebranding its business.

Established in 2009, Donegal Rapeseed oil uses seed grown on small farms throughout Donegal, Derry and Tyrone. The seed is cold-pressed, filtered, bottled and labelled at a pressing facility near Castlederg. With sales increasing substantially year by year, the company’s Managing Director, Austin Duignan, decided to develop a clear brand and image that merits the award winning high quality product.

Celebrity chef Neven Maguire has used the product for a number of years: “I don’t cook with anything else. It has a fantastic nutty taste and it’s great for salads and marinades,” he said.

Pat Freeman, Managing Director of Kingspan Environmental, with John Robinson, President, IRFU (Ulster Branch).

Sweetman smell of success Dublin’s newest independent craft brewery and bar, J.W. Sweetman, has been recognised as the fourth ‘Best New Brewer in the World’ in the “RateBeer Best Awards” 2013. Facing off stiff competition from some of the world’s most innovative breweries, with more than 2,600 new world wide brewers registered this past year at RateBeer.

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NEWS

Coastal retreats

Pictured at the Old Head beach, near Louisburgh, is Michael Ring Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, launching the Blueway, a new initiative to complement the Wild Atlantic Way and to encourage visitors to discover our coastline. The minister is pictured with Rory McCarthy, Fáilte Ireland, and members of the Bluewave working group: Charlie Lambert, Martin Dillane, Laura Taylor, Rosaleen Ni Shuilleabhain, Humphery Murphy, Richard Thorn, Maura Lyons and Sabrina Trench.

Ireland’s top five hit Dublin and Ireland are at number five in the list of Top Summer Destinations for American travellers, according to research carried out by Fly.com, the airfare search engine owned by Travelzoo Inc. Fly.com used data collected from more than five million user searches, conducted between 1 January and 19 March this year; and also extracted international flight bookings with travel dates between 1 June and 31 August 2014. The data shows that the favourite international destination this summer for Americans is Cancún, Mexico, followed by London, Paris and Rome - with Dublin and Ireland coming in at number five.

A glass act

Visitors to The Westbury Hotel will have a unique opportunity to see a work by one of the world’s most renowned artists, Dale Chihuly, from the 20th of June to the 31st of July. Normally exhibited in the most prestigious art houses in the world, Dale Chihuly’s stunning Macchia glass art work will be exhibited in the hotel for guests to view. Works by Dale Chihuly will also be exhibited in Dublin Castle and Solomon Fine Art from June 20th visit http://www.solomonfineart.ie for information.

Top Tipp

The Tipperary senior hurlers team on the Gold Coast Holiday, Golf and Sports Resort, with Resort Director Mark Knowles.

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Preferable treatment

Fishing for compliments

Preferred Hotel Group - a global provider of sales, marketing, and distribution services to independent luxury hotels has announced its first quarter results.

Over the past three months, the company generated a 19% increase in reservations revenue, compared to the same time period in 2013. The company released key findings regarding the increases in enrolments, spending, and repeat stays that its iPrefer guest loyalty programme has driven since transitioning to a pointsbased structure last year. Also during the first quarter, the company welcomed 29 new hotels, enhancing its European footprint with the addition of new properties in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, St Petersburg, and The Cotswolds.

Simon says

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FishBar - the latest addition to Electric, the popular riverside venue situated in Cork’s city centre recently celebrated its first birthday.

Guests were treated to some of the most popular dishes from the past year, including Scallop & Cod Burgers, Thai Monkfish and Fresh Oysters.

Nestlé Ireland is renewing its relationship with the Dublin and Cork Simon Communities and will provide its iconic KitKat, in addition to Nescafé Gold Blend coffee, to Simon. Since 2009, Nestlé Ireland has provided over two million cups of Nescafé for Dublin and Cork Simon Community clients as part of the Food for Simon programme. Dublin and Cork Simon provide the care, accommodation and support for people experiencing homelessness and those at risk. Since 2012 there has been a staggering increase of over 73% of people sleeping rough in Dublin. With this drastic rise, Simon staff and volunteers are working harder than ever to provide these much-needed services.

NEWS

Health kick

Café Novo, at The Westbury Hotel in Dublin, has teamed up with personal training centre, BodyByrne, to launch a new healthy breakfast menu. Pictured are: Cafe Novo Chef, Cathal Dunne; actor Liam Cunningham; and Cafe Novo Manager, David Murray.

Gas craic

Jennifer Fagan, Senior Marketing Executive, Calor; Adrian Cummins, CEO, Restaurants Association of Ireland cooking up a storm with Shamzuri Hanifa, Chef, The Cottage Restaurant, Leitrim and Billy Whitty, Chef, Aldridge Lodge, Wexford.

New arrival at Dublin Airport

Conventional approach

The Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) has extended its contract with Fitzers Catering for a further two years, bringing their tenure up to 2017. The award winning company, which holds the exclusive contracts for Titanic Belfast and Slane Castle, originally won the contract when the centre opened in 2010.

Nick Waight, CEO of the CCD and NEC said: “Fitzers has worked closely with our management team to develop an exceptional standard of conference and banqueting catering options for The CCD.

Salad days

Compass Group Ireland, Ireland’s food and support services company, recently welcomed suppliers and clients to the Aviva stadium for the 3rd annual Compass Supplier Exhibition. A celebration of Irish provenance and food innovation, the Expo showcased 44 of Compass Group’s finest suppliers, across meat, poultry, fish, bread, dairy and fruit and vegetables.

Aidan Cotter, CEO of Bord Bia, made reference to the importance of supporting the Irish food and drink industry and the positive impact this has on the economy.

Fiacra Nagle, Managing Director of Compass Group Ireland, later said: “In 2013, we brought 27 suppliers to our Expo event and this year we are at almost double this amount. This is a testament to how popular the Expo has become and our dedication to promoting provenance and innovation in food and support services.”

China in our hands

Butlers Chocolates has opened a new café in Terminal 1 at Dublin Airport.

Situated in a new location on The Street, just before the entrance to the Loop main store, the café serves a full range of coffee drinks, including lattes, cappuccinos, and mochas - not to mention their famous hot chocolate. All drinks come with a complimentary Butlers Chocolate.

Ireland scores highly for beautiful landscape and scenery among Chinese travellers, according to new research unveiled during a promotional visit of China by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar and Tourism Ireland officials. Millward Brown was commissioned by Tourism Ireland to carry out an online survey of 1,000 Chinese adults living in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, during March and April. The people surveyed had all visited Europe at least once before, and/or intend to travel on a holiday to Europe in the next ten years.

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NEWS

Five Star chef heads west!

Neil Grant, the recently appointed General Manager at the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery has just appointed Graeme Campbell to his management team as Executive Head Chef.

Graeme has spent the previous seven years as the Executive Chef at the 5* Hayfield Manor Hotel in Cork city. General manager Neil says “I am delighted to welcome Graeme to our team. He has wonderful experience and is committed to nurturing our core Kitchen team and bringing his exciting fresh ideas to the table!”

With an abundance of experience across Ireland and Scotland Graeme is bringing his exceptional talents to the Celtic Ross Hotel.

This family owned hotel places a special emphasis on tailoring weddings to each Bride and Groom’s requirements and Graeme believes “It is important that I meet all couples when they visit the hotel, to understand what they want from their meal to ensure that they enjoy their dream wedding. My goal is to supplement this amazing location with beautiful food.”

Graeme has always had a strong belief in sourcing and using local product and will continue to do so at the Celtic Ross Hotel.

Cawley flying in for Fáilte Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar has announced plans to appoint former Ryanair Deputy CEO Michael Cawley as Chairman of Fáilte Ireland.

Michael Cawley worked with Ryanair for 17 years until his retirement last March, most recently as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer. Minister Varadkar said: “If Michael Cawley can do for Irish tourism what he did for Ryanair, I will be a very happy minister. I’m delighted to nominate a Chairman of the calibre of Michael Cawley and I think he is an ideal fit for Fáilte Ireland. Michael played a pivotal role in Ryanair over the last two decades and helped it to become one of the world’s leading airlines.”

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APPOINTMENTS

Blame it on the Fitz Fitzers Catering has announced the appointment of Una O’ Dowd as the Hospitality General Manager at the Convention Centre in Dublin. An Honours Degree Graduate from the Shannon College of Hotel & Business Management, Una has over 20 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, both in operational and strategic roles.

Una has worked in Dubai, Shanghai, Korea, USA and Australia as well as various properties in Ireland including Carton House, Gibson Hotel, and most recently as General Manager in the 5 Star Castlemartyr Resort in Cork.

Glynn and bear it Sandymount Hotel, a family run property situated in Dublin 4, recently appointed Charlotte Glynn to the position of conference and events manager. In this new role, Charlotte is responsible for managing the hotel’s nine meeting rooms, organising private parties in the hotel’s restaurant, company BBQ’s in the hotel’s private gardens and team building days.

Charlotte’s experience of the hotel industry started at a young age, as her father is the renowned hotelier, John Glynn. Charlotte began her career in reservations in the Clayton Hotel, Galway, and she also worked with Bewleys and Hilton Hotels before moving to the Regency Hotel to focus on sales and events management.

Bane of our existence Adrian Bane has been appointed Executive Head Chef at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa in Galway. The Clare native joins the team from Ashford Castle and The Lodge at Ashford Castle in Cong, Co. Mayo where he spent the past five years working his way up from Sous Chef at Ashford Castle, to Head Chef at The Lodge at Ashford Castle and then back to the main castle again as Executive Sous Chef before making the move to Galway to take up his current position as Executive Head Chef with the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Galway.

New General Manager at Lough Rea Hotel & Spa Noel Mulhaire has been appointed new General Manager of the Lough Rea Hotel & Spa. Having begun his impressive career as a Demi Chef du Rang in Ireland’s first Michelin restaurant, the Dunderry Lodge, Mulhaire left the position to study Hotel Management at The Dublin College of Catering and further his career in the industry.

Securing a position within the Forte Hotel group, Mulhaire gained extensive experience both in Ireland and London before joining the Lynch Hotel Group as Manager of the West County Hotel, the Clare Inn Hotel and later as Group Operations Manager of the Lynch Hotel group. Most recently, Mulhaire held the position of Resort Manager for the Ballykisteen Hotel and Golf Resort in Tipperary, one of Munster’s leading wedding venues.

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DISCOVER IRELAND CAMPAIGN

€3 million campaign targets potential in domestic holiday market

If you are an ‘indulgent romantic’, a ‘footloose socialiser’ or ‘connected family’ then Fáilte Ireland’s new Discover Ireland home holiday summer campaign is aiming to persuade you to holiday at home this year. Following extensive research into exactly what Irish people want from their home breaks, the 2014 campaign targets three newly identified segments of the Irish market which promise the greatest potential for growth in the market.

• Indulgent romantics - consider the hotel as the most important factor in their choice of destination. They prioritise finding the perfect, romantic hub for their couples getaway, somewhere they can soak up luxury, reward themselves and be well looked after - and tell everyone on TripAdvisor about it if they’re not.

• Footloose socialisers - like getting away with their friends on short breaks as much as they can. They are value-conscious, independent travellers, who attend cultural and sporting events or engage in pursuits such as hillwalking during their short breaks.

• Connected Families - put their heart into finding out everything a destination has to offer and like to have a carefully planned itinerary before they leave home. Their aim is to create shared memories with all of their family.

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The campaign which is called #ThisIsLiving includes TV, radio and print advertising as well as a new digital focus including a Facebook app to bring your holiday “wish list” to life. A range of new TV ads features footage from both real life holidays submitted by Discover Ireland’s Facebook fans as well as specially shot footage on location around Ireland.

The new campaign seeks to build on recent growth in holidaying at home, with new CSO statistics showing a welcome return to growth for the domestic market following a number of challenging years. The number of domestic holidays taken in 2013 rose by 2%, with revenues climbing 7% and the number of bed-nights increasing 10%.

Speaking about the new focus, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Marketing, John Concannon said - “These three groups make up 52% of the potential domestic market and we believe they are the most likely to take an additional holiday in Ireland this year. Our new campaign will be asking everyone to check out a break at home but will in particular be appealing to these groups.

“We will also have an increased focus this year on digital marketing. Online we will be promoting meaningful messages through an engaging content campaign via broad reaching sites and taking a smart targeting approach whether it’s on mobile, tablet or desktop.”

This year’s campaign has a brand new soundtrack, All Works Out, the new hit single by Irish band The Riptide Movement and will front the TV and radio advertising.

Speaking about the new music, John Concannon added - “Discover Ireland has a track record for picking tunes that ultimately become the official sounds of the summer. From the Heathers to Ham Sandwich and now the Riptide Movement, working with the best Irish talent to promote Irish breaks has always been at the heart of what we do.”

WILD ATLANTIC WAY

Funding for key Wild Atlantic Way ‘Discovery Points’

A group of international journalists were in Galway recently as part of a Wild Atlantic Way familiarisation trip.

€3.2m in funding has been awarded by Fáilte Ireland for the next phase of the Wild Atlantic Way development. The funding is for improvement works at 133 Discovery Points and 22 embarkation points which have been identified along the 2,500km route. The route stretches from the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork and is already garnering significant interest overseas.

The discovery points which have been identified for upgrade are essential to the success of the project and represent locations where the visitor can stop off, get out and explore.

These works relate primarily to the interpretation of the stories associated with the location, interventions required to improve the physical appearance of the site, and measures to ensure visitor safety at the site.

Fiona Monaghan, Head of Wild Atlantic Way project, emphasised: “The Wild Atlantic Way is one of our most ambitious tourism projects ever. Already, the reception both at home and abroad to the concept has been incredibly encouraging.

“The funding is part of the ongoing evolution of the project. Most of the route has now been branded and signed and Fáilte Ireland is working with tourism operators and local communities all along the coast to ensure that they can engage with the opportunities offered by the project and to assist them in ‘telling and selling’ and in bringing their stories alive for those who visit.”

The Government had allocated €8 million for the Wild Atlantic Way project this year (which was announced in the 2014 Budget) and along with €2million previously committed from Fáilte Ireland’s Tourism Capital Investment Programme, a total investment of €10 million will take place in 2014.

