Hospitality June 2016

NO.725 JUNE 2016

VEGANISM Why it's no longer a dirty word

Ramen rising

WE’VE ONLY JUST SCRATCHED THE SURFACE WITH ONE OF JAPAN’S MOST FAMOUS EXPORTS

Less is more

THERE’S MORE TO MINIMAL INTERVENTION WINES THAN THE NAME SUGGESTS

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Editorial

I

’m lucky enough to have been working on this magazine for a few years now, and one of the best parts of the job is hearing all about the wonderful, creative chefs and restaurateurs making a living in an industry they love, but I have to say, I’m getting a little tired of the same bad news stories that cycle through the press, as if on repeat.

One in particular reared its ugly head (again) as we were marching towards deadline with this June issue.

A high profile chef made a comment about young chefs and their unwillingness to put in the hard yards. Now don’t get me wrong, this chef is a seriously hard worker and a talented restaurateur, and no doubt there is some truth to what they said, but I'm just so tired of all the talk and such little action.

Instead of focusing on the perceived short-comings of Gen Y, shouldn’t those that know more (and know better) work out the most effective ways of inspiring up-and-coming chefs, waiters and restaurateurs? Sure, there will be dud apprentices who don’t belong in a kitchen and have no hope of making a break in hospitality – that goes without saying. But rather than dismissing any chef that questions an 80 hour week or wants Saturday night off once a month, why not think about how we can evolve to accommodate them and get the most from them?

So many young industry members have said that what they want most from their formative years is to build a network of mentors to learn and gain advice from. It’s time for head chefs and restaurant owners to pull up their socks and make a real effort. It’s easy to throw young staff out the door and tell them they’re lazy and unprepared for the realities of the job. What’s harder is spending time figuring out what makes them tick, and chanelling that energy so you, your team and your business can flourish.

Danielle Bowling dbowling@intermedia.com.au

Cover: Smith & Daughters' Mo Wyse and Shannon Martinez. Image: Ben Wood

June Contents 5 In focus

6 Openings 8 Flavour of the month

6

10 Trends 12 Fast casual 14 Best practice

8

16 Drinks 18 Ramen 22 Cover story 26 POS 30 Skilled migration

10 18

32 Shelf space 33 Diary 34 5 minutes with...

22

PUBLISHER Paul Wootton pwootton@intermedia.com.au

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June 2016 Hospitality 3

in focus

Chinese’s reign as favourite cuisine is weakening Roy Morgan Research has revealed that Chinese cuisine, while still Australia’s favourite, is the only one out of the top 10 to have lost popularity rather than gained it.

Between January 2011 and December 2015, the proportion of Australians who reported liking Chinese cuisine declined from 73.6 percent to 70.4 percent.

Italian is the second most popular cuisine, rising slightly from 60.8 percent in 2011 to 62.9 percent. Thai and Indian cuisine also gained in popularity over the last five years, while Mexican (42.6 percent, up from 38.5 percent)

and Japanese (37.9 percent, up from 33.3 percent) are enjoying good growth.

Chinese is the favourite amongst all generations surveyed, especially pre-baby boomers – an above-average proportion of whom (72 percent) enjoy the cuisine. They’re much less likely, however, to prefer other cuisines including Italian, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Other Asian, Lebanese and Greek.

Generation X is over-represented among Australians who like Italian, Greek, Thai and Lebanese food. Gen Y, in contrast, is the

group most likely to enjoy eating Japanese, Other Asian, Indian, Mexican and French. They are also the generation most likely to dine out at cafes, licensed and BYO restaurants, and order home-delivered food.

Norman Morris, communications industry director, Roy Morgan Research, said “Restaurateurs, eatery chains, takeaway joints and food brands wishing to reach the most responsive consumers need to stay abreast of these social trends and how they vary between generations.

“At an even more detailed

CHINESE

level, Roy Morgan’s in-depth consumer profiling system Helix Personas reveals that members of the upwardly mobile, ‘New Cool School’ Persona (generally single, young, socially active and career focused) consistently over-index for liking international cuisine, being more likely than any other Persona to enjoy Japanese, Indian, Other Asian, Lebanese, Mexican, French and Greek food. Often young, sociable, with cash to spend, these inner-city dwellers take pride in knowing all the hottest spots to eat.”

CUISINE

The proportion of Australians who reported liking Chinese cuisine declined from 73.6 percent to 70.4 percent

72 percent of pre-baby boomers enjoy Chinese food

Chinese was the only cuisine in the top 10 to lose popularity

TOP 10 MOST POPULAR CUISINES ARE 70%

58% 2

CHINESE

43% 4

THAI 3

1

6

MEXICAN

50%

INDIAN

JAPANESE

38%

26% 8

GREEK 7

5

ITALIAN

63%

34%

Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean etc

27%

10

LEBANESE 9

FRENCH

OTHER

25 %

Generation X is over-represented among Australians who like Italian, Greek, Thai and Lebanese.

Gen Y is the group most likely to enjoy eating Japanese, Other Asian, Indian, Mexican and French food.

June 2016 Hospitality 5

Openings

1

Some of the latest venues to swing open their doors in Australia’s foodservice scene.

1

Restaurant Hubert

Sydney, NSW Hubert comprises two bars, a dining room, two menus and a staggering wine list. Chef Dan Pepperell is plating up reinterpreted French classics like chicken fricassee with shiitake mushrooms.

2

A25

Melbourne, Victoria Remo Nicolini and Raymond Capaldi experimented with fermentation methods to produce pizzas that are yeast-free, light and easy to digest.

3

2

3

Burger Project

Melbourne, Victoria Located in the new St Collins Lane development, this is the first outlet outside of Sydney. It has a smart, casual feel with a large open kitchen and seating for 120.

The Cellar Kitchen Restaurant & Bar 4

Barossa Valley, South Australia Located in the Novotel Barossa Valley Resort, this restaurant has undergone a name change and redesign following the hotel’s collaboration with food producer Saskia Beer.

4

6 Hospitality June 2016

5

5

Chefs Gallery

6

7

Sydney, NSW In Westfield Parramatta, Chefs Gallery’s fourth restaurant is serving up signature dishes including pan fried scallops, Macanese-style mini burgers, and the Chefs Gallery’s interpretation of surf and turf.

6

Ena

Melbourne, Victoria The latest addition to Melbourne’s Southgate restaurant is offering Greek street food for both dine-in and takeaway, with a rotisserie slow cooking meats over a coal fire.

Sichuan Bang Bang & Pizzeria Violetta 7

Brisbane, Queensland The site in Paddington has a caboose style eatery on one side, housing Sichuan Bang Bang, and Pizzeria Violetta on the other side, boasting an open kitchen complete with a Stefano Ferarra DOC wood fired pizza oven.

8

8

No. 1 Bent Street

Sydney, NSW The 100-seat heritage site offers a menu that changes regularly and is inspired by seasonal and locally sourced produce, reminiscent of the ‘egalitarian feel’ of Mike McEnearney’s Kitchen By Mike concept.

June 2016 Hospitality 7

Flavour of the month Sea mullet is an incredibly delicious, very underutilised and sustainable species of mullet, found on the east Australian coast. The flesh is darkish-pink to mid-grey, with a mid-firm to soft texture, and not too many bones to pick through.

WHAT’S THE APPEAL? It has great levels of omega fatty acids and high levels of oil, especially during the spawning cycle. They are at their fattest and healthiest around April through to July and for this reason it’s best to buy them whole and untouched so you can pull the roe sacks yourself and create your very own bottarga.

FLAVOUR MATCHES Because of the sea mullet’s naturally high levels of oil, you want to balance it with things like tomatoes, olives, balsamic, currants and pine nuts.

