Hotel and Restaurant Times Dec'16 Jan'17

DECEMBER/JANUARY ‘17

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T H E B U S I N E S S P U B L I C AT I O N F O R T H E H OT E L A N D R E S TAU R A N T I N D U S T R Y

Year in Review A year of records

WRIGHTS SEAFOOD

Martina Fox and the ‘it’ factor.

FLANAGANS

Respecting the past with an eye on the future.

CATEX 2017

Ireland’s premier industry event.

DES McCANN

Knowing your business.

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COVER: The Seafood Bar - Wrights

Contents

Editorial 4 News 5 Appointments 10 Martina Fox - Wrights Seafood 12 Fáilte News 14 Bookassist 16 P. 28 Fáilte Evolve 18 Catex Preview 20 Food for Thought 23 AirBnB 27 Des McCann 28 Flanagans 31 Fitzpatrick Castle 34 Tourism Ireland 36 P. 34 Michelle Fennell - Musgrave 37 IFSA 38 BDO - Hotel, Restaurant and Bar Review 40 Recruitment 42 Tierneys IT 44 Tallaght IT 46 IHI Awards 48 Year in Review 50 GMIT 52 P. 37 Tourism Zones 54 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) Contributors: Pavel Barter, Dr Des O’Mahony, Susan Clarke, Colm Ryan, Conor Power, Fáilte Ireland, IFSA, Tourism Ireland, Austin Hickey - BDO, Restaurants Association of Ireland, GMIT, Holly Lenny Graphic Design: Tara Mccormack Printing: Turners of Longford

ALL CONTENTS OF THE MAGAZINE ARE COPYRIGHT OF HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES. H&R HOUSE, CARTON COURT, MAYNOOTH, CO.KILDARE TEL/FAX: 01 6285447 EMAIL: editorial@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie WEB: www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie

All paper used in the production of this magazine comes from certifiably sustainable forestry.

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editorial

Time for leadership We are entering 2017 in a much better place than most could have envisaged. CSO figures confirm that 2016 was one of the best years to date, with record breaking visitor and revenue figures. Over 10.5m visitors came to the island of Ireland, representing an 11% growth since 2015, spending in excess of €5.4 billion, an increase in the region of 10%. Growth came from all markets. The United States, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia, turned in record performances this year. The outlook for 2017 is positive, the one dark cloud on the horizon being Brexit. Hopefully favourable winds will ensure its impact isn’t too dramatic.

editorial

However, one worrying blot is the lack of engagement from our Minister for Tourism. Yes Minister Ross, Tourism is in your brief. Minister Ross, in my opinion, deserves to be renamed the Invisible Minister of Tourism. For an individual who was not shy in his regular utterances and challenges to others in the Dáil and in print media, his own performance to date as a minister is a disappointment and thought by some to be a disgrace.

His lack of engagement with the industry has been mentioned to me on numerous occasions by practitioners of all hues: hoteliers, restaurateurs’ service suppliers and people working at the coalface.

The Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, his second in command, has been more visible and on message than the minister.

At a recent Tourism Ireland briefing, Minister Ross’s grasp and engagement with the industry was lacking. He read from a prepared press release and said little of substance. This lack of leadership is reflected in the meagre increase in the budgets for the sector. When pressed on the issue at the press briefing, prior to the Tourism Ireland marketing launch, his response was almost Monty Python esque. “[Tourism] had a great year and [its practitioners] have loads of money”, he replied, laughing.

Consider how the pharmaceutical or agricultural sectors, performing in a similar vein as tourism, would be treated at the cabinet table. A hell of a lot better than tourism has been. It’s time to consider creating a standalone department for Tourism, with a Minister charged with developing and supporting this industry. It is universally recognised that Tourism has outperformed a lot of other sectors and can, with proper and realistic funding, continue to create lasting employment and increased revenue to the exchequer. Google, Facebook, PayPal, etc., can move lock stock and barrel in a heartbeat. Remember Dell? You cannot, however, move the Cliffs of Moher or the Wild Atlantic Way. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Paul Kelly on his recent appointment to Fáilte Ireland as CEO, and I look forward to working with him in the future.

The continual bugbear of the lack of chefs available for the sector also needs to be addressed now - not in two or three years. It’s not a simple case of moving chefs from here to there and yonder.

Everything needs to be considered from the perspective of education, pay and work conditions, work practices, support and apprenticeships, to name a few of the elements that plague the industry.

This country has so much to offer - from our stunning landscape, people and inherent sense of hospitality. Why then can’t we have some joined up thinking and ensure we continue to maximise its potential?

Cyril McAree editor

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news

NEWS Fáilte Ireland Appoints New CEO Michael Cawley, Chairman of Fáilte Ireland, has announced the appointment of Paul Kelly as Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland.

Mr. Kelly, who was appointed after a thorough and competitive process undertaken by the Board of Fáilte Ireland, is a highly experienced senior executive. He has previously held positions as Marketing Director Diageo Ireland and European Marketing Director for Aviva and is currently Strategic Marketing Director for UCD Smurfit Business School. He is a native of Wexford and a commerce graduate from University College Dublin.

Commenting on the appointment, the Chairman of Fáilte Ireland said: “I am delighted to have Paul Kelly as the new CEO of Fáilte Ireland. During his distinguished career in world-class consumer marketing led companies, Paul has demonstrated the management and marketing leadership, which will be crucial for the task of continuing the development of the Irish tourism industry which is so vital to Ireland’s economy.

“We have been very fortunate to secure the services of such an experienced professional as Paul as a leader of the Irish tourism sector and my colleagues on the Board of Fáilte Ireland and I look forward to working with him in the challenging times that lie ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shaun Quinn, who will retire as CEO at the end of this month, for his many years of service and wish him well for the future.”

Speaking today, Paul Kelly said: “I am very excited to have the opportunity to lead such an excellent organisation as Fáilte Ireland and to further the development of such an important industry to Ireland as tourism. I hope to build on the great work done in recent years by Shaun Quinn and the strong team in Fáilte Ireland.”

The appointment will be effective from the 1st of February 2017.

Chopped arrives at Dublin Airport

Making a Mark The Corscadden Family are the new owners of Markree Castle. Over the last two years the Castle has been extensively renovated and now joins the family’s Romantic Castles of Ireland hotel portfolio, which includes Cabra Castle, Bellingham Castle and Ballyseede Castle. Markree Castle is set in 500 acres of countryside in Sligo. The Castle will be for available for weddings from March 2017.

Irish healthy fast food company Chopped has opened a new outlet in Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1.

The new Chopped outlet will create 15 new jobs at Dublin Airport and help maintain and expand additional jobs for a range of suppliers to the new café. Pictured is Chopped team member Kyle Fitzpatrick with Audrey O’ Hagan, DAA External Communications Officer.

Buried saints, ghosts, and leprechauns Tourism Ireland has unveiled a new film, Dublin – Tales of the Unexpected, to highlight quirkier, lesser known things to see and do in Dublin. From underground mummies to the 26 towers built to battle Napoleon, the film introduces viewers to an alternative Dublin, encouraging them to discover attractions in the city that they may not have heard of.

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news

Canadian Media Explore Ireland’s Ancient East Canadian journalists and Ellen Redmond, Fáilte Ireland enjoying a visit to Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny.

A decade in the making Herbert Park Hotel recognised 14 staff with 10 years’ service in the hotel. Staff were treated to lunch in One Pico and presented with a cheque and a framed certificate.

Hole nine yards Hilton Templepatrick has come out on top at the World Golf Travel Awards, which took place in Portugal. The hotel was crowned Northern Ireland’s Leading Golf Hotel.

Earlier this year the hotel scooped the accolade of Leading Business Hotel for the 8th consecutive time. Its sister property, Hilton Belfast, was awarded Northern Ireland Leading Hotel. Hilton Templepatrick was also in the running for Europe Leading Golf Hotel at the ceremony, but was pipped at the post by the Belfry.

Pictured is Mark Walker, Area General Manager, Hilton NI, and Paula Collins, Hilton NI.

Bookassist Rocks Prague Dublin-based Bookassist is big in Central Europe, with the annual Bookassist Christmas party in Prague being a major event in local hoteliers’ calendars. Bookassist have held themed parties in the region for a number of years, and this years’ aviation-themed party was held at the Hangar Bar and Nightclub in central Prague on December 16th.

The Christmas party was the company’s largest yet, attracting almost 200 hoteliers for a night of festivities, food and fun until the early hours. Apart from local hotel clients from Prague, where Bookassist works with 150 hotels, the party attracted hotel clients from elsewhere in the Czech Republic as well as from Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. Pictured is the Bookassist team that manages the Czech and Austrian markets, including regional managers Jaromir Pazout and Mario Clemente, together with Dublin-based CEO Des O’Mahony. See facebook.com/bookassist.

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Point of no return

Following on from its Georgina Campbell Hotel of the Year 2017 title, and being rated No 1 Hotel in Ireland on Trip Adviser for four consecutive years, Harvey’s Point Hotel, Lough Eske, Donegal, has been rated No 1 Four Star Hotel in Ireland by Trivago, the hotel search website.

Breakfast of champions at Castleknock Hotel Castleknock Hotel and Country Club has won the Best Place to Eat Excellence Award at the 14th annual Fingal Dublin Business Excellence and Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2016. Over 490 people attended the gala awards presentation evening in Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. The awards are a celebration of excellence from around the Fingal area.

news

Hey good lookin’...

Raising the bar

Musgrave MarketPlace, wholesale supplier to retail, foodservice and SME businesses, has announced the launch of The Chef Blog as part of a sponsorship agreement with Chef Network. The blog allows chef members to submit guest blog posts on a range of topics, including key industry insights, trends and news, to help expand chef knowledge and encourage greater collaboration.

Pictured (l-r): Ruth Hegarty, Head of Community for Chef Network; Mark Anderson, Member of Chef Network Advisory Council; Tara Brennan, Musgrave MarketPlace Marketing Manager; Aine Gilligan, Musgrave MarketPlace Digital Marketing Specialist.

Galgorm Resort & Spa, near Ballymena, won the category of Hotel Bar of the Year (4-5 Star) at Hospitality Ulster’s Pub of the Year Awards 2016.

The Bar Manager at Galgorm Resort & Spa said: “With the development of our gin club and organised events, the bar really is the best in Northern Ireland and it’s good to see our hard work rewarded.”

For more information: www.galgorm.com

Trolly good show

Piece de resistance for Galway eaterie

Pictured is TV3 presenter Martin King with Noel Keeley, MD of Musgrave MarketPlace, at the launch of the upgraded Ballymun Musgrave MarketPlace, located off St. Margaret’s Road in Dublin.

The occasion was marked with a special version of the 90’s quiz show Supermarket Sweep and an evening of food and entertainment. At 75,000 square feet overall, the new Ballymum store has increased 20% in size and positions itself as the “cash and carry of the future” with a range of new speciality areas and technology.

For more information visit musgravemarketplace.ie.

Galway Michelin-star restaurant Aniar was honoured in Paris recently with its inclusion in La Liste, the international restaurants guide, where the world’s top 1,000 Outstanding Restaurants for 2017 was announced. La Liste is compiled by aggregating reviews of the world’s top restaurants by more than 300 guidebooks and trusted publications.

Aniar, 53 Lower Dominick Street, Galway, is run by chefpatron JP McMahon.

Born and braised Born and Braised has been announced as Northern Ireland’s New Signature Dish at a grand unveiling, in front of a crowd of foodie fans, at Belfast’s St George’s Market.

As part of Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink 2016, Tourism NI tasked four top chefs to create Northern Ireland’s New Signature Dish. Following weeks of testing, collaboration and deliberation, the chefs produced a shortlist of three dishes before the winner was crowned.

The cooking collective, which created the final three dishes, are: Niall McKenna from James Street South in Belfast; Ian Orr from Browns Restaurant and Ardtara House in Derry-Londonderry; Kelan McMichael from Bull and Ram in Ballynahinch; and Chris McGowan from Wine and Brine in County Armagh.

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news

Clayton rebrands in Cork

Just Ask and you will receive

Conor O’Toole, General Manager of the Clayton Hotel Cork City receives a helping hand from Munster Rugby’s Peter O’Mahony and Stephen Archer as the hotel rebrands officially. Clayton Hotel Cork City has also announced a €2m investment.

Moloughney’s Restaurant in Clontarf, Dublin 3, has been awarded Just Ask Restaurant of the Month for December. Currently in its seventh year, the Just Ask campaign encourages diners to look for information about where food on their plate comes from, and encourages chefs to profile their local suppliers on menus. Selected by renowned food writer Georgina Campbell and Bord Bia, the Just Ask Restaurant of the Month rewards eateries across Ireland that exhibit best practices in showing transparency in the sourcing of the food on their menus. Pictured is Head Chef John Fitzmaurice and Chef Owner Liam Moloughney.

Wheel deal Cecil Lewis, Tom Treacy and David Clegg, The Gordon Bennett Irish Classic Car Run, with Colleen McEnroy, Tourism Ireland, at the Classic Motor Show in Birmingham.

Surfer turned organic farmer documenting Ireland’s food story American filmmakers Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine have released Beyond the Break for their online food documentary series The Perennial Plate. The new video was filmed along the Wild Atlantic Way and profiles Fergal Smith, a surfer turned organic farmer, who is based near Lahinch in Co Clare.

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Sharpen your skills Tourism Northern Ireland has invited food lovers to sharpen their skills at cookery schools across the province. These include: Belle Isle School of Cookery, Lisbellaw, Enniskillen; Mourne Seafood Cookery School, Kilkeel, Co. Down; James Street South Cookery School, Belfast; Belfast Cookery School, Belfast; and Orchard Acre Farm, Irvinestown, Co. Fermanagh.

news

The place to be Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America, accepting the “best destination: Europe” award for Ireland, at the Travel Weekly Readers Choice Awards in New York.

Love is in the air Grand national

Two the UK’s best known hospitality brands – Great National Hotels and Best Loved Hotels - have combined in a strategic alliance to cooperate across a range of services to the benefit of their member hotels.

Magnuson Hotels have announced an agreement to provide international distribution for Great National Hotels and Resorts, one of the UK and Ireland’s fastest growing privately owned hospitality groups. Magnuson’s GDS technology and distribution platform will enable Great National’s 56 hotels to access corporate and international bookings through Magnuson’s global network of 650,000 travel agents and travel management companies. Pictured (l-r) is David Collins, COO, and Paul Abson, Sales Director, Great National Hotels and Resorts, with Thomas Magnuson, CEO Magnuson Hotels.

Gentleman and a scholar Woodside Energy Ireland, a subsidiary of Australia’s largest oil and gas company, and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) have announced a new scholarship, the Woodside Irish Cetacean PhD Scholarship, for Myrto Tourgeli, a PhD student at GMIT’s Marine and Freshwater Research Centre.

Pictured is Gareth Parry, Woodside Country Manager Ireland, with Myrto.

Gas craic Gas Networks Ireland has announced sponsorship of a new series of The Restaurant on TV3, going into production in January and airing in early 2017.

The Restaurant returns to Marco Pierre White’s Courtyard Bar & Grill in Donnybrook, with the chef joining the critics table alongside resident critic Tom Doorley and a guest critic each week.

Pictured left to right, at the launch of the sponsorship, was: Louise Lennox, The Restaurant, Stephen McAllister, The Restaurant, Denis O’Sullivan, Head of Commercial, Gas Networks Ireland and Gary O’Hanlon, The Restaurant.