What’s along the Wild Atlantic Way? • 500 Visitor Attractions • More than 1,500 activities to pursue • 580 festivals and events throughout the year • 17 trails and 50 looped walks • 53 Blue Flag beaches • 120 Golf Courses including some of the best ‘links’ golf in the world

Blue Flag boost for tourism Fáilte Ireland welcomed the announcement of an increase in Blue Flag and Green Coast award-winning beaches around Ireland as a total of 134 Blue Flag Awards and National Green Coast Awards were awarded by An Taisce to Irish beaches and coastal areas.

Speaking about the importance of our coastal environment for tourism, Fáilte Ireland CEO Shaun Quinn emphasised: “Our own research indicates that almost 70% of our visitor’s holiday along our coastline and the quality of our beaches is central to the tourism experience and integral to the work of Fáilte Ireland.

“Our landmark project, the Wild Atlantic Way which runs from Kinsale all the way along the western seaboard up to Donegal, is already proving a big draw overseas and this week we launched our new ‘Blueway’ initiative (see article on page 34) to promote the great variety of sea-based activities on offer in Ireland. The increase in quality recorded by An Taisce is certainly a boost for tourism activity in marine regions.”

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ALLERGENS

Will we be allergic to EU directive?

Pádraic Óg Gallagher

The EU is often portrayed as a super-sized interfering nanny federal state of sorts - an image that seems to have garnered much support if the recent Euro election results are anything to go by. They decide on something of importance and nobody notices. Then, before we know it, it’s time for that legislation to be enacted and enforced.

Such is the case with the new Allergens Advice regulation. Under EU Regulation No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament, as of December 13th of this year, all foods whether packaged or sold loosely to consumers - will have to indicate the presence of allergens and list all their ingredients. Up to now, this has been the case with pre-packaged foods but now the responsibility with regard to loose food has been added.

So what does this mean for the average business selling food to the consumer?

Essentially, it involves listing any of the 14 official allergens that may be contained in what any food outlet is serving - from supermarket deli counters to Michelinstarred restaurants.

First of all, there are the logistical problems concerned with this. As anyone

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in the catering industry will tell you, there is already a great deal of paperwork involved in the day-to-day running of a restaurant and an additional round of paperwork is something that few of them will look forward to: “Yes it is the Mother Hen of the EU being their fussy selves but the worrying part for us is how each member state actually interprets it,” says Pádraic Óg Gallagher of The Boxty House in Dublin’s Temple Bar district and President of the Restaurant Association of Ireland. “We’re quite famous here for interpreting the law in whatever way that makes it more difficult for people… I don’t know how they’re going to interpret it. That’s really what it comes down to… we like to be the good boys in the class.”

Ireland does have poor form when it comes to the rigorous enforcement of EU legislation, whether or not that’s in the interest of our citizens. There are plenty of examples of this already in Ireland. You can buy fish directly from a restaurant in France, for example, but in Ireland you can’t due to the more robust application of EU norms that don’t seem to be an advantage to consumer or supplier.

The precise area of responsibility is another point of contention and worry. If a restaurant provides its comprehensive list of allergens but an inexperienced commis chef along the way has inadvertently added a minute quantity of peanut oil to the soup, just who is responsible?

“It is quite a serious subject,” says Pádraic, “but all people who know that they have allergies will inform you. You work with that and it’s about training and knowledge. Having a menu that will list every ingredient and every allergen is not practical, feasible or workable… how much printing would you have on the menu?”

“It sounds like to me over-egging the situation,” says Ross Lewis of Michelinstarred restaurant Chapter 1. “If someone has an allergy, they’re really going to express that to us at the table. I just think that making us list ingredients and/or allergens on every single dish is only to add more cost to an already burgeoning cost base.”

The wording of the legislation seems to suggest that genuine mistakes in

ALLERGENS The other issue is that this list might even be extended in time. One restaurateur mentioned a knowledgeable client who discovered that he was allergic to a protein that was created by the bone of an anchovy that was marinated. Will the list of 14 become 24 or 40 in another five years?

“It depends on what comes down the line,” says Pádraic Óg Gallagher. “I think that that’s back again to legislation, but if there’s an allergen and there’s a serious risk to it, then people have to be informed.”

Ross Lewis

labelling will be taken as genuine mistakes but if this legislation has yet to be (a) enacted in the Republic of Ireland and (b) tested in any Irish courts or (c) tested in the area of litigation deals between legal representatives on the court steps, then precisely who is responsible remains to be seen.

“What about going back to the age-old system of someone coming into a restaurant and telling us that they’re allergic to something and then us saying ‘well, I think that you should avoid these particular items on the menu’?” asks Ross Lewis.

Nobody from the Irish Hotels Federation was willing to directly comment on the upcoming legislation but the organisation did issue a statement saying that “customer safety is of paramount importance” and expressing the hope that “the guidelines must be pragmatic and workable and must include following provisions in line with the European Commission’s information update on the application of the regulation”.

One organisation that is being pro-active in preparing for the changes is Unilever Food Solutions. They have published an “Allergens and Diets Guide for Professional Catering” (downloadable at www.ufs.com/allergens) to help chefs and staff complying with the forthcoming legislation. This works on the assumption from the wording of the directive that menus will now have to list all the raw ingredients in order of quantity used from the highest to the lowest and then copy the list of the processed ingredients (which will be already listed accordingly), with a highlighted mention of any of the 14 allergens so that customers can immediately see that something contains an allergen.

“ Yes it is the Mother Hen of the EU being their fussy selves but the worrying part for us is how each member state actually interprets it

“I don’t know,” says Ross Lewis.

“Personally, I feel that there are more contaminants from the industrial world we live in and in the food chain that are causing these things. It absolutely has to be.

“It’s very onerous, the amount of administration work and legislation that one has to undertake owning a restaurant from your HR down to everything else hygiene legislation and all sorts of things.

We’re just constantly jumping through hoops and I just think that if you want to name 14 allergens on every single dish…

Some of my dishes could have up to 30 or 40 different ingredients in it. It’s going to be more resources and more time allocated.”

For those at the other end of the serving food chain - the likes of deli counters in supermarkets, for example - the job might often be easier as they could be buying in a higher percentage of processed foodstuffs, on which the ingredients list is already printed.

The fact remains, however, that the new legislation is on its way. It has been drafted, debated over, amended and put to bed by the European institutions and all those serving food will have to get to grips with it in one form or another come next December.

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FOOD TRENDS

How trendy are you?

Food has become increasingly trenddriven. What are the lastest food fashions, who are our food fashionistas and how can businesses keep up with this rate of change? Cariona Neary goes foraging.

Before you feel compelled to follow the latest food craze, remember the one important lesson about trends: the only trend that matters is the trend that affects your own customer base. “Build power by being as close to your customer as possible,” is the advice of foodservice specialist, Maureen Gahan, of Bord Bia. To help businesses navigate their way through the wide ranging and often conflicting food trends, Bord Bia has identified 10 food trends that may be important for your business over the next 12 months. # 1: Value No, the quest for value has not gone away, now that the economy is becoming more stable. Quick service restaurants account for over one third of the total food service market in Ireland. Even in the land of haute cuisine, France, the fast food market now accounts for a whopping 54% of the total food service market. This price driven consumer behaviour leads to promiscuity, with consumers hopping onto whatever is the latest value deal. How can restaurants work with this trend? Seek ways to develop

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loyalty more directly with your customers, advises Gahan. Consider supper clubs, apps, direct marketing, loyalty cards… In this way you are building loyalty while saving on the margin handed over to promotion companies. # 2: Health and Wellbeing In the US, the ratio of food consumed out of home versus in the home is 50:50, in the UK it’s 35:65, while in Ireland we like home cooking, with just 25:75 out of home versus in the home. If people are spending more of their food euro out of home, it makes sense that they should be informed about what they are eating. Calories on menus are here to stay. And from December 2014, caterers will need to provide information on food ingredients likely to cause allergies or intolerances # 3: Good Food Fast, Please!

To win in the healthy fast food market, make it fun as well as affordable to attract the biggest consumer, the Twitter generation of twentysomethings that are the drivers of this food trend. Crackbird, with 26,000 Twitter followers, is a prime example of a restaurant that has built its brand on this trend. # 4: Provenance Don’t just list where food is from, anyone can do that. Use this trend to celebrate tradition, craftsmanship, seasonality and passion for place. The rise in popularity of craft beers and farm to fork food traceability is a testimony to people’s desire to break away from the food scares and snake-and-ladder supply chains. Bord Bia is supporting quality food producers with its ‘Just Ask’ campaign, where food service companies work with local suppliers. In Donegal, Harry’s pub menu is based on the ingredients supplied by the 2 acre walled garden next door to the pub. The owner, Donal Doherty, has gone on to set up a weekly market, incorporating a wide range of local produce. # 5: Retail meets Foodservice The big retailers want to get more of the casual dining spend, and are aggressively seeking to expand into the café markets to win back customers.

FOOD TRENDS # 7: Fast Casual Bakery Cafes are the fastest growing segment in the café market. One of the finest examples of a big experience in a very small place is the Italian Artisan Bakery & Café, Il Valentino, located at trendy Grand Canal Dock in Dublin.

Founder, Owen Doorly, spotted the growth in bakery cafes while living in Italy. “This business is challenging, a lot of people don’t realise how much work goes in to making authentic artisan breads and pastries but then, on the other hand, competitors cannot copy us so easily!”

While in Italy, Doorly exported coffee to 45 countries so knew how to create a unique Italian experience in Dublin. “We like our customers to be able to sit down and taste the food where it is made.” # 8: Sustainability There is growing support for fair trade and organic offerings and this trend is likely to continue to grow as shortages in key food resources become more acute due to global warming. Boxty House, owned by Padraig Og Gallagher, has installed a mini potato farm as a rooftop garden at his café in Temple Bar, growing stories as well as spuds!

# 6: EAT-Ertainment Experiences and buzz are as important as the food itself. According to Maureen Gahan, smart companies are looking at ways to win more of the ‘leisure spend’ by offering a sense of drama and theatre... Communal seating, shareable plates and unusual locations can add to the excitement. Don’t hide the chef - bring him or her out front as part of the food theatre. At Pizza Hut, the chef is now out front showing customers how to make great pizzas.

# 9: Technology Technology will drive how people pay in the future. Best in class for using technology to create a better customer experience has to be Starbucks Loyalty App, now the most used digital payment app in the US. It’s a love triangle between the customer, Starbucks and Google. Use your iPhone to pay for your coffee which automatically clocks up your Starbucks loyalty account that in turn gives you lots of cool stuff from free coffees and iTune offers to airline discounts if you reach VIP status. # 10: Back to Basics From posh toast to elderflower cordial, from rustic simplicity to retro packaging, we can’t get enough of it. Try getting a ‘table’ at the 20-seater Canteen in Blackrock Market in Dublin, offering a nochoice 4 course dinner at €35 per head in a pretty basic setting. Located in one of Dublin’s most expensive suburbs, this restaurant combining outstanding food and service with a rough and ready setting is constantly booked out!

Coming back to Maureen Gahan’s advice of building power by staying close to the customer, it is so important that any business builds its offering around customers’ real needs. The sweet spot will be the way you provide value, experience and authenticity in a world where consumer reviews are your real currency.

Cariona Neary

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WIT FORUM

Event management, food energy and sustainability Students on the Diploma in Restaurant Management, together with Lecturer Jacinta Greene Beatty, recently hosted a ‘Sustainability of Food and Energy forum’ in the Tourism and Leisure Building, Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).

Mr Ray Cullen, Head of Department of Languages Tourism & Hospitality, made the opening address and pointed out that the forum was the product of two modules which form part of the Diploma in Restaurant Management, namely Event Management, and Food Energy and Sustainability. Mr Cullen continued. “This is a learning experience for students as they got an opportunity to plan, organise, and co-ordinate a real event around the topic of food energy and sustainability. It’s these real life experiences that will help them in their future careers.”

The forum had a series of high profile delegates who made contributions throughout the day included Mr. Paul Nolan, Manager of Dawn Meats, Waterford; Denis Foran, General Manager of McDonalds Waterford; Ms. Sharpe, Brady’s Ham; Mr. Paul Quirke, Buildings Manager, WIT; Mr. Richard Hurley, GM Granville Hotel; and Ms. Adi Walshe, Kilkerrin Cottage, Pilltown Waterford. Altitude Sports from Waterford, promoted the Bike to Work scheme to employees at WIT, displayed a fantastic array of bicycles including a Tandum, an old duck egg blue vintage bike with a winker basket filled with all local artisan products including Jams from Christina’s Cupboard and sauces from Tastefully Yours.

The first speaker was introduced by Jacinta Greene-Beatty as the next Carlos Pastini, the founder of slow food in Turin in Italy. Andrea Marchesini, a student on the Diploma in Restaurant Management, entrepreneur and co-owner of the Harlequin Restaurant, Waterford City, spoke with passion about what sustainability meant to him and his business and how he and his co- owner source local artisan Irish food to create Italian dishes. His presentation was inspiring and the message was very clear. If you want to source local you can do it, just leave down the big glossy food lists and go out and meet the farmers, the cheese producers, the vegetable growers and genuinely know where your foods is coming from. Tell your customers because people want to know.

Andrea is a graduate of the l’Elcole Gastronomy in Tuscany and is now completing the final semester of his Diploma in Restaurant Management course

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at WIT. He commented on the benefit of an Earn and Learn programme to him and how the structure of the course was designed to facilitate people like him as he studies Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at WIT and works the other days in his business.

Mr. Robert Anthony spoke about his beekeeping and honey producing business, Youghal & Knochmealmore Honey. He gave a fascinating talk about the different species of bees in Ireland and how important it is to protect the native Irish Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera.

Speaking next was Mr. Micheal Kelly who is the founder of Grow it Yourself (GIY).

He informed the forum about the need to grow more of our own foods locally and to sustain our local food companies and become self sufficient. He also spoke about how he himself came to be the founder of GIY which was an interesting journey in itself. There is a GIY award now for restaurants and hotels.

Mr. Charlie Coakley who is the Environmental manager for Dawn Meats gave fantastic presentation on their award winning energy programmes at Dawn Meats.

Their latest projects have delivered a thermal efficiency improvement of 90% at its Ballyhaunis plant and over 50% at other facilities. The company recently won the Process Award at the SEAI Environment Awards 2013.

Mr. Tom Griffin of the Hidden Mind and bio energy enthusiast gave a brief demonstration about how a person’s bio energy and electro-magnetic field can be used to help heal the body and maintain its natural balance.