TASTY APPLICATIONS ■■ Seared

on high heat and seasoned with salt ■■ Grilled quickly on high heat then flaked through a balsamic salad ■■ Smoked whole on the bone ■■ Pull the roe sack and cure to make your own bottarga. Use the roe again for a taramasalata style dip ■■ Seared with cherry tomatoes ■■ Seared on high heat with sourdough and tomato relish

STORAGE Always prep and eat sea mullet as quickly as you can. Because of its high oil content it will mature

8 Hospitality June 2016

Sea mullet

in flavour quickly once dispatched. For some this makes it too “fishy” – almost sardine like. Store at under five degrees, dry fillet and consume as soon as possible.

PREP TIPS Look for a nice firm fish with great silver flashes to the scales. Always smell and look for a seawater scent, not a fishy odour. Don’t be afraid of a mullet covered in sand, these are often the best ones as they are mainly beach caught during their spawning season and as such will be in peak condition.

TRY TO AVOID Soft and smelly mullet. Sea mullet is a softer fleshed species and will generally spoil quite rapidly, so avoid bruised and damaged fish. Reward the fisherman that handle their fish with respect, and pay a bit more for the better examples as mullet is an extremely well-priced option to start with. Whole fish should rarely be over $10/kg and skin-on fillets should rarely be over $17/kg. n Credit: Will Brunker is business development manager, Joto Fresh Fish, joto.com.au

Trends There’s no doubting chicken’s popularity, but it seems like more and more restaurants are breathing new life into the classic protein. By Madeline Woolway.

Juicy Lucy half chicken and chips

10 Hospitality June 2016

Chicken

“I

love chicken, I always have. I don’t see it as a trend to follow,” Casey Wall, chef at Melbourne’s Bar Liberty and Rockwell and Sons, which he also co-owns, told Hospitality.

Wall grew up in North Carolina where chicken is everywhere. “I grew up eating fried chicken. It’s something that I love to make; it’s part of who I am,” Wall said.

It was post-GFC, when lots of Australians were travelling to the United States on the back of a strong Aussie dollar, that deep southern-style fried chicken made its way Down Under. Fried chicken has taken-off, Wall thinks, because it transcends easily, compared to some other southern dishes that might not cross over as well.

Now a well-known Wednesday night event, Rockwell and Sons started hosting fried chicken dinners before they officially opened in August 2012. “We were cooking it as a fundraiser before we opened Rockwell. It was probably only about a year after we opened that fried chicken started taking off,” Wall said.

“Now there are lots of places doing it, but it takes time to do it well.”

Acknowledging the explosion of chicken shops, particularly American ones, in Sydney, Milan Strbac of Juicy Lucy, told Hospitality “The Asian twist works really well, it doesn’t completely change it but it adds a lot of different flavours.

“There are a few chickens on the menu and they’re all prepared differently,” Strbac said.

“It’s a long process; it takes two days.”

Juicy Lucy's whole roast chicken is brined for 12 hours in a mixture of salt water and spices, before being dried out overnight, stuffed with garlic rice and put on the rotisserie for an hour. “The reason we do that is because we found with most of the chickens around the best part is the skin. The meat isn’t bad, as long as it’s not dry, but it can lack flavour,” Strbac said. “With this process, we get all the spices and flavours into the flesh, so once you get through the skin there is something more.”

Wall shares Strbac’s enthusiasm about the bird’s skin. “We’ve always said the best part of the chicken is the skin, so we were trying to find ways to use it. The roast chicken skins started off as a snack at the Two Birds brewery a couple of years ago, and now they’re always on the menu at Rockwell,” he said.

While the chicken skins at Rockwell are served as a bar snack, with onions and a potato chip inspired BBQ seasoning, Melbourne’s Bar Liberty, which opened in February, offered its take on the BLT, a GLT which replaces bacon with gribenes – a Jewish name for the chickens skins left over after making schmaltz.

“They’re just straight chicken skins, seasoned, roasted and dehydrated. We didn’t expect it to be as popular as it has been,” Wall said.

Making the gribenes stand out is all about

complementing it with the right ingredients, Wall said. “The crispy chicken skin is great, but it needs flavourful tomatoes to round it out and they aren’t anywhere near as good when they’re not in season.”

While the GLT has been well-received, Wall said that once the tomato season wraps up the Bar Liberty team will try to develop another dish using the popular gribenes for winter.

Wall’s not sure where the idea came from, but at some point the team at Bar Liberty decided to confit octopus in the chicken fat left over from roasting the skins.

“It kind of leaches some of the ocean flavour out of the octopus. Once you grill it, it still has the octopus flavour but with some roast chicken characteristics,” Wall said. “Chicken is very versatile; you can do a lot of stuff. It can be difficult to get it tasting good, but that’s only because people have gotten used to factory farmed chickens. It’s all about using the right animal.”

Keeping up with changing tastes can be a challenge. While breast was once the chosen cut, “now people are choosing the leg. The leg is darker meat, it’s more intense, I think it’s tastier,” Strbac said. Having said that, it can be difficult to pick what menu item will be popular on any given day. “It’s funny, some days the grilled chicken goes off and others it’s the whole chicken.

“Lately, it’s been the burgers – made with twice fried chicken coated in fish sauce and tapioca flour – that have been going crazy,” he added. Just as in season produce is important at Wall’s venues, quality accompaniments like the house-pickled cucumbers are crucial at Juicy Lucy. “We try to do as much as possible ourselves, rather than just buying pickles in a jar. You can really taste the difference. All those little things add up … It’s about providing something unique and something different at a good price.” n

Belle's Hot Chicken and Pub Life Kitchen have also embraced the chicken trend

Juicy Lucy burger

June 2016 Hospitality 11

fast casual

On a roll...

The best hospitality operators are the ones who build a team of competent and capable staff members, ready to take the reins whenever necessary, says Rolld co-founder, Bao Hoang.

“

W

e opened our first store and started serving 800 people in a two hour window very quickly, so we felt that there was a really strong opportunity for us to grow the business further.”

Back in 2012, Bao Hoang, Tin Ly and Ray Esquieres launched Rolld, a Vietnamese food franchise, and despite having very little hospitality experience, the trio was able to ride a wave of rapid growth, now overseeing a network of 39 stores as well as Rolld’s catering service.

“In 2013 we opened 17 stores, which is obviously big growth for any business. It put a lot of challenges and stress through the system, but it also made us learn, and learn quickly.

Over the past couple of years we’ve opened another 20 or so stores and that’s really made our system a strong and viable one, which is exciting,” Hoang said.

“We’ve spent a lot of the past couple of years stabilising and developing processes and structures within the business and really looking towards another growth phase over the next two or three years.”

PEOPLE – THE PATH TO PROFITS Vietnamese food is all about fresh ingredients, so a lot of the Rolld menu, which includes pho, rice paper rolls and banh mi, can’t be prepared at a central kitchen or long before it’s ordered. As such, it is essential, Hoang said, that he and his fellow founders recruit operators who can closely monitor their employees in order to ensure Rolld’s standards of quality and freshness are maintained.

“For us, it’s about continually educating the restaurant operators that the quality of 12 Hospitality June 2016

Business name: Rolld When was the business established?

May 2012 Number of sites? 39 stores around Australia, as of April 2016 Number of staff members? 450 Most valuable asset in the business?

Our people, who share our core values and beliefs. Not only are they an extension of our family, they are the backbone of the business Plans for 2016? To expand our presence in Australia with an aim of reaching 58 stores by the end of the year. Our main focus for expansion is NSW and also internationally.

the food is so critical to the long term success of their business. Like in any business, when things are strained or stressful you’re going to take short-cuts. So we need to help them and make sure we focus on what will give that business the best opportunity for long term success.”