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appointments

Into the West Bord Bia appoints new CEO

The 4 Star McWilliam Park Hotel has welcomed Gemma Jordan as new General Manager. A Cork native, Gemma hails from a successful catering family which spans five generations, Luceys of Mallow. Gemma has extensive group experience with Jurys Doyle and Dalata Hotel Group, who she worked with from 2005 to 2016, before moving to the McWilliam Park Hotel. She was previously General Manager at the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel. For further details on the McWilliam Park Hotel please log onto www.mcwilliamparkhotel.ie

Marked out for success

The Gleneagle Group, based in Killarney, has announced the appointment of Mark Egan to the role of Director of Corporate and Leisure Events. Mark has over twenty years experience in the events industry and joins the team at The Gleneagle Group having previously worked as Events Director with MCI Dublin, the Switzerland-based events agency, which operates in over 30 countries and delivers projects for clients all over the world. Mark worked with the Gleneagle group on a number of large scale events in the past, including Google’s EMEA Conference, three IBM conferences and Cook Medical’s 50th Anniversary Banquet.

Michael Carey, Chairman of Bord Bia, has announced the appointment of Tara McCarthy as Chief Executive of Bord Bia. Tara succeeds current Chief Executive, Aidan Cotter, who retires in January 2017. Tara has been Chief Executive of Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) since September, 2015. Prior to this, she worked with Bord Bia for over 20 years, holding a number of senior positions, including Senior Manager, Consumer Foods Division (2001 – 2011), and Director, Food and Beverage Division (2011 – 2015).

She holds a B.Comm from University College Galway and a Masters of Business Studies from UCD’s Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Lough and loaded Jonathan Gallagher has been appointed Director of Marketing at the five star Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh. Ulster University graduate Jonathan has a Masters with distinction in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

He is co-founder of HenorStag.com and previously held the role of Marketing Manager at Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel.

BALLYMUN

NOW OPEN

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martina fox - wrights

Martina Fox of The Seafood Bar

by Wrights of Howth

On the first day of my first job in the hospitality sector my very experienced manager said to me “in this business you either have it or you don’t. There are parts of this industry that you can’t train people in”. Meeting Martina Fox, that’s what you meet, someone who just has ‘it’. Now one year in her role as general manager of The Seafood Bar by Wrights of Howth, on Dawson St in Dublin she discuses the year so far.

“We had a soft opening on the 27th of November last year and then we opened on the 28th, which was a good time to open because we were straight into the Christmas parties. Although we had missed the corporate side of Christmas, we were very busy we were full, but this year we’ve been able to cater for the corporate sector too”.

The restaurant itself is a beautiful space offering all the grandeur of a period hall while maintaining a warm and inviting ambiance. Martina explains, “We can cater for private dining by sectioning off parts of the restaurant. We are open seven nights a week so on a Sunday or Monday night we can reduce the size of the restaurant which allows us to retain the ambiance we want in a space this size”.

Reflecting the career of its general manager, the building itself has been the host of previous well known premises including La Stampa.

“Everyone remembers La Stampa. It was here under so many different guises but that’s what everyone remembers”. Martina and her husband Robbie have always worked for themselves, owning prominent Dublin nightclub Renards and restaurants including Tante Zoe’s in Temple Bar. They were also previous owners of Brown’s Barn and Barracuda in Bray.

Martina says, “I never wanted a business that was the ‘trendy’ spot.

I always waned to build a business that was sustained by regular customers, a solid, steady business that lasts. You will always have that certain crowd that will go to the newest most trendy place but then they’ll move on. It is a fickle business and I never wanted that trendy spot, you are only trendy until the next place opens and you’re just a flash in the pan”.

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martina fox - wrights

Having gone through so many ups and downs since 2009 including liquidation how does Martina maintain her resilience and begin again? ”It was very important for me to build “myself” almost as a product. I couldn’t have done that without the experience I have gained over the years. I have always been self-employed so I have a very strong work ethic and I think that is something that is quite unique for employers to find. To me it’s normal to come in and work a 15-hour day or to jump in to each department and do what needs to be done; I just get in and do it. I don’t have a 40-hour a week mentality”.

When I ask Martina how she experiences being a woman at her level in the industry she replies, “It’s not something I even notice to be honest! The only time it might occur to me is when a new rep appears and immediately goes towards my assistant manager who is a man, I would notice then. It doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t happen often because most people know me, I’m 30 years doing this. Having had a few serious job offers for other positions in the last year is a testament not only to Martina’s experience and work ethic but also to the reputation she has maintained in the industry despite the highs and lows of her previous businesses.

However, in terms of trends in the industry; people’s eating habits have changed considerably in the last few years and pop-up restaurants are a new addition, so how does Martina view Dublin’s restaurant scene currently?

“When I was doing the new menu for The Seafood Bar, we needed to include healthy options, we have to be aware that we are a city centre restaurant, we have to hit the right price bracket, and not just be a place to go to for an occasion. You can’t survive as just a tourist destination or just on a regular customer base. You have to have both.

For example business in the city centre in July or August drops by about 70%, so you are dependant on the tourist market then. But over the year you have to get that balance right”.

“I always respond to a Trip Advisor review, good bad or indifferent. I get upset if I get a negative review! I think Trip Advisor does keep you in touch with what the customer experience has been. I treat this like it’s my business and I do take it personally. It is really upsetting when you work so hard and someone uses a forum like Trip Advisor to slate you over something silly and that’s why I respond to all reviews, because while it is a forum for guests to express their feelings on a particular dining experience it is also our opportunity and our privilege to respond”.

“Dawson St has been chaotic and its been like that for the last year.

All the businesses along the street have suffered because of the Luas works going on but thankfully now they are almost complete. Our 2017 projections are optimistic because even with that disruption we had a very good year”.

Unlike many other businesses, Martina has managed to remain unaffected by the current shortage of chefs in the industry. “I am very lucky, when I build a team, they stay with me. The lovely thing about the staff I have is they all care and they care because they know I care.

When they see how important the smooth running of the restaurant is to me and how much I care about the place that filters down, that’s very important to me”.

Martina says, “I’m very happy where I am now. I work really well with Mark and I’m looking forward to building on the work we’ve put in so far”.

We’ve all seen restaurants come and go throughout the country, however, not many of us have first hand experience of that and not only survived, but travelled the road back to thrive again.

Congratulations Martina Fox on a career well done.

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fáilte news

New Shannon Estuary and Burren Driving Routes Two new touring routes, branching off the Wild Atlantic Way, have been unveiled by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O Donovan. These new routes, which are located along the Shannon Estuary and in the Burren, are part of a new Fáilte Ireland pilot scheme to encourage visitors to discover the variety of inland visitor experiences as they travel along the Wild Atlantic Way. Further routes are planned for 2017.

Find out more at www.failteireland.ie/wildatlanticway

Brian Kennedy, Limerick City and County Council, Patrick O’Donovan, TD. Minister of State for Tourism, Orla Carroll, Fáilte Ireland and Ger Dollard, Clare County Council at the launch of two new touring routes, branching off the Wild Atlantic Way.

New ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ Signs The first phase of Fáilte Ireland’s orientation signage for Ireland’s Ancient East’ continued into the end of 2016 with 76 key visitor orientation signs in place now in place in counties Kilkenny, Wexford, Tipperary, Waterford, Meath and Louth. The new signs are designed to encourage visitors to stay longer and explore the wider region by highlighting the wealth of things to do and see in the surrounding area.

Find out more at www.failteireland.ie/IrelandsAncientEast

(l-r) Margaret Clinton, Head Guide, Millmount Museum; Martina O’Dwyer, Ireland’s Ancient East; Michele Whelan, Tourism Officer, Boyne Valley and Mary T. Daly, Louth County Council at the orientation sign for Ireland’s Ancient East located at Drogheda Museum, Millmount.

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fáilte news

Over €1.6m Allocated for Major Festivals in 2017 Fáilte Ireland is making over €1.6m in funding available to 16 key national festivals and events, as part of the first phase of its 2017 National Festivals and Events Programme. A further phase of national festivals funding will be announced by the tourism body in early 2017 dealing largely with festivals taking place in the latter part of the year.

Among the 16 approved festivals receiving funding in Phase 1 are St Patricks Festival Dublin, Cork International Choral Festival and Galway International Arts Festival.

Find a full list on www.failteireland.ie

Dublin Attractions Ready to Wow Visitors

More than 20 visitor attractions in Dublin City have successfully completed Fáilte Ireland’s Management Development Programme. Following a series of workshops, expert guest lectures, mentoring sessions and a benchmarking site visit to Edinburgh, the participants are now ready to further enhance their attractions and deliver compelling and engaging cultural experiences to their visitors. Find out what’s happening in Dublin at www.failteireland.ie/Dublin Participants of the Dublin Management Development Programme pictured at their graduation in Trinity College Dublin.

All Points of Entry Covered by Ireland’s Ancient East

€550k Investment to Unleash the

Tourism Potential in Forests

A new promotional campaign to heighten awareness of the Ireland’s Ancient East brand with both international and domestic visitors has begun as Ireland’s Ancient East branding is erected at key points of entry to the country including Dublin, Cork, and Waterford airports, Rosslare Europort and the Port of Cork.

A new capital funding package of €550,000 for Coillte was announced by Fáilte Ireland as part of a new strategic partnership aimed at boosting the tourist experience at a number of the state owned forestry company’s sites. This €550,000 funding package will support the development of feasibility and design for six projects across Ireland, with more projects to be announced in 2017.

Jenny De Saulles, Head of Ireland’s Ancient East with Fáilte Ireland and Niall Mac Carthy, Cork Airport pictured as a new promotional campaign for Ireland’s Ancient East begins.

Daithí de Forge, Coillte Recreation Manager, pictured with Orla Carroll, Director of Strategic Development, Fáilte Ireland and Minister Patrick O’ Donovan, TD at Curraghchase Forest Park, Co. Limerick.

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Bookassist

Five Things Hotels Should Stop Doing In 2017

By Des O’Mahony This time of year is great for resolutions and lists of things that one should adopt for a new beginning. With the best will in the world, we all seize on something new, do it for a week - and then stop.

Developing good habits is hard work, and without some instant gratification it can quickly become a chore.

However, making small changes to existing practices can sometimes be easier and can ultimately reap rewards. Specifically, stopping doing things can sometimes be easier to engage with.

Marginal Gains

The concept of “marginal gains” has certainly proven in sports that making little incremental improvements in many areas can lead to very significant overall improvement. For an interesting example, see http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34247629 for a story on how marginal gains revolutionised many different areas, including the British Olympic Cycling Team. Quoting Dave Brailsford, director of British Cycling: “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved each by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”

With this in mind, here are existing hotel practices that really need to change, and 2017 is the opportunity to see if you can move even marginally towards making it happen.

1. Stop treating your website as a hobby

We continue to see hotels relegate their online and mobile presence to an afterthought at worst, or a secondary fill-in strategy at best. Your hotel’s online and mobile presence needs to be front and centre of your entire strategy - not front and centre of your online strategy, but of your entire strategy.

Failure to consider your direct sales strategy first and distribution second automatically means that by design or (likely) by default, your organisation will favour sales via more costly distribution – because it seems easier. Worse, it causes your organisation to build a reliance on non-direct business and removes availability from the direct channel which causes further reductions in your capability.

In 2015 and 2016, we saw significant issues for hotels where online travel agencies (OTAs) began to push sales in the long tail – selling hotels rooms at 6, 9 or 12 months out. Because many hotels were not actively managing their rates and availability properly in the long tail, rooms were being sold before hotels even knew it. This unchecked sale of future availability may have resulted in revenue targets being hit, but did so at the expense of considerable commissions with no opportunity for hotels to leverage rate.

In 2017, hotels need to stop thinking of their website/mobile sales as a bonus. Instead the attitude should be that anything not being sold on the website/mobile is a problem that needs to be solved.

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There must be strong and clear ownership of the online presence in every hotel and that strategy needs to take primacy. We live in an age where every new statistic increasingly shows how mobile and techsavvy our guests are, where the professionalism of our online presence increasingly influences purchase. Accept that your website is no longer a hobby, it is a sales generating machine, so allocate the financial and personnel resources it deserves or your business will be dictated by eternal parties if you do not. Can you make a change here?

2. Stop hiding third party commissions from your accounts

Understanding real cost of acquisition and developing practices to track it is crucial. In November 2016, Failte Ireland held a very informative conference on this topic alone, and produced a report that is a mustread for everyone in the industry (see http://bit.ly/2ieWJOS). The sad reality is that most hotels do not really know their cost of acquisition per distribution channel and specifically how it compares between direct business and indirect business. One of the strongest reasons for this lack of visibility is actually the accounting practices of hotels.

Two issues occur which obscure the real cost of your distribution.

The first issue is the “post sale” phenomenon whereby hotels do not budget in advance for how much they are willing to pay out in commissions to OTAs. They simply write the cheque for commissions once the guest has stayed. This creates a scenario where there are no restrictions on what you will allow OTAs to deliver to your hotel, even though every room sold via an OTA can be a lost opportunity to sell that room via your direct online presence at a higher profit. Worse, your accounts probably record all of them together as an innocuous-looking cost of sale line without breaking down each OTA as a specific cost line. The result is unchecked and often invisible expenditure on OTAs. Changing your accounting approach even a little bit will bring more visibility to these costs per distribution channel as a precursor for taking action to bring more balance to your business.

The second issue is where wholesale commissions are not recorded at all in the P&L. Take this example from Failte Ireland’s report: •

A guest books through a merchant model online travel agency and pays the OTA €200, plus VAT, including a contracted mark-up rate of 20% that was previously agreed upon by the hotel with that online travel agency.

• Your hotel-collected revenue is recorded on your hotel’s profit and loss statement as €160 from the guest, but €218 is what the guest actually paid, (inclusive of VAT @9%) [the Guest Paid Revenue] • The OTA collects its €40 commission before the guest even enters your hotel • There is no place to record the €40 as a customer acquisition expense in the P&L.

Bookassist

Hotels need to think hard about why they continue to apply an outmoded budgeting/restriction approach to a new more dynamic marketplace where opportunity needs to be seized and where returns on investment can be measured quickly.

Can you make a change here?

4. Stop incentivising staff on revenue

The consequences of some of the foregoing, particularly the lack of visibility that many hotels have on the real cost of acquisition, means that many staff responsible for business acquisition continue to be incentivised on revenue. This practice needs to stop, since incentivising revenue alone actually encourages more sales via OTAs and indirect at the expense of direct sales.

In today’s marketplace, getting revenue is relatively easy. The battle is getting revenue at the lowest acquisition cost. Since profit is the aim, so that capital is made available for business development, hotels need to focus on NetRevPAR and eliminate old metrics. NetRevPAR is calculated as the Guest Paid Revenue that we defined in the example above, less total acquisition costs, divided by number of available rooms. It focuses on what you as a hotel are left with from what the guest was prepared to pay.

Put simply, incentivising staff to maximise NetRevPAR means that there is a required emphasis on lower-cost distribution such as direct-to web. Even better, focusing on NetRevPAR will require you to bring about accounting practices that will properly measure the real cost of hidden third party commissions that I discussed above. Can you make a change here?

5. Stop believing that you can’t compete The lack of visibility on real costs of distribution negatively influences strategic decisions. Hotels need to take steps to fix this issue and ensure that the data necessary to properly inform strategy is no longer hidden. Otherwise, profit will continue to bleed from the business. Can you make a change here?

3. Stop putting barriers on your own marketing

Ironically, while OTA commissions are often paid “post-sale” with no real constraint (or visibility) on their true magnitude, hotels’ accounting practices will begin the year by trying to restrictively budget on what they are prepared to spend on their own online marketing and online presence. In other words, hotels view their own marketing on a “pre-sale” basis - what am I prepared to spend to get direct bookings – which automatically means restricting spend. In contrast to the post-sale approach, this often leads to immediate barriers on a hotel’s own success.