The passionate and wonderful ambassador for Irish food, Mr. Peter Ward, took the stand and spoke about his experiences in Artisan food production and how our own local products such as Cashel Blue Cheese are not getting the recognition and advertising they deserve. He also spoke about his own business Country Choice Cafe in Nenagh and limerick. According to Peter, we need to drive into our local farmers yard and buy the spuds and other vegetables and support our graduates who want to go back to the land and make a living.

Finally Professor Patrick Wall of UCD spoke about damaging consumer-buyer behaviour. He explained in very simple terms how as a nation we need to look after our best asset -our health. He reiterated the importance of fruit and vegetables in our diet as well as exercise. He stressed the importance of children’s health and the damaging habits that they are developing because of fizzy drinks, sugary snacks and little or no exercise.

A highlight of the event was when students from St Angela’s Secondary School, Waterford showcased their junk Kouture creations using recycled materials. The students used egg shells, old CDs, plastic bags and bottle tops to make outfits good enough to make the All-Ireland Final of Junk Kouture in May, which is sponsored by Bank of Ireland.

The forum was closed by Dr. Ruaidhrí Neavyn, President of WIT who stressed the importance of encouragement for our students and commented on the level of enthusiasm that surrounded the forum. He thanked all the speakers and presented them with beautiful Artisan Hampers generously sponsored by Ardkeen Stores, Waterford.

RE-BRANDING

Double-take at the Doubletree Hang on a minute, that looks like the Burlo. Actually, that is the Burlo, bought by the Hilton Hotel Group and re-branded. Here H&RT interviews General Manager, David Monks.

Bought by the Hilton Hotel Group in 2013, the iconic Burlington Hotel Dublin has been rebranded as The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Dublin - Burlington Road. Over the last twelve months, the rebrand has seen the hotel adopt the DoubleTree by Hilton’s philosophy of customer care as well as undertake an ambitious refurbishment program. The hotel’s General Manager David Monks is positive these changes will position the property once again as the Dublin’s go-to hotel for events.

A major refurbishment, as well as the task of espousing the values of DoubleTree by

Hilton into an existing property is no mean feat. However, with over seven years’ experience in hospitality management in various Crowne Plaza properties, Clare man David was well up for the job.

He tells us: “Crowne Plaza, part of the Tifco Hotel Group, was my first real induction into hotel openings. As a branded property there was a large amount of compliance and setup so I got my love from building, development, construction and compliance.

As General Manager for Crowne Plaza Dundalk, I worked with the construction and project team to deliver the property Crowne Plaza Blanchardstown was another preopening - 6 months of design, kit-out, layouts and construction compliance.”

One of the main areas of the Burlington Road’s refurbishment has been the standardisation of bedrooms, which now feature Sweet Dreams(r) by DoubleTree beds, Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries, laptop - sized safes , mini- fridges and 42 inch HD Flatscreen Televisions. All bedrooms also feature complimentary Wi-Fi, Prior to the revamp the style of rooms were mixed from various eras of refurbishment. This new

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consistency, David tells us, means the hotel can go out into the conference market with confidence as the ideal venue for a 350/400 hotel room event.

Of course, with the conference market such a huge component of the business a lot of work went into the dedicated meeting room floor with 19 meeting rooms.

According to David the rooms have been carefully considered for the customer, even down to the layout of the linkage between second floor and ballroom, which ensures a very short distance for guests to walk from one to the other.

David explains: “This is key and a big differentiator for us. We’ve put a lot of thought into the meeting rooms. Each one has a built in screen and projector, free superfast Wi-Fi, floor boxes and adaptor stations at desk height so you don’t have to bend down and we think those little touches make a huge difference from a customer’s point of view.”

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And it’s the little touches that David maintains embodies the DoubleTree philosophy. Upon arrival each guest receives the DoubleTree signature freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.

“It’s a signature part of the DoubleTree brand,” he says. “It’s clever and effective.

They’re warm, they’re tasty and it’s our welcome to customers. Before you take names or credit card details you’re creating that sense of arrival and showing you we care.”

This attention to detail is also evident in the hotel’s food and beverage offering.

Executive Head Chef Tony O’ Donnell works the on menu concepts and design to ensure it appeals to an open market.

The ingredients used, David tells us, are fresh, healthy and seasonal, with the majority sourced from local suppliers. This, he maintains, adds a ‘touch of Irishness’ to the stay that customers appreciate and enjoy.

He says: “Offering that taste of Ireland is important to us and we aim to give that with unique menus that are thoughtfully considered. Our meats are sourced from Munster, our fish is from in the northeast coast of Ireland and our sausages for breakfast are being supplied by a local butcher in Navan. It’s an artisan sausage produced especially for us, we print that story on the breakfast card. You tend to find that customers from a banqueting point of view are printing the origins of the food on the menu and people like to read that - they’re interested in it. They’re getting an element of the locality and we think it’s an important differentiator, especially from an overseas conference point of view.”

The lobby of the hotel was also fully refurbished, although the integrity of the space

RE-BRANDING

as the hotel’s central meeting place has been maintained. The new layout now has sheltered areas where people can have meetings or coffees in a relaxed, informal environment. Alongside, this the “to go” station situated in this area has proven to be a tremendous success. It allows both guests and local office workers get a coffee/snack and head to meetings or their offices with little or no downtime. More importantly, it has become a great revenue stream for the property.

Another offering essential for the Burlington Road’s market is the Executive Lounge. The Lounge is in a secure area with key card access and guests are served a continental breakfast in the morning, canapés, and drinks in the evening. The lounge also features a quirky addition that was no doubt designed to set the hotel apart - the ‘pour your own pint’ Guinness Station.

“It’s particularly popular with US customers,” David says. “It’s an iconic brand and it really breaks the ice and takes the stuffiness out of the lounge. You often see people chatting over the station, and of course,” he laughs, “people want to try and pour the perfect pint.”

Of course the physical refurbishment is just one part of the hotel’s transformation.

It is down to the staff to espouse the DoubleTree philosophy for guests, and according to David they have done a fantastic job.

He tells us: “There’s been a monumental amount of work in the hotel over the last twelve months from a physical construction point of view but also internally from a training perspective. The staff are embracing the best aspects of the DoubleTree brand and bringing that into the property here. They’re fantastic team who have been through a huge amount of change and they’ve embraced it and taken the positive

elements of the business and helped us drive the property forward. Last September we were ranked 115 on trip advisor and now we’re 64 and rising fast. The investment has played a huge part of that obviously, but the team’s warmth and engagement with customers is no doubt responsible too.”

And with the property so well known, does he see pushing the new revamped DoubleTree by Hilton - Burlington Road forward as a challenge?

He says: “From a customer perspective it’s going to be similar challenge to Aviva replacing the Lansdowne Road name but over time it will evolve into the DoubleTree.

It’s a process of educating the market.”

“Thankfully,” he finishes, “it’s been good and a positive experience and we’ve been bought by a fantastic group with a great brand who put big investment and vision back into the hotel and coming out of the refurbishment the outlook is very positive.”

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STREET FOOD

From street to seat in partnership with Bunzl McLaughlin Street food is one of the most new and exciting food trends to emerge in the last year.

People may automatically assume that street food means a van on the side of the road - but the street food trend is a whole lot more than that!

“From Street to Seat” is the best way to describe this trend. It’s about bringing the unique, authentic dining experiences, inspired by global cultures and cuisines into the restaurant setting. Street food has greatly influenced main-stream dining and this can be seen in food vans transition to restaurant such as Wagamama and Nandos.

in restaurants but in small baskets and steel cones. The French cheese board is now being served on slate. Spanish Tapas are served on wooden boards and small ceramic pots.

Vibrant and strong colours also create quick, relaxed and casual eateries.

What does street food mean for the restaurant?

For a restaurant, street food means sharing dishes and platters. It means meals served in casserole pots on wooden boards. It is about bringing Mexican, Brazilian, Asian and Spanish foods into the dining experience. Even the good old British “Fish and Chips” are being served in chip paper

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Buffet and Deli The buffet and deli themes also comes under the current Street Food trend. These are for people who have no time for a traditional meal and are on the go. From young urban-dwellers looking for a fast, delicious and affordable lunch to bring back to their work desks to the organically-minded gastronome searching for the next exciting flavour experience.

Buffet presentations are now more stylish and versatile with creative mixtures of shapes and heights. Combining a mixture of wood, melamine and ceramics presents visual excellence, perfect for creating an eye catching display.

The options of incorporating street food into your eatery are endless.

Download the new Street Food brochure from Bunzl McLaughlin to help get those ideas rolling at www.bunzlmclaughlin.com

FOOD

forTHOUGHT Top restaurants in ireland announced at IRISH RESTAURANT AWARDS 2014 IN ASSOCIATION WITH the SUNDAY INDEPENDENT LIFE MAGAZINE June 9th 2014, Dublin, Ireland.

Kilkenny Restaurant Campagne took home the prize of Best Restaurant in Ireland and Neven Maguire, Head Chef of MacNean House and Restaurant, was crowned Best Chef in Ireland at the Irish Restaurant Awards 2014 in association with the Sunday Independent LIFE Magazine, in The DoubleTree by Hilton, Monday June 9th.

of the Island of Ireland in 25 categories and celebrate all aspects of the Industry from Chefs and Restaurants, Cafes and Gastro Pubs, to Food Producers, Restaurant Managers and Cookery Schools.

Over 900 restaurateurs and industry players turned out to attend Ireland’s biggest ever Restaurant awards where Regional and AllIreland winners were announced in the following categories;

The Awards recognise achievement and excellence in the Restaurant and Hospitality Industry throughout the 32 counties

Best Restaurant Kindly Sponsored by Dalcassian Wines & Spirits and Wakefield Wines All-Ireland - Campagne, Kilkenny l Connaught - An Port Mór, Mayo l Dublin – Dax Restaurant l Leinster - Campagne, Kilkenny l Munster - 1826 Adare, Limerick l Ulster – Ox, Antrim l

Restaurants Association of Ireland 11 Bridge Court – Citygate - St. Augustine Street - Dublin 8 - Registered Company No. 56224

Official Sponsor of

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Patrons:

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Best Chef Kindly Sponsored by La Rousse Foods All-Ireland - Neven Maguire of MacNean House and Restaurant, Cavan Connaught - Frankie Mallon of An Port Mór, Mayo Dublin – John Wyer of Forest Avenue, Dublin Leinster – Billy Whitty of Aldridge Lodge, Wexford Munster – Kevin Aherne of Sage Restaurant, Cork Ulster – Neven Maguire of MacNean House and Restaurant, Cavan

Best ‘Foodie Town’ in Ireland Sponsored by Admailer.ie Dingle / Daingean Uí Chuis

Best Hotel Restaurant Kindly Sponsored by Pallas Foods All-Ireland- The Lady Helen at Mount Juliet, Kilkenny Connaught - The Restaurant at Belleek Castle, Mayo Dublin – The Cellar Restaurant at Merrion Hotel Leinster – The Lady Helen at Mount Juliet, Kilkenny Munster – The Dining Room at Gregan’s Castle Hotel, Clare Ulster – Newforge House, Armagh

Best Casual Dining Kindly Sponsored by Bunzl McLaughlin All-Ireland- ETTO, Dublin Connaught- Shells Seaside Bakery & Café, Sligo Dublin – ETTO Leinster – Avenue Café & Restaurant, Kildare Munster – Nash 19, Cork Restaurants Association of Ireland Ulster – Hadskis, Antrim 11 Bridge Court – Citygate - St. Augustine Street - Dublin 8 - Registered Company No. 56224 Official Sponsor of

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Best Gastro Pub Kindly Sponsored by Total Produce All-Ireland - The Chop House, Dublin Connaught- The Pins at The Twelve, Galway Dublin –The Chop House Leinster – The Fatted Calf, Westmeath Munster – The Derg Inn, Tipperary Ulster – The Brewer’s House, Tyrone

Best Wine Experience Kindly Sponsored by Classic Drinks & Champagne Pannier All-Ireland - Fallon & Byrne, Dublin Connaught- West at The Twelve, Galway Dublin –Fallon & Byrne Leinster – Sha-Roe Bistro, Carlow Munster – Killarney Wine Rooms at The Malton, Kerry Ulster – Ox, Antrim

Best Customer Service Kindly Sponsored by TheDiningRoom.ie All-Ireland- Renvyle House Hotel, Galway

Connaught- Renvyle House Hotel, Galway Dublin –Chapter One Leinster – The Restaurant at Marlfield House, Wexford Munster – Earl of Thomond at Dromoland Castle Hotel, Clare Ulster – Vanilla Restaurant, Down

Best Restaurant Manager in Ireland Supported by The Restaurants Association of Ireland All-Ireland - Alain Kerloc’H of Ox, Belfast Connaught - Daniel Mayer, Belleek Castle, Mayo Dublin - Stephane Robin, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud Leinster – Joanne Harding, Aldridge Lodge, Wexford Munster – Dan Mullane, The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge, Limerick Ulster – Alain Kerloc’H of Ox, Belfast Restaurants Association of Ireland 11 Bridge Court – Citygate - St. Augustine Street - Dublin 8 - Registered Company No. 56224

Official Sponsor of

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Best Kids Size Me Kindly Sponsored by Heinz All-Ireland- ely gastro bar Connaught - Vittos Restaurant, Leitrim Dublin- ely gastro bar Leinster – Black Olive Restaurant, Longford Munster – The Cornstore Restaurant, Cork Ulster – The Olde Castle Bar & Red Hugh Restaurant, Donegal

Best Café in Ireland Sponsored by Bewley’s Kelly’s Café, Wexford

Best Cocktail Experience in Ireland Sponsored by Ketel One, Diageo Reserve Saba, Dublin

Best Cookery School in Ireland Sponsored by Avonmore Ballymaloe Cookery School, Cork

Best Digital Marketing in Ireland Sponsored by Nomos Productions Canteen, Limerick

Best Emerging Irish Cuisine in Ireland Sponsored by Odaios Foods The Global Village Restaurant, Dingle, Kerry

Best Newcomer in Ireland Sponsored by Dalcassian and Cielo Forest Avenue, Dublin

Best Practice in Energy Management in Ireland Sponsored by Calor The Ocean Restaurant at The Maritime Hotel, Bantry, Cork

Best Private Dining & Club Restaurant in Ireland Sponsored by San Pellegrino Restaurant Forty One at Residence, Dublin

Best Restaurant Design in Ireland Supported by The Restaurants Association of Ireland Kay’s Kitchen, Jervis Shopping Centre, Dublin