The best Rolld operators are the ones that focus most strongly on their staff, ensuring multiple team members can perform core business management functions when they’re superiors aren't on the premise.

“You need to make sure that you have quality people in your team who can actually run the business as well. I think mum and dad operators probably don’t focus enough on developing others within their business; they

focus on trying to do everything themselves and obviously that has a massive advantage, because it reduces your labour costs, but if you really want to build a successful business you’ve got to be able to rely on others,” Hoang said.

“I see a lot of restaurants that run very successfully five days a week but they have to close on the other two days because they don’t have anyone else to run it, or they’ll close for three weeks over Christmas because they want to go on a holiday. I think you can circumvent that … if you want to be slightly more successful. Managing and developing a team will give you that.”

In order for Rolld operators to manage their teams effectively, the business founders – like in many franchise operations – have taken control of a lot of the processes that other, independent operators usually dedicate a lot of time to.

“For example, people underestimate the time it takes for independent operators to go out and buy things on a daily basis. I speak to a lot of restaurateurs who own individual restaurants and they might spend 10 hours a week buying things. Yeah, you might be saving money but that time can be better spent developing the business and the people within it,” Hoang said.

“So the Rolld stores don’t have massive control over what the costs of the business are. It’s pretty set in regards to what the supply chain looks like and what the costs are. The operators’ biggest skill is in managing their team. If they can manage their team better, they’ll make more money. If they manage their team poorly, they’re not going to make any money. It’s as simple as that.” n

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Finding great hospo staff, it's POSSIble Anthony Chilelli talks behind the scenes at possi.com.au, the go-to site for hospitality jobs and products Q. SO, WHAT’S POSSI? A. Possi is a website dedicated to connecting hospitality employers with candidates in a practical, easy and efficient way.

Possi launched in Melbourne at the end of March and in Sydney a month later. The website is already getting more than 1,400 unique hits a day… not even including our social media traffic!

Q. THAT’S IMPRESSIVE! BUT, HOW DID IT ALL START? A. I grew up in hospitality. Our family had restaurants my whole life. The biggest challenge we have always had is finding the right employees. We often found ourselves thinking ‘surely there’s an easier way?’ The Possi dream was brought to life from these frustrations.

Q. WHAT MAKES POSSI SPECIAL? A. There are a number of reasons why Possi is unlike any other job platform. The most unique feature is our Click, Click, Click, Publish system. By using our pre-populated, yet fully customisable job descriptions, employers can

post an add in less than three minutes.

Possi is also dedicated to supporting our advertisers with awesome social and email promotions - very powerful tools when it comes to getting cut-through with candidates.

We’re using a very creative and strategic marketing program to attract career-hospo candidates down through to entry-level and casual candidates. So we cater for the likes of talented head chefs, experienced sommeliers as well as backpacking bartenders and housekeeping.

Possi also has a top-notch support team that makes getting an account set up and ads running really quick and easy.

Q. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR POSSI? A. Well, since you ask, we’re really excited to be launching our Suppliers’ Directory. This will simplify the product-research process for chefs and managers.

Possi Suppliers will be an in-depth directory to search and discover anything and everything, from fruit and veg to white truffles.

For suppliers, it’s going to be super simple.

They can get in-front of their target market with no secondary platforms, just a direct referral for a monthly subscription.

We think this will offer great ROI to suppliers who are looking for new markets.

Q AM I RIGHT TO GUESS THAT WE WILL BE SEEING A LOT MORE OF POSSI ON THE HOSPITALITY SCENE? A. That’s the plan! But seriously, what we are building is an online hub for the hospitality industry.

Hospitality is a big part of all of our lives and we’re aiming to make Possi a place where industry veterans and newcomers alike can find everything they need.

We also want all players to have a voice and contribute their thoughts and stories on our blog and get active on social too. This is a great place to spruik your venue or wares, but also communicate some of the insider funand-games from behind the scenes. n

Possi co-founder Anthony Chilelli with the first Possi billboard on Alexandra Parade, Melbourne in March this year.

June 2016 Hospitality 13

best practice

Turning praise into profit As the owner or manager of a hotel, club or restaurant, you’re automatically admired and recognised, so don’t give away the advantage. Here’s a list of essentials to get the most from all the attention. By Ken Burgin.

1. HAVE YOUR ‘ELEVATOR SPEECH’ READY Have a quick 30 second explanation of what you do and who your customers are. What would you tell someone between the first and the 20th floor? Australians often play down their achievements, but this can be a great opportunity to arouse interest.

2. ‘BUSINESS IS GREAT’ Period. No one is really interested in hearing about your problems – they’ve got enough of their own. Even if business is slow, tell diners about one of your great staff members, an interesting customer or recent menu changes. Sometimes you have to ‘fake it until you make it’.

3. DON’T TAKE SIDES Remember the saying ‘in business, there are no enemies’? Whatever you think privately about the prime minister, the local council or anything else political, keep it to yourself.

You never know who may disagree, and they might’ve be planning to make a purchase.

4. SUPPORT A CAUSE, THOUGHTFULLY AND CONSISTENTLY The local soccer team is a good cause, and there are other groups that may engage people more effectively: overseas child sponsorship, a health charity or environmental work. Try to choose something that you and your staff can 14 Hospitality June 2016

watch develop and grow over time. Your support will be made known, but modestly.

5. HAVE GOOD PHOTOS AVAILABLE Head shots, working shots and pictures of the business. Some magazines want ‘high resolution’ photos. This means 300dpi (dots per inch – dots also equal pixels). Modern digital cameras do the job nicely, but make sure your face is well-lit.

6. BE AVAILABLE TO THE MEDIA If a journalist rings, your staff should know how to find you quickly. A journalist doesn’t expect you to be instantly available, but they do want to hear back within the hour. In any event, it’s good practice to ask if you can call back in 10 minutes so you can collect your thoughts or check facts. Don’t just talk about yourself but follow their line of questioning.

7. DRESS FOR SUCCESS It’s not about labels, but people assume you have a good life, so wear modern clothes and shoes, certainly beyond the standard of your staff. Decent glasses, a good haircut, and – gentlemen, shave every day if you don’t have a beard. Smile more, and look after your teeth.

love the idea of a new LandCruiser, but your staff, your fans and some of your suppliers may start to take a different approach when it comes to negotiating wages and money. A new Commodore may be enough.

9. CHECK THE QUALITY OF YOUR PHONE MESSAGES AND EMAIL REPLIES Officious voicemails or staff can sabotage your image, and misspelt emails make you look uneducated. Set up ‘auto-signatures’ in your email if your typing is slow but you want to look professional.

10. HAVE A FRIENDLY BIOGRAPHY ON YOUR WEBSITE Many websites have an ‘About Us’ section, but no faces or names. Tell us about what you enjoy, what you’ve done before and about your passion for the industry – this helps customers and strangers make a personal connection.

11. LOOK PROFESSIONAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

8. TAKE CARE WITH THE CAR

Chances are your Facebook profile is private, but make sure the details available are flattering, and sober. Add a profile to LinkedIn, the networking site for professionals – this will often be one of the first things people see if they do a Google search for your name. n

Funny thing with Aussies – sometimes they admire your extravagance, and other times they think it’s coming out of their pocket. You

Ken Burgin is owner of Profitable Hospitality, profitablehospitality.com

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Less more

is

There’s more to minimal intervention wine than the name suggests.

By Madeline Woolway.

“I

personally don’t care too much for the term ‘natural wine’; it implies that the rest are unnatural. Maybe a term that would be better to use is ‘minimal intervention wines’,” Tom Sheer co-owner of Lofi Wines, told Hospitality. “Essentially what it refers to is the ‘less is more’ mantra. So, no manipulation through the cellar, no adjusting for acidity, no adding tannins, or new oak, [and then the use of] sulfur is heavily debated.”