Take this simple illustration of why a simplistic approach to budgeting for online marketing can result in lost opportunity: Your hotel has a bar. You sell Guinness. If you run out of Guinness half way through the month, you don’t say to customers: “Sorry, we’ve exhausted our Guinness budget for this month, we have no more Guinness, go next door if you want some”. Instead, you buy more Guinness, and you will keep buying more Guinness as long as there is an opportunity to sell it.

Online marketing needs to be viewed this way – you buy more advertising as long as you have opportunity to convert at profit. Yet we continually find hotels capping their spends even when we demonstrate that there is still opportunity to get a return on online investment. You are sending customers elsewhere by not engaging with the opportunity.

Expedia spends about 28% of its revenue on online advertising. Booking.com spends more now on metasearch marketing than on Google advertising, and both figures are in the gazillions. Hotels often feel that the game is up and they can’t compete. But the wildcard here is the customer, who is increasingly savvy. And that means they shop around and they do seek validation by visiting hotel websites.

Therein lies your opportunity to convince and sell, to demonstrate that booking direct gets them something they don’t get on OTAs. Showing the same prices, features and conditions on your website and on an OTA means you will lose. You must demonstrate that direct customers are different and are something you want to encourage, and that requires clearly answering the online guest’s question of “What’s in it for me?”. If you understand how to do that, you actually can compete and you can redress the imbalance with OTA sales in your favour. It’s not rocket science but it does require effort and focus, and spend. Can you make a change here?

Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO and Founder at Bookassist (www.bookassist.com), the multi-award-winning technology and digital strategy partner for hotels worldwide, and is a HSMAI “Top 20 Extraordinary Minds” recipient.

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evolve

Fáilte Ireland Evolve Fáilte Ireland, held its Evolve – Grow Direct Sales, event in the Croke Park conference centre in November to launch their Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) report 2016. The event featured Irish and international experts in the areas of cost per acquisition and optimising direct bookings to own brand websites. The focus of the conference was to inform how the industry can maximise their revenue sales opportunities from the rapidly evolving online booking landscape.

Paul Keeley, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Business Development opened proceedings outlining two key themes for the day; why the industry cannot become complacent despite growth in some areas, and how to keep a cap on room rates and look to other margins for growth. He said “in a recent survey we saw a decline from 58% to 50% of people from the UK who described Ireland as a good value tourist destination. We must make sure we are not being complacent, sustainable growth is essential”.

Paul Keeley asked the audience, “Are you on top of your cost per acquisition? Do you know how it’s impacting your business overall? He went on to explain, “we have to stay on top of the consumer’s purchase journey. Their search for your hotel might begin at an OTA but each search site they land on is like a toll booth that the hotel has to pay for, so we have to be very clear about how much that is costing us. If we have to keep a cap on our room rates, we must look to other margins for our growth and direct online bookings are key to this”.

Direct Bookings vs OTAs

Matt Carrier, Director of Client Engagement with Kalibri Labs was one of the co-authors of the CPA report being launched at the event. Kalibri Labs was formed in 2012 in the USA to research trends in hospitality there; however they are now expanding to Europe. In the USA they have researched 25,000 hotels, a total of 3 million rooms. Matt told us that their findings show that 15-25% of room revenue is lost to OTA’s in the USA. Matt explained that” the ‘organic search’, is out-dated, brands don’t come up first in a Google search anymore. Direct bookings have declined by 33% since 2011. In Europe, 80% of OTA sales are coming through Expedia and Priceline combined, in the USA it’s 95%. But the ‘billboard effect’ is gone, only 7% of customers go from an OTA website to a brand website”.

Therefore, Matt explained, hotels have to be really clear on their customer acquisition costs, as that is the only way they can optimise their net revenue. Matt also advocated that hotels include their acquisition costs into their profit and loss accounts, which not a lot of hotels currently do. So, what was Matt’s key advice for hotels; every hotel has an ‘optimal channel mix’, finding what this mix is, is essential for your hotel. Then calculate the cost of each of these channels and then implement a strategy to drive direct business. Matt says, “know where you are today and then incrementally improve that”.

Picking up tips at Evolve were: Tom Randles, Randles Hotel, Sofia Bereitkopf, Celtic Ross Hotel, Derek Dolan, Failte Ireland and Marie Galvin, Ballygarry House Hotel.

Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Business Development, Paul Mockler (back left) and Director of Business Development, Paul Keeley (far right) introduce the Evolve 2016 speakers to Croke Park ahead of the conference.

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evolve They want tangible information so if you are saying you provide the best price, prove it! Visual stimuli engage the brain and keep the attention of the customer, so avoid large paragraphs of text and use images instead”.

Martin Donnolly, Fáilte Ireland is pictured with Sharon Dineen, The Brehon Hotel, Brian Miley, Muckross Park Hotel and Valerie Steindeck, Glenegale Hotel at Evolve 2016.

Increase Direct Bookings through Customer Relationships

James Osmond, General Manager of Triptease spoke about how to optimise your online direct bookings. He gave insightful reasons why online bookings are so important and he spoke about ways to use advancing technology in order to maximise customer relationship and create loyalty. Firstly James said, “we are in the hospitality industry, it’s about relationships. We can’t build a relationship through an OTA, so hotels must prioritise direct bookings and they must make sure they are getting the customer’s contact information. If you don’t have this you can’t upsell to the customer in advance of their stay and you can’t create loyalty”. James also warned of the dangers of relying too much on one or two channels for your bookings.

According to James, Triptease recently carried out a study of 2,000 people and the study found that people actually want to book directly with the hotel they want to stay in. James told us, “despite all advances in technology we are human beings and we believe if we have a direct relationship we will have a better experience. However, the reason why people don’t end up booking directly is because the majority of people believe if they book through an OTA, they will get a better deal. So, we need to re-educate our customers!”

Des O’Mahony, CEO and founder of Bookassist acknowledged how complex the ‘path to purchase’ has become and he said “the challenge for hotels now is to ensure that they are visible at all points of interaction and to capture the customer as often as possible”. He even went so far as to say, “if a customer lands on your website, you need to be treating them like gold dust!”. Des pointed out that hotels can benefit from looking at what customers did book directly and why they did and optimising that into their strategy. He also said “customers buy value and reputation so sell this!”

Des also offered a warning to the conference, he said OTA’s are now selling rooms for Easter, so he stressed the need for hotels to be developing their rate strategies at least a year in advance.

Overall this conference highlighted the need for hotels to consider the issue of CPA very carefully and strategically and to ensure their marketing budget reflects this. While the speakers provided great advice for hotels on strategies for optimising their direct bookings, the message from Fáilte Ireland is clear; we need to be mindful of our value proposition and strive to remain competitive, lowering customer acquisition costs, maximising sales through direct bookings and implementing best practise in channel management will all contribution to increasing operating profits.

You can watch some of the presentations and find out more about Fáilte Ireland’s Cost Per Acquisition report at www.failteireland.ie/supports

Offer More to Direct Bookers

James’ advice to hotels is to present clear benefits of booking directly to their customers, offer a better experience, so provide upgrades for people who book directly and ensure a better price and be careful to show people that you are providing that better price when they book directly. Also, according to James, 1% of people will return to your website, if they find it, however, if you message the customer before they leave your site 8-10% of them will return to your site.

James also pointed out that the mobile phone is essential for hotels to engage with customers and he advocated personalised messaging and tailoring messaging for different types of customers. Therefore the key according to James is to, “use technology to relate to people in a more human way”.

Attending Evolve: Martina O’Dwyer, Fáilte Ireland, Elaine Hamill, Westcourt Hotel, Drogheda, Valerie Sherlock, Westcourt Hotel, Drogheda, Norma Troy, Cliff House Hotel, Waterford.

Lennert deJong is the Head of Commercial Development in the Citizen M hotels and his advice to hotels on the topic of CPA’s sounded simple, however, as they say “common sense is not that common!”.

Lennert advocated, “don’t focus on what you can’t impact! OTA’s are part of your life, learn how to use them to your benefit”. According to Lennert, that means you have to be clear on the data that your hotel is looking at and making sure that is accurate. “Having an easy to use website is essential as is getting close to your customer, develop a bond with them”.

Your Website can ‘Stimulate’ Direct Sales

Dr. Thomas Trautmann of Sales Brain spoke to the conference about the brain science to improve websites. He began by asking “would you send your website on a sales call?” Dr. Trautmann explained there are 6 stimuli that have to be lit up in the brain in order to get your customer to go from browsing on your website to purchasing.

He explained; “so many hotel websites tell the consumers about the hotel and the team, in fact customers want to hear about themselves.

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catex preview

New Year, New Look Show for

CATEX 2017

- The industry event that will be serving up solutions -

Ireland’s largest foodservice and hospitality event, CATEX, returns to the RDS, Dublin from Tuesday 21st – Thursday 23rd February 2017, and with upwards of 12,000 visitors expected to attend, it’s one of the most eagerly anticipated foodservice events of the year.

With a new look layout and a host of new exhibitors, CATEX promises to serve up a show packed full of solutions for your business. From inspiring competitions to expert masterclasses, and an abundance of ideas, CATEX is simply the number one event for industry professionals in foodservice, hospitality and within the food and drink sectors in Ireland.

CATEX, supported by Bunzl and Calor, has firmly cemented its reputation as the ultimate destination for the hospitality and foodservice industry. Following the highly-successful 2015 event, the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance has worked hard to create an exhibition that is set to be even bigger and better than previous shows and one which delivers real benefits to both exhibitors and visitors alike.

Indicating that the demand and anticipation for CATEX is high, both exhibitor numbers and visitor pre-show registrations are ahead of previous years, with space almost entirely sold out! This year, more people have registered to attend CATEX than ever before and thousands of additional registrations are expected over the coming weeks.

No. 1 Reason for Visiting CATEX

According to visitors, identifying new products is the number one reason for visiting CATEX and this year, there’s set to be a record-number of new products and services from 200 plus exhibitors.

Long-standing show exhibitors have continued to support the event, and they’ll sit alongside a host of new exhibitors.

Leading names exhibiting include: Bunzl, Bewleys Ltd, BD Foods, Calor, Henderson Foodservice Ltd, Hugh Jordan, Lynas Foodservice and Stephen’s Catering Equipment, who will all have an unmissable presence at CATEX. Accounting for over 20% of the exhibitor list, new names are a welcome addition to the show and attending for the first time are BWG Foods, Aluline Group, Ash and Ro, Cordelia Foods, Elavon, Gecko Catering Equipment, JMC Packaging Ltd, Plassey Food and Sauceworks, to name but a few.

Leading catering equipment supplier, Caterline will make its debut at CATEX 2017. Speaking ahead of the event, Brian Coe, Managing Director of Caterline Catering Equipment Ltd says: “Caterline are the leaders in innovation bringing new technologies and concepts that save on energy, labour and food cost to business. We deliver new ways of cooking, holding, displaying, and ordering food for businesses Nationwide.

“At Catex 2017, Caterline will be launching new concepts from around the world including the latest advancement in technology. Join us at our stand - E11 - where we’ll be demonstrating the advantages of owning some of the best equipment and technology from the USA and Europe.”

At CATEX, Bunzl McLaughlin will be launching its exciting new textiles range alongside its latest barware, cocktail equipment range and bar furniture.

Emma Gibson, Marketing Co-ordinator at Bunzl Rafferty, adds: “This year at CATEX, we will be showing our latest ranges, including exciting new textiles. Bed linen, bath linen, slippers and luxurious bathrobes are just some of the products that we’ll be launching at the event. We will also be showcasing the Paul Costelloe guest amenity range and there’ll be exclusive CATEX special offers, only available for the duration of the exhibition.”

Food For Thought

As such an important event for restauranteurs, hoteliers, chefs, café owners and all of those in the food, drink and hospitality sectors, you can expect plenty of innovative discussions and debates on a range of topics across the three days at CATEX.

Chef Network Hub @ CATEX 2017

Chef Network brings chefs together to collaborate, share knowledge, and learn from each other . The Chef Network Hub at CATEX 2017 will be a social space where chefs can meet and connect, as well as a working space where chefs will exchange ideas on the future of their industry. Everything from sustainability, to how chefs are trained, the skills needed to run a food business, and food trends will be discussed.

The schedule in the Chef Network Hub will feature a variety of formats including panel discussions and informal ‘round table’ discussion, soapbox sessions where all chefs can have their say, and Chef-to-Chef interview

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catex preview and Q&A sessions. Themes include Food on the Edge: The Future of Food; A Better Kitchen Workplace: Nurturing Talent for the Future and The Business of the Food Business: the reality of running a restaurant

The Bartenders Association’s Irish Cocktail Championships will also see Ireland’s leading mixologists putting their skills to the test during the high-octane cocktail challenges.

Some of the participating chefs who will feature in the Chef Network Hub include: JP McMahon – Aniar Restaurant & Eat Galway group; Stephen Holland – Lough Erne Resort; Niall Hill – The Butler’s Pantry; Mark Anderson – Gather & Gather and Ross Lewis – Chapter One Restaurant

With almost 1000 chefs descending on CATEX to take part in Chef Ireland’s national culinary competitions – the Panel of Chefs -organised competitions, will welcome competitors to a host of category competitions over the three days. In the Hot Kitchen, almost 20 category competitions will be taking place, alongside a variety of ‘cold display’ competitions. In addition, there’s the highly sought-after Chef of the Year competitions, which are awarded based on the combined results from the Hot Kitchen and Cold Display Salon competitions.

For the full schedule of events, please refer to www.CATEXexhibition. com If you are in the foodservice, catering or hospitality industry then CATEX is the most important date of the year, serving up solutions for visitors through innovations, new products and services, and learning! Make sure you’re part of it. Registration is now open and you can register for FREE at www.CATEXexhibition.com/registration

Chef Ireland Culinary Competitions 2017:

Pop Up Restaurant at CATEX in association with the RAI and Bunzl CDS (Catering Design Solutions).

One of the hottest seats at CATEX will be at the Pop Up restaurant in association with the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) and Bunzl Catering Design Solutions. Returning to CATEX 2017, the pop-up restaurant will play host to a different restaurant each day, seating 90 people. The Pop Up Restaurant is available to book, and the online reservation system will launch early in 2017 – see www.CATEXexhibition. com for details.

Contract Caterers Culinary Challenge

With eight teams from Ireland’s highly competitive contract catering industry going head to head - the Contract Caterers Culinary Challenge is not to be missed. Sodexo took home the crown at CATEX 2015, and this year, teams will be required to create a three-course meal for selected guests and an independent judging panel, with two hours to prepare and six covers to serve.

Euro-Toques Ireland Chefs “Masterclasses - Chefs”

Euro-Toques Ireland returns to ‘The Kitchen’ at CATEX once again this year. Euro-Toques is creating a dedicated space for chefs to gain new knowledge and share ideas through presentations, panel discussions and demos on culinary trends such as fermentation. There’ll also be masterclasses focusing on techniques such as curing and cooking with tea, and exciting culinary innovations from master chefs including Derry Clarke and Sunil Ghai.

Serving Up Talent

CATEX is the national centre for local excellence in the industry and nurtures Ireland’s talent of the future through world-class competitions and expert demonstrations.

Over the three days of the show, CATEX will be hosting the Irish Barista Championships, organised by SCAE Ireland, which includes the World Barista Championships finals and the Cup Tasters Competition. Current Irish Barista Champion, Natalia Piotrowska, will be defending her title at CATEX, as she competes against Ireland’s best baristas, all vying for a chance to represent Ireland at the World Barista Championships.