Best Seafood Experience in Ireland Sponsored by Burren Smokehouse O’Grady’s on the Pier, Barna, Galway

Sustainable Restaurant of the Year in Ireland Sponsored by Unilever West @ The Twelve, Barna, Galway

Best World Cuisine in Ireland Sponsored by Elavon China Sichaun, Dublin

Restaurants Association of Ireland Best Value Dining in Ireland

Sponsored by Tourism Ireland

11 Bridge Court – Citygate - St. Augustine Street - Dublin 8 - Registered Company No. 56224

Fenton’s of Dingle, Kerry

Official Sponsor of

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Best Emerging e Global Village Irish Cuisine - Th

Dublin perience -Saba, Best Cocktail Ex

ub ate Diningur&anCl t 41 Best Privan sta Restaur t - Re

Best Seafood Experience the Pier - O’Gradys on Galway

Irish Restaurant Awards 2014 Gala Dinner Menu The Menu for the five-course Gala was created by five chefs who have previously won Best Chef titles at the Irish Restaurant Awards. This year’s sumptuous menu was devised by the following Chefs; ne Lounge nt & Champag ra u ta es R s n hubarb w - Ian Orr, Bro e & Poached R e ré rs u u P o le C p g p A in ee en ff Op with To ds avan Pork neck d by Pallas Foo re Slow cooked C so n o sp ly d Kin nt House rant, Viewmou u ta es R M V , n up Gary O’Hanlo to & Ginger So ta o Soup Course P t ee Sw d ut Milk Oven Roaste eed Oil, Cocon es ap R li il h akery C Donegal uce & Bretzel B d ro P l ta o T y b red Kindly sponso otel erick Strand H im L , n vi la F m o ic leaves T Fish Course eetroot, Organ B g, n ri er H d Silver , n oked Salmo ck Limerick an sa u C e en R , Irish Trout, Sm se u Smokeho red by Burren Sea Limerick Kindly sponso Darlings of the anda Sunil Ghai, An e rs u o C n ai M amb Shank tatoes & 48hrs Kildare L urnip, Pearl Po T y ab B h it w and served ffron & Fennel Sa , m o am aby Fennel d ar with C duce Caramelised B ods & Total Pro o R e ss u o R a L red by Kindly sponso , Aniar - JP McMahon e rs u o C rt , Dill se Des ber, Cauliflower m cu er Crisp u C , rt gu o Dried Cauliflow il, O ill D Elderflower, Y a, it n ra cumber G ods gurt Mousse, Cu o Y d an er y La Rousse Fo ow b fl d re Elder so n o sp Kindly

Restaurants Association of Ireland 11 Bridge Court – Citygate - St. Augustine Street - Dublin 8 - Registered Company No. 56224

Official Sponsor of

FOODforTHOUGHT

Patrons:

NEW MEMBERS Restaurant Name

County

Restaurant Name

County

Roberts Cove Inn

Co. Cork

Markree Castle

Co. Sligo

Maddens Bridge Bar

Co. Donegal

Peppers @ The White Deer

Co. Cork

Hard Boiled Egg Cafe

Co. Cavan

Seabank Bistro

Co. Dublin

Salt ‘n’ Batter

Co. Donegal

The Mad Hatter Café

Co. Kildare

Belles’s Kitchen

Co. Donegal

Agape

Co. Kildare

The Ferrygate Wine Bar & Restaurant

Co. Donegal

The Strand Seafood Bistro

Co. Clare

Lisgrey House

Co. Cavan

Lunares

Co. Galway

Schooners Restaurant @ McKevitts Village Hotel

Co. Louth

The Butterbean Restaurant

Co. Donegal

The Fig Tree

Co. Kilkenny

The Beach House

Co. Donegal

The Grange Kitchen

Co. Wicklow

The Cove Restaurant

Co. Donegal

The Wicklow Heather Restaurant

Co. Wicklow

Murphs East Ferry Tavern

Co. Cork

The Salt House Restaurant

Co. Louth

McLaughlins Restaurant @ The Castletroy Park

Co. Limerick

Shannon’s Corner

Co. Donegal

The Old Punch Bowl

Co. Dublin

Drumstix Restaurant

Co. Cork

Nick’s Seafood Restaurant

Co. Kerry

Butterfly Garden Café

Co. Meath

Pat Cohan’s Bar

Co. Sligo

Connemara Greenway Café & Restaurant

Co. Galway

Toscana Dame Street

Dublin 2

The Port House Ibericos

Dublin 16

Skelly’s Bar

Longford

Tower Restaurant

Co. Louth

Blue Fin Restaurant @ The Grand Hotel

Co.Wicklow

Newcastle House Restaurant

Co. Longford

The Auld Triangle

Co. Cork

West End House

Co. Kerry

Harkins Bistro

Co. Leitrim

Wholesome Fayre

Co. Kerry

The Coffee Shop

Co. Wicklow

Kaya Thai Restaurant

Co. Limerick

Frango’s World Cuisine

Dublin 16

Fitzpatrick Bar & Restaurant

Co. Louth

An Bhialann

Dublin 6

Ivy @ Dunboyne Castle Hotel & Spa

Co. Meath

The Thatched Cottage

Co. Tipperary

Il Baccaro

Dublin 2

The Boat Inn

Co. Galway

The Lord Kingsale

Co. Cork

Terrazza Italia Restaurant

Dublin 2

Killeen House Hotel

Co. Kerry

The Crookhaven Inn

Co. Cork

The Keadeen Hotel

Co. Kildare

Time Bistro

Co. Tipperary

The Strand Bar

Co. Dublin

Pizza E Porchetta

Dublin 2

Roasted Brown Gourmet Coffee

Dublin 2

The Pigs Tale

Co.Wexford

The Wild Geese Restaurant

Co. Limerick

Emiliano’s Italiano Ristorante

Co. Waterford

McCarthy’s Pub

Co. Tipperary

Germaines Restaurant @ Germaines

Co. Wicklow

O’Shea’s Merchant

Dublin 8

The Peppermill Restaurant

Co. Clare

Taste of Brazil

Dublin 2

Maunsell’s Bar & Food

Co. Offaly

Yum Yum Cafe

Sligo

The Dining Room @ Clifden Station House

Co. Galway

Byrne & Woods

Co. Wicklow

The Muskerry Arms

Co. Cork

Diva Boutique Bakery & Cafe

Co. Cork

Crabby Jo’s

Co. Dublin

Ostan Gugan Barra Teo

Co. Cork

Devitt’s Bar & Food

Dublin 2

The Harbour Bar

Co. Dublin

The Two Sisters

Dublin 6 W

The Stone House Bar & Restaurant

Co. Louth

Seasons 52

Co. Clare

McLoughlins Restaurant @ Roganstown Hotel & Country Club

Co. Dublin

Yolo Bar & Restaurant

Co. Clare

Fiorentina Restaurants

Dublin

Coda Eatery @ The Gibson Hotel

Dublin 1

Yummy Cafe Market

Co. Kerry

New Patron

Gallery Restaurant & Bar

Co. Cork

Name

County

Website

The Whitehorse Inn

Co. Cork

Stonehouse

Dublin

http://www.stonehouse.ie/

Catch 22 @ The Reg

Co. Waterford

Roundstone House Hotel

Co. Galway

New Associate

The Little Strand Restaurant

Co. Louth

Name

County

Website

Blind Piper

Co. Kerry

Winelab

Co. Kildare

www.winelab.ie

Co. Carlow

Peninsula Business Services

Dublin 3

www.peninsula-ie.com

Restaurants Association of Ireland

McGettigans Cookhouse @ Ambassador Hotel

Co. Cork

The Quays Bar

Co. Cork

11 Bridge Court – Citygate - St. Augustine Street - Dublin 8 - Registered Company No. 56224 Brasserie 15 Official Sponsor of

FOODforTHOUGHT

Patrons:

R

1

O

F

GREEN PAGE

The green scene At the Hotel and Restaurant Times we are delighted to announce a partnership with the Green Hospitality Programme (GHP), the only Irish developed environmental certification standard for the hospitality sector, which will see us working together to promote Responsible Tourism in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry. As Media Partner of the GHP a new ‘Green Page’ will be published in every edition of the magazine.

Paula Stakelum, Ashford castle, picking wild mint

Running a ‘green’ business is an area that can be surrounded in confusion. With the ‘Green Page’ we aim to bring clarity to issues surrounding sustainability and the environment.

Hotel and Restaurant Times Media Partner role will also extend to the Programme’s Responsible Travel & Tourism Awards and Conference 2014, which recognises excellence in Responsible Tourism across Ireland.

The Green Hospitality Eco-label and Award certifications are recognised nationally and internationally as standards which show businesses’ good environmental performance. Businesses who achieve the Green Hospitality Eco-label or Award implement a structured approach to managing their environmental impact and so visitors can choose ‘greener’ hospitality businesses safe in the knowledge that defined criteria are being implemented and monitored.

So why go ‘green’?

Profit Many hospitality professionals think ‘going green’ will cost, when in fact simple changes such as reducing energy by turning off equipment, reducing food waste and conserving water can combine to make businesses more profitable.

For example, lighting is a huge area where savings can be made over time. LED lights are becoming the norm throughout the hospitality and business sectors and three hotels that recently made major investments are The Marker Hotel, Radisson Blu Little Island Cork and the City North Hotel. City North spent _96,000 replacing 1,500 bulbs with Elight and according to Patrick Crawford, Deputy GM, the payback will be less than 2 years.

Customer Demand Consumers are increasingly demanding responsible behaviour from all products and services they buy. This demand is evident in major travel site TripAdvisor’s GreenLeaders Programme.

Better Customer Experience Using local or Irish produce is one way a business can ‘go green’. Food provenance is hugely important to customers. By finding ways to adopt a ‘green’ persona businesses can add to the customer experience, and in turn attract and retain business.

The Law Rules and regulations are there for a reason. Ignoring them can have grave effects on a business. Food services implement strict HACCP procedures, and all businesses have to comply with Health & Safety and Employment regulations and FOG regulations.

Stops Waste The GHP is also partnering with Unilever’s ‘Wise up on Waste’ app. Irish Hotels throw away on average 50 tonnes of food waste annually - equivalent to €150,000 per hotel or €127.5 million annually. Some food waste is inevitable but a lot can be avoided or reduced. The Free ‘Wise up on Waste’ app sets a target for caterers to reduce food waste by 20%, saving the average hotel €30,000 per annum.

It’s Responsible Businesses have a part to play in reducing their environmental footprint where possible.

For more information visit www.ghaward.ie

H&RT JUNE/JULY ‘14

29

TOURISM

Tourism Ireland launches online film promoting Limerick City of Culture

Ireland ‘means business’ in Germany

Twenty-nine Irish tourism enterprises travelled to Germany recently for IMEX, a key event in the calendar for the MICE (meetings, incentive, conferences and events) industry. Pictured are Leah Gunn, Verve; Niamh Burns, The Convention Centre Dublin; Joyce McElroy, Tourism Ireland; and Lynda Reilly, Guinness Storehouse.

Tourism Ireland’s busy programme of activity to grow business tourism this year includes a number of networking events, a presence at other major business tourism promotions and familiarisation visits for key decision-makers in the sector highlighting ease of access, as well as the great facilities and good value rates available for meetings and conferences here.

Thumbs up for Tourism Ireland!

Tourism Ireland has launched a new online film highlighting Limerick City of Culture - to entice prospective holidaymakers from around the world to come and visit the city this year. It features well-known tourist attractions like King John’s Castle and the Hunt Museum; showcases some of the city’s many great festivals; shines a spotlight on the superb fresh food on offer at the Milkmarket; and, of course, references the city’s famous rugby associations - with Paul O’Connell making an appearance in the film at Thomond Park.

The film, and accompanying feature article about Limerick, are being promoted on Tourism Ireland’s website, Ireland.com. It has been shared by Tourism Ireland with its Facebook fans (more than 2.1 million fans worldwide) and Twitter followers (130,000+), and on its YouTube channel - reminding people everywhere about some of the many great reasons to visit Limerick this year.

The first ever designation of national City of Culture for Limerick presents Tourism Ireland with a wonderful opportunity to increase awareness of the city around the world as a cultural and historic destination. Tourism Ireland is highlighting Limerick City of Culture in its promotions - taking every opportunity to leverage the tourism benefits of this year-long celebration of culture for the city.

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Paul O’Sullivan, DIT (left), presents Monica MacLaverty and Mark Henry, both Tourism Ireland, with the award for International Marketing, at the All Ireland Marketing (AIM) awards.

Tourism Ireland took the top award for International Marketing at the recent All Ireland Marketing awards, organised by the Marketing Institute of Ireland, beating off strong competition in the same category from the likes of the Irish Dairy Board, Openet, Riverdream Productions and Horseware Ireland.

The award was presented for Tourism Ireland’s international marketing of the Gathering Ireland during 2013. The campaign reached an estimated 200 million people worldwide through a wide range of media and promotional activity - including TV and print advertising, as well as an innovative digital strategy highlighting the many great reasons to visit Ireland during the year. The Gathering was a major focus of Tourism Ireland’s promotions throughout 2013. It provided a tremendous ‘hook’ to shine a spotlight on Ireland around the world and certainly captured the imagination of people everywhere. The Gathering saw huge engagement with the diaspora worldwide throughout 2013 and an increased focus on the promotion of roots tourism

by Tourism Ireland.

TOURISM

Ireland’s ‘Big Drive’ at BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth Tourism Ireland’s drive to grow the number of golf visitors to Ireland continued at the recent BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in south east England. One of the European Tour’s biggest golf competitions, the BMW PGA Championship attracts top players and thousands of spectators and international media each year - providing a fantastic platform to highlight our world-class golf.

David Boyce, Tourism Ireland’s head of sports tourism, said: “Ireland boasts some fantastic golf courses and our presence at this year’s BMW PGA Championship was an excellent opportunity for Tourism Ireland, together with our partners, to showcase that superb golf offering. Golf is a major focus for Tourism Ireland in Britain in 2014. We are undertaking a busy programme of promotions, which includes highlighting this year’s Irish Open at Fota Island Resort. Our message is that Ireland offers golfers the complete package - with top courses, stunning scenery and the warmest of welcomes.”