Sheer’s business partner at Lofi Wines, James Audas said “The fruit has to be treated well with organic or biodynamic practices and then when moving the wine into the cellar, there should be minimal intervention.

When we’re talking about natural wines it’s all about no additions.”

ZERO SULFUR, LOW SULFUR AND BEYOND When it comes to the zero versus low sulfur debate, Lofi Wines has a mixture of both. “We have some guys that work with none and are completely dogmatic about it,” Audas said.

“Then we have some who will add a small amount before bottling; I think a lot of it is

16 Hospitality June 2016

drinks

peace of mind in sending the wine to Australia – it’s a long way to travel.

“All of our Australian producers are very much along the minimal sulfur line. I think for them it’s more that they’ve always been told at wine school that you have to add sulfur, but now they’re starting to experiment and think about what they’re wines will taste like, or look like, in six months or a few years if they don’t add things.”

This experimental nature is part of the fun for minimal intervention winemakers. New and old techniques can pique interest and make for good conversation, but drinkability has to remain the key concern. “First and foremost, a wine has to be delicious. At the end of the day wine is made to be drunk, not to look at and talk about endlessly. You can be as ideological as you want and end up with a terrible wine,” Sheer said.

“It’s actually wildly difficult to make unsulfured wines that will sit there and age beautifully. Those who pull it off reach cult status.”

Deciding whether to use sulfur is only the surface of minimal intervention winemaking.

“A lot of winemakers are turning towards techniques that build up natural antioxidants.

Things like skin contact, extended time on lees, and extended whole bunch pressing

build up antioxidants so the wines don’t oxidise as quickly. We’re seeing more orange and macerated white wines around now, especially in the natural wine category,” Audas said.

Natural winemaking techniques also help producers to highlight the wine’s provenance and unique characterisitcs. “Expressing terroir in a more pure way is definitely at the front of a winemaker’s mind. Minimal intervention winemakers think if they don't tinker with the fruit, if they don’t add anything to the wine, it will be a more unadulterated expression of where the wine comes from,” Sheer said.

“The idea of terroir and provenance is what gets me excited about wine. You can have a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and one from France; they might be the same plant but they couldn’t taste more different. When you start adding chemicals you can homogenise the wine.”

TREATING THEM RIGHT “We’re lucky to have great relationships with our farmers, but shipping and trying to coordinate everyone to bottle at the same time can be a bit a difficult. So far we’ve found the wines travel well and we have great storage once they get here,” Audas said.

“You have to be really on top of your logistics and storage,” Sheer said, “there’s just less room for error, especially with the low or no sulfur wines.”

Then there is the question of what happens once the wines leave their hands. “I would say 90 percent of our customers are restaurants and almost of all of them are restaurants where we know the people,” Audas said. “We want to work with sommeliers who understand and appreciate natural wines so they can explain the differences and even the story behind them.” n

“I personally don’t care too much for the term ‘natural wine’; it implies that the rest are unnatural.”

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www.revelsystems.com.au June 2016 Hospitality 17

asian

Ramen rising Ramen is a complex dish, made of many components. While its popularity has surged in Australia, there’s still a lot to learn, and thus plenty of opportunity for chefs to challenge themselves by taking on one of Japan’s most famous exports. By Madeline Woolway.

N

o one is exactly sure about the origins of ramen. Some say it came to Japan from China around the turn of the 20th century, others say it’s an entirely Japanese invention. The first theory is a good a bet; the noodles are similar to the Chinese wheat noodles lamian, which could explain the etymology of ramen (the ‘r’ sound in Japanese is somewhere between an English ‘r’ and ‘l’), and it was once referred to as shina soba, which roughly translates to ‘Chinese noodle’. Whatever the origins, ramen is now a truly Japanese dish, ubiquitous across the country.

Ramen is made up of four components: broth, tare, noodles and toppings. The broth is generally made using a mixture of pork, chicken, seafood and/or vegetables, with each ramen shop, as they’re called in Japan, developing its own recipe based on different combinations. The tare (pronounced ta-reh) is a seasoning, typically categorised into four types, from which variations of ramen take their name; shoyu, a complex soy sauce reduction; miso, the familiar fermented bean paste; shio, a seafood-based, umami heavy style made with dried seafood products like katsuobushi (think bonito flakes) and kombu (think seaweed); and tonkotsu, which is named more for its rich, creamy pork broth than the seasoning.

Although the tare is used to name the type of ramen, it should complement rather than overpower the broth, and there is often more to it than just the namesake ingredient – like with broth, many ramen shops have tare recipes with an extensive list of ingredients. The tare is placed 18 Hospitality June 2016

Tonkotsu (left) + Shoyu (below) from Taro's Ramen.

in the bottom of the bowl, which is then filled with noodles, broth and toppings.

The noodles are made from wheat flour, water, salt and, importantly, an alkaline mineral water (kansui), which gives the noodles their elasticity.

They can be thick, thin, wavy, straight, soft or hard.

Toppings range from pork slices (chashu), green onions and soy-marinated boiled eggs, to vinegar, garlic, chilli oils and more.

From Hokkaido to Kyushu there are more than 20 regional varieties, all featuring different combinations of the four. “Ramen is a national dish, every part of Japan has its regionally authentic recipe and then in different rural areas there will be a few creative chefs doing their own thing.The most northern part [Hokkaido] specialises in miso ramen and then right down in the south [Kyushu] they specialise in tonkotsu, with more than 20 different types in between,” Taro Akimoto of Taro’s Ramen in Brisbane told Hospitality.

TONKOTSU FEVER It’s tonkotsu, Kyushu’s milky, pork-marrow broth, that is Australia’s chosen bowl.

“My signature dish is a tonkotsu ramen, that’s been simmered away for a long time,” Akimoto said. “The really porky flavours you get from

cooking the bones for so long are the beauty of tonkotsu.

“The pork broth is our most popular, but we make a lighter version, because I think the lighter broths are better suited to our climate,” Stephen Seckold, executive chef at Sydney’s Salaryman, said.

Making good ramen takes time, but tonkotso can be particularly labour intensive. “Pork broth can be at least two to three days, while chicken takes overnight,” Seckold said.

“I use a pressure cooker to condense the flavours to my liking,” said Akimoto. “In Japan, some shop owners will have been simmering the broth for decades, but the pressure cooker does the same process in a few hours. My tonkotsu ramen carries the same philosophy of condensing the pork flavours into a silky, creamy soup, but we don’t have to waste resources by keeping the burners on 24 hours a day.”

RAMEN IN EVOLUTION At Salaryman, Seckold’s team wants to move away from the tonkotsu style and has been experimenting with vegetable broths.

“We always wanted to focus on vegetable broths, before we even opened,” Seckold told Hospitality, “You’re never going to get the same body as you can with tonkotsu, but you can get unique flavours. I think there’s a bigger range of flavours in vegetables and the broths can be made in a matter of hours.”

The latest iteration of the vegetable ramen on Salaryman’s rotating seasonal menu is a native finger lime broth. “The basis for the finger lime ramen is very simple. We make a light fennel stock with June 2016 Hospitality 19

asian

Native finger lime ramen at Salaryman

a nice delicate aniseed flavour, and then we squeeze the pods out of the finger limes and steep the shells in the broth. When we serve it we put the pods in the bottom of the bowl with a shoyu tare,” Seckold said.

Seckold stresses the importance of simplicity. “The more you put in the more confusing it gets. We’ve made a cabbage broth before and there was nothing in it except cabbages.

"We’re keen to keep experimenting with more and more vegetables.

It’s better for the environment and cheaper too,” he said.

