Catering in the Clink

Our Managing Director Wendy Bartlett is my guest blog writer this week.

Catering in the Clink

I recently ate at ‘The Clink’, a public restaurant inside a prison, which was inspirational in a number of ways.

Commitment from an ‘ordinary’ catering manager
Two things really stood out; first, an ‘ordinary’ Catering Manager had the vision to get a restaurant up and running with in-mates, he taught them new skills and through his commitment and determination he made the restaurant happen. Can you imagine how difficult it was, how many obstacle there were? How many times would it have been easier for him to give up?

The second thing that struck me was the inmates themselves. One inmate told me it is hard to learn new skills and work in this training environment. But the hardest bit is the stick he gets about ‘selling out’ from other inmates when he returns to his cell. He said he was prepared to put his head above the parapet and take it because he wants something different for his future. A former drug runner and a frequent visitor to HMP, he knew the only one who had the power to make change happen was him.

What change do you want?
Gandhi said, “We must become the change we want to see”. You have the power to make anything happen! At bartlett mitchell we have a culture that gives our team members the opportunity to shine. Our entrepreneurial ethos allows team members to get involved and help shape the business and their future. It’s all about working as one team and as much as we are happy to drive ideas from the top, it works best when we all believe we can make a change and work together to achieve it.

Wendy Bartlett

The aim of The Clink Charity is to reduce re-offending rates of ex-offenders by training and placing graduates upon their release into the hospitality industry. For more information visit www.theclinkcharity.com

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The Street Food Legacy

It’s the flavour of the moment and although it may seem like something of a new phenomenon here in the UK, Street Food actually has a long and established history. When I visited Pompeii, which was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79AD, the guide told us excavators had not found much formal dishware but instead plenty of small grilling vessels (like barbecues), indicating that people were eating-and-running on the go even then. In the UK, Street Food is mentioned in records that go back to the Domesday book with street food vendors selling pies and eel catchers along the Thames selling cooked jellied eels, traditions that continue to this day.

A Worldwide Revolution

At our recent networking event we demonstrated Street Food is long established throughout the Commonwealth too. The Jubilee year celebrations gave us the opportunity to showcase our chef’s talent and how Street Food is a favourite around the world. Wherever people gather there is food and city living has always created a demand for convenience. 

Foodie Innovations

Street Food is bang on trend with my gourmet predictions for 2012 where outdoor cooking and international flavour are the up and coming ‘ins’ for the year. People are moving away from the ‘full-on’ sit down meal experience. I’m guessing that in a recession it may seem like too much of a luxury, whereas eating outside and standing is a more accessible ‘treat’. Plus did you know there are no calories in food eaten whilst standing (remember you read it here first)! 

Entrepreneurial Ideas

We understand what our customers’ want – the rich, interesting flavours of freshly cooked, authentic dishes from around the world, which offer a moment away from the strains of the day. Our pop-up Street Food offer delivers precisely that. Being independent means we are not constrained; today’s idea can be tomorrow’s lunch.

Take a look at what our team have cooked up in our Commonwealth of Street Foods! And if you’d like to hear and see more, we’d be delighted to arrange a Street Food tasting.

     

   

Biodiversity in Wines

This week I have a treat for you; a guest writer for my blog. My co-director Ian Mitchell, master of all things wine at bartlett mitchell is throwing some light on a word we’re reading increasingly in the wine press…

Wine Biodiversity

Biodynamic grape-growing is where the vineyard is treated as an ecological whole: not just rows of grapevines. Everything from the soil to the flora and fauna in the area grow together interdependently. Wine grown in this way is believed to more accurately reflect the place it’s grown—and, consequently taste better. Some of the most high end wine growers in the world have converted to a biodynamic method as well as the large scale producers.


South Africa leads the way

I have visited over 120 vineyards in South Africa; Fairview in Paarl, whose wines include ‘Goats do Roam’, have been practicing biodiversity for years. As third generation farmers, they have a strong relationship with their land. They produce some very fine wines, and their goat’s cheeses are stunning, the goats roam and eat wild food, which gives the cheese wonderful flavours.