Pictured are (front, l-r) Rachel Meehan, Tourism Ireland; Kirsty Worthington, Galgorm Castle Golf Club; Ann-Kristin Brandt, Fota Island Resort; back (l-r) Francis Hartnett, SWING (South West Ireland Golf); Tony Lenehan, Fáilte Ireland; Barry Dowling, Druids Glen Resort; Colin Turkington, British touring car champion from Co Armagh; and David Boyce, Tourism Ireland, at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Highlighting the Wild Atlantic Way in Spain

Ireland on the menu in Texas

One of Tourism Ireland’s ads in a Madrid metro station; 140 of these ads are on display around the Spanish capital.

Millions of commuters in Barcelona are seeing ads for Ireland right now on trams operating on one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, Avenida Diagonal. Tourism Ireland has teamed up with Spain’s largest online travel agent - eDreams - for a joint promotional campaign, wrapping the trams in a giant Ireland ad to boost travel to Ireland this summer. Some 1.3 million people use this Barcelona tram route each month and millions more will see the ads as they pass by the trams, in their cars or on foot reminding them why they should put Ireland on their holiday wishlist for this summer. The campaign - which is running for four weeks - also includes extensive online advertising.

Tourism Ireland is also working again this year with one of the biggest brands in Spain - the tour operating arm of Spanish retailing giant El Corte Inglés - targeting potential holidaymakers in Madrid with 140 eye-catching billboard ads in metro stations around the Spanish capital, which feature spectacular images of the Wild Atlantic Way (or the Ruta Costera del Atlántico); as well as through radio and print ads and in-store promotions. Both campaigns have been timed to take advantage of late booking patterns among Spanish holidaymakers.

Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland; celebrity chef Kevin Dundon; journalist Caitlin Ryan, contributor to CultureMap Austin; Ruth Moran, Tourism Ireland; and Tourism Minister Michael Ring, on the opening day of the Austin Food and Wine Festival.

Ireland was on the menu for foodies in Texas recently - when Tourism Ireland was joined by celebrity chef Kevin Dundon at the Austin Food and Wine Festival. This was the first time that Tourism Ireland attended the Austin Food and Wine festival, a high-end food and wine lifestyle show which attracted about 5,000 visitors. Tourism Ireland’s presence at the show included a stand in the Grand Tasting Pavilion - with Kevin Dundon in attendance, showcasing the very best of the culinary experience on offer for American visitors to Ireland. It also included a networking event with influential, Austin-based travel agents and media on the opening day of the festival.

Ireland is becoming increasingly well-known for the superb quality of its food, with a reputation for natural products used in both traditional and innovative dishes; and the quality of our food is one of the key themes being promoted by Tourism Ireland in the United States this year.

H&RT JUNE/JULY ‘14

31

ONLINE MARKETING

Mobile booker behaviour is changing fast Dr Des O’Mahony Figure 1: Responsive design typically takes the same basic elements and content and restyles them to fit the different screen sizes of the device

In 2010, when Bookassist led the way with one of the first mobile solutions for hotels, we used a stand-alone webapp approach that operated separately from a hotel’s existing website. The hotel webapp solution was hosted on a separate subdomain to the hotel’s main website and its entire structure was focused on the mobile user’s needs. Our analysis of mobile traffic across hundreds of hotel websites at that time showed that users on mobile had very different and more immediate demands compared to those users on desktop. Behaviour was significantly different on mobile, and needed to be specifically catered for.

What this meant was that a typical responsive approach to web design was not quite good enough as a solution. Responsive refers to the design approach whereby the same basic elements and content are used across desktop, tablet and mobile screens, but are scaled and rearranged to fit the relevant geometry, as illustrated in figure 1.

For hotel purposes, rearranging the existing content to fit smaller screens was really not the issue. Mobile users clearly wanted different options and had different priorities.

Among the more obvious differences was a strong trend towards last minute booking on mobile that was more than twice what we experienced on desktop websites.

Our webapp system forwards a hotel website user on mobile from the hotel domain to a dedicated webapp, where the popular functions that mobile users want are immediately and preferentially presented,

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front and centre for east access: location details for the hotel, phone and contact details, map, routing, same-day booking, photographs. Statistically, these were by far the strongest touch-points for mobile users that we measured. According to our observations, pages with large amounts of text were almost never accessed on mobile, or were quickly exited, so we de-prioritised these areas of content.

As we reach mid-2014, Bookassist’s award-winning mobile solutions and the philosophy behind them continue to evolve based on analysis of customer requirements. Mobile bookings for our hotels through their webapp platform continue to grow steadily, as shown in figure 2 for Bookassist’s Dublin hotel clients for example.

But we have noticed very interesting changes in mobile user behaviour in terms of lead-in time over the last few years.

The Mobile User Is Different?

Firstly, the mobile platform itself is evolving very quickly. You don’t need statistics to understand or believe this - it’s clear to everyone that in the past 3 or 4 years, the market penetration of smartphones has been enormous. No longer the preserve of early adopters and business people on the go, smartphones and mobile web access are now ubiquitous. Device screen size continues to grow rapidly as price points drop, and screen quality and pixel density have both improved. This means that more of the web is visible with clarity on a smartphone screen without scrolling, and more and more of those devices are in the hands of everyday people.

All of these physical device changes mean that you undoubtedly find it increasingly easier and more comfortable to browse and work on your smartphone. As a result, user patterns on mobile and desktop are beginning to quickly converge and they do not show the same kind of differences in behaviour that we saw just 2 or 3 years ago.

Increasingly, catering for a different user behaviour (as distinct from screen size) across devices may now be less relevant than it was before.

Secondly, smartphones are no longer new-fangled devices. Now, they’re normal, they’re everyday. People have grown used to them very quickly, and as a result people are using them more and more as everyday web access devices. Accordingly, the patterns of behaviour we are seeing on mobile are markedly less different from desktop than they used to be in previous years. And our analysis of booking trends on mobile shows this evolution in stark terms.

Last-Minute Is Diminishing On Mobile From a booking perspective, mobile has always been touted as a strong “last minute”

ONLINE MARKETING comfortable with their use for everyday online access.

Figure 2: Growth in mobile bookings in Bookassist’s Dublin hotels in recent years. Most Dublin hotels are recording between 2 and 5% of all bookings via mobile.

channel, but again here we are seeing a clear shift in mobile user booking towards a more “normal” distribution. The portion of same-day bookings is clearly decreasing on mobile, from close to 30% in 2011 to less than 15% today in our analysis. Long leadin times are also becoming more prevalent, just like the typical desktop booking distribution. This means people are not just planning ahead on mobile, but are booking ahead, more than ever before.

In strict number terms, last minute bookings on mobile continue to rise of course, as mobile usage grows. But last minute bookings are definitely shrinking as a proportion of overall mobile bookings.

It should be noted that last minute booking some years ago was very significantly swayed towards business travellers, and business travellers also represented a larger share of smartphone owners in earlier years. But as the profile of bookers on mobile switches from business-dominant to everyday users, the result is a drop in the last minute portion of bookings on mobile.

Interestingly, our data shows the same general trend for city hotels as well as for rural, though the overall numbers differ somewhat since city hotels have more mobile activity. The trend is quite clear though. Mobile user behaviour for hotel websites across the board is approaching the norms of desktop user behaviour. The differences in behaviour across devices are reducing as mobile phones evolve and users get more

Responsive Revisited All of which of course is good news for responsive design. There will always be a need to ensure that responsive design takes note of the different requirements of users on each platform, and not just the physical layout of information. But the data here does clearly show that those behavioural differences are rapidly diminishing to the point where they are very manageable with a single, well thoughtout responsive solution across all devices.

Combining the best approaches of dedicated webapp solutions with intelligent responsive design is the key direction Bookassist is now taking with its mobile solutions for hotels. Using a responsive framework means that hotels can use a single content management system (CMS) to manage all content, text, images relating to their web presence across multiple devices.

By taking advantage of our ongoing data analysis across almost 400 mobile hotel clients to date, we can enhance the typical responsive approach by selectively prioritising certain information on the mobile elements of the responsive design in line with the behaviour patterns we see.

Our new multi-platform solution for hotels launches this summer, a compelling follow-up to our award-winning Webapp V2 solution.

Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO and Founder at Bookassist (http://www.bookassist.com), the technology and online strategy partner for hotels worldwide.

Figure 3: Change in booking lead-in on mobile, compiled from all of Bookassist’s client hotels (about 400 hotels), whether city-based, rural, resort etc.

H&RT JUNE/JULY ‘14

33

FÁILTE IRELAND NEWS

Blue way - the new way to discover our coastline

The Blueway a new Fáilte Ireland pilot programme to encourage visitors to engage with the sea by developing trails for water activities such as snorkeling and kayaking and highlighting local activity providers and events at five Blueway locations in counties Mayo and Galway was launched recently by Minister Michael Ring. The new initiative is intended to complement the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s newest 2,500km touring route in the West, to encourage visitors to discover Ireland’s coastline.

The five coastal Blueway sites are Boffin Harbour on Inishbofin, Killary Fjord in Leenane, Keem on Achill Island, and Mannin Bay and Old Head (Louisburgh) in Mayo. In addition to support from Fáilte Ireland, the project is supported by the Leader programme.

Over the summer months a series of

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“Blueway Days” will take place at the pilot locations to encourage visitors to engage with the sea. These ‘taster days’ have been devised to create awareness of the Blueway locations and the activities that are on offer. Local activity operators will be available on the day to provide tuition and equipment together with safety advice to anyone that is interested in snorkelling /kayaking at these locations.

Fiona Monaghan, Head of the Wild Atlantic Way Programme with Failte Ireland, said - “We are delighted to support this initiative, which sees the timely development of an excellent Wild Atlantic Way water sports experience, and provides the visitor the opportunity to engage with the sea. We have seen first-hand the success of the Greenway in Mayo which boosted local tourism with over 200,000 visitors last year. Recent research indicated that over 84,000 overseas visitors engage in water-sports every year when on holiday in Ireland As a maritime variant of that initiative, we hope the Blueway can enjoy the same level of interest from visitors both at home and abroad.”

The Blueway project supports the development of kayaking and snorkeling water trails in the pilot locations to support communities to develop new experiences for visitors along the Wild Atlantic Way.

TASTER DAY JUNE 22nd JUNE 29th JULY 19th JULY 20th JULY 27th AUGUST 3rd AUGUST 9th

LOCATION Mannin Bay (Clifden) Inishbofin (Harbour) Achill Island (Keel and Keem Beach) Mannin Bay (Clifden) Killary Harbour (Glassillaun Beach) Old Head (Louisburgh/Westport) Ìnishbofin (Harbour)

FÁILTE IRELAND NEWS

Boost for two key Dublin tourism projects Over €300,000 in tourism funding from Fáilte Ireland’s Capital Investment Programme for two major projects in Dublin - the creation of an interpretation space at St Patrick’s Cathedral and the development of an Irish Whiskey Museum was announced recently by Minister Leo Varadkar.

The funding for St Patrick’s Cathedral is to create a new visitor and interpretative area for visitors to the Cathedral while the funding towards an Irish Whiskey Museum, located on College Green, will be a new visitor attraction focussing on the history of Irish Whiskey.

Both projects are situated along the ‘Dubline’ spine of the Dublin Discovery Trail - a cultural and heritage trail developed by Fáilte Ireland, along with Dublin City Council and other stakeholders.

The Dubline is an orientation route that runs through the City, from Kilmainham in the west, east to Trinity College from north to Parnell Square. With clear and frequent street-level signposting, the Dubline helps visitors with no previous knowledge of the City to negotiate Dublin and jump from one attraction to another; to divert off the beaten track then to re-orientate themselves back on the Dubline, ready for their next experience.

Fáilte Ireland CEO, Shaun Quinn emphasised Dublin’s strategic importance for overseas tourism to Ireland. Three quarters of overseas visitors stay in Dublin at some point in their trip to Ireland and tourism is worth over €1 billion to the local economy in Dublin.

Mr Quinn added: “Increasingly, a successful tourism destination needs to be able to tell its story and to provide opportunities for visitors to engage with that narrative. The projects announced today - as part of the Dublin - allow us to do just that and contribute to our overall ambition of marketing Dublin as a ‘mustsee’ and ‘must-do’ destination.”

St Patrick’s Cathedral The funding will develop a new visitor and interpretative area for visitors. Surveys conducted by the Cathedral showed that visitors would like to learn more and engage with the building.

The project will include touch screen facilities, animations showing how the city developed from 800AD to 1500, themed video clips on local attractions, and a detailed history of the Cathedral. A new audio visual area will play themed videos showing how the Cathedral developed within the wider city.

Visitors will also be able to practice calligraphy, and try out brass rubbing, which should prove popular with some sections of the UK market. The visitor centre will put the Cathedral’s history into context with other local sites such as Christ Church Cathedral and Dublin Castle.

Irish Whiskey Museum The museum will focus on the rise and fall of Irish Whiskey, and its current renaissance at the new Irish Whiskey Museum on College Green on the Dublin Discovery Trail. In particular, it will tell the story and culture of Irish Whiskey and its impact on the global whiskey market, using interactive displays and guided tours.

Irish Whiskey is growing again in popularity around the world, and several new whiskey distilleries have opened around Ireland in recent times. Three new distilleries are being developed in the nearby Liberties area of Dublin.

The museum will incorporate all Irish Whiskey brands and the museum has received endorsements from a range of distilleries - large and small - including Diageo (Bushmills), Pernod Ricard (Jameson and Powers) and Tullamore Dew.

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35

IFSA NEWS

IFSA rolls out regional chapters at seminars in Cork, Galway & Belfast As part of the ongoing development of the association, the IFSA Regional Chapters were launched in May at a series of Regional Breakfast Briefings in CORK, GALWAY & BELFAST. The briefings covered presentations on the upcoming Food Labelling Legislation, Foodservice Financing & Foodservice Trends along with a presentation from the IFSA Chair on the progress that IFSA has made in recent years and the projected development of regional activity through the new Chapters. For more information on getting involved in one of the Chapters, please contact garret.buckley@ifsa.eu.com.

Pictured at the Cork Seminar (L-R): Sean Martin, IFSA Chairman, Stephen McCarthy, Ulster Bank, Gerald O’Driscoll, Ulster Bank, Evelyn Hannon, Hannon Nutrition.

New Waste Disposal System from JD Catering On a recent trade visit to the NRA Catering Exhibition in Chicago, JD Catering picked up a few new products. One being this waste disposal system. With new laws about to become into effect, the catering industry is trying to find new ways of getting rid of its waste.