Akimoto has also experimented with vegetarian variations and is currently offering a cold corn ramen. “We take some dried kelp and dried shiitake mushrooms and make an umami-flavoured broth out of that, then blend in the corn for added sweetness and texture,” Akimoto said.

“It’s good, but if you compare it with the tonkotsu, it’s not as complex.

I’m trying to make a tonkotsu equivalent vegetable broth, something cloudy and mysterious. I want people left guessing ‘what’s that?’”

CHALLENGE BEGETS OPPORTUNITY Developing the perfect broth isn’t the only challenge for ramen chefs in Australia. “We make the noodles in-house, but we’re just going through so many we are looking at taking our recipe to a noodle maker in Sydney,” Seckold said.

The dish’s increasing popularity could soon make life easier for ramen shop operators in Australia, by creating enough demand to make outsourcing affordable, both in terms of quantity and quality. “Kansui is available here now. I used to have to import it directly from a Japanese food additive company myself, but because our volumes have increased we’ve been able to hand the importing process over to a Japanese wholesaler,” Akimoto said.

While ramen is certainly enjoying a surge in popularity in Australia, it’s still a relatively unknown dish. “A lot of people coming to Salaryman aren’t ramen people, it’s their first time in a lot of cases. People say it’s exploded and that ramen is everywhere, but I just don’t think that’s the case. In certain groups it is, but there is still a lot of education that needs to happen; I’m still learning. If we start talking about mazemen or tuskemen, people will be overwhelmed,” Seckold said.

Events like Salaryman’s Ramen Wars, the first volume of which was held on 15 May, combat this by getting chefs together to experiment with and talk about food. “And everyone else gets to have a bit of fun and learn something too.”

With the first event sold out, Seckold has plans for volume two to be held in July, with Phil Wood from Rockpool and Luke Powell from LP Quality Meats throwing their hats in the ring.

Akimoto also expressed the difficulty in introducing different varieties to the Australian public. “The dilemma I have is that the tonkotsu is so popular. I use my monthly special as an avenue to introduce the different types of ramen,” he said. “We had a ticketed event, called Golden Shio Ramen, which we did with Wandering Cooks in Brisbane. About 120 bowls were sold as tickets and they sold out in 48 hours. At the end of the day, most of the feedback was that it was like nothing they had tasted before and many of them loved it. From six years ago when I started the business, people are becoming more aware and expecting different products, so there is hope.” n

“Some shop owners will have been simmering the broth for decades, but the pressure cooker does the same process in a few hours.”

20 Hospitality June 2016

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Praising the plant Vegan is no longer a dirty word. Restaurateurs have realised that catering to the growing number of diners who subscribe to a plant-based diet simply makes good business sense. By Danielle Bowling.

22 Hospitality  June 2016

cover story

I

n years gone by, the average restaurant menu would have one, maybe two vegetarian options. Think mushroom risottos, and very lacklustre lentil burgers. How times have changed. Now, smart operators are catering not just to vegetarians, but to the growing number of Australians who follow a vegan diet, or simply want the option to eat a meal free from animal products, if that’s what tickles their fancy on a given day.

ACCESSING A WIDER MARKET A common criticism from those less eager to either eat or prepare vegan meals is that they isolate meat eaters. It was a consideration for Sydney diner Yellow, which earlier this year made the bold decision to relaunch as a purely vegetarian restaurant.

Head chef Adam Wolfers said “We don’t want to be a restaurant that just caters to vegetarians. We’re cooking with vegetables, yes, but we want people who eat meat to come in and still have a great experience and not be thinking that it’s a chore to come to dinner. We want to make it for everyone.”

The decision has paid off, with the restaurant full almost every night since relaunching in February.

Since making the switch, Wolfers said he’s noticed a significant increase in the number of vegan diners eating at Yellow.

“To give you an example, on Saturday night we sat about 100 people – we do a tasting menu only on Saturdays – and I think we had about 40 vegans.

“It’s actually a lot easier to come up with a vegan dish, being vegetarian, rather than when you have meat on the plate,” he said.

“You used to have your meat dishes, and someone would come in and wouldn’t tell you beforehand that they’re a vegan so you’d run around and try to come up with something, which was always hard, but … it’s actually easier now because we have the basis of the dish done.”

Hueman Lam, chef at Vintaged Bar and Grill in the Hilton, Brisbane, was understandably concerned that launching a vegan menu at the steakhouse would offend either the meat eaters or their vegan counterparts – or both – but fortunately, the menu, which launched in April, has been well received.

“It’s been really good. We’ve actually served guests who would traditionally never have come to us,” she told Hospitality. “We were a bit scared at first that people would take offence to having a vegan meal in a steak restaurant, but they come and it’s more about the fact that they like the ambience but they’ve never been able to come before because we didn’t offer anything that they liked.”

The decision to launch a vegan menu alongside Vintaged’s regular offering wasn’t so much about catering to those that adhere to a plant-based diet, but rather catering to all diners, regardless of their dietary needs or choices.

“For us, it was a matter of, do we not give anyone another option, other than steak or chicken or fish? It was like, ‘Hey, we can be creative with other things, where the protein is a bit more obscure,” Lam said.

“Traditionally, you’d lose out if you were a vegan in a steak restaurant. So we wanted to make it a seamless dining experience for entire groups of people.”

Down in Fitzroy, Melbourne, vegan Latin restaurant Smith & Daughters, which opened in March 2014, has enjoyed such popularity that owners Mo Wyse and Shannon Martinez have also opened a vegan deli, Smith & Deli, around the corner on Moor Street.

Like at Yellow and Vintaged, Smith & Daughters doesn’t make a song and dance about its vegan-only offering. In fact, Wyse believes quite a few of those that have dined at the restaurant would still be unaware that it never uses animal products. And for good reason – menu items change daily, and have included vegan interpretations of smoked salmon, fried chicken, fish and chips and mac n’ cheese.

“When we opened the restaurant, it wasn’t to cater to the vegans and vegetarians, it was to create a really inclusive environment that everyone can come to,” Wyse said.

She doesn’t buy into the theory that offering a vegetarian or vegan menu restricts her customer-base. In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth, she said.

“It just makes good business sense. We say that if you are a café or a restaurant that doesn’t offer vegetarian food, you’re literally just taking money out of your own pocket and throwing it in the bin, because you’re cutting out a market of people that are potential customers.

“Vegans aren’t going to eat from your menu [if there are no options for them]; they can’t, they choose not to. But meat eaters and everyone else can eat the vegan items – that’s an inclusive product.

Top: Smith & Daughters' vegan blood sausage.

Image: Tamzen Hayes Above: Coconut rice pudding (left) and truffled white polenta with exotic mushrooms from Vintaged Bar and Grill Opposite: A selection from Smith & Daughters. Image: Nicole Reed

June 2016 Hospitality 23

cover story

raspberries and slice all the strawberries really thin then cover it over with sorbet. We also infuse a soy milk with hazelnuts and whip it up so it’s like a hazelnut curd, and then we have some microplaned hazelnuts over the top.”

BOOSTING CREATIVITY AND MORALE

Top: Kohlrabi + Enoki + Fermented Apple from Yellow Bottom right: Aztec chocolate tart with avocado ice cream from Smith & Daughters. Image: James Hartley

Even if it’s just avocado on toast with mushrooms or whatever, that menu item can feed everybody, and you’re also catering to a whole different market – the vegan market – so you’re putting money back in your wallet,” she said.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES Another misconception about vegan menus is that they’re one-dimensional, or boring. The creativity of the offering, Wyse said, is limited only by the enthusiasm and drive of the chef. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges.