Tastes good and feels good

Biodiversity in wine making proves that food and drink production doesn’t have to damage the earth. It’s a principle we hold dear at bartlett mitchell by buying free range eggs and supporting organisations like the British Hens Welfare Trust and the Marine Conservation Society Council - ensuring we buy food that both tastes and feels good.


Find out more

If you want to know more and even sample some wines, go along to the ‘Real Wine Fair’, held in London, May 20-22. www.therealwinefair.com/

Ian Mitchell, Chairman, bartlett mitchell

Foodie trends for 2012

Continuing my musings about the big food trends for 2012

In my last blog, I shared my first five ideas about what’s hot and what’s not for 2012, they were the starters, here’s the main course. (Click here for last blog)

6. Pickling and preserving

I see more and more pickled foods starting to appear on more restaurant menus and recipes. (No one except my family touched Piccalilli a few years back, now they’re all at it!)  Richard, one of our star managers has converted one of his bedrooms into a storage room for preserving and pickling and now proudly gives them as gifts all year round. Whether it be at a posh restaurant or in a humble delicatessen a great pickle, piccalilli, or chutney can transform a sandwich into a thing of glory. So here’s to getting pickled in 2012 

7. Outdoor dining and cooking

Super sales Sarah at Head Office, is one of the many people I know who built an alternative fantastic out door kitchen (until she moved house that is!). I have several friends doing exactly the same thing and I’m just waiting for them to make their mistakes before I plan an out-door kiln/oven to end all ovens. I hope it doesn’t end up like a crematorium!. Once you’ve got past the idea that it’s a just pizza oven, let your imagination run riot.  Out-door dining will be all the rage, if the sun comes out.

8. Rabbit and goat

Hear me out! With the rise in prices for foods like Beef and Chicken I predict the rise of rabbit and goat. I’ve already seen them on the menus and quite frankly why not? I made Fred (Wendy Bartlett’s Dad) rabbit pie only last week and I had enough for 8 portions. Now that’s value! Goat is great. Our friends from the Caribbean have known this for ages but I’m afraid its too late, the secret is out. Robust, tender and sweet it’s a wonderful meat. 

9. International flavour

Pop up restaurants have bought wonderful flavours to us and with smaller, simpler menus. We introduced Global Kitchen at bartlett mitchell, it’s a total winner. Be on the lookout for more Thai, Cuban and Hungarian foods.  

10 And finally, at number 10 - Breakfast is the new Dinner

Restaurants will invent the Great British breakfast and they will become a thing of beauty on our lunch and even supper menus. Finally, I spy waffle irons for sale everywhere. Jamie Oliver has been pushing his waffle batter recipe and as they are such a neutral base they can be topped with sweet or savoury. See if you end up having one before the year is out.

Foodie trends that didn’t happen in 2011 - just to make you smile!

Here are some more food ideas people were shouting about last year and which never took off:      Meatball mania: We sent Wendy to a meatball shop in New York as they’re supposed to be the thing from last year. I’ve not given up on this trend. Watch bartlett mitchell closely to see if we can make it work.
Posh Donuts: I think a ditch attempt by the big donut houses of the states to make them the replacement for the cupcake.

·          Edible Insects: with their sustainability and low-environmental credentials we’re supposed to be eating them for the sake of the planet. I’m afraid I’m going to pass on that for now.

Have you got any predictions for this year?  If you do, let me know and let’s regroup this time next year and see how we got on!

European hospitality

European hospitality

Each year around the time of my birthday Wendy, Steve and I set sail for somewhere interesting in Europe. This year though we are without our dear friend Lin whom we have toasted several times and who I am consequently blaming for my hangover today.  In the last 10 years we've experienced some real wonders from the ruins of Pompei to the grand bazaar in Marrakech. This year we are in Northern Spain and have just finished two days in Santiago de Compostela, an ancient town on the pilgrimage route and with a wonderful old city still full of mystery and charm.