This machine will allow you to put up to 100kg of food waste into the chamber. Within 5hrs, this waste will have turned to composit which can be used in gardens. Watch this space over the coming months for new product lines by JD Catering.

JD Catering, 41 Castle Road, Cookstown, www.jdcatering.com

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IFSA members enjoy a BLOOMing good day out!

IFSA Members along with their staff and families were treated to a great day out at Ireland’s largest Gardening, Food & Family event over the June bank holiday weekend. With something for all the family, visitors to the event enjoyed a feast for the senses from the spectacular Show Gardens to the Expansive Food Village, cookery and craft demonstrations, free gardening advice from the experts, Irish food produce, live entertainment and gardening workshops. Hospitality was provided at the IFSA Meeting point with refreshments and a chance to catch up with other members and their families. For more information on IFSA’s member and industry events, see www.ifsa.eu.com.

Horse and Jockey first past the post with Palux Pressure Steamer Progressive Tipperary hotelier Tom Egan has left the competition behind with his new pressure steamer.

The steamer supplied by Smarter c a t e r i n g equipment people the CIA, means that fresh vegetables and potatoes are always just moments away at the famous Tipperary eatery. 60 portions of boiled potatoes now take just 13 minutes and reduced energy consumption by 1kw for every cook. 7.5kg of fresh cauliflower in six minutes saving 0.5kw per cook.

Vegetables are prepared “ala minute “ , the vitamins and colours stay retained and cooking times are 70% shortened compared to traditional methods.

Contact C.I.A. Sales director Enda O’Donoghue for further details.

IFSA NEWS

KBR Foodservice Equipment KBR Foodservice Equipment is a Wicklow based Catering and Refrigeration supplier, specialising in design and fit-out for the Café and Restaurant sector.

As a major player in this field and with the g r o w i n g popularity and success of Merrychef Ovens for this type of operation, KBR realized that as authorised agents, a d e d i c a t e d M e r r y c h e f website was deserved. From this, www.themerrychefcentre.ie was born. This “One Stop Shop’’ for all things Merrychef allows potential customers to browse the various models available and discover everything they need to know about the product and accelerated cooking.

The KBR sales team has the experience and knowledge to understand the needs of each individual business. We can determine the Merrychef model to best suit your business and requirements.

KBR have Merrychef factory trained technicians as well as a full compliment of parts and accessories including Merrychef’s own brand of cleaner and protector.

A full range of Merrychef Ovens are available for immediate delivery. Every oven sold comes with the option of free comprehensive training by a qualified food consultant.

For further details contact on 01-2916261 or sales@themerrychefcentre.ie

Noel Recruitment - Hospitality & Food Retail Division 2014 is showing to be a record year to date regarding our Perm Division. It’s the first signs of confident recovery since the doom of 2008. All our offices Dublin based and regionally are experiencing a huge demand for quality staff in Hotels, Restaurants, Contract Catering, Food Services & Food Retail.

As well as our Perm Division our successful temp hospitality & food retail is gaining a vast audience right across sectors and is seeing a demand in convenience stores, bakers, butchers, charge hands and grocery management.

We have the skills and database to staff individual establishments to big venues. We have a team of dedicated consultants working in our offices dedicated to your needs.

Our Skills Team training has acquired a state of the art training facility in Santry where group’s and one to one training is held. The calendar for training is comprehensive and new courses are been added due to demands of our expanding client base.

Building on the success of 27 years in operation the Noel Group are realigning and positioning itself for further growth in 2014 with some surprising plans and unveiling to happen.

Watch this space.

Our Hospitality and Food Retail division is headed up by Jerry O’Sullivan whom this year celebrates 30 years in the business and 14 years in recruiting for clients on a 32 county basis.

Jerry can be contacted at T 01-4047161 M 086-1001444 E jerry.osullivan@noel.ie w www.noel.ie

Nev Pak

NevPak PACKAGING and DESIGN offers an exciting range of Retail Ready Packaging from food production to product display. Based in Ireland working exclusively with nine manufacturers and inventors we supply stock products, bespoke designs and patent protected packaging all over the world. We offer full product and graphic design, packaging consultancy, product trials and trouble-shooting to aid product sales, environmental responsibility and brand identity. Our customers quote a 15–25% increase in sales after working with us.

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Aramark Aramark is the country’s leading integrated services supplier of Food Services, Facilities management, property and environmental services. Aramark is one of the country’s largest US multinational employers with over 4,000 people throughout the island of Ireland, Aramark is headquartered in Dublin, with regional offices in Cork, Limerick and Belfast.

Aramark Food Services division employs 3,000 people, serving over 250,000 meals every day. We deliver high quality dining experiences in Business and Industry employee restaurants, government locations, educational institutions such as schools and universities and healthcare organisations, including patient-focused food services as well as retail food solutions.

We create dining solutions that are on trend, nutritious, healthy, high quality and cost efficient. Focusing on seasonality Donal O’Brien, CEO of Aramark and local supply which benefits our clients (healthy foods; taste better), our economy (€60million spent on local goods and services annually).

In 2012, ‘Right Track’ a dedicated Health & Wellness programme was launched, aimed at promoting an awareness of healthy eating and work life balance. Working closely with Aramark’s Health & Wellness ambassador, Olympic Gold medallist Katie Taylor, highlighting to customers via a nutritionally backed traffic light style menu colour coding system, clear guidance on how to make healthier food choices.

This year we launched Right Track Pledge campaign with our Health & Wellness ambassador Katie Taylor. The goal of the Right Track Pledge Campaign is to encourage people, particularly in the workplace, not only to make positive food choices but to make a positive change in their lifestyles. For every pledge someone makes to take up a new exercise or eat better food, we will make a donation to charity.

Aramark is also partnering with GIY (Grow It Yourself), the notfor-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring people to grow their own food. This year, we teamed up for the Celebrate Irish Food campaign, an initiative to promote the use of locally sourced products and awareness and understanding of the impact that food has on our health and wellness.

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SEAFOOD

Expanding your seafood menu Lobster salads, fat prawns and cushions of fresh packed crabmeat served up with lemony mayonnaise sing of the summer and the perfect partnership between seafood and balmy days.

Shellfish platters and hearty chowders have spread far beyond holiday seasides and are appearing as best sellers on menus all across the land. Canny caterers are finding that increasing seafood offerings adds customer appeal at every level from pub counter to fine dining restaurant.

Feargal O’Donnell of the Fatted Calf in Glasson, Co Westmeath, reports growing demand for seafood year round and a boost in the summer with leisurely lunches of seafood platters or crispy battered fish and chips with homemade tartare sauce.

Scallops have become Feargal’s signature dish, paired with pulled pork in the winter and pan-seared with black pudding, balsamic vinegar and strawberries in summer. “Supply of fresh fish is no longer a problem, even here in the midlands,” Feargal points out. “With the new roads, Galway is only 40 minutes away and we can have our seafood specials of the day as up-to-the-minute as any coastal restaurant.”

Peter Caviston of Caviston’s wholesale and retail fish suppliers confirms that demand for fish has grown explosively, driven not only by appetites for lighter, healthier food but by improvements in refrigerated transport and handling. “Fish is iced on board as soon as it’s caught and arrives in good condition. Chefs are more knowledgeable too and customers are more adventurous so the variety of fish on offer is bigger than ever.”

Although mainstays like cod, plaice and salmon are still popular, less usual fish are broadening menu choices. Some of these can be cost effective, Peter points out, referring to red gurnard as poor man’s monkfish and whiting as chicken of the sea. “The trick is in knowing what to do with it,” he says. “Whiting for instance can be great value but people object to the bones. A skilful fishmonger will source bigger fish - we can get 3kg whiting off Donegal - and bone them so you get good thick fillets with no bones. The same thing applies to ling, which is a much undervalued fish.”

At the Ballymore Inn in Kildare, Georgina O’Sullivan agrees that having a good

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reliable supplier rates more that proximity to the sea. “Duncannon Fish in Kilmore Quay advises us on what is good and available and they know what we’re looking for. Our fish travels an hour and a half by refrigerated transport on ice and arrives in perfect condition so there’s no need to use frozen”.

Seafood dishes were added to the menu cautiously in the beginning, Georgina says, but have proved a definite growth area. Ten different fish options now appear

SEAFOOD

between restaurant and bar menus daily. Hake is served with multi-coloured heritage beetroot seasoned with ginger and garlic; haddock comes with sweet potato purée, lemon and pesto dressing. Fish and chips in the bar is made with a thick cut of cod when it’s available, or there might be crispy battered squid with tomato and chilli oil dressing.

“People can’ get enough fresh fish,” Georgina finds, “and they like it simply cooked. All our fish is cooked to order and we never put it on the pan until the starters are removed, then it’s sealed on a hot pan and turned in butter - it never goes into the oven.”

Vaughan’s Anchor Inn on the harbour in Liscannor couldn’t be anything other than a seafood restaurant. With fish just crated across the road and into the kitchen door, it makes sense that all skinning, filleting and portioning is done in-house now in the just completed production unit adjoining Denis Vaughan’s new open plan kitchen. “Doing our own processing means we use everything, with off-cuts for chowders and soups and terrines and bones and trimmings to into huge amounts of our own stocks. As for sauces, I’m mainly using reductions and glazes and less dairy. People are going away from heavy cream sauces and prefer lighter, cleaner tastes with fish”.

At the Cornstore Winebars in Cork and Limerick, Padraig Frawley finds that seafood sales escalate from May onward and puts on three to four daily fish specials. With a keen eye on the bottom line, Padraig pioneered a well priced lobster offering on casual menus when the export market to Spain collapsed a few years ago and it remains a house speciality served with béarnaise, handcut chips and pea puree.

“Customers’ tastes are changing every year and they’re more adventurous,” Padraig reports. “Sharing platters are popular and it means we can be more flexible, varying the selection according to availability and price. We also run an oyster festival in May, featuring gigas oysters in six to eight different ways and a mussel festival in September. The specials are a good selling point and add to general fish sales.”

Availability and high prices can be issues when it comes to prime fish like turbot and Dover sole. Many chefs are countering this by introducing lesser used species

in creative dishes or in combinations with more familiar seafood. Denis Vaughan pickles herring fillets and serves them with crab claws in a buttery veloute as a successful starter. Lunchtime fish and chips may be made with white Pollock or ling at The Fatted Calf, while O’Grady’s in Galway opt for black Pollock or coley for their version.

Megrim, witches and lemon sole are often referred to as white sole and Peter Caviston recommends these for “beautiful tempura”, served with an Asian dipping sauce or as part of a seafood platter.

Combination plates or trios are a good way of introducing the likes of mullet, ling and gurnard with the latter usefully keeping its shape in fish pies and seafood casseroles.

When it comes to seafood, Irish caterers are spoilt for choice, with access to a changing array of top class fish landed daily. According to Peter Caviston, restaurateurs with laminated menus are simply letting the side down.

Marilyn Bright

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39

TOURISM

The changing face of ‘Destination Ireland’ Frank Corr looks at new attractions in a recovering tourist industry

Visitors at Sliabh Liag

What a bounce back! From the dreadful Perfect Storm which ravaged the industry in 2008-2009, Irish tourism has recovered almost all of the lost ground in terms of visitor numbers and revenue.

Every set of CSO statistics indicates a rising graph with even the highly volatile GB market showing every sign of recovery.

Better economic health in our main markets, a bunch of new air services into Dublin and Shannon, a more positive image of Ireland overseas and better value in the accommodation and food service sectors have all contributed to the reversal of what once looked like terminal decline. And of course Tourism Ireland and Failte Ireland have been beavering away at overseas marketing and product development.

In this Summer of 14, the crash of 2008 seems almost surreal. We had just experienced the sixth successive year of growth in terms of both visitors and revenue. We welcomed a record 7.8m visitors in 2007 and earned €6.5bn in

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tourism revenue. John O’Donoghue’s ‘New Horizons’ programme was bang on target and there was every belief that the goal of doubling tourism in the decade to 2012 would be achieved.

Well, we know what happened then. Within six months the banks were bust, the credit lake froze over, property values collapsed, retail sales tumbled, unemployment galloped to over 200,000 and tourism growth stopped dead before spiralling into decline. In that first year of economic turmoil, tourism emerged better than many sectors of the economy. By the end of 2008 the industry had shipped a decline of only 3% in visitors and 2% in rvenue- but the snowball had started to roll and the decline picked up speed in the following years until we were running at 30% below peak figures. The situation looked so bad that An Bord Snip (remember that !) called for a €27m. cut in tourism support.

Suddenly all those Celtic Tiger hotels were empty, NAMA became the nation’s biggest hotelier and Peter Bacon wanted the bulldozers around to what were being called ‘zombie hotels’. And if all that was not bad enough, we were hit by the Icelandic Ash Cloud.

Tourism has always been a ‘topsy turvey’ business in Ireland, highly sensitive to market conditions at home and overseas, and it was this acute sensitivity which produced the first green shoots of revival. In June 2010 the CSO reported signs of stabilisation in the GB market and an increase in visitor numbers from North America. On the next day it was announced that Queen Elizabeth would make a State Visit to Ireland.

There would be a long road ahead- but the worst had passed. That summer also saw the opening of Conference Centre Dublin, a key piece of tourism infrastructure

TOURISM

Beach near Derrigimlagh

which would do much to stimulate recovery in the capital city. It was one central piece in a jigsaw which created a new picture of a much-changed Destination Ireland- a picture which is still unfolding across the country.

Predictably perhaps, Dublin has been the principal catalyst in this change. Over the past decade the city has become substantially more tourism-oriented and visitor-friendly with new facilities, infrastructure and professionalism. The addition of the Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road to Croke Park has equipped the city with two modern sports stadia which draw visitors like powerful magnets to games and concerts, many of which produce thousands of bednights, while CCD hosts conferences almost every week, attracting high-spending visitors from all over the world. So too with the 02 and Bord Gais Energy Theatre at Grand Canal Dock, both equipped to present the most sophisticated of theatrical events and both reported to be doing excellent business.

The LUAS tram system has opened up suburbs not served by the DART, the free bicycle scheme has been an outstanding success, Terminal Two is on stream at Dublin Airport, the O’Connell Street Plaza at the GPO has matured and the ‘Dublin Golden Mile’ linking O’Connell Street with Kilmainham is well under way. Little wonder then that Dublin is attracting more visitors, earning more revenue and leading the national tourism recovery. Little wonder also that hotels which were snared in the debt trap are being snapped up by overseas investors, to whom the value proposition and investment potential are highly obvious.