“Shannon (Smith & Daughters’ chef) says it’s choux pastry for éclairs. She’s been trying that one for ages. But it used to be aioli and then she nailed that, then it used to be eggs and she nailed that, and meringue, and she got that.

All these things that used to be impossible for vegans … I mean, she made blood sausage for goodness sake.”

At Yellow, desserts are the biggest challenge. “Desserts are always tough, because in most desserts there’s a dairy component,” Wolfers said. “I’m starting to play around with chickpea water, which can replace eggs. So when you cook out chickpeas you’re left with a syrup and apparently you can whip that and it turns into a meringue.”

A favourite amongst diners – both vegan and non-vegan – is Yellow’s whipped carrot and coconut sorbet, which includes coconut that has been compressed in carrot juice, dehydrated then made into crispy shards, and served with coconut curd and a carrot sorbet.

“Vegans always love that,” said Wolfers. “We also do a raspberry, strawberry and hazelnut dessert. So it’s basically a raspberry sorbet, and we get fresh strawberries and

24 Hospitality June 2016

There’s nothing like a relaunch or a new menu to get chefs’ brains ticking over, and according to Hueman Lam, the team at Vintaged is more inspired and energised than ever.

You can understand why Lam was concerned that chefs working in a steak restaurant would be reluctant to prepare a vegan menu, but the response from her team was surprising, she said.

“They were actually quite excited. They’d played with meat for so long that it was exciting to have something new to play with. We’ve done one menu and we’re already thinking about the next one. We’re like ‘the first one is OK but we’re definitely going to make it much better the next time around.’ The team is much more excited.”

The same can be said for the team at Yellow. Again, some chefs were concerned that they’d be bored dealing purely with vegetables, but the key to getting them onboard, Wolfers said, was to include them in the menu development process.

“We didn’t lose any staff, which was great. The biggest thing was obviously when we were workshopping dishes we got everyone involved to taste and look at them, just to make everyone feel like they could see why we were doing this, and how it would make the restaurant better and more interesting. That was a big thing – trying to explain to the guys that we’re not going to be doing chickpea burgers.

We’re really trying to up the ante.”

And it’s not hard to keeps chefs engaged when the ingredients they’re handling are changing all the time. Offering a vegetable-based menu means the chefs at Yellow are – perhaps more than other chefs – at the mercy of the seasons.

“You can’t get certain vegetables at certain times of the year, so it means that the menu changes a lot,” Wolfers said.

“You’ve obviously got some vegetables that are available for most of the year, just because of the way Australia is, but most of the time we’ll change two or three dishes every week, on average. We use pretty much all organic vegetables and when it comes to that, especially when you’re using local stuff, at this time of the year what’s available changes a lot.”

But it’s not just about the vegetables; it’s about how you can make vegan ingredients look, taste and behave like flavours derived from animals. That’s what keeps Smith & Daughters’ chef Shannon Martinez inspired. Wyse said that one of the key reasons why Martinez didn’t find her apprenticeship fulfilling was because creativity wasn’t encouraged.

“There wasn’t any variation to the curriculum; you did everything the same way … But to make meat out of something that isn’t meat is exciting. To try different methods to make smoked salmon, to make eggs out of not eggs – that’s exciting. That’s something different,” she said.

“When we hire a new chef to work on the team, it’s really funny because there are a lot of people who – out of fear or pride or ignorance – don’t want to cook vegan food.

They’re cutting out the thing that’s almost like a crutch to them; it’s what they’re used to and they don’t think there’s any possible way of making plants fun or tasty. But it’s the exact opposite: you have more possibilities. You’re not limited to the five animals that are regularly available to you. You have this entire world of food to make incredible meals out of.” n

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The roving restaurateur

26 Hospitality  June 2016

point of sale

Being in your business 24/7 simply isn’t good for you or your operation, so if you haven’t given cloud technology some serious thought, now’s the time.

M

odern POS systems have a wide range of capabilities which can include inventory management, sales reporting, customer relationship management (CRM) and plenty more. Back in the day, each of these operations had to be considered in isolation, but thankfully, today’s POS systems allow business owners to manage them with one single platform.

Another modern day blessing for foodservice businesses is cloud technology. In a survey of 172 state and territory winners and finalists of the 2014 Telstra Business Awards, 77 percent of respondents said they use cloud computing to set up more flexible virtual offices and collaborate remotely. No doubt the figure is higher today.

Operating in the cloud means business owners can store and access data and software over the internet rather than on the computer’s hard drive.

Critical business information can be accessed anytime, anywhere with the added benefit of automatic system and software updates. Payroll, super and other rate updates are also automatically adjusted via cloud technology, and operators can gain valuable information about business trends, identifying top selling dishes, the most productive staff members and predicting cash flow – all at the touch of a button.

Jason Tait, owner of Sydney’s Sailors Thai restaurant, took over the business in 2011 and decided to switch from the existing ‘legacy’ system to a cloud-based one. He said that business owners tend to lag behind consumers when it comes to their willingness to embrace new technology.

“I think in our use of technology today … we take for granted that everything is online and in the cloud.

Some people may still need to jump the hurdle [and realise] that their business apps can be that way as well. I think a lot of people just suffer in silence. They have this idea that sitting in an office and logging in to a computer via a legacy POS system is something they just have to accept, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have the same sort of flexibility and availability for your business that you have for your social or home life,” he said.

WORKING ON-THE-GO Like the majority of business owners who have embraced the cloud, Tait says the key benefit of his POS operation is the mobility it provides him with.

“I can sit at home with my laptop and have a look at how the night is going. I look at it several times a night just to know how things have gone, to see when we’re busy and when we’re not, which products are selling and which aren’t.

“With a legacy product, you’ve got to wait

until you’re in the office the next day and look at a printed report. To me, that would feel very old fashioned,” he said.

Josh Franklin, general manager of Asia Pacific at Revel Systems, said cloud-based POS systems allow foodservice operators to complete traditionally cumbersome processes with ease.

“Let’s imagine you have a chain of 20 cafes.

You’re setting up your menu, potentially for all 20 cafes at once, but you don’t need to do it 20 times – you just need to do it once,” he told Hospitality.

“Once you set up your menu, you can set the prices once, for all 20 locations or you can set a price for specific locations. The way that a lot of POS systems operate these days – even for very large QSR chains – is by having to connect into every single site to change a price.

“With Revel, you just do it once, press save and then you can push those changes directly down to the iPads instore and it’s changed instantly. Because it’s cloud-based, you can be doing that on the train on the way home from work. From a mobility perspective, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

POS systems that operate in the cloud also allow business owners to manage staffing and rosters in real time.

“Because you have the staff times loaded into the system, and you can also put pay rates in, you can – at any point – view how profitable a venue is. So imagine a bar on a Friday night, and it’s 1am and it usually stays open until 2am. The staff are wondering if they should stay open that last hour – you don’t even need to be in the venue to see whether or not it’s profitable,” Franklin said.

“The idea of having to go into work to do your work is no longer the case. You can do everything from a web browser.”

MOBILITY IN-STORE A number of modern day POS systems allow for mobility instore as well as offsite. Take, for example, Square, which offers Square Register – a free POS, cloud-based app that also provides business analytics and insights, and Square Reader – a small, white device that connects to the headphone jack of an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet and processes card payments.

The obvious advantage to this technology is that it allows staff to more effectively manage busy periods and streamline the dining experience.

“You can have it as a fixed POS tablet at the counter, and then when a queue comes up staff can walk down it and take orders. If it gets even busier there’s the ability to go to tables to take orders but to also settle orders and take payments.

It provides a lot of flexibility,” said Ben Pfisterer,

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point of sale

“People just have an expectation now that you can do anything from the palm of your hand.”

Square’s Australian country manager.