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Following on from the success of the popup restaurant at Catex 2015 CDS are back in conjuction with the RAI & IFSA to provide CATEX 2017 with a brand new popup restaurant featuring the launch of the new KORE range from Fagor. See below for more details.

Versatility And Multi-Use · New modular arrangement with machines measuring 800 mm at the front (one module) and 400 mm (half a module). · 6% space use reduction over the previous range. · Any machine from the new 900 range may be installed as forming part of standard blocks or cantilever blocks, thus offering the possibility of installing bridge-type blocks. · The machines can be operated with different gases (natural gas, butane, propane), and the electrical machines adapt to the standard voltages and frequencies all over the world. · The accessories and compliments available mean that the final equipment can be practically made to order for the user.

As Standard · The construction is in AISI 304 stainless steel, and where particularly outstanding properties are required, in AISI 316. · Construction processes using roboticised welding and automatic polishing. · Ultrafine satin polish of the steel surfaces. · Fastening screws hidden from view of the user. · 2mm thick Stainless Steel panels & Work Surfaces.

will be launched at Catex 2017.

The Heart of Yesterday for the Kitchen of Tomorrow

NEW MEMBERS

Restaurant Name

County

Restaurant Name

County

Restaurant Name

County

Bru House Fairview

Dublin 3

Lyla's Kitchen

Co Cork

Café Express

Co Galway

The Coach House Bistro @ The Old Imperial Hotel

Co Cork

Kelly Lou Cakes

Co Laois

Denny Lane Restaurant

Co Kerry

Ariel House

Dublin 4

Lolly & Cooks - Holly Street

Dublin 2

Dublin 6

Co Kildare

Dublin 4

Little Ass Burrito Bar

La Maison Donatello Ristorante

Lolly & Cooks - Ballsbridge

Bake Café & Tearoom

Co Carlow

The Market Bar

Co Clare

Dublin 2

Tubridy's Bar

Co Clare

Murph's Bistro @ Derragarra Inn

Co Cavan

Little Ass Burrito Bar - Dawson Street

Co Limerick

Dublin 2

Co Kerry

Franklin's Restaurant Limerick

Spice of India

Gregory's Garden The Pantry Café Midleton

Co Cork

Franklin's Restaurant Galway

Co Galway

Spice of India (Clonsilla)

Dublin 15

The Harbour Bar

Co Dublin

Jenny's Kitchen

Co Offaly

Spice of India (Swords)

Co Dublin

Brickyard Gastropub

Co Dublin

O'Connors of Tinahely

Co Wicklow

Currans Bar Seafood & Steakhouse

Co.Down Dublin 24

Rococo Wicklow

Co Wicklow

No.57 Gourmet Kitchen

Co Cork

The Interval Bistro

The Pantry Café & Restaurant

Co Cork

Seabank Bistro

Co Dublin

Aussie Bar and Restaurant

Dublin 20

Minetta Deli

Dublin 13

Le Petit Breton

Dublin 9

Helena Chocolates

Co Mayo

O'Briens Good Food & Drink

Co Meath

Sage & Stone Café

Co Meath

Woodville House

Co Westmeath

Inish Fusion Café & Wine Bar

Donegal

Restaurant 1861 @ Sion Stables

Co Tyrone

The Smoke House

Co Kerry

Co Fermanagh

Co Carlow

Co Kerry

The Jolly Sandwich Bar

Bombay Diner Indian Restaurant

Pegs

Co Kerry

Co Dublin

Co Mayo

Greys Lane Bistro

Indus Spice

Grainne Uaile Bar

Co Galway

Co Clare

Dublin 18

Galway Inn Arms

Joe's Café Restaurant

The 1888 Restaurant @ Leopardstown Racecourse

Namirs Restaurant

Co Kerry

Libero's Italian Restaurant

Co Dublin

High Chaparral Dining Room @ Tipperary Racecourse

Co Tipperary

Scribes

Co Kerry

Achill Cliff House Hotel

Co Mayo

Bar Square

Co Mayo

Café Davitt

Co Donegal

Bobbyjo Bistro @ Fairyhouse Racecourse

Co Meath

The Chocolate Garden of Ireland

Co Carlow

Medley

Dublin 2

Bective Restaurant @ Navan Racecourse

Co Meath

Smugglers Creek Inn

Co Donegal

Aran Islands Hotel

Co Galway

The Workshop Gastropub

Dublin 2

Caman Inn

Co Westmeath

Cork Racecourse

Co Cork

Piglet Wine Bar

Dublin 8 Co Meath

Co Mayo

Co Cork

The Silver Tankard Bar & Restaurant

Sage Restaurant

Café Eco The Forge Restaurant

Co Carlow

Deirdre's Café

Co Kerry

Lobster Pot @ Connemara Lake Hotel

Co Galway

McMahon's Café Bar

Co Cavan

The Olive Tree Tapas & Wine Bar

Co Waterford

Natural Foods Bakery-Paul Street

Co Cork

Bambu Restaurant

Co Limerick

Food Heaven Café & Deli

Co Clare

Butlers Chocolate Café

Dublin 17

Rosie's Café

Dublin 8

Co Galway

Natural Foods Bakery-Blackrock Village

Co Cork

Treat Café Claregalway

Dublin 1

Treat Café Lackagh

Co Galway

Lana Asian Street Food

Co Clare

The Wheathill Restaurant

Co Down

Natural Foods Bakery-Fitzgerald Park

Co Cork

Esquires Coffee Shop

Co Galway

Dublin 1

Country Store and Café at Timber Trove

Dublin 16

Tosnu

Mr.Fox Restaurant

Ann's Bakery

Dublin 1

Hang Dai

Dublin 2

Associate MEMBERS Business Name

Website

Delaneys Bespoke Furniture Ltd

n/a

The Bastion Kitchen

Co Westmeath

Fegans Food Service

www.foodservice.ie/

Canty's Bar

Co Cork

Berendsen Ireland

www.berendsen.ie/

Icewater Ltd Euro Refrigeration Group

www.erg.ie

The Mill Restaurant

Co Donegal

Vada Pow

www.vadapow.com/#vada-pow

Eskay's Bistro

Co Louth

SD Bell

sdbellsteacoffee.com/

Culcow Ice Cream

www.culcow.com/

Errigal Country House Hotel

Co Cavan

Penny Loaf Company

www.pennyloaf.ie

Blas Café and Wine Bar

Co Meath

Service Matters

www.servicematters.ie

The Bar

Co Carlow

Brady Catering

www.bradycatering.ie/catering-equipment-services.html

Dobiquity

www.dobiquity.com

The Rooftop Restaurant

Co Sligo

Dan Kelly's Cider

www.dankellyscider.com/

Kyoto Sushi and Noodle

Co Limerick

Egan's Ocean Fresh Fish

n/a

Aryzta Food Solutions

www.aryztafoodsolutions.ie

Kyoto Sushi and Noodle

Co Dublin

The Caterers

www.thecaterers.ie

Er Buchetto

Co Dublin

Liquid Finance

www.liquidfinance.ie/

Rathfarnham Golf Club

Dublin 16

airbnb

.....Friend or Foe ?

-Frank Corr examines the impact of the world phenomenon on Ireland Over many decades of Irish hotel-keeping, voices were raised, tables were thumped and angry speeches made on the issue of ‘unregistered accommodation’ The object of the hoteliers’ ire were home-owners who offered accommodation on a casual basis, usually at period of peak demand. They were branded as being ‘unfair competition’ because they did not pay commercial rates or comply with various regulations.

Eventually, the then Bord Fáilte, succeeded in registering the majority of these houses and they morphed into the thriving b and b sector, which became a jewel in the crown of Irish tourism.

While some unregistered accommodation remained, we heard little about it from hoteliers who now had bigger fish to fry.

That is until recently, when the ‘unregistered’ sector received an enormous boost from the world phenomenon that is Air BnB. The ‘peer to peer on-line marketplace’ first emerged in 2008 when two young Californians, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia offered a bed and home-made breakfast in their San Francisco loft to delegates to an Industrial Design conference, who had no place to sleep because all the local hotels were booked out. The three guests who responded were thrilled, and the idea emerged for a website which would offer alternative accommodation, ‘with unique networking opportunities’ to people planning to attend other sold-out conferences.

And so began ‘Air BnB’, a booking service which now lists two million properties in 34,000 towns and cities in 191 countrieswhich is just about everywhere on this planet. Over eight years and several acquisitions, Air BnB has become synonymous with non-hotel accommodation and in 2013 it located its European headquarters in Dublin.

In the process of growth, Air BnB has locked horns with the hotel industry and local governments. Its hosts have been accused of not paying taxes and of failing to meet health, safety and hygiene standards. The initial reaction of the service was to fight City Hall tooth and nail,but over the past year or so, it has softened its approach and has reached formal agreements with several key cities including London, Amsterdam and New Orleans.

In October 2015, Jersey City, New Jersey became the first city in the New York metropolitan area to legalize Airbnb, and add it to the existing body of hotels and motels that pay transient occupancy tax.

Other major tourism destinations were eager to follow the Jersey City lead, but encountered complaints from local community groups about residences becoming virtual hotels.

To counter this, Air BnB agreed to list specific units for a maximum of 90 days a year in London and 60 days a year in Amsterdam. It also signed at deal with New Orleans authorities in which it agreed to provide the names of local hosts who would then be obliged to obtain permits. It also agreed to ban listings for the famous French Quarter where many tourist hotels are located.

In Ireland, the official response to Air BnB has been muted.

Answering a question from this magazine at a recent Tourism Ireland briefing, Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan, said that while the National Tourism Council has discussed Air BnB, the need for regulation has not been articulated.

Hoteliers have mixed feelings about the service. Some, like Francis Brennan, think that it might ease the hotel bedroom shortage in Dublin and attract visitors who are more likely to travel around the country. Speaking to Bobby Kerr on the ‘Down to Business’ radio programme, he said that if potential foreign visitors can’t find accommodation in Dublin, Irish tourism as a whole will suffer as people will opt instead to visit other major European cities. ‘Airbnb might be a saviour’, he suggested, ‘as it draws people to Ireland who will then spend their cash around the country’.

The Irish Hotels Federation has said little on the matter apart from a comment last March from ceo Tim Fenn who said that issues of health and safety insurance and adequate redress for guests should be the same for all accommodation providers.

Certainly Air BnB is growing in Ireland. A survey conducted by the company last year revealed that the service accounted for 143,000 guests in Dublin spread across 2,960 properties which grossed €17.3m.In Galway hosts welcomed 32,000 guests, earning €2.2m. There is certainly an element of competition here with hotels and this will become more acute as Air BnB expands its offering to business travellers.

The accommodation which these ‘hosts’ offer is not always ‘bargain basement’. In researching this article I looked for one night’s accommodation in December for one guest in a number of locations. Dublin city centre provided 300 options with an average rate of €81, Cork has 66 offers at an average rate of €66 and Limerick had 39 offers at an average rate of €99.The ‘average rate’ may have been deceptive, as some offers were for large houses or apartment accommodating up to ten guests, with rates of more than €200.

The legal position of Air BnB Guests is unclear in many territories, including Ireland. This Summer, Dublin City Council decided that a two-bed property in Temple Bar had undergone material change of use due to its Air BnB activity and was therefore not exempt from planning regulations. The move prompted a response from Housing Minister Simon Coveney who promised to write to Local Authorities, giving them ‘clarity’ in relation to short term lettings.

‘I think if you own a property and you’re living there and you rent a room or a house out for a few weeks of the year through AirBnB - that’s the way many, households use it and it’s quite successful in that. But I think it’s a different thing when a property is for sale and it’s being advertised as having an €80,000 income from Airbnb with turnover every few days.’

The general feeling among hoteliers and guest house owners seems to be that Air BnB is acceptable provided that its service is not abused. There was a strong reaction when a college lecturer went on radio to explain how he rents apartments in Dublin and then re-lets them on short-term occupancy through Air BnB. Agreements such as those reached between Air BnB and London, Amsterdam, New Orleans and other major tourism cities would go a long way towards regulating the market and overcoming opposition from local communities and mainstream accommodation providers.

With its European headquarters located in Dublin it should be easy for Irish municipal authorities and tourism interests to sit down with the company to work out a mutually-beneficial arrangement.

Maybe this is the time to start.

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hotels

Selling ‘Convenience’ at Airport Clayton Hotel & Restaurant Times meets ‘Hotel Manager of the Year’ Des McCann

are measured on its performance. It was empowering and created an operation which was very clearly focussed on the guests.’

The change also involved taking on additional staff with the payroll rising from 180 to 240.

‘We sell convenience’, says Des McCann as we sit in the library of Ireland’s third largest hotel- the Clayton at Dublin Airport.

Before he arrives I glance at the 3,500 volumes on the shelves, where ‘A report on Catholic Schools in Northern Ireland’ sits next to one of Jordan’s many autobiographies.

It is quiet, cosy and, like the rest of the hotel, has an air of Christmas about it.

‘We get new guests every day’, says Des. ‘They are flying out or have flown in or they are corporate people. Our average length of stay is 28 hours’.

Not much time to make an impression.

‘This year we upgraded from three to four stars’, Des tell me, ‘and it has made a huge impact on our corporate business. Revenue was up 23% in the first half of the year and both rates and yields are positive’ They probably need to be with the hotel costing Dalata €453m. Getting a return on that investment require a slick, profitable operation and when I ask Des about this I get a satisfied smile. He adds that the hotel was bought freehold and represented a shrewd investment

by Dalata.

“

And the Dublin Airport Clayton is about to get even bigger.

‘We are adding 140 guestrooms which will give us a total of 610, hopefully by Q2 2018’.

‘The staff market is tight, but Dalata firmly believes in developing its people to their full potential’, he says. ‘ The company has a wideranging development programme covering every employee at all stages of their progress. We can take in a college student and guide him or her to become a general manager. Management, supervisory and skills training modules are on offer and all hotels in the company can avail of them. A commis chef can progress all the way to Executive Head Chef within the programme. We have just completed a food and beverage skills module for our own staff.’

We return to the theme of convenience.

We return to the theme of convenience

‘We are ideally located next to the airport, the motorway and the Port tunnel, so access is quick and easy from Dublin or any part of the country. We offer a total 24/7/365 service with breakfast and other meals available around the clock. If you arrive in from a flight at 2am we will offer you food and if you are leaving at 3.15am you can have breakfast. Our busiest breakfast time is 5.30am.’

And you can park. The hotel is famous for its 1700 space car park which operates as a profit centre and is used by both guests and other airport travellers. ‘It is a very important element in our business and has its own Car Park Revenue Manager. We run a shuttle bus to and from the airport every 20 minutes 24 hours a day.’

These will be built to a four star spec- but what about the task of upgrading this year?

And yes- it is profitable.

‘The hotel is a good quality build and while we are still refurbishing rooms, the standard is already high’.

Clayton inherited the car park business from Moran and Bewleys, but what has Des added to the business?

Upgrading to four star, he says, was principally about improving services to guests. ‘We went through a culture shift, giving our staff ownership of their areas of responsibility.

All our managers were effectively given a business to run and

‘Principally new corporate and airline crew business’, he says, adding that the food and beverage offering has also been enhanced.

‘We moved from being a 100% leisure hotel to a mix that is now 50% corporate and crews’.

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hotels

Becoming a four star hotel was a ‘must’ in plans to woo the corporate world- and it has worked. ’Unlike the airport market which is seasonal, corporate business is steady throughout the year. We can offer four star accommodation, 17 meeting rooms and a 300-seater ballroom. Rates are good and the food and beverage spend can be above average. We have also picked up market share among airline crews and will sell 15,000 rooms to this segment in 2016’.

Unlike many Irish hotels, the Airport Clayton is not sitting in a town or even village- so is there any local business?