A warm welcome...

It's amazing how even in just two days you can be made to feel like a local, or certainly a regular.  Even a girl who was sitting on the train with us and tried in vain to ask us a question in Spanish remembered us when we met again in a tapas bar in the Old Town. She greeted us as if we were old friends.  It just goes to show, it's the people who make the difference. The most fantastic food can be made to taste rancid, if accompanied by indifferent service. The lightest cappuccino can taste flat with poverty of interest from barista and any hotel can feel cold when greeted by teams who simply don't care. 

Forget trips to the USA to experience customer service get yourself over to Santiago! For a place to stay head for Hotel Altair where the teams offer fantastic service and the rooms are contemporary, stylish and comfortable but still ooze old building charm with their exposed stone walls and wooden furniture.  

Tapas

For authentic tapas you need to go to Gato Negro in the old town.  Don't be fooled by the shear underwhelming nature of the small bar as you walk in. The functional marble counters and barrels of local wine all served in ceramic beakers, hide a wealth of great food.  The melt in the mouth liver and onions, the clams in tomato sauce and local cheese were outstanding.

My final recommendation is for a tapas bar on a Michelin level but without the price tag. Located in little alley and almost looking as if it's closed is the 'O Curro da Parra' bar.  From the minute I walked through the door they made the first move and greeted me. Even the chef behind the grill called over to welcome me back.  Informal and relaxed, the service was borderline flirtatious but made me feel special and important.  It's no wonder we went back a second time in two days, something we wouldn't have done, if the service had not been outstanding. The croquettes coated in breadcrumbs and grated hard cheese were perfection and the house speciality, medium cooked burgers, topped with Foi Gras and a truffle cream, were the finest quality I've ever tasted.  

Great people make all the difference

In a world where profit margins are cut to the bone and we have to get smarter about keeping our tills 'ka-chinging' through these recessional times, Santiago (Saint James) provides the answer as he has for pilgrims for the last thousand years. His message for our times; great people with generosity of hospitality will make the difference people want.

David's top ten food predictions for 2012

David’s predictions for Food Trends for 2012

I traditionally start the year by bestowing on you my thoughts about what’s hot and what’s not for the year ahead.  2012 is a difficult one to predict as there are so many things to factor in; above average food inflation, Jubilee celebrations and of course the dreaded Olympics, but I’ll give it a go!

1. Home cooking, baking and the Great British afternoon tea

We saw it rise in 2011 with the return of the street party as a result of the royal wedding.  A passion for baking (by the younger generation), evidenced the rise in popularity of programs such as ‘The Great British Bake off’. Twice as many young people watched the final of ‘The Great British Bake off’ than watched Big Brother. Together with the Queens Diamond Jubilee make me think it’s going to be a year of cake baking and afternoon teas. Personally I can’t wait.

2. Healthier vending

They have been the bane of my working life and over the years ive even seen people threatening to call a strike because the fruit buns have been changed!  But change is on its way.  Vending should never have been synonymous with lowest common denominator foods and slowly that’s beginning to change.  I predict in this year we will see a real surge in better quality and healthier ingredients.  Pies and pasties are out and in their place are crudités and dips.  Imagine the day you go to your vending machine and find a selection of fine cheeses, a few grapes some homemade oatmeal biscuits and a small bottle of wine!  The laws are getting tighter and tighter about what and how we eat especially at work and its no bad thing that the vending services reflect this

3. Bygone foods

We’ve done ‘provenance’ and ‘organic’ but since the recession bit harder they’ve been told to take a holiday.  In their place we see a rise in ‘ye olde’ crops. Tomatoes and beef have been around for a while, but new veggies such as potatoes, carrots and beetroot have been getting a ‘bygone’ makeover.  These are generally of an older variety and are distinct from commercial products that have been mass produced for convenience.  Did you know it wasn’t until the last century that carrots were orange. Before that they were a very proud bartlett mitchell purple.  The term is becoming synonymous with quality and with it higher prices.