“You can have multiple accounts; you can have multiple sites; you can have a single site with five roaming POS apps on tablets so people can be taking orders from different areas within the site.

Every person working the floor can have a Reader in their pocket or on their device.”

A similar service is offered by the Commonwealth Bank which recently partnered with cloud-based POS provider, Kounta, allowing CommBank’s EFTPOS tablet, Albert, to integrate a range of business, payment and POS processes on a single mobile device.

Businesses using Kounta on Albert can accept payments, manage tables, take orders, split bills and update inventory levels at the same time. It also integrates with customer loyalty, accounting, inventory, rostering and payroll applications.

Claire Roberts, executive general manager, Local Business Banking, Commonwealth Bank said “Practically, it means staff can be interacting with customers in a more efficient and personable way because they don’t need to be using multiple systems or devices.”

Nick Cloete, Kounta founder, agrees, adding that the hospitality industry is seeing a new generation of businesses using cloud-based POS technology to manage their stores more efficiently.

“As it stands, existing legacy POS systems limit the movement of retail and hospitality staff. They have to complete orders and payments at static computer and EFTPOS payment stations – a system that’s now extremely outdated and not suited to the modern customer.”

RELIABILITY Many operators that have refrained from joining the cloud have done so because they don’t want to be reliant on a continuous internet connection. But there’s no need for such concerns, Pfisterer said.

“Obviously if you’re fully connected to WiFi you get the most powerful system working, but you can run the Register system offline, so if you have to do it that way, you can. You can also tether it to your phone if need be, so you’ve always got back up. It definitely helps to have reliable WiFi but we haven’t

built a system that's 100 percent contingent on that.”

The very nature of the Revel System means that foodservice operators can put their fears about the cloud’s reliability to rest, Franklin said.

“One of the fundamental differences between Revel and other systems – especially other cloudand tablet-based systems – is that Revel is a true hybrid between a locally installed program and a cloud-based back-end. So what that means is that everything that needs to happen for an order to go through to a kitchen, bar or barista, happens locally, without the need for an internet connection. After the transaction is completed, then it synchronises with the cloud. So you have the robustness of a fully, locally installed system with all of the benefits of the cloud.

“People who are fearful of moving to a cloudbased solution in a high demand environment don’t need to worry about that using Revel because of the fact that it has that true robust nature as a core part of its design.”

Both Franklin and Pfisterer agree that the best is yet to come when it comes to cloud-computing's functionality in foodservice.

“Cloud POS is, I think, only just starting. Probably the vast majority of new cafes and restaurants are leaning towards the cloud because of the simplicity, the cost and the reliability. It’s continuing to grow and being able to have that whole integration from inventory to POS to sales to tracking and then to close an order or keep a tab going, that’s absolutely new and a really exciting feature that people like,” Pfisterer said.

It comes as no surprise that the advent of the iPad turned POS systems on their head, and according to Franklin, hospitality businesses have been on a sharp learning curve ever since.

“The iPad was first released in 2010 and it took a year or two for people to start to think about how they can do things differently,” he said.

“Now only six years on, we wouldn’t think about doing some of the things that we do on an iPad or smartphone in the old way that we used to do them. I think that people just have an expectation now that you can do anything from the palm of your hand, anywhere you are.” n

education and training

Dispelling the skilled migration stigma An effective temporary skilled migration program isn’t about taking jobs from locals – it’s about stimulating hospitality businesses and creating opportunities for young Australians, says Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO, Carol Giuseppi.

30 Hospitality June 2016

I

n an ideal world, the Australian hospitality industry would attract the majority of its workers from local sources and essentially, ‘grow its own’.

That is certainly the priority of Australian hospitality operators, and many have developed outstanding programs to attract, retain and build the careers of their staff, but the spectacular growth in the Australian hospitality sector in recent years has created a serious shortage of skilled workers to fuel current and future expansion.

This was emphasised in a Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by Austrade last year, which identified the need for 123,000 new positions in the tourism industry over the next five years, including some 38,000 chefs and cooks.

A recent report in the Daily Telegraph suggested the drought in hospitality workers was because locals aren’t prepared to put in the hard work, but when you have 100 new hotels opening over a period of five years, new convention centres the size and scale of the International Convention Centre in Sydney, and a massive expansion of restaurants, bars and catering services, there was always going to be pressure on the local market to supply the necessary skilled and unskilled labour.

Certainly the industry has realised the challenge and has started introducing additional programs to attract new staff to the industry. A pioneering Hotel Career Expo was held in Sydney in May to put the spotlight on the industry and sell its attractions across a wide range of professions, not just traditional restaurant, bar and catering areas, but associated areas such as engineering, accounting, IT, procurement and sales and marketing, which are necessary for all hospitality businesses.

Additionally, the industry has actively developed programs to match job seekers to hospitality jobs, and introduced specific programs to engage indigenous workers and promote the benefits of mature age workers, but despite some encouraging returns, supply of skilled labour is not keeping up with demand.

Pressures on employment for the hospitality industry are across the board, but it is regional and remote areas that are particularly struggling to find staff. This is why Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) has been advocating so strongly for a more flexible attitude to temporary skilled migration.

There are a number of schemes that allow workers to be brought in from overseas to fill specific gaps in the labour market, the best known being the Temporary Work (Skilled) 457 visa, which allows skilled workers to come to Aust​ralia and work for an approved business for up to four years.

For the hospitality sector, experienced chefs and cooks have been in short supply for well over a decade, so in 2013, TAA made a major submission to then Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, regarding the need for greater flexibility and support in attracting overseas chefs and cooks. As a result of the tourism and hospitality industry’s advocacy, chefs were added to the Skilled Occupation List, making it easier for businesses to attract chefs from overseas.

Unfortunately, while the logic of opening up temporary skilled migration to help fill shortages is obvious to our industry, the issues have become mired in politics, with some interest groups using simplistic arguments about “overseas workers taking away local jobs”, when – particularly in regional and remote areas affected by seasonality – there simply aren’t any skilled local workers to fill the jobs.

Encouragingly, the government announced last year that Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa holders who secure work in certain high demand industries in northern Australia will now be able to remain with their employer for up to 12

months, compared to the usual limit of six months. Further changes have been introduced that will allow Work and Holiday (Subclass 462) visa holders to extend their stay in Australia by a further 12 months if they work for at least three months in agriculture or tourism in northern Australia.

On the other side of the coin though, the government’s proposed ‘backpacker tax’ would have the opposite effect on encouraging young visitors to travel to regional and remote areas and work in either skilled or unskilled jobs. A six month suspension of the tax while a review is held is a welcome change of heart by the government and follows strong submissions by TAA on behalf of the industry, but hospitality businesses will need to maintain pressure on MPs after the election to ensure that the tax is either scrapped or significantly ameliorated.

Hopefully after the election, government will be able to review the whole temporary work visa situation in a way to ensure that Australian businesses are supported, rather than disadvantaged, by the system.

We have seen positive moves in the past. An independent review into the 457 visa scheme last year agreed with our recommendation that the current Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold be retained at $53,900p.a. with no further increases until it is reviewed in two years.

This is particularly important for regional areas because the higher the threshold the less businesses and positions would be eligible to have someone come in on a 457 visa.

We are strongly advocating for special dispensation for regional areas because of their different economic circumstances compared to cities and we are also arguing that concessions should be granted concerning English language requirement for certain occupations, because while English language skills are important, there are some areas in the hospitality industry where English is not such a priority.

The government has said it plans to cut red tape for visa applications, and review the fee structure, especially for secondary visa applicants and visa renewal applications. Both of these will be increasingly important as new hotels and foodservice businesses open and demand for skilled labour increases.