‘The population of Fingal is 273,000 and we are active in that community through the “Clayton Cares” community programme.

Our people have been volunteering on a number of local projects.’

And it pays- the hotel has already hosted 30 wedding this year.

Des likes working for Dalata, where his uncle Pat is ceo. (‘But I won’t expect or get any favours there!). He likes the culture which allows him to run the business without interference from head office. ‘I am given responsibility for the success of this hotel and will be measured on how I perform’.

A native of Bunniconlon, Ballina, Co. Mayo he graduated from the National College of Ireland with degrees in HR and IR. But hotels attracted him and he joined the Jurys Management Development Programme where his mentor was John Clifton, gm at the then Burlington. He joined Dalata following the 2008 crash and managed the Berkeley Court and then the Ballsbridge Hotel before moving to Dublin Airport.

operating at high levels of occupancy. We have 1,000 guests staying tonight with 385 checking in this evening’.

But then there is Brexit.

‘We don’t know yet how it will develop. At the moment 17% of our business is from Northern Ireland and I am confident that it will remain an important market. Dublin has the fastest-growing airport in Europe and will continue to generate business from all parts of the island. A weak sterling could impact on rates, but I don’t think that it will be a major factor for people from NI who are setting out on a holiday’.

The major project in 2017 will be the building of the new rooms, but Des also plans to add to the food offering with an Italian restaurant.

Winner of the IHI ‘Young Manager of the Year’ in 2010 and the ‘Hotel Manager’ title this year, 33 year old Des has already made his mark on an expanding but fiercely competitive hotel sector.

To-day he shares his time between his job and home life with his wife Ciara and their two children.

But maybe he also can take time out to sit in his cosy library with a good book.

He is confident that the current room rates and yields will hold steady next year. ‘New capacity is in the pipeline in Dublin but it will be 2018 before most comes on stream. We plan to continue

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Irelands project lighting supplier

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flanagans

Under its distinctive neon sign, Flanagan’s of O’Connell Street continues to welcome customers as it has done for the past several decades. Current operators Aidan Meyler and Karl Ryan discuss the changes and challenges facing the business.

The new team behind Flanagan’s are well tenured in the hospitality industry with both men forming a partnership with a view towards strengthening existing trade at the restaurant through modernising.

Ryan has now spent fifteen years at the restaurant and before his current role in this partnership, worked his way from an entry level position to head chef.

Meyler compliments this with an extensive career working front of house at various establishments both here in Ireland and in San Francisco and New York, including stints on Cunard Line’s flagship QE2, Slane Castle & the Michelin starred L’Ecrivain, Dublin. They have now set about the task of modernising one of the capital’s best loved restaurants, with the goal of diversifying into additional market segments while preserving the tradition of Flanagan’s.

With such history and tradition, the restaurant’s location is in sharp contrast to that of the surrounding area, with Flanagan’s offering a glimpse of what a reimagined O’Connell Street could be. Despite this, a steady flow of clientele make their way through the front door each day ranging from local regulars to international visitors, all searching for authenticity amongst the sea of other dining establishments that adorn both sides of the street.

“The idea that I had in my head is that we need to keep the ethos of the restaurant – the warmth of it, but we needed to up the ante”, states Aidan of his philosophy once assuming control of the venue. That outlook would involve holding onto the traditional fare by “not changing a whole lot and keeping all the favourites”, during a transitional period that looked to broaden the customer base by reaching a younger demographic.

role as Executive chef. With a comprehensive career in the hospitality industry, the existing turnover at the restaurant was a key motivator for Aidan’s involvement. “It’s a busy little spot, up to one hundred thousand people go past the door each day and we get a certain percentage of that” he states going on to detail renovations on the property over the past two years.

This facelift has been carefully chosen to reflect the lineage of Flanagan’s with all original items sourced for the overhaul of the décor, which is based on a 1920’s theme that includes the relocation of the kitchen and creation of further space at the back of the restaurant.

Changes have also been seen through the food on offer with Karl advising that although regular items that have become staples of the Flanagan’s menu have been retained, an effort has been made to introduce new dishes on offer. However, in his opinion the key to their success thus far has been the relative simplicity of the restaurant, “We stuck to traditional food, we never went fancy and it’s paying off because we’re busy every day, the tourists love it”.

Current success has not come without challenges familiar to the rest of the industry, with Karl quick to point out the difficulty in attracting staff with the right training, particularly when it comes to the hiring of chefs. “It’s hard to get them around the city at the minute”, states Ryan going on to detail his recent search this summer, emphasising the necessity for such staff to be of the required standard given the level of expectation that comes with the Flanagan’s name. Currently there are forty-five staff employed through both a full and parttime capacity across the business, with Karl and Aidan keen to add the need for increased training and enticement for people to enter the industry here.

After an introduction that led to the forming of a partnership, the duo took over ownership of the premises in November 2014 with Aidan responsible for front of house and Karl continuing his then

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flanagans

The continued success of the restaurant is something of particular interest to Karl, given his fifteen-year tenure on O’Connell Street. Having seen the changes around the industry and indeed the local area during that time, he believes the longevity of Flanagan’s is down to consistency. “We want to keep what we have right, you can’t take your eye off the ball”, as he also believes that the careful management of menu prices has helped build a loyal customer base.

The restaurant’s status of being the only quality food offering at ground level on O’Connell Street is not lost on Aidan, describing such lone status as ‘appalling’, especially given the contrast that exists between Dublin and comparable international cities. “It’s a real shame that the main offering here is fast food”, he states going on to share his belief that more quality restaurants and cafés should be encouraged to set up along the capital’s main thoroughfare.

However, in his view the Council could do more to aid the fostering of such an environment. Currently seating outside premises is just one of many progressions currently falling victim to present regulations. “The Council make it difficult, look at the lovely spot I have out the front”, referencing the beautiful terraced seating which was held up for so long with the red tape of licensing for the so called “sun tax”.

Cafe’s and Restaurants on our main thoroughfare need to be encouraged to provide outdoor seating in a nice setting.

In contrast to other dining establishments sharing their address, Flanagan’s has maintained a strong relationship with local suppliers in a bid to maintain the highest standards of quality. “Everything is local”, states Aidan on detailing the ingredients used throughout the menu, going on to add that there are other benefits of using local contacts aside from the quality that is by now a common expectation of such produce. “We’re so busy that we never have to order too much”, with this high turnover of stock meaning suppliers drop by daily to ensure optimum freshness also.

Maintaining such standards along with the subtle changes to the menu has seen the present era of Flanagan’s go from strength to strength, with the restaurant enjoying a strong post summer trading period. “Thankfully it’s worked, I’m very happy with the outcome it just seems to be getting busier and busier”, Aidan declared regarding progress thus far which in turn has fuelled an optimistic outlook for the coming year ahead.

As part of the renovation of the premises the former overflow for the main restaurant has now been converted into an event area, allowing Flanagan’s to expand their party offering as well as diversify into live entertainment.

This includes the installation of a bar and small theatre stage, complete with a grand piano, which will play host to both stand-up comedy and a soon to launch nightly dinner show in conjunction with an American tour operator.

“We’ve signed a contract with an operator for five nights a week, May to September for the next two seasons” states Aidan, with the blending of Flanagan’s traditional Irish menu considered perfect for such a gathering.

The variety of the events being held will also be matched in the food available to each with casual dining through to the traditional Flanagan’s menu on offer, an important flexibility given the partners desire to see the space develop into a ‘go to’ location for this part of the city.

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fiztpatrick castle

Mark Scott-Lennon is general manager of Fitzpatricks’ Hotel in Kiliney. He is a third generation hotelier so that makes his mother Eithne,owner and director of the hotel, a second generation hotelier. Eithne says,” The last 12 months have been the best 12 months we’ve had in years. Our challenges now are building the team back up, recruiting, also in planning and investment, which is a catch up game.

For years we weren’t able to put money back into the property so we were trying to band- aid but now it’s time for reinvestment. We recently refinanced, and we have gone back to pillar banking which feels like going back to normal. In 12 months time again, hopefully I’ll be saying, ‘it’s fantastic, we’re making money and we’re spending it back on the property!’.

Three years ago the crisis wasn’t fully over when Mark came into the business as general manager. “I’ve been in the hotel since I was young, so knowing the premises wasn’t daunting. But I was 26 and trying to take over from Nicki and other long serving staff and that was difficult. Sean Dempsey our head chef has been an amazing support; he has worked for my granddad, two of my uncles, my mum and now he sees me coming along. He used to give me meringue when I was a kid! I had steep learning curves, but I was excited more than daunted by the challenge”.

Mark continues,“After my Masters in DIT, I went straight into the refinancing project and that was an unbelievable experience for me. It was like a complete review of the business and it involved looking back and looking forward. It was putting into practice what I learnt in DIT.” So three years on, how has Mark developed in his role? “We went through an initial period of change

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when I started. We sell more online now; our sales and marketing strategies have developed to include videos, drone videos and customer perspective videos. Social media has become very prominent. We had such a tough run of it. We lost a lot of middle management during the tough years and that affected our structures and our training and that needed to be re-emphasised. We did leadership management training with our younger staff with Invisio to train up our managers. I was very lucky with the timing of when I did take over. We had more finance available and it was about securing the future of the hotel”.

And what did the second generation make of the third generation’s changes? Eithne replies, “Mark is a very optimistic young man. He doesn’t hold back. When he started that leadership programme, moral was low among staff. They had lost some of their

fiztpatrick castle

longest working colleagues and the team didn’t feel strong. But when Mark came in it was like a breath of fresh air in many ways”.

Mark continues,”People are resistant to change and you have to bring people along. Some of the earlier initiatives I tried to bring in didn’t work because I realise now I wasn’t bringing people with me and supporting them or making them feel part of it. We rewrote our mission and vision and that really helped to bring us all together again. Eithnehas really let me find my own way and been very supportive. She gave me freedom to learn from my mistakes and grow at the same time”.

“The customer has to be at the centre of this business at the end of the day. It’s a business of common sense that gets very complicated! Our business in Fitzpatrick’s now is a mixture of everything. Because of our location we have business parks to draw on in Cherrywood, in Bray, and in Sandyford. Also we are just out of the city, so we have a strong wedding market and because of our pool and leisure centre we have a strong leisure market. We draw from every market segment. The infrastructure of the M50 being so close means the city is close and yet Wicklow and the countryside are right on the doorstep”.

“There is a challenge in any refurbishment because of a tight window we have to be able to do it but also because trades are much busier now. So I am finding that tradesmen are coming back to me and saying ‘we can’t do it then, we have other projects on’, because a lot of properties are refurbishing at the moment so that presents challenges also”.

Despite being such a well established and iconic property, this hotel is not immune to the same struggles as other properties and even with an optimistic future for Fitzpatrick’s Eithne has some words of caution for the industry. “The government didn’t support independent properties during the recession so we just had to put our heads down and say ‘right, this is up to us!’ There is a perception that tourism just happens. There isn’t enough resources to train our staff. Tourism is second to agriculture at the moment and the government needs to support that. Ireland will loose it’s cutting edge, our uniqueness, if we don’t get the resources to train people and to encourage Irish people to remain in the industry”.

“Corporate Ireland has changed. It’s back but it’s different.

The corporate room and conference business is back. I think rates will move north again and that does worry me a bit. We feed off the city and if Dublin becomes uncompetitive internationally that would worry me. But until more supply comes along, it’s hard to argue against any increases”.

So with another generation at the reigns, what is the future for Fitzpatrick’s? Eithne says,“We are planning a major refurbishment on 40 of our executive rooms over the next six months. Last year we replaced 40 bathrooms and replaced carpets in one of our function rooms and we will be continuing that and we are planning a refurbishment of our public spaces and our Bar and Grill, just to bring it up a level.

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tourism ireland

What a year for Ireland It was a phenomenal year in Irish Tourism and it looks Ireland can do little wrong these days. We’ve managed to somehow find ourselves back in that happy zone where we’re punching above our weight with the whole world behind us.

At the recent presentation of Tourism Ireland’s figures, it was a very pleased Chief Executive Niall Gibbons that spoke of visitor numbers to Ireland breaking through the 10-million mark for the first time: “We’ve got some good stories to tell today,” he announced before presenting the impressive figures to the assembled media.

The best year ever for overseas tourism to the island of Ireland saw 10.5 million visitors arrive on our shores. This is a remarkable 11% increase from 2015 figures. Foreign tourists contributed an estimated €5.4billion in revenue to the economies of Ireland, an increase of 10% from the previous year.

Even more satisfying was the fact that none of our markets were left out in this rising boat. Record high numbers of visitors were recorded from the United States, Germany, France, Canada, Spain and Australia.

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Ireland’s Ancient East seems to be doing its job for enhancing the product of what is essentially the rest of Ireland that isn’t part of the Wild Atlantic Way. The Wild Atlantic Way continued to strike a chord with visitors and is a particular hit with Continental Europe, where the view of a wild and beautiful wonderland of friendly people encapsulates the preconception.

The continuation of exposure from the Game of Thrones on the small screen and Star Wars on the big screen have been major factors in the popularisation of Ireland through the all-powerful American media and Tourism Ireland have certainly had their finger on the pulse here, showing sharp awareness to piggy-back on these phenomena. Gibbons said that the estimated advertising value from digital campaigns with these series’ were £11 million (€13m) and €17 million respectively.

Tourism Ireland’s ‘Doors of Thrones’ campaign to attract visitors to Northern Ireland racked up over 20 awards and accolades in the marketing and advertising industry across Europe – including three separate awards at The Drum’s Creative Out of Home Awards in London, in November (the Chairman’s Award, ‘Best Use of Illustration/Animation’ and ‘Best Experiential/Ambient’ awards).The Global Greening initiative is a neat trick that seems to be gathering pace every year. This year, there were 240 sites in 127 cities in 45 countries around the world. Even the “sound” antics of Irish fans at the European Football Championships in France have played their part.

There has been official recognition too of Ireland’s tourism marketing efforts, as Gibbons pointed out, citing the Swissbased World Economic Forum, who ranked Ireland 5th in the globe in terms of effective marketing and branding of their national tourism offering.

The expectations for 2017 are very strong.

All the factors that influenced the success of 2016 show no signs of disappearing or diminishing next year. In 2016, there was a 9% increase in inbound capacity by air – 537,000 seats every week onto the island of Ireland. Furthermore, there will be another jump in access to the country, with the direct Qatar connection, a new Miami flight and two low-cost operators bringing transAtlantic flights to Cork amongst the notable new additions that will be complimenting various increases on existing routes.

food trends

food Trends 2016 Musgrave MarketPlace recently published their research MarketPlace Food Trends 2016 and for anyone with an interest in food trends, it makes for very interesting reading.

The research has been carried out over the last four years and researchers interviewed 130 consumers and 40 food professionals; mostly chefs of every level from Michelin starred to those working at other levels of the industry.

According to Michelle Fennell, marketing director at Musgrave MarketPlace, this research confirms the optimism and positivity being experienced in the sector at the moment. Michelle says, “we got so much positive feedback. General consumer consensus showed a real confidence in the Irish food produce that’s on offer at the moment. Our research showed increases in spending, in eating and drinking out and an increase in the texture and variety of what’s on offer to consumers now”.

The research carried out falls under ten main headings; ‘generation eat’, health, technology, expertise, markets & events, cuisines ingredients & drink, influencers, places, communication and power. Michelle highlights the key aspects of some of these; “the trends in ‘expertise’ and ‘generation eat’ were at both a consumer and a professional level. Our research showed that ‘generation eat’ as we’ve called them, consumers aged between 25 and 45 are so well informed about food, the quality of food and they are passionate about food. It plays a huge part in their lives and their social lives. This in turn forces the professionals to have very high standards in their offering and also in the procedures they are using in their kitchens”.

ingredients and drinks. Michelle says, “health is on everyone’s minds from the consumer to the professionals with the focus very much on good quality produce”.