During a recovery, all ships tend to rise with the tide, but that has not been the case to-date with Destination Ireland. Hotel occupancy is recovering slowly across much of the country while prime tourism centres like Killarney, Galway and Kilkenny have bounced back to 2009 levels. Part of the reason for this is the imbalance which exists in points of access. A large majority of all visitors to Ireland arrive at Dublin and many do not recognise an incentive to travel outside of the immediate environs of the capital city. Creating compelling reasons for visitors to tour the country or base themselves outside of Dublin has been a challenge for tourism planners since the 1950s- and the problem simply has not gone away. Certainly gateways exist through Shannon, Cork and Knock Airports, but the numbers account only for a small proportion of air arrivals. It is interesting to note that while virtually all advertising for Destination Ireland extols the attractions of the West Coast and rural areas, the bulk of visitors still opt to base themselves in our cities and larger tourism towns. Part of the reason for this may be our vastly improved roads network. In the past there was little option for those wanting to tour the South or West but to find accommodation locally. Now the new network of motorways enable Dublin-based motorists to access anywhere from Cork to Galway to Sligo in around three hours, making a day-long round trip very possible.

The period since ‘The Crash’ however has finally seen some innovative investment in creating sustainable and compelling visitor attractions throughout the regions. King Johns Island in Limerick is now a superb medieval quarter with a world-class visitor attraction. So too, with the Cliffs of Moher, Kilkenny Castle, Waterford historic centre, Brú na Bóine and others. The Grenways are also innovative and successful and we are likely to see several more developed over the next few years. Until recently however, we have not come up with a truly compelling visitor attraction of the kind envisaged in the ‘New Horizons’ programme.

That ‘stand out attraction’ could well be the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ which is now taking shape. The idea of a scenic drive along the full Atlantic coastline of Europe’s

most westerly island, is inspired and in the long-term could emerge as a destination in its own right. The concept has been embraced enthusiastically by the Department of Tourism, Failte Ireland and local communities and if this enthusiasm is sustained over the next decade or so, WAW could emerge as something really big in European tourism. The danger however seems to be in a desire to oversell the route before it is fully completed. Already groups of journalists are being invited to drive WAW despite the incomplete signposting, the ‘disappearance’ of the route in some areas and the very early stage of full integration of the many visitor attractions along the route. In the understandable urge to market a major visitor attraction as quickly as possible, patience may be a virtue.

Walkers on Dursey Island

Understandable also has been a certain unease among tourism interests in the East and Midlands about the marketing emphasis being placed on WAW. The South and West, they argue, already has a string of major attractions, tourist towns and infrastructure. It is their relatively deprived regions which urgently require a WAW ‘twin’. There is merit to the argument, but creating a major mid-Ireland visitor attraction is far from an easy task.

Concepts like WAW simply do not come about every day. The most interesting idea to emerge however has been an Irish ‘Camina’ or Pilgrim Path, possibly based on the travels of St. Columbanus, which would link monastic sites from south Wicklow to north Louth. The international pilgrim market is both large and prosperous and Ireland certainly has a rich Monastic heritage which has not yet been exploited.

We may be far from the ‘Island of Saints and Scholars’ to-day, but that image still persists in many overseas markets and the development of something like a ‘Columbanus Way’ could go a long way towards meeting the needs of tourism interests in Middle Ireland.

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TRAINING

To train or not to train?

Last January I was invited to present at the annual conference of the Irish Accommodation Services Institute (IASI).

My brief was very specific. I was to speak on “Standards of Excellence within the Accommodation Sector”. Being passionate about standards and all that they represent, this was music to my ears. The challenge, however, was that as I had spoken on this topic many, many times over the life of IASI and indeed its predecessor, the Association of Hotel Accommodation Management (AHAM) how was I going to ensure a fresh perspective? How was I to avoid looking at glazed eyes? Thus began the necessary research which led me to Canadian Hotels. In late 2012, CBCs Marketplace tested 54 hotel rooms in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto across six of Canada’s biggest hotel chains. The hotels represented budget options, midrange and high-end. In October 2013 Marketplace retested those same hotels this time reducing the number of rooms to 9. The rooms were tested for general cleanliness and for a variety of germs that cannot be detected without the aid of a microbiological testing kit. There was also a hidden camera installed to record working practices.

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The findings did not make for pleasant reading. Faults included: • Dirty Sheets, reused pillowcases and, decorative throws and cushions that rarely get cleaned.

• MRSA –an antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus bacteria, was found on a variety of frequently touched surfaces in hotels including TV remotes, bathroom vanity unit and bedroom lamps.

• Visible mould growth on air vents • Contaminated bathroom surfaces • Dirty coffee maker & cups • Dust/dirt on ‘phones, wardrobes and TVs Some of the work practices noted and clearly visible in the accompanying video ranged from carelessness as in walking on the bedding just stripped to some of the most unhygienic practices I have ever seen. I will spare you the details. The widespread cross-contamination revealed was attributed in part to the lack of proper equipment and insufficient use of Each of the hotels tested sanitizers. were given an opportunity Each of the hotels tested were given to respond. All expressed an opportunity to respond. All expressed disappointment and spoke of regarding disappointment and spoke any breach of their standards and of regarding any breach of procedures to be a serious violation of their standards and their operating practices. They promised procedures to be a appropriate monitoring would be undertaken and that remedial training serious violation of their would be provided. Many were forced to operating practices. review their cleaning policies, work practices, standards and supervisory inspections.

These findings raise some questions. How would we fare in Ireland if such tests were undertaken here? What would a hidden camera reveal of our work practices?

Every hotel talks, as these Canadian hotels did, about the paramount importance

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TRAINING

given to “the comfort, safety and well-being of our guests” but what does that mean in practice? What training is provided to new starts and thereafter? What refresher training is provided? What training has the supervisor or manager undertaken? The Gallup Organisation’s 1999 research and reiterated April 2014 suggest that “people may join a company because of its brand identity but how long they stay depends to a great extent on the quality of their manager”. Are the required standards clearly articulated, communicated and understood by all? Are they consistent or do they vary depending on the ability/interest of the person carrying out the task and that of the different managers or supervisors who undertake the checking? Do the required standards take the peaks & troughs into consideration or are they based on a five-day week necessitating making allowances for those busy days when short cuts have to be taken due to Training in isolation of the insufficient equipment to meet the set standards, the provision demands of a full house? What are of correct and sufficient penalties of regular deviation? What equipment will not provide equipment and cleaning materials are the required return on provided? Some years ago while in the US, I used the opportunity to undertake investment. some benchmarking. Visiting a wellTraining overworked staff known chain hotel, I asked to visit their will also lead to onsite laundry. After a few hours the demotivation of the working alongside the laundry manager most ardent.

I asked what cleaning cloths were used to clean and dry off baths, hand basins and toilet seats/covers. He said “we use the used towels that the guest has left in the rooms and before you say anything I can assure you they are then sterilised through a high temperature wash before putting back into stock”. My reaction was then, as it is now, equally concerned with the "nooks and crannies on which that towel had been used by the guest before being used to dry off the cleaned surface.

Other questions relate to the frequency of washing or dry-cleaning of those throws & cushions? How are the other non-daily tasks scheduled? What provision has been made for these non-daily expenditures in the budget? Is the room glassware & crockery washed in a dishwasher? If so where is the dishwasher located? Does the house-assistant have to make several trips to the kitchen or is it located adjacent to their work?

And what about the staff:room ratio? How many rooms does each houseassistant clean or is the supervisor expected to check? Hair-raising stories abound of situations where house-assistants are expected to clean anything from between 18-30 rooms per day. And that irrespective of the conditions in which the guest left the rooms not to mention room design & furnishings. Too few hotels consider labour demands when building or refurbishing. One of those hotels who take these factors into consideration is Novotel: they believe that guest appeal is not the only consideration. Rooms should be cheap to construct and cheap to maintain. Every

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single aspect of the bedroom is taken into consideration in terms of its cleaning & labour intensity. Labour intensive items are redesigned, altered, simplified or enclosed.

It was in Novotel that I first came across the Ergo bed-a bed that in pulling a lever, the bed comes out from the wall and is raised to waist level. This eliminates/reduces the backbreaking work that is bed -making. In addition, the plinth on the floor remains static thereby eliminating the task of looking under the bed for lost property.

Many of the comments posted following the Marketplace research suggested that overwork takes its toll on cleanliness. So while the managers of the tested hotels stressed the need for training and or retraining of their staff, I would argue that training is not the panacea to all faults or guest complaints. Training in isolation of the set standards, the provision of correct and sufficient equipment will not provide the required return on investment. Training overworked staff will also lead to the demotivation of the most ardent. It hardly needs saying that overworked staff, irrespective of their professional ethos, will always take whatever short cuts are necessary to ensure their ability to pay their mortgage, educate their children or pay their ever- increasing utility bills. Am I ruling out training? Is training important? Without doubt, effective training will increase the effectiveness, confidence and profitability of staff, enhance the level of customer service and ensure repeat business making it a win-win for all.

Mary Hall, M.Sc, heads up Hallmark Training. Mary has been a manager in CERT and Failte Ireland during a distinguished career as an educator and trainer. She has been leader and manager of the Failte Ireland/Cornel Management Development Programme, Manager of Client Services in Dublin and most recently Manager in Stakeholder Engagement. She is a graduate of Cornell University in Executive Leadership and holds an MSc in Education and Training Management from Dublin City University. maryhall@hallmarktraining.ie Tel: 086 8254419

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GMIT NEWS

Connemara Mussel Festival GMIT and Local Communities The 9th Connemara Mussel Festival took place over the May bank holiday weekend and the College of Tourism and Arts, in partnership with the GMIT Centre for Excellence in Furniture Design and Technology (based in Letterfrack) worked with the local committee to help manage and run this year’s event. The festival is a fabulous community two day festival, with all participants giving their time, expertise and energies on a completely voluntary basis. The festival was originally established to promote the excellence of the mussels of Killary harbour however the festival has grown to become a celebration of local people, food, culture and heritage, and is recognised as the premier food event for Connemara, attracting visitors from near and far.

Culinary Arts Lecturer, Maria Conboy. Over fifty kids donned their GMIT aprons and hats to learn some basic cooking skills and they certainly cooked up a feast of delights in Tullycross on the first day of the festival.

Two years ago, GMIT were invited to participate in a Galway County Council exchange visit to Anjou, France. As part of this exchange, some Galwegians were inducted into the world famous wine society - Les Fins Gousiers d’Anjou including GMIT’s Jacinta Dalton. This year, we were delighted to welcome our friends from d’Anjou to Connemara for this festival and they were equally delighted to lead the Fins Gousiers Parade through Tullycross before inducting some new Irish members including, John McKenna.

Other festival highlights included Sally McKenna’s stunning fish cooking demonstration with fabulous local crab, lobster and langoustine supplied by Marty’s Mussels. Local youngsters participated in the festival themed poetry and painting competition and all submissions were displayed in the country market for visitors to review.

If a trip to Connemara and the Renvyle Peninsula is something you might like to enjoy, put the date in your diary now for next year’s event!

Festival Chairman Gerard Coyne, John and Sally McKenna, Mairin Ui Chomain, Deputy Mayor Cllr Eileen Mannion and committee member Dermot O’Donovan Head of GMIT Letterfrack. Photo: Aoife Herriot.

This year’s festival, one of the first on the Wild Atlantic Way, was a showcase of the very best Connemara has to offer and visitors found plenty to occupy their senses over the weekend. The festival was opened by John & Sally McKenna from McKenna’s Guides and included many weekend highlights including the GMIT ‘Kids Cooking Workshop’ hosted by GMIT Lecturer and Failte Ireland Food Ambassador, Jacinta Dalton,and fellow GMIT

Members of Les Fins Gousiers d’Anjou parading through Tullycross Village.

Hotel Olympia-Culinary students continue their winning streak at International Competitions Congratulations once again to culinary arts students: Elaine Boyle from Miltown, Co. Galway and Patrick Phillips from Cooraclare, Co. Clare, who won top awards at Excel London Hotelympia 2014. They were up against competitors from all over Europe. Elaine Boyle won a silver medal in the Senior Wedding Cake category and a Gold medal in the Senior Novelty Cake category. Elaine is a mother of five, and also runs her own cake business from home.Patrick, who was in the Irish Ability Awards Team, won a bronze medal for his 3 course meal for 50 guests. The 22 year old, who has always had a passion for food, originally studied towards a degree in architecture before deciding to switch to culinary arts last year (2012). During his first year in GMIT he won an academic scholarship for holding the highest points in the Leaving Certificate in GMIT’s College of Tourism and Arts. Both Patrick and Elaine have previously won medals at IFEX 2014,and were mentored by lecturers Mary Reid and Noel Loughnane.

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Pictured are Gerry Talbot, Head of Department of Culinary Arts & Services Industries, Mary Reid, Culinary Arts lecturer,Patrick Phillips, Sinead O’Connor Lomas, Culinary Arts lecturer, Elaine Boyle, and Noel Loughnane, Culinary Arts lecturer.

GMIT NEWS

The College of Tourism and Arts Academic staff impress at THRIC 2014 The Tourism & Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference (THRIC) is an annual conference hosted by third level institutions with responsibility for tourism and hospitality education in Ireland. On the 3rd& 4th of April, Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) hosted the 10thAnnual Conference.Congratulations need to be extended to AdrianGregan and DonaghDavern and all their colleagues at CIT, for a very well organised and highly informative event.

The conference allows key stakeholders including academia, industry and the research community to debate and discuss key sectorial issues. This year, postgraduate research presentations allowed new researchers at the early stages of their work, to present to an audience and gain valuable feedback.

The College of Tourism and Arts academic staff presenting at THRIC 2014 were Jacinta Dalton, Cormac Handy, John Carty, Ulrich Hoeche, and Dr. Francesco Noci.

“Engage not Enrage” - Perspectives on Learning Technologies to support Tourism & Hospitality Education in an Irish Context - Jacinta Dalton & Cormac Handy The paper reviewed the integration of web-based learning technologies in the context of Tourism and Hospitality education and how these technologies assist the key learning outcomes and attributes of a Tourism and Hospitality Graduate. From their lecturing experience, Dalton and Handy recognised that today’s learners possess different ambitions, motivations, strengths and weaknesses; they come from different cultures,and most notably, they differ in the type of instruction they best engage with and therefore they explored the technologies that best suited these needs and those of a changing industry.