Other initiatives that we believe will help hospitality and tourism businesses access skilled labour include: ■■ Increase the maximum age for Working Holiday Visas from 30 to 35 years in recognition of the changes in traveller demographics that have occurred in recent years; ■■ Working Holiday Visa holders who meet the criteria for extending their stay by working in a regional area should be able to spend their second six month working stint working in a city-based tourism business; ■■ Extend the Working Holiday Visa from 12 to 24 months, with a corresponding increase in the working portion of this from six months to 12 months; ■■ A new two year working visa for temporary workers should be created for industries such as hospitality with genuine short-term labour shortages that cannot be addressed by the domestic workforce or through skilled migration; ■■ A new graduate visa should be created allowing overseas students to work full-time in Australia for two years after graduating from an Australian tertiary education institution (including hospitality schools); Our industry needs to encourage excellence to compete successfully, and access to temporary skilled labour can play an important role in raising the standards of Australian tourism and hospitality businesses, while increasing long term opportunities for local workers. n June 2016 Hospitality 31

shelf space

Upskill, fast

With over 70 critical skill areas, the LearnCheckTest online learning platform is designed as a tool to quickly up-skill casual staff in the hospitality sector. It is ideal for hotels, clubs, restaurants, cafes, event companies and franchise groups and covers topics including food and beverage service, customer service, health and safety, financial management and staffing. skillsforhospitality.com

2nd release whisky barrel aged cider

Lark Whisky Distillery has again teamed up with Willie Smith’s to create a limited edition barrel aged cider. Just 400 bottles of the 2014 vintage have been produced – half the amount sold last year. The cider comes in at 9.9 percent, which is higher than the first batch, having spent up to 12 months in the barrel. williesmiths.com.au

Sunny Queen extends range

Sunny Queen Meal Solutions has added a new three cheese and cracked pepper as well as a chorizo and cheese omelette to its ready to heat and serve range. There are also new fritter flavours: bubble and squeak with baby peas, potato, capsicum and ham; and Spanish with chorizo. The range is gluten- and preservative-free and comes with vegetarian options. sunnyqueenmealsolutions.com.au

Take control of your home delivery

Drive Yello is a delivery management platform that allows vendors to outsource their delivery capability completely. Foodservice businesses simply post delivery jobs online and the Drive Yello team supplies a driver on-demand.

Vendors can search, hire, manage, track and pay drivers for either one-off deliveries or full shifts. driveyello.com

The latest from Little Creatures

Little Creatures has launched its third seasonal release, The Hotchkiss Six. It’s a smooth stout, with dark chocolate qualities from caramel malt, English chocolate malt and roasted barley. Fruity aromas and aniseed-like spice come from late brewhouse additions of NZ Rakau and Southern Cross hops. 4.5% Alc/Vol. customerportal.lionco.com 32 Hospitality June 2016

diary

For the diary Upcoming events in the hospitality industry. Find out more at hospitality magazine.com.au

Game of Rhones Selected dates between 1 May and 9 July Game of Rhones is a celebration of the classic grape varieties of the Rhone Valley in France, including Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre, Carignan, Cinsault as well as Viognier, Marsanne and Roussane. Hosting cities include Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington. gameofrhones.com.au

The Australian Drinks Festival 16–17 July The Australian Drinks Festival (formerly Top Shelf) combines educational presentations with free sampling of premium beers, wines and spirits. Held at The Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton, this year’s event boasts an impressive line-up of guest speakers who will bring the world of fine drink to life with around 40 free demonstrations and seminars. australiandrinksfestival.com.au

The Rocks Aroma Festival

HO0 8 1 5 _ 0 0 0 _ DE L

entertainment come together with leading coffee producers for a one day celebration by the Sydney harbour. Over 100,000 visitors are expected to visit the festival this year, which will boast over 60 stalls. therocks.com

titions. Highlights include the Nestle Golden Chefs Hat competition, the Talking Food Stage, the Women in Foodservice charity event and the Official Great Aussie Pie and Sausage Roll competition. finefoodaustralia.com.au

VIN Diemen

Sydney Craft Beer Week

21 August (Melbourne) and 27 August (Sydney) The event will celebrate Tassie wines, including sparkling, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and more, with exhibitors including Josef Chromy, Stefano Lubiana, Jansz, Willie Smith Cider and Lark Distillery. Tasmania’s other food and beverage attractions will be on display, together with some of the island state’s most exciting tourism offerings. The Melbourne event will take place at Meat Market, 5 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne while Sydney’s will be at the Cell Block Theatre at the National Art School, Forbes Street, Darlinghurst. vindiemen.com

22–30 October Sydney’s largest celebration of craft beer, Sydney Craft Beer Week is back for its sixth year. Last year it saw 130 craft beer-related events held across 70 of Sydney’s leading venues and outdoor spaces, with highlights including Beergustations and Hair of the Dog Breakfasts. sydneycraftbeerweek.com

Fine Food Australia

24 July 12–15 September Now in its 19th year, The Rocks This year taking place at the Aroma Festival attracts boutique Melbourne Convention and roasters and coffee specialists Exhibition Centre, Fine Food from across Australia. GourAustralia will include live - met 1 food 2 0and 1 5tea - 0stalls, 7 - arts 2 3 T 1 0 : demonstrations, 1 2 : 1 5 + 1 0 masterclasses : 0 0 and fashion markets and live and industry recognised compe-

Taste of Tasmania 28 December, 2016–3 January, 2017 The Taste of Tasmania is produced and presented by the City of Hobart, with the aim of presenting a memorable event that showcases some of the best food and beverages Tasmania has to offer.

The annual event is hosted along the River Derwent, Hobart’s historic wharves and Salamanca Place, with stallholders including seafood, cheese and berry suppliers, as well as beer, wine and cider producers. thetasteoftasmania.com.au

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5 minutes with

Clayton Donovan founder, Jaaning Tree Australia’s first indigenous hatted chef, Clayton Donovan has turned his restaurant into a mobile pop-up concept, allowing him to capitalise on the industry’s growing interest in native foods.

I

have a hospitality-friendly family life now, and that’s because we closed our Nambucca Heads restaurant, Jaaning Tree, about two years ago. I’ve gotten back into pop-ups, mentoring and guest cheffing – so I get a little bit of spare time. I actually had Christmas off last year, which was amazing. I’ve also had time to work on developing a native cider with finger lime and apple – Byron Bay Wild Cider.

So closing the restaurant has allowed me to express myself through the industry in different ways. It’s great.

There was a time back in the day when native foods weren’t really celebrated. Now, to see them rise onto a world platform and grow as a food trend is great. We’ve got all these great native foods, which are basically superfoods. As a chef, they’re unique and they give you another range of colours and shades to work with, which sounds crazy because these are some of the oldest foods in the world, but they’re some of the newest flavours on the block in Australia.

Rene Redzepi asked me to present at the recent MAD Symposium, and when we finished I went up to him and said "Thanks for giving me the chance to speak about this stuff’ because it’s important that kids know about it. It all boils down to education.

I have friends in Italy whose kids all know the regions that make parmesan and they know all about arborio rice; they know where their food comes from and what it is. In Australia we should have our kids treating wattleseed, lemon myrtle and finger lime as carrots, onions and garlic.

Kids should be able to recognise what we have here in Australia, and it starts with what they get taught at school and home.

And then also with the training of chefs coming through the industry – we need to make a conscious decision to broaden the modules on native foods.

What Rene’s done here has awakened a lot of people. It needed to happen and if it’s taken a Dane to come over here and do it, so be it. I don’t care, man. n

34 Hospitality June 2016

From across the country, these emerging and established PorkStar chefs encompass the diverse Australian culinary landscape. The PorkStar 11 are leaders, not followers, and share a love of the magical beast, the pig. Be a PorkStar and get some pork on your menu. www.porkstar.com.au

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