Based on their findings, Musgrave have introduced some innovative experiences for their customers in their Ballymun premises. Michelle explains, “we have introduced a lot of technology into the shopping journey. We have a chef theatre everyday and a cook –off where customers can sample products and become acquainted with our suppliers. We also have a training kitchen for customers which includes products for creating healthy options using Irish produce”.

“We have had a great response from our customers and partners so far and in January we will be offering master classes in fish, cocktails and meat”. So in terms of future trends, what does Musgrave’s research tell us about what may be on the horizon? “Gin is here to stay. We have 51 new gins at the moment, many Irish gins. I think bourbon may see the same revolution but it may be two years away yet”.

As a supplier Musgrave MarketPlace offers food products, drinks and equipment and tableware for the mainstream to high end market.

Michelle continues, ”one of the interesting thing about this age group we found is that they recognise the range of quality produce on offer in Ireland and they recognise it is of an International standard. So while they may be very knowledgeable on food in general, we found there was huge pride among consumers about the uniqueness of Irish food produce”.

In terms of technology Michelle says, “food is very visual and it’s one of the most shared content across all social media. One very well known chef told us that he regularly produces food solely to be photographed and shared on Instagram. We also found that a lot of Irish chefs follow international chefs in the USA and Asia predominantly and that social media is absolutely influencing food trends, in this way.”

I ask Michelle if she feels the use of technology is only benefitting the industry or if there are any ways in which it is hindering our food offering and making it less authentic. Her response is only positive, “ our research shows that for both the consumer and the professionals, the use of technology and social media is so important. Food bloggers are definitely influencing consumers and for professionals it’s vital that they are engaging with consumers and using social media both to do this and to stay informed of trends is crucial”.

Health is a trend that is not going away according to the research by Musgrave. In response to this the company now has a dietician and nutritionist who is available to go to their customers’ premises and advise on their menus. Alternatively, their customers can go into Musgrave MarketPlace for a day and be advised on healthy menus as well as trending products,

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IFSA news

450 IFSA Members Families and Clients attend the IFSA Dublin & Belfast Movie Events EQUIPMENT SUPPLIERS - VIP INFORMATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS - BIM WORKSHOP

ARE YOU AWARE OF BIM (BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING) AND HOW IMPORTANIT IT WILL BE TO YOUR BUSINESS FROM JANUARY 2017?

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that equips architecture, engineering, and construction professionals with the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure. All catering equipment manufacturers and suppliers will be required to work through a BIM for all Government tenders from January 2017.

IFSA will host an information session on BIM and how it will impact your business on Monday 16th January. This is a FREE EVENT Exclusive to IFSA Members. Contact louise.mcloughlin@ifsa.eu.com for more information.

Two great days were had by all at the Annual IFSA Christmas Family Event and Private Movie Screening when over 450 IFSA Members and their families and clients descended on the Odeon, Point Village Dublin (4th Dec) and Odeon Victoria Square, Belfast (11th December) for plenty of festive fun. The adults were welcomed with some coffee and mince pies while the kids had a visit with Santa followed by some face painting and balloon modelling entertainment. All then made their way into the cinema for a private screening of the hugely popular Christmas Blockbuster ‘MOANA’.

Hoshizaki Gram UK unveils the latest Green Paper findings A lot can change in two years and with the speed at which the UK foodservice industry evolves it is not surprising that the market can often magnify the scale of these changes.

The fast casual sector has exploded, naturally fast food chain Leon increased its number of sites by 50 percent in the last 12 months expanding from 22 to 44 outlets. The introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals as well as the EU FIC regulations on food labeling arrived in late 2014, while 2016 saw the launch of the EU Ecodesign Directive.

Back in 2008, Gram UK commissioned a unique piece of research – the first research of its kind – which analysed the industry’s attitudes towards sustainability. Eight years on the latest edition of the Gram Green Paper – still the only independent report in the market – examines whether industry attitudes towards sustainability are keeping pace with this fast moving sector or whether positive steps towards sustainability have stalled. The Gram Green Paper offers a comprehensive overview of the behaviours and approaches to sustainability and green practices of 800 respondents across eight foodservice sectors.

The paper also illustrates a shift in industry views as there now seems to be a greater understanding that managing effective energy use has the greatest impact on energy bills.

To download the full Gram Green Paper visit www.gogreenwithgram.co.uk or view the Gram Green Paper highlights video on the Gram YouTube channel.

For more information on energy efficient refrigeration, visit www.gogreenwithgram.co.uk or call 01322 616900.

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Resulting from a passion for eggs, the Nest Box and the Golden Irish brand have consistently driven category growth through branded innovation. Through a supplier base of 26 family run farms that supply Free Range, Organic, CornFed, Omega 3 and Colony eggs, they offer a reliable, quality service which is supported by a highly qualified and experienced team.

In 2014, the business invested in further processing facilities to supply boiled and liquid egg to add additional value to customers. Available in a range of weights to suits the needs of your business, these convenient products make life easier and help save time and money.

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Come and See Us at CATEX - Stand G23 With a growing membership of over 180 members, IFSA is the leading association for Foodservice Suppliers to the Irish Market.

Come and visit us during CATEX or see www. ifsa.eu.com/ suppliers-area for details on how IFSA Membership can benefit your business!

IFSA news

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Market leading brand Stash Tea sources its leaves from the world’s premier tea gardens, using pure, all natural ingredients in its full selection of teas. They are masterfully blended, high in quality and full of flavour.

From the minute you open the box the quality of Stash Tea is evident.

Unlike many of its competitors, Stash tea bags are foil-wrapped to maintain peak freshness and flavour. Excellence has a wide variety of these specialty teas in various flavours that will suit most taste buds, including Lemon Ginger, Peppermint and Premium Green. For more information please contact Excellence Ltd on 01-8323300 or visit www. excellence.ie.

At Lynas, we always focus on one thing and make that the centre of what we do – the customer.

Our brand promise is ‘Delivering You More’ and we wanted to really encapsulate what MORE meant so to keep it simple we used this Acrostic.

M – Make it easier: From our new Online Ordering System that can make you better to our 4 Food Outlets that you can use at your convenience for that late rush or to get a smaller pack size.

O – Ongoing growth: Growth is part of our DNA as it is for many of you and that means we want to develop new areas of the business and help you grow. Our fantastic new Tex Mex range can help expand your business. Recreate authentic spiced dishes from flavoursome fajitas to the perfect burrito and be assured that Lynas will provide you with the best ingredients.

R – Right first time: We are aware that every touchpoint is vital, from having the right stock, keying the right order, picking it, loading and delivering it, everything matters!

E – Everyday adding value: We want to add value to everything we do. We want to become your number one supplier, you first phone call or online order offering you a wide range of quality products at competitive pricing.

We are so grateful for the trust you put in us each and every day and for that I want to say a massive thank you.

Caterline Catering Equipment Ltd.

One of the longest established catering equipment companies in Ireland. Supplying, distributing and servicing high-end food service products Nationwide.

Our team of experienced professionals are here to offer you a customised solution to suit your needs including Kitchen Designs, Menu development and Customer Service Support including a full team of qualified trainers & technicians.

We exclusively represent some of the biggest manufacturers in the industry.

Our large showroom includes a fully operational demonstration kitchen and customer training facility.

Caterline are the leaders in innovation bringing new technologies and concepts that save on energy, labour and food cost to business.

New ways of cooking, holding, displaying, and ordering food for businesses Nationwide.

Henderson Foodservice Ltd is a leading supplier to the foodservice industry in Ireland. They work with island of Ireland suppliers as much as possible, connecting them with our home grown culinary talent. Henderson Foodservice are proud to supply Great Taste and Blas na hEireann award winners, as well as Good Food Ireland and NI Good Food producers.

Here are some fast facts about the company; - Henderson Foodservice supply over 4500 customers across 11 sectors, with 6500 products and their lorries travel over 1,000,000 miles per year.

- Their recent awards include Investors in People Silver, Deloitte Best Managed Company and UTV Business Eye Company of the Year.

- Henderson Foodservice is also the home of the Country Range own brand in Ireland, they own the largest coffee brand in NI - Barista Bar, and are the exclusive supplier of UCC coffee beans and machines on the island.

Talk to the professionals that are here to support you by answering any of your questions and explain the advantages of owning some of the best equipment and technology from the USA and Europe.

Henderson Foodservice will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2017, and understand just how competitive the foodservice industry is. They are large enough to offer their customers an expanding product range at competitive prices, but are small enough to ensure their customer’s needs don’t get lost in the midst of it all. A growing sales team of over 70 sales and telesales staff means that their customers can benefit from a one on one personal service. They also have a dedicated customer service team to allow their customers to focus on doing what they love – cooking great food.

The future in Food Service is here see it on the Caterline stand E11 at Catex.

You can find Henderson Foodservice online at www.henderson-foodservice.com , tweet them @HendersonFoods or call on 1800 805593

At Catex 2017, Caterline will be launching new concepts from around the world including the latest advancement in technology.

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review

The BDO Hotel, Restaurant & Bars Review An analysis of 2016 and a forecast for 2017 Early indications would suggest that 2016 was bumper year for Irish tourism, surpassing all previous records. It is anticipated that approximately 10.5 million people will have visited the island of Ireland during 2016, generating overseas tourism revenue of €5.4bn.

Having recently just published our second edition of the BDO Hotels, Restaurants and Bars Report 2016, what is very apparent from our discussions with key players across the industry is that the sector, by and large, has moved from a recovery phase to one of sustained growth. This upturn in performance is being experienced throughout Ireland, giving rise to high levels of operator confidence and expectations for continued strong growth during 2017.

While the tourism sector itself has played a key role in driving this recovery and improving performance, it is clear that a number of external factors have also played their part. There is strong recognition on the part of all operators who we spoke to that the strengthening of the global economy, favorable exchange rates and increased air and sea capacity have all had a very positive impact on tourism performance during 2016. Closer to home, improving consumer confidence and the retention of the reduced VAT rate are also credited as impacting positively on the sector.

With a general sense of positivity and optimism across the sector, is it a case of plain sailing for 2017 or should a somewhat cautionary approach be adopted?

Clearly the greatest and most immediate threat facing the entire hospitality sector is posed by Brexit. With UK visitors accounting for approximately 42% of our overseas visitors, any factors which result in a fall in the number of tourists from this market could have a very serious impact on business performance throughout the entire tourism sector, nationwide.

Staying Competitive

For the hotel sector, the recent gains that have been made both in hotel occupancy levels and room rates, are likely to be adversely affected by a fall-off in UK visitors. Compounding matters the improvements in Ireland’s international competitiveness which have been achieved and maintained as a result of the industry’s own actions, the reduced VAT rate and favorable exchange rates, could quickly be reversed due to the current volatility in Sterling and currency markets, arising from the Brexit decision. Value for money, remains a key consideration for many of our overseas visitors, in particular the British holidaymaker.

With some evidence to suggest price inflation across the entire hospitality sector, and notwithstanding the fact that Ireland still remains relatively competitive within an international context, one of the key challenges for the sector during 2017 will be to maintain a level of constraint when it comes to pricing and price increases.

One of the most effective ways to offset the adverse effects of a price increase is to ensure that our value proposition remains high. In this regard, it is somewhat comforting to see the high levels of capital investment taking place in hotels, restaurants and bars throughout Ireland. According to research carried out by the Irish Hotels Federation 89% of their members plan to invest in refurbishment and capital expenditure over the next 12 months.

Hotel capacity remains an issue, particularly in the Dublin market, where it is estimated that our capital city requires as a many as 5,000 new bedrooms to meet increasing demand. There is evidence to demonstrate that the current shortfall is limiting the potential to increase international market share across key market segments (coach tour, conference and incentive business) limiting the potential for tourism growth in the longer term and threaten the city’s competitiveness as a visitor destination.

While shortfalls in supply exist and demand remains high it is somewhat inevitable that hotel room rates will continue to rise, a welcome trend for hotel operators and investors alike, which in turn is likely to contribute to increasing levels of hotel transaction activity during 2017.

Fast-tracking the planning process for hotels and permitting higher density hotel developments are possible solutions to address shortfalls in hotel capacity in the short to medium term.

Recipe for Success

The restaurant sector has also enjoyed strong performance throughout 2016, both in terms of the domestic and overseas visitor market. Over half of restaurants surveyed by Fáilte Ireland reported an increase in the number of tables taken up by tourists in 2016 compared to the corresponding period in 2015.

Skills and staff shortages remain an issue for the industry, while the increasing regulatory burden shows no signs of abating. Early evidence from the restaurant sector would point to a fall in spending

by British visitors post Brexit, with this fall more pronounced in border counties. Despite this, optimism in the sector remains high. The success of the restaurant industry and key stakeholders in promoting Ireland as a destination for food lovers will undoubtedly contribute to the continued growth of this sector.

Maintaining the Momentum

Ireland’s tourism sector has achieved unprecedented growth during 2016 and the outlook for 2017 is positive. However, the uncertainty created as a result of Brexit poses a number of immediate issues and challenges for the hotel and restaurant sector which need to be addressed.

There would appear to be a distinct lack of strategic planning taking place on the part of many operators to examine and consider the likely implications of Brexit on their business. Now is the time for all business owners to take stock and to consider both the opportunities and threats facing their business as a result of Brexit. For some businesses drastic action may not be required, however, for others it may require fundamental changes in terms of how they manage and operate their business.

The Céad Míle Fáilte has been synonymous with Ireland’s tourist offering. Fáilte Ireland’s most recent Visitor Attitude Survey 2015 identifies that holidaymakers consider friendly, hospitable people to be the most important factor when choosing Ireland as a holiday destination. This is important for all of our source markets with more than nine out of ten claiming this is a key influencing factor. The prevalence of skills shortages and difficulties recruiting and retaining staff remain a key issue for the industry. Long-term policy measures must be introduced which can address this issue as a priority.

The introduction of the 9% tourism VAT rate has proved very effective at stimulating growth and activity in the tourism and hospitality sector and signaled the government’s commitment to the sector. The messages from government at the time of its introduction and in more recent times have been unequivocal – the 9% VAT rate will be retained for “as long as prices remain competitive”.

Perhaps the greatest challenge to the hotel and restaurant sector in 2017, is that which it has the greatest control over - to maintain a level of constraint. Any potential fall in visitors from the UK market can be mitigated by ensuring that Ireland’s value proposition remains high in this market, while the government is unlikely to adjust the 9% VAT rate for as long as the sector retains its competitiveness.

Assuming no external shocks and the adoption of the above, then we would expect continued growth during 2017.

by Austin Hickey

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recruitment

New Online Product to Simplify Hiring: BidRecruit

By Caroline Gleeson

According to the IASI, recruitment and retention is one of the biggest issues facing the accommodation and catering industries today. There has been a staggering increase in talent shortages across many job sectors and while the unemployment rate has continued to decline, many companies are struggling to meet their hiring needs.

Finding suitable staff in a fast and cost effective way is a major priority for many businesses across Ireland. Innovation in the recruitment technology sector has led to a breakthrough in this area with more and more companies relying on intuitive hiring management platforms to engage the candidate market and on-board new staff.

Recently launched to market is the BidRecruit Hiring Platform.

A cloud based web application that offers you a unique hiring experience by allowing you to extend your hiring team without the typical costs involved. The BidRecruit platform is intuitive and easy to use. It requires no installation or download, you simply sign up online from your phone, tablet or desktop and can start hiring immediately.