In an effort to measure current sentiment on learning technologies, primary research was conducted amongst educators, who teach in these disciplines, to ascertain their attitudes to learning technologies in their classrooms and the associated benefits of such technologies to their teachings.

Furthermore, the authors explored the influence of different learning environments on students’ learning style preferences and their perceptions of their learning experience utilising the learning style instrument VARK. The participants of the VARK study were stratified into three different teaching pedagogies: Face-to-Face, Blended and Online Learning. In addition, stakeholder focus groups were conducted with representation from education providers, industry representatives and hospitality and tourism graduates to establish their viewpoints on the role of technologies for industry.

Considering the findings from stakeholder groups, the authors concluded that although there is recognition of the positive links between technology and tourism and hospitality education, there is still much work to be done. A cultural change is required in order for educators to realise the potentials that exist to fulfil the educational and technological needs of all stakeholders.

10 Years of Work Placement in Tourism and Hospitality Programmes - the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Experience - John Carty Work placement is a common feature on all hospitality and tourism programmes at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). This research seeks to investigate the GMIT experience over the past ten years and to identify what the future holds for work placement on tourism and hospitality programmes. A number of semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders (academics, industry and students) involved with work placement at GMIT, to investigate their experiences and explore their views. The findings add to the understanding of

contemporary issues that need to be recognised in the work placement policy. Resource issues to support work placement are of particular concern and other potential barriers include the scheduling, duration, learning, accredited experience and the whole area of assessment and reflection. There is general support for work placement on tourism and hospitality programmes, however it is necessary to have a policy to guide and ensure quality and maintain standards.

There was supportive and constructive feedback from the audience, which included a number of Heads of Department and lecturers at other Higher Education Institutes, Failte Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation. They supported the researchers’ suggestions for further research in the area and gave some ideas as to what might be investigated.

Investigating the quality of sourdough starters and breads at GMIT - Dr. Francesco Noci & Ulrich Hoeche The popularity of sourdough breads is on the increase due to the consumer increasingly seeking food products that rely less on the addition of chemicals for the purpose of preservation. A number of bakeries have recently focussed more on these types of breads, also as a response to diverse influences of other cultures.

Sourdough breads have been shown to have the potential for improved sensory characteristics, such as flavour and texture, but also have improved digestibility of nutrients, and availability of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.

The main objective of this study was to assess the feasibility to use home milling of Irish native wheat as a method to enhance the quality of sourdough bread by increasing the diversity of the microorganisms in the starter. A second objective was to compare the eating quality of breads obtained with native or with a starter added with lactobacilli and yeasts.

The project used the facilities at the GMIT College of Tourism and Arts for the preparation of the starters and breads.

The products were assessed by a total of 160 untrained panellists evaluating the sensory attributes of the breads.

The presented study was also an example of active participation of undergraduate students from a Culinary Arts programme in a series of extra-curricular research experiments during the preparation and sensory analysis of the breads.

The overall results of the study found that home milling has a potential for producing a bread of equivalent eating quality to those made with commercial flours. Further product development and optimisation will be required to overcome consumer limited acceptance of the sour taste, commonly accepted in rye breads, in wheat fermented products.

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FOOD SERVICES

Quick off the Aramark

Aramark Ireland, part of global company Aramark, the country’s leading integrated services provider, is all about innovative solutions. With a 4,000 strong workforce across 980 locations, the company delivers expertise in workplace solutions, food services, property and environmental services to various Irish and EMEA companies. One such client is major company Intel Ireland, and with a workforce in excess of 4,500 it is essential a high-quality and efficient food service solution is in place.We spoke to Joe Kenny, Site General Manager of Intel with Aramark Food Services, about how Aramark manages to deliver quality wholesome food daily on sucha massive scale.

Joe himself has plenty of experience in hospitality, with a background in hotels as trainee manager, assistant manager and GM respectively in Killiney Court Hotel, Clontarf Castle and Stillorgan Park Hotel.

Funnily enough his start in the industry was in one of the smallest pubs in Ireland, Stoop your Head in Skerries, and so he laughs when he tells us that from there he ended up in one of the biggest food service establishments in the country.

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Intel has four main restaurants and with the smallest seating a capacity of 350 and the largest 1,000, the course of a day can see up to 7,000 meals purchased by staff. To put it practically, weekly that’s 7,000 bananas, 23,000 eggsand 35,000 cups of tea! To manage such high volumes it’s vital that an efficient system is place.

“We break it down into 4 units,” Joe says. “There’s a food service team in each unit. We have150 staff here seven days a week, breakfast lunch and dinner, day shift and night shift. It’s very much a team effort, with the core team that manage the individual units and the wider business also.”

Joe and the team work with the Corporate Services team on site at Intel to ensure break times run smoothly. All major contract companies have set timing for breaks with 15 minute intervals for breakfast and 30 minute blocks for lunch.

Another way they ensure efficiency is a cashless system for payment.

Customers pre-load a card before entering the restaurant. With these systems in place it takes customers eight seconds to go through the till, and a pretty impressive six minutes from tray pickup to exiting the till point.

According to Joe however, it doesn’t stop at efficiency - the food itself has to be top quality, wholesome and safe, and Aramark goes to stringent lengths to ensure there is no room for error.

FOOD SERVICES

“We have to make sure there is no stone left unturned with our health and safety, food safety and food provenance. We buy as much local, wholesome and seasonal products as we can and that’s reflected in our menus. Healthy options are a big thing for us - people are eating with us everyday so we have to offer healthy options as well as ‘comfort’ food. We have a huge backup support from Head Office from sourcing to buying. All suppliers are also inspected and go through regular checks, with the supply chain audited from head office.” There is also a safety and quality team who audit Joe’s site and the supply chain site down to the van and the employee bringing in the food.

Of course the food also has to taste good! Joe accepts that historically food service within industrial locations had negative connotations, but this is a perception has altered greatly. Aramark prides itself on offering high-end, restaurant quality food to Intel staff.

“Everything we do, every time we put something out we think about how we could do it better. We constantly look to raise the bar. Our food consultant, Hugo Arnold works with us to review our menus with our teams and he challenges us as we challenge ourselves.”

The team bake and cook everything from scratch on site, including sauces, marinades, slow cooked meats, 800 scones per day, cakes and tray bakes. Joe and the team also welcome feedback from customers, issuing quarterly surveys and formulating action plans based on the results.

And their hard work seems to be paying off - last year’s customer satisfaction positive rating was over 90% from Intel.

“We are at the coalface of hospitality and from the daily challenges we come up against, getting that rating from customers was a nice recognition and it felt great,” Joe tells us.

He finishes, pride in what he and what the Aramark Ireland team achieve evident: “I would challenge any chef to do what we do. We have to change our menu by the day - we have the same customers so we don’t have the luxury of changing it every six months. We have to constantly be creative and innovative to respond to our customers. The major multinational corporations are being offered hospitality on a daily basis and we have an important part to play in their everyday lives.”

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DIT

DIT School of Hospitality Management and Tourism

Graduate Profile: Gerard Denneny Gerard Denneny is the General Manager of Viceroy New York, Viceroy Hotel Group’s first branded property in New York City. He holds a B.Sc. Hotel and Catering Management which he acquired from DIT Cathal Brugha Street in 1987.

Gerard is responsible for overseeing the successful launch and overall operations for the newly constructed, 29-story hotel and its 240 luxury guest rooms and suites, leading a staff of approximately 120.

With over 20 years of experience in managing luxury hotels of all sizes all over the globe, Gerard began his career in County Kerry, as a Deputy Manager at the Park Hotel Kenmare, a boutique property with a Michelin-starred restaurant. From there, he went on to open the K Club, a hotel and golf resort - and Ireland’s first hotel to receive five red stars accolade from the International Automobile Association.

In the mid-nineties, Gerard briefly moved to the US upon receiving an opportunity to work at the legendary Four Seasons hotel in midtown Manhattan. He subsequently held management positions in Dublin opening both the Merrion Hotel and Morrison Hotels, two luxury boutique properties before moving to re-jointhe Four Seasons in Dublin as Director of Rooms.

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In 2004, Gerard settled in London, where he held a Senior Management position at the 5-star property Jumeirah Carlton Tower. He then transferred to New York and was the General Manager of the famed Essex House, on Central Park South in New York City. In April 2013, he became the General Manager of Viceroy New York.

“Gerard is the personification of a luxury hotelier. His extraordinary attention to detail and leadership combine to create outstanding modern luxury hotel experiences for our guests. We are very lucky to have a leader of Gerard’s calibre launching Viceroy New York,” said Bill Walshe, CEO of Viceroy Hotel Group.

Gerard is excited by the reaction that the Viceroy New York has received “We’re located in an area with many traditional properties - we’re surrounded by the best of the best of hotel brands. It’s a fantastic location for Viceroy to enjoy because it puts us on a different playing field in terms of hotel awareness. We target two sets: one is aspirational and one is design, which is closely related to the concept of this property.”

Gerard is a firm believer in the role of staff development “We don’t always have solutions for people who want to grow their careers because they geographically want to stay in the same area. However, we do have the duty to look after them in terms of how they can grow their own knowledge within their environment,” he says.

Placement Opportunities Sought DIT Cathal Brugha Street has a well established reputation to provide real-life experience of the workplace for its students. And this commitment starts at the very beginning of college life, with students completing two hundred hours of work experience in first year, followed by a six month internship in third year.

The internship is a unique opportunity for students to learn about their future career path. The experience on placement can prove decisive in subsequent career choice. It is a valuable opportunity to put into practice the subjects studied in college and to learn from working professionals. The internship experience enhances personal and interpersonal skills and enhances subject knowledge and subject-specific skills. It also nurtures self-motivation and provides a unique insight

DIT

into how the business or organisation functions. Employers also benefit from hosting an internship student from DIT. The students are interested and enthusiastic about the industry in which they study. There are countless positive experiences employers have had with students, and many valuable networks have formed over the years.

Increasingly DIT are finding international interest in their students as placement candidates. Third year Tourism Marketing student Kirsten Mc Cormack is currently undertaking her placement at the Fusion Maia resort in Da Nang, Vietnam. “It’s a culture shock to say the least but I love every moment of it. I can’t imagine doing my placement anywhere else. I look forward to going to work every day! It was the best decision ever to come here!”, she says. Kirsten even received a personal mention on TripAdvisor from an Australian guest who was grateful “to the great Irish student-fusionista who was so switched on to guest needs!”

Placement officer, Oonagh Birchall is always on the look-out for employers who may have a challenging placement opportunity for students. She can be contacted on 01 402 4353. Email oonagh.birchall@dit.ie

School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, DIT, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 1 School Secretary: Mary Dineen Phone: 01 402 4345 Email: mary.dinneen@dit.ie Twitter: @DITCathalB Facebook: DIT CathalBrugha Street

There are courses available in hospitality, tourism, leisure and events management, both full and part time. There is more information available on these courses on the website: www.dit.ie/hospitalitymanagementandtourism

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STRATEGIC PLAN

Irish Hospitality Institute Strategic Plan 2015-2017 launched at National Hospitality Managers’ Conference 2014

The Irish Hospitality Institute’s (IHI) 10-point Strategic Plan 2015 - 2017 was recently launched at The National Hospitality Managers’ Leadership Conference and AGM in The Herbert Park Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 with over 130 delegates in attendance.

The focus of activities in the Irish Hospitality Institute’s 10-Point Strategic Plan 2015 - 2017 is on showing industry Leadership through membership growth; increasing membership services and benefits, and improving communications at both national and regional levels.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is central to the plan and this is strengthened by the introduction of a Personal Mentor Programme, generously supported by Fellows of the Institute.

The development of strategic national and international alliances, especially on the areas of industry, education and business, will lead to more joint collaboration of activity for the benefit of all. Improving Communications and Promotions will be central to the strategy in spreading the message of the Institute’s work, most especially in the run up to the IHI 50th Anniversary celebrations to be planned for 2016. Operational efficiency and financial stability will ensure the viability of the Institute moving forward.

Speaking at the IHI National Manager’s Leadership Conference, Minister John

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Perry praised the IHI for the role it has played in turning around the hospitality industry which is now showing considerable growth and he added: “When this Government assumed office in 2011, it recognised from the outset that the tourism industry could play a very significant role in helping the economy to overcome the challenges that it faced. The reduction in VAT on tourism services; the Visa Waiver Programme and the Gathering initiative, have all assisted the industry to grow and the Government’s decisions to maintain the 9% VAT rate and to reduce the travel tax to 0%, will assist further growth in the sector into the future.”

Nicky Logue FIHI, President of the Irish Hospitality Institute, promised the attending delegates that the IHI, through its new Strategic Plan, would continue to play a pivotal role in enabling the industry to manage change. “We have all been through difficult times but, when we look back on 2013, a different picture emerges.

Substantial new investment is coming into our sector, occupancy levels and room rates are improving. In main commercial and tourism centres, particularly Dublin, the hotel sector has returned to profitability. It is now up to us to look to the future with prudent confidence and to make plans for the future development of our tourism industry,” he said.

The Conference was chaired by Ivan Yates, Presenter, Newstalk Morning Show, 106-108FM. The main speakers at the conference included Kevin McGillycuddy, MD, Brehon Hotel Partners; Michael Carey, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of ‘The Company of Food’; Ben Bengougam, VP HR- Europe, Middle East & Africa of Hilton Worldwide and Steve Redmond, Extreme Endurance Swimmer and Motivational Speaker.

An open discussion titled “Lessons from Leaders” was facilitated by an industry panel including Stephen McNally, Deputy CEO, Dalata Hotel Group plc & President IHF; Derry Gray, Managing Partner, BDO; Andrew Sykes, Hotel Relations Manager, Trivago and Mark Barry of Google who advises on how to make the most of your web for a successful business.

The conference concluded with lunch with food from leading artisan producers, organised by Bord Bia and beautifully presented by Executive Chef, of The Herbert Park Hotel, Kevin Ramen. Full details of participating producers are attached separately.

Full biographies of Chairman, Speakers and Industry Panellists: http://app.pictaural.ie/ihi/

“One spoonful of Create More can make a meal, it goes a lot further than my ready to use sauce.”

Jake McConville, Head chef and founder of Fittata

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