4. Grow your Own

How many of my friends now grow their own, or are applying to have an allotment or even keep chickens.  Honestly it’s like being in the war!   Seriously though I think this year were going to see people planting at least one or two varieties of foods that they can harvest and enjoy.  We’re encouraging all our clients to let us have herb gardens at work.  If you want to start with something simple try rocket leaves.  Try a patio planter with a crop of new potatoes (imagine how wonderful that’s going to taste) and for the autumn plant a pumpkin.  If you have children they will love the rapidity with which they grow.  You can literally watch them.  The pumpkins are wonderful and very fashionable too these days.  Scoop out the seeds, leave the flesh and fill the centre with beef stew onions herbs and a bottle of beer, bake in the oven for 2 hours.  Scoop the flesh of the cooked pumpkin onto the stew and serve it whole on your dining room table.  I defy anyone not to be impressed!

5. Food inflation

Without doubt, this will continue. Extreme weather including drought and floods in Asia, mean that crops will be smaller and more valuable. In America the drought in the southern states and Texas in particular has raised the price of beef, a protein dear to the hearts of Americans, that’ll put more pressure on the price of imported beef into the UK.  The continued growth of the Chinese economy will mean they become more affluent and with that comes a taste for fine foods.  Trust me on this one, pork prices will go up, up, up.

So that’s my first five, let’s call it the starter. There will be more in my next blog, but in the meantime I thought I would tell you about the ideas people were shouting about last year and 
which, in my opinion never really worked. 


Foodie trends that didn’t happen in 2011 - just to make you smile!

·          Sausage was supposed to be the new bacon: I like a sausage. but bacon is unbeatable.

·         Macaroons, the new cupcakes: That didn't happen, even though Time Magazine featured them in first January 2012 issue.

·         Food Apps: This trend has potential and needs developing.

·         Homebrew: No elaboration necessary although my brother in law brought me a bottle of Pinot Grigio this weekend and it wasn’t half bad! 

Festive food frenzy!

Christmas seems to be full of the usual madness. I was in Sainsbury’s yesterday buying Ian Mitchell’s wine recommendations. The amount of customers with not one, but two full trolleys was unbelievable.  It’s one day, only 24 little hours! 

Five fascinating facts

Curiosity got the better of me and I did a bit of research to find out more about our Christmas shopping habits.  Here’s what I discovered;

1. One in five of us only bake for a special occasion such as Christmas, with cakes being the most popular. This explains the success of the ‘Christmas cake kits’, popularised last year by Waitrose and Delia. Rumour has it they were changing hands on e-bay for £80 (MRP £9.99) 
2. As a nation we spent over £300m in 2011 on turkey, and nearly £200m on Christmas chocolate, less than Easter and much more than Mother’s Day, a lowly £22m.
3. We clearly feel Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without dried fruits and nuts and spent £579m on them, that sounds like tons to me.
4. Most of the alcohol we buy over Christmas is a gift for someone else. Christmas is a time when we like to try new drinks. That said, white wine is our favourite at-home drink.
5. It’s clear that liqueurs are synonymous with Christmas. We obviously like Baileys, because we drank the equivalent of several Olympic swimming pools full of the stuff!

Prudent shopping

So, had I done a further inspection of those Sainsbury’s trolleys maybe I would have discovered they were full of cake (or cake kits), turkey, chocolate, wine and Baileys! Evidence surely that despite the challenging economic environment, we still want to treat ourselves and spend money on food and gifts but we do it in a discerning and prudent way.

Festive tipples

If you are looking for some ideas for a tipple to surprise and delight your guests over Christmas, take a look at my YouTube page. I have prepared four divine drinks!  Have a wonderful Christmas everyone, may it be a delicious time of love and laughter for you all.

Best wishes, David James

Source: Mintel