The software allows you to advertise your jobs across multiple channels instantly: job boards, social media sites and your own branded careers page. Giving you the flexibility to utilise the online space that works best for your company, ensuring that your job gets maximum exposure and is seen by a wide audience.

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BidRecruit is the only platform in Ireland which gives users free access to a new and exclusive Job Market. This is a job tendering platform where you can engage with experienced recruiters when other advertising channels are not performing. Advertising on the Job Market means that recruiters can pitch to win your business. BidRecruit is already integrated with over 60 specialist recruitment agencies across Ireland with this number increasing rapidly.

This novel approach to engaging with recruitment agencies has multiple benefits. It’s highly cost effective because there is more competition giving you the flexibility to be selective on rates and work to fit your budget. It’s time saving as the process of finding and negotiating a rate with a recruitment agent has been automated. Also, it’s adaptable, not only can you get instant access to a network of specialist recruiters you can also add recruiters to a Favourites list to facilitate SLA/PSL agreements. The BidRecruit platform has already saved one client €1,000 on their hiring budget for the month of October 2016.

The platform is very easy to use and has an intuitive interface. The layout is modern and clear, moving rapidly away from the excel spreadsheet style which can typically look overloaded with information.

Users can manage the entire job flow from one place in a seamless effort. Clever features such as, CV profiling, Google Mail integration, automated messaging and mass response mailing save significantly on administration time. All CVs are stored in a private candidate database exclusive to each user for current and future job processes. CVs are profiled with keywords based on job sector and industry which means

recruitment

you can easily search through thousands of applicants using keywords to identify potential hires.

In depth reporting on all aspects of the hiring process will assist users in moving toward a lean, efficient and more cost-effective hiring model. The BidRecruit system runs several algorithms which track and analyse all activity and performance metrics. These analytics are accessible to clients and offer a range of key information that will help you identify the resources that perform best for your business and measure return of investment across different advertising campaigns (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc.) Easily track the origin of CV applications and learn which stages of your hiring process work best.

The software is competitively priced with plans starting from as little as â‚Ź33/month. Annual and month to month plans are available and are tiered in cost based on number of job openings with the larger plans offering a range of enhanced features such as automated job sharing on your careers site.

The platform comes with a free 14-day trial with no upfront payment or credit card details required. Free product demos are also readily available. Currently there is an exclusive 30-day free trial promotion available to first time users. For more information and sign up contact the BidRecruit team on 01-9109937. www.bidrecruit.io info@bidrecruit.io.

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IT

24 hour System Change

The team of IT Engineers from Tierney’s –Ennis based Hospitality IT Solutions company were kept busy at the end of November when one of their largest clients took on the re-branding of a new hotel property under the Dalata Hotel Group PLC umbrella.

Dublin’s Hilton Hotel on Burlington Road, previously run under the Double Tree brand became a Clayton Hotel, now trading as Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, and Tierney’s were all hands on deck to ensure the smooth transition of systems changing from a Hilton to a Clayton.

The hotel building comprises of 502 guestrooms, meeting and events facilities with a capacity for 1,400 delegates, fitness centre, an executive lounge and choice of bars and restaurant facilities. Notable one of the largest hotels in Ireland.

Tierney’s were engaged for a full 24 hours in the crucial systems change over and five of its most qualified engineers spent four days on-site at the hotel following a complex but carefully planned running schedule for getting over 90 users back up and running in a complete new IT environment. A new PMS, a new e-mail solution, restored Event Management Application, Key-card System, Phone System & Time Management Systems along with restoration of finance & company data. In total, there were more than 11 servers & 60 PC’s re-commissioned within 48 hours.

This project has been described by the team as one of their most challenging projects mainly because the majority of hardware was being re-used. ‘’The PC’s were not handed over to us in advance of the change and when we got them they were wiped

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clean. This gave us an extremely small timeline to restore each PC with a new Operating System and all the applications required for all staff to carry out their daily functions,’’ says Paudie Carmody, Tierney’s Technical Account Manager.

The Dalata Hotel Group PLC have been clients of Tierney’s since Dalata’s formation in 2007, Ireland’s largest hotel operator with a current portfolio of 41 properties with in excess of 8,000 rooms, Dalata’s IT Manager Anthony Murray has praised the work by the Tierney’s team ‘’While this was a very significant systems project the priority was always to keep the disruption to guests and the hotel team to a minimum. Our relationship with Tierneys and their understanding of our business was key to the success of this task. The planning phase was crucial but we never had any doubt about the outcome. I am very satisfied with how the project was delivered from planning to completion”.

Director of Business Development Revenue at the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road Lynn Sharkey also described the transition and incredible work by Tierney’s ‘The most important part of working with Tierneys is that they understand the demands on us in the hotel business to meet the needs of our clients 24 hours a days. Working with their great expertise in the changing over of the brands and all our IT systems we were very confident that we had everything we needed at our finger tips to look after our clients and meet our business needs’.

MD Andy Tierney says “that the relationship with Dalata is one the company is very proud to have, and while Dalata keep us on our toes, we also develop better systems and procedures which ultimately benefit all of our hospitality customers.”

LPG

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So it’s no wonder that Flogas is the choice of so many chefs, including Neven Maguire of MacNean House & Restaurant in Blacklion, Co. Cavan.

Remember, there’s much more to Flogas than cooking. It can also provide you with instant, economical central heating, hot water, gas fires, and even gas tumble driers... wherever you are.

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Wherever you are

IT Tallaght

Chefs Return for Junior Chef Forum in IT Tallaght Getting chefs talking to chef students is key to facilitate them to fully understand the career they are entering. Recently IT Tallaght held a junior chef forum for its 1st and 2nd year culinary students.

The morning kicked off with the college chef network ambassadors introducing the network to the group. The highlight of the morning was when the real chefs walked through the door and sat down and talked to them in small groups about the industry. The room was buzzing and there was great enthusiasm and passion on both sides. Most of the chefs present were past students and were delighted to give off their time to these ‘budding chefs’. The students found the experience inspiring and motivating and from this they got a real sense of the importance of persistence, commitment, passion, trust, pride and delegation in the profession.

From Left to Right: Eoin Lennon (Gather & Gather), Mark Anderson (Gather & Gather), Gavin McDonagh (Brioche), Ciaran Mc Gill (One Pico), Paul Phillips (Peach-tree East), Graeme Dodrill (Sussey Street ), Ruairi Boyce (Croke Park, Aramark), Stephen Walsh (Powerscourt Hotel)

A postgraduate research day with a difference

On November 15 there was a Postgraduate Research Day with a difference organised by the National Centre for Franco Irish Studies (NCFIS) at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght. The day consisted of a morning teambuilding hike in the Dublin mountains with lunch in Johnny Fox’s, followed by formal presentations by current researchers to a panel of senior academics for discussion and feedback . The day finished with a networking event in Scholars Training Restaurant which was kindly supported by a Culinary Arts Lecturer and his students from IT Tallaght.

The entire day proved to be a great success with many commenting on the benefits of both the outdoor teambuilding exercise and the opportunities presented through informal interaction with fellow researchers undergoing similar research challenges. Research presented was varied and included areas such as Food Tourism, Irish Beverage

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Culture and Performance, Guinness Advertising and Irish Identity, Contemplative Learning Approaches for Chefs and finally the Role of Diplomatic Dining throughout Irish History.

Among the academic panel attending were representatives from University College Cork, Dublin Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Tallaght and The French Embassy. The National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies has in recent years added to its more traditional Franco- Irish research areas such as history, literature and culture and indeed has begun to turn its attention to the role of food and drink in Irish society. It has had considerable involvement with helping to organise recent initiatives such as DIT’s Dublin Gastronomy Symposium as well as the DGS/NCFIS Beverage Research Network.

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IHI Awards

IHI Founder’s

Banquet & Hospitality Awards 2016 Prestigious gala awards ceremony winners announced at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road

The prestigious annual Irish Hospitality Institutes Founder’s Banquet and Hospitality Awards 2016 recently took place at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road with master of ceremonies Mr Michael Vaughan and Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Patrick O’Donovan TD.

Over 500 industry leaders including many of the IHI’s past Presidents who were formally recognised on the night were gathered together to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the IHI and recognise the personal contribution of individual hospitality professionals, with a remarkable 150 applications received across the 12 award categories.

The judging process allows all IHI members to submit nominations, a panel of IHI judges made up of senior industry figures shortlist the nominations, nominees then proceed to an interview stage where the judging panel base their final decision, the winner of each award were announced at this gala event.

‘’Our industry is recognising your hard work and dedication to your professional development, and the development of our industry as a great place to work, you are our brightest and best and the future of our industry’’- Martin Mangan- IHI President.

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AWARD WINNERS 2016 • Hospitality Graduate of the Year, Ian Madden, Radisson Hotel Cork • Young Hospitality Manager of the Year, Emer Mulcahy, Ashford Castle • Hospitality Lecturer of the Year, Michael Crossan, IT Tralee • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Human Resources, Lorraine Hanahoe, Dalata Hotel Group • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Catering, Yvonne Pugh, Aramark • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Environmental & Facilities, Gerry Eustace, Croke Park Hotel • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Revenue, Lynn Sharkey, Double Tree by Hilton • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Training, Aine Doyle, Dalata Group • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Finance, Keith Rynhart, Dalata Hotel Group • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Food & Beverage, Sinead McCarthy, The Brehon • Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Sales & Marketing, Karina Dunne, Druids Glen Resort.

• Hospitality Manager’s of the Year - Hotel, Des McCann, Clayton Dublin Airport • Lifetime Achievement Award, Peter Malone

Out Now..

NEW 2017 Catalogue

Everything you need to run a successful catering equipment business at Bunzl McLaughlin. Whether it’s a pub, restaurant, hotel or catering company, you’ll find a huge range of kitchen equipment and accessories to ensure business runs smoothly.

From glassware to dishwashers, chefs uniforms to crockery, get kitted out with all the essential catering supplies.

17 sections, introducing: Buffet & Beverage, Napkins, Utensils, Workwear and Food & Drink.

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a copy by calling our sales team on: (NI) 028 3751 1999 (ROI) 048 3751 1999

year in review

Records keep coming but for how long

Never before in the history of our state and of our island have there been so many tourists coming to our shores.

Over ten million people chose the island of Ireland for their holidays in 2016, with growth numbers coming from most of our key markets: USA, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia. We can do no wrong, it would appear.

“From Fáilte Ireland’s point of view, in terms of performance, we’re looking at close to nine million visitors (in the Republic), so that’s a record,” says outgoing Fáilte Ireland Chief Executive Shaun Quinn.

“It’s been a phenomenal year in that respect. It would be almost churlish not to be very happy about that. What’s driving that are a number of factors: we’ve seen lots of further growth in terms of access to this country and that’s really helpful. Prevailing conditions in a lot of our overseas markets have been favourable and, to be fair, the Irish tourist industry has remained competitive.

“Looking back on the year, a lot of things happened that you wouldn’t have predicted and I think that Brexit sticks out in that regard. Anything that affects our nearest overseas market like that is something that you can’t ignore. He says that a strategic “pivot” towards Continental Europe “needs to be made as part of a joinedup approach, not only between ourselves and Tourism Ireland but also with the involvement of Government and the industry bodies and the tourism industry in general.”

Mr Quinn concluded, as he prepared to move on from Fáilte Ireland, “whatever the future holds for tourism, this industry is a resilient one and I have full confidence that the sector will rise to any challenges which may emerge with the innovation and determination it has shown in the past.”

Visitors from our nearest and dearest market were conspicuous by their relative absence last year, with many of them opting not to visit a country that, as Shaun Quinn points out, many of them would regard in the same light as a visit to a part of the UK; a part that has suddenly become considerably more expensive than it was a year previously.

He says that the kind of strategic “pivot” towards Continental Europe “probably needs to be done as a joined-up approach, not only between ourselves and Tourism Ireland but also with involvement of Government and the tourism industry bodies and the tourism industry in general.”

Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland, meanwhile, is very excited about the year ahead: “We are heading into 2017 in a position of some strength, based on the success of 2016. Tourism Ireland will create ‘stand out’ for the island of Ireland around the world next year, highlighting iconic experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East, Titanic Belfast and the Causeway Coastal Route.

“We will also promote Dublin and Belfast, in particular for shoulder and off-peak travel. Screen tourism will remain a priority, as we continue to capitalise on our connections with Star Wars and Game of Thrones.”

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“When you look at that growth, a lot of it has been due to external and fortuitous coincidences over which we have no control,” notes Joe Dolan, President of the IHF (Irish Hoteliers’ Federation). “We’re happy to take the benefits for it but we shouldn’t be taking the credit for it. I’m talking about low air fares, economic recovery in our key destination markets, cheap air prices, favourable exchange rates with the US… even events in Southern Europe driving tourists north.

“We really have to control our own destiny and the only way to do that is to invest in our own marketing, product renewal and product development.”

Budgets for national tourism spend were slashed in 2008 and haven’t been reinstated since. Fáilte Ireland’s non-capital spending has plummeted from €98million to €67 million in that space of time: a decrease of some 68% in an industry that even our erstwhile purse-masters the IMF singled out as a key industry in which to place our chips.

“We’ve been doing all the right things in terms of product marketing and creating the destinations, which is terrific,” says Ruth Andrews of the ITOA (Incoming Tour Operators’ Association). “The vast majority of members would have seen good levels of growth in our business.”

Her organisation’s place in the Irish tourism industry is an interesting one: at the entrance door to incoming tourists, they are in a position to see trends before many other players on the ground in Ireland feel them.

“We fully recovered, I would say, in 2014. At that point, we were back to levels that our members were enjoying in 2007-08. That was all very positive – we’d seen double-digit growth for a couple of years. Then it plateaued and hovered around 10% in 2014. In

year in review 2015-16, a lot of them would have seen growth in the high single digits – somewhere between 5-9% and just disappointed that they weren’t able to grow their business more.

“It has been exceptionally disappointing to see the government who had pinned a huge amount of recovery on the tourism industry over the last 7-8 years. It’s an industry that has more than performed and delivered on a couple of initiatives that the government has put in place. It’s hugely disappointing to see the government just turn its back on an industry that has delivers more jobs than agriculture or anything else… and these are indigenous jobs. They cannot be off-shored… We’re riding the crest of a wave.

If we want to hold onto our share of the international markets, we need now to be investing today for three years down the road.”

“There are mixed fortunes around the country,” says Adrian Cummins of the RAI (Restaurants Association of Ireland). “The high-density tourism areas are doing well, such as Dublin, Cork, Kerry… anywhere that there are good tourism hot-spots. The rural economy is generally back… Places like the Midlands, the Shannon Region, places like that. They’re still struggling and they haven’t seen the benefits of the recovery.

“The tourism industry is doing well and we’re breaking records but we seem to be the orphan child all the time. The powers that be don’t want to deal with it in a proper manner. That comes from a ministerial level and we need strong leadership at cabinet level to deal with the issues for tourism on an ongoing basis. We need a cabinet minister that is out there and vociferous on tourism; that tourism is at the heart of his brief and that he’s passionate on tourism and I don’t think that we’re getting that at the moment.”

Then there is the skills shortage, something that is most acutely felt in the catering sector: “The skills shortage is an absolute monumental joke,” says Adrian Cummins. “We are actively overseas recruiting because the State has failed us. Fáilte Ireland have failed us, the Department of Education have failed us. Every agency and employment agency have failed the hospitality industry. We have said that there should be one single body to deal with recruitment in Ireland and that has to be done sooner rather than later.”

presentation about utilising County Councils around the country to take a lead role in pushing tourism.

This would mirror the template of how tourism is promoted in the USA as well as in the world’s most successful tourism economy, France.

On the ground, however, many fear that good fortune and good work have got us this far but if those in power don’t fill the gaps in funding and training, then the inevitable trough will follow this boom as surely as Monday follows Sunday.

According to Joe Dolan, the drop-off in British visitors has had a proportionately higher effect on rural areas, as figures have shown that UK visitors have the widest and deepest penetration into rural Ireland.

“When you go up to areas like Cavan, Leitrim or Monaghan, tourism revenue in relative terms becomes very important economically because it’s often the only show in town. Personal income from tourism is higher in Leitrim than it is in Galway, for example.”

“It’s been a really strong year for Irish Tourism with record levels in both volume and value,” says Eoghan O’Mara Walsh of ITIC (Irish Tourist Industry Confederation), who qualifies his contentment with talk of certain “worries on the horizon.” These include Brexit and competitiveness.

“Tourism is very vulnerable to external shocks and the latest external shock is Brexit. We don’t know how it’s going to play out yet but it’s important that we minimize any downturn for tourism.

We can only control the controllables and in that regard, we’ve got to ensure that we remain competitive both as an industry but also as a state, which means no extra regulatory or tax burdens put on the industry by the state.

“We also have to make sure that we improve and commit to product and investment in infrastructure. There’s still not enough spent on the tourism product to ensure that it’s of a very high standard – to ensure that we exceed customer expectations.

“The other thing is that we’re not spending enough money to market Ireland as a destination. Tourism Ireland has seen its budget cut by €20 million over the last few years. That needs to be restored straight away. Otherwise, Ireland’s impact or voice internationally will continue falling.

“Tourism is one of those industries that have the potential to spread its benefits far and wide… Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland should get increased budgets to focus on regionalisation.”

While there is no questioning the great work and results achieved so far by the main players in the national tourism industry, there are serious questions to be answered with regard to the government’s commitment to the industry. Everyone is making the best of what they’ve got: even the Junior Tourism Minister Patrick O’Donovan spoke at the recent Tourism Ireland annual report

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GMIT news

GMIT lecturer inducted as an expert into one of the oldest wine guilds in the world Elizabeth Fox is now a Confrére of the Confrérie Saint-Etienne d’Alsace One of the oldest wine guilds in the world, Confrérie Saint-Etienne d’Alsace, held its first ever Chapter and conferring in Ireland this month (November) when a number of wine experts including GMIT lecturer Elizabeth Fox and Fergus O’Halloran, Manager of The Twelve Hotel, Barna, were inducted into their elite Alsace guild.

The Confrérie Chancellor, its Grand Master 2016 and officials from Alsace attended the ceremonial occasion in Barberstown Castle which included a wine tasting, the inductions into the Confrérie, and a gala dinner with Alsace wines from the Confrérie’s own cellars.

“I am delighted and proud to be inducted into the Confrérie and it’s wonderful to share the experience with Elizabeth Fox from GMIT here in Galway. It is an honour to be part of the extraordinary ongoing story of this historic organisation, and we will continue to do our best to continue to promote the knowledge and appreciation of Alsace wine in our own part of the world.”

For more information about GMIT’s hospitality and culinary arts programmes, please visit: http://www.gmit.ie/college-tourism-and-arts/college-tourism-arts

Elizabeth Fox, who lectures on hospitality and culinary programmes in GMIT’s College of Tourism & Arts, is an award-winning beverage specialist with extensive experience both in trade and education, and has held senior beverage management positions in the licensed trade sector for decades. Last year (2015), she was awarded a special prize for the highest result in the World Certified Sherry Educators Programme in Spain, becoming one of 25 professionals from around the world who gathered in Jerez in October to qualify as Sherry Certified Educators and Sherry Ambassadors.

Speaking about this new honour conferred on Elizabeth, GMIT’s Head of Dept of Culinary Arts and the Services Industry, Gerry Talbot, says: “We are all delighted and very proud of Liz’s achievements in being conferred into the elite Confrérie Saint-Etienne d’Alsace. Our students are benefitting greatly from Liz’s expert knowledge and skills in this very extensive area.”

Founded in the 14th century, the Confrérie Saint-Etienne d’Alsace has been based since 1973 in the Château de Klentzheim, built in 1563 by Baron Lazare de Schwendi, which houses the Confrérie wine library, or oenothèque, a unique collection of more than 60,000 bottles of Alsace wine dating from 1834. Since its statutes were first established in 1561, the role of the Confrérie has been to oversee and guarantee the quality of Alsace wines by awarding its official seal or ‘Sigille’ after a blind tasting, and to promote the knowledge and appreciation of Alsace wine and its food culture.

Article 1 of the Confrérie’s own regulations state “Nobody may become a member of the Confrérie Saint-Etienne unless he/she loves joyfulness, good food and Alsace wines..”.

Speaking about the honour, Fergus O’Halloran, says: “Alsace is a fascinating area which produces some exceptional wines with exquisite aromas and a particular fresh, mineral character that guests at The Twelve seem to really appreciate and enjoy”.

Elizabeth Fox (right), award-winning lecturer, GMIT College of Tourism & Arts, Fergus O’Halloran (left), Manager of the Twelve Hotel, Barna, and The Grand Master, Mr David Ling at Barberstown Castle, Sunday 20 November, when the two Galway based wine experts were inducted into the elite Alsace guild.

Teaching Hero Awards for the College of Tourism & Arts Lecturers Anne O’Leary and Tom Edwards recently won National Teaching Hero Awards at a recent awards ceremony in Dublin. The selection process is a partnership arrangement between the National Forum for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Partnership with USI. Congratulations to both Anne O’ Leary and Tom Conlon on such a fantastic national recognition of their work and their ongoing dedication to students.

GMIT’S 2016 National Teaching Hero recipients Anne O’Leary from Tynagh, Loughrea(and Gorey, Wexford) and Tom Conlon from Salthill (and Mountbellew). Both GMIT lecturers and presented with their awards from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Partnership with USI.

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GMIT news

World authority on Iberico Ham delivers master class to GMIT students Visit by Master Carver Mario Hiraldo held in association with the Spanish Embassy.

Ibérico Ham from Spain is one of the most extraordinary gourmet products in the world and GMIT’s College of Tourism and Arts (CTA), in partnership with the Spanish Embassy, were delighted to host a master class by master carver Mario Hiraldo at the Galway campus today (Tuesday 25 October).

Over the course of his 18 year career Mario Hiraldo has evolved into the best ambassador of the art of hand slicing the Ibérico ham all over the world. At GMIT today he conducted some ham carving sessions and shared the history and magic behind Ibérico ham from Spain, giving participants a guided hand-carving demonstration, and sharing centuries of tradition and culture, artisan curing processes and organic breeding.

This unique event was for students studying towards degrees in Culinary Arts, Hotel Catering and Culinary Management, and programmes in Professional Cookery and the Total Immersion Training Chef course, as well as for lecturers in the College of Tourism & Arts (CTA).

Event co-ordinator and lecturer Richard Nielsen says students were delighted to meet and learn from a world master carver about this Spanish gourmet tradition: “Having Mario Hidalgo host this master class was an exceptional opportunity for our students to gain an in-depth and hands-on insight into the process and techniques involved to create the exquisite flavour of this uniquely Spanish food.”

“This master class was a continuation of the series of successful master classes organised by lecturers in the College of Tourism and Arts for our students.”

About Ibérico Ham

The Ibérico Ham from Spain is one of the most extraordinary gourmet products in the world – an undisputed ‘gastronomic gem’. It comes from one of the last grazing species in Europe – the Ibérico black pig. Left to roam freely in the dehesa – the southern pasturelands – the combination of exercise and balanced diet renders the ham with a complex, lingering flavor and a signature texture that is both firm and tender. Much like Kobe beef, the black pig’s scarlet red meat is more marbled than other breeds.

Shane Sheedy explaining his particular dish to the Judges

Master Carver (Iberico Ham) Mario Hiraldo (centre) with Richard Nielsen (left), lecturer and event organiser of the Master Class for GMIT students and staff, and Javier Moral, Spanish Embassy.

The characteristics of the Ibérico pig, with its long legs and strong, pointed snout, and its dark skin and hoofs are the result of its perfect integration into its environment. The pigs use all the food offered by the dehesa, from grass and stubble to wild legumes but, above all, acorns. This balanced, natural food is largely the reason for the excellent organoleptic qualities of the pork. These animals are able to store fatty deposits infiltrated into their muscles, making the meat especially moist and tender.

Production is also carried out today in mixed and industrial drying chambers where optimum conditions are replicated, but the skill, experience and care of the artisan producers are still essential. The minimum curing period for an Ibérico ham is about 18 months, but it may exceed 24 months for larger hams.

In ancient times the ham legs were packed in sea salt and hanged to dry in the cool winter air. Today ham legs are packed in salt for a few weeks, then under the watchful eye of ham maestros, hung in drying chambers with open windows to allow the mountain air to flow, natural flora to grow on the skins and fat to drip away. Unlike prosciutto or Parma ham, Ibérico ham is not covered in lard for the curing process, nor any other external ingredient that would affect its inherent flavor.

The art of hand slicing: Hand sliced and eaten immediately is the best way to enjoy the Ibérico Ham. There are long sharp knives available specially designed for cutting ham into wafer thin slices, and in Spain there are skilled ham slicers adept at their art. Slicing Ibérico ham correctly is a ritual that enhances the tasting experience. Although superb eaten alone, Spanish Ibérico ham can also turn the simplest dishes into a memorable meal.

GMIT participates in the “European Young Chef Award 2016”

European Young Chef Award 2016 is a competition organised and promoted by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Art and Tourism (IGCAT), the European Region of Gastronomy Platform and Escola Universitària d’Hoteleria i Turisme de Sant Pol de Mar (EUHTStPOL).

The aim is to strengthen links between European regions through young professional chefs while promoting culinary innovation using traditional cuisine and local products. Culinary Arts Technician Shane Sheedy represented the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology at this competition with his dish “Liver and Onions”. The dish must be inspired by the theme chosen this year: Innovation on Tradition. The competition was held in the village of Sant Pol de Mar close to Barcelona, on the 14th of November 2016.

Open to students or cooking professionals in the partner regions of the European Region of Gastronomy Platform aged between 18-28 years. The candidate must be selected and approved by the partner stakeholder group, preferably in collaboration with an institution that has held a local competition. The participants in the competition were ten young chefs between the ages of 18 and 28 from the regions participating in the Platform of European Gastronomic Regions.

The day included a celebration lunch with the members of the jury, participants and organisers of the contest, and later a Round Table talk was held entitled “Mentoring and Inspiring Young Chefs”, in which Carme Ruscalleda (Ambassador of Catalonia, Regió Europea de la Gastronomia 2016) and chef Joan Roca participated. The session was moderated by Cristina Jolonch (Gastronomic critic of the newspaper La Vanguardia).

The young cooks questioned Carme Ruscalleda and Joan Roca about new recipes versus traditional recipes and the relationship and influence between great cooks and the young cooks and stagiers. The 2016 competition was won by the contestant from the South Aegean region of Greece, Stamatios Misomikes, and he was declared the “Young Chef of the Year Award 2016”. http://santpol.edu.es/en/european-young-chef-award-2016/

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tourism zones

Cleaning up Capital Tourism Black Spots Despite that tourism – our largest indigenous industry – is on a high at the moment, there are some gaping holes in the quality of our offering in the heart of the capital city.

In and around some of Ireland’s top attractions and areas where the greatest volume of tourists circulate are some of the dingiest parts of the city. These are the kinds of areas where many self-respecting citizens would ideally avoid venturing into. The historically vital O’Connell Street, for example, has been variously described as a no-go area where drug-trading and other anti-social activities go on in broad daylight, all to a backdrop of semi-dereliction in many spots.

The country’s largest attraction is the excellent Guinness Storehouse. How many tourists, however, are tempted to linger in that particular area of town? The area is run-down and lacking not only in charm but in any of the ancillary services that might hold tourists in the area or make them feel more welcome.

There is no doubt that all manner of people are concerned about the state that our capital’s main thoroughfare got itself into with its proliferation of gambling and burger joints but the question is who has the will or the power to do anything about it? Furthermore, is there any sign of improvement on the horizon?

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh of ITIC (Irish Tourism Industry Confederation) acknowledges that these two areas of high tourism footfall in the capital are still not the most touristfriendly spots in the country: “They are probably getting better. Certainly O’Connell Street has improved over the years but there’s a long way to go. What I’d like to see is the local authorities – Dublin City Council – getting involved and have a very focused, concerted attention on the benefits of tourism to ensure that the areas of the city that are particularly popular with tourists are appropriately and properly fit for tourism… I think that the local authorities could work hand-in-glove to ensure that areas of a city that are particularly popular with tourists are as well presented as possible.”

This sounds like a great idea but so far, while the interests of both Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland are both similar, the “glue” or catalyst or connection point to get minds with authority to focus on those two tatty tourist hotspots is the ingredient that is still missing.

We might learn something from how the French do it.

In the case of the Avenue des Champs Elysées in Paris, for example, the Comité Champs-Elysées is a non-profit organisation that “groups together members who have businesses on the Avenue,” says their Managing Director Edouard Lefebvre. “That includes hotels, restaurants, cultural centres, the Arc de Triomphe, cinemas, theatres, museums.

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parks, outdoor advertising companies, electricity suppliers, etc.

“Together then, we’re the privileged interlocutor or go-between for the police, for the Mayor’s Office and for the national government.”

They’re not part of the political system and they don’t have any authority but they are a crucial point of communication that puts politicians and authorities in the picture. They have regular meetings with the police, for example, to talk about the situation generally and to air whatever problems they might be having. They also represent a strong lobbying group that not only voices concerns but also proposes how their significant patch of turf should evolve and improve in order to keep up with the changing times. Two years ago, they even launched a flash presentation with grand professional architectural designs on revamping the avenue and its environs for 2025.

Obviously, this is on a much larger scale than our capital. The Avenue des Champs Elysées is 1.9km long, which is four times the length of O’Connell Street. It gets about 26 million visitors per year. We have just broken the 10-million visitor mark for the whole island of Ireland.

In the absence of a O’Connell Street Committee, one initiative that might go some way to bridging the divide is “Dubline” – a new tourist walking route from Fáilte Ireland’s Dublin Committee (which has effectively replaced Dublin Tourism). While the Dubline does nothing per se to make O’Connell Street and Thomas Street any more tourist-friendly, it will offer a new product to tourists visiting the capital; one that will encourage more of them to visit those very areas. If more tourists come to walk these streets, then maybe that in itself will encourage more tourist-leaning businesses to spring up along the route. At least, that is the hope of Mark Rowlette, Dublin Programme Manager at Fáilte Ireland.

“It’s walking route that we’ve developed over the last 2-3 years that goes from Parnell Square all the way to Kilmainham. Part of the reason for the development of the Dubline is that many people walk to the Guinness Storehouse each year. Their statistics show that half of all visitors walk from the city centre to Guinness.

“There are grants from Dublin City Council where a number of public amenities are improving along Thomas Street and along the whole route.

For example, there are 12 new information panels telling people about the various buildings along the Dubline and there are another 20 of those panels to be put in next year.

“Also, there has been major work on public lighting along the route,” adds Mark. “So all of those works, as well as a lot of work that the Council do with community groups in the area. There’s basically a lot of enhancement going on that a lot of people may not be aware of and it’s an ongoing process.”

With regard to O’Connell Street, the current Luas Cross City works are masking some significant visual improvement works that will be evident once the Luas line is ready towards the end of 2017. Even the promotion of the Dubline won’t get into full swing until next Spring, says Rowlette. By that time, we’ll be able to see perhaps how Dublin in the Spring compares with Paris in the Spring.

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