All news articles for March 2012

Asian restaurant chain Tampopo is launchign a 'What would you like your name to be today?' campaign on 1 April

IDEAS FROM YOUR PEERS

Name campaign at Tampopo and Earth Hour at Hilton

By Luke Nicholls

Restaurants and hotels including Tampopo, Mango Tree, Hilton and Yorebridge House tell BigHospitality about special events and promotiuons they're running to market themselves more effectively and increase custom.

Best Western adds first new hotels to its 'Plus' portfolio

Best Western adds first new hotels to its 'Plus' portfolio

By Peter Ruddick

Hotel chain Best Western has added the first two new hotels, in Cardiff and London Heathrow, to its Plus portfolio of venues which was created along with the Premier portfolio to better differentiate between facilities and standards in the brand's...

Inka launches new range of BBQ ovens for the summer

Inka launches new range of BBQ ovens for the summer

By Peter Ruddick

Inka has introduced a new range of barbecue ovens in time for the summer to add theatre and more efficient, ecologically sound and virtually smoke-free grilling to an al-fresco menu.

Sriram Aylur's Quilon restaurant has just reopened following a three-month refurbishment

Pearls of Wisdom: Sriram Aylur

By Luke Nicholls

Chef Sriram Aylur embarked on his culinary career in his own father’s restaurant before working his way up to lead the kitchen at the Taj Gateway Hotel in Bangelore. It was there he launched his own Karavali restaurant which was voted one of the top five...

Soft option: non-alcoholic drinks can be paired with food

Food and drink matching trends: Soft drinks

By Luke Nicholls

Alcohol sales are of course an essential revenue generator for most hospitality businesses. But soft drinks, smoothies, freshly squeezed juices and non-alcoholic cocktails could in fact generate even higher margins for more diligent businesses, especially...

Budget 2012: What was missing for the hospitality industry?

Budget 2012: What was missing for the hospitality industry?

By Luke Nicholls & Peter Ruddick

Just over a week since the 2012 Budget, hospitality operators are weighing up the effects of the policies contained in the Chancellor's speech on their businesses - but what wasn't said or what was notably missing for hotels, restaurants and...

Publican Awards 2012 reward innovative pub operators

Publican Awards 2012 reward innovative pub operators

By Emma Eversham

Nine different pub operators, including Youngs and G1 Group, were rewarded for demonstrating 'high standards and levels of innovation' in their business at the Publican Awards 2012 last night. 

Rubbermaid unveils new washroom range

Rubbermaid unveils new washroom range

By Emma Eversham

US-based sanitary maintenance company Rubbermaid Commercial Products has created a co-ordinated new range of products for washrooms and toilets to help operators promote good hygiene while also incorporating a stylised look. 

Wireless food hygiene management system launched by Kelsius

Wireless food hygiene management system launched by Kelsius

By Peter Ruddick

Kelsius, a provider of web-based food service solutions, has launched FoodCheck, a wireless system to control and monitor food hygiene and safety standards to comply with Food Standards Agency (FSA) Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) processes.

Whitbread third in British top employers list

Whitbread third in British top employers list

By Peter Ruddick

Whitbread and J D Wetherspoon have been named among the best British employers in the Corporate Research Foundation (CRF) Institute's latest rundown of the leading companies in the country in terms of taking care of employees and providing excellent...

London hotels outperformed by the regions in February

London hotels outperformed by the regions in February

By Peter Ruddick

Hotels in the regions enjoyed a bigger rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) than those in London for the first month in two and a half years in February, according to the latest market data from hotel consultancy firm PKF.

Scarborough's Wrea Head hotel finds new owner

Scarborough's Wrea Head hotel finds new owner

By Emma Eversham

The Wrea Head hotel in Scarborough, one of four former English Rose Hotels Scarborough Ltd (ERH Scarborough) placed on the market last year following the company's collapse, has a new owner. 

UK market remains key to Starwood's development plans

UK market remains key to Starwood's development plans

By Peter Ruddick

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has announced it plans to open 25 hotels in Europe over the next four years and the group's senior vice president for the region has suggested 'one or two' of those might be in the UK market which remains important...

Gordon Ramsay files lawsuit against Canadian restaurateur

Gordon Ramsay files lawsuit against Canadian restaurateur

By Peter Ruddick

Gordon Ramsay is suing Canadian restaurateur Danny Lavy for more than £1m after Lavy terminated the celebrity chef's consultancy at the Montreal restaurant formerly known as Laurier Gordon Ramsay and made comments about Ramsay's role in the...

Career Profile: Clare Smyth

Career Profile: Clare Smyth

By Peter Ruddick

Clare Smyth holds a unique position for a female chef in the UK as the first and only woman to run a restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, with three Michelin stars. Smyth moved to England at 16 from Northern Ireland to train before working in a number...

Mark Muirhead has been appointed head chef at the Boat House Restaurant & Bar

People on the Move in Hospitality: March 2012

By Luke Nicholls

BigHospitality rounds up the latest appointments in the hospitality industry. This month sees key appointments at hotels, restaurants and pubs including Hilton, Blueprint Café and Spirit Pub Company.

Ilia owner sells Chelsea restaurant to Obikà

Ilia owner sells Chelsea restaurant to Obikà

By Peter Ruddick

Jessen & Co, the owner of Chelsea's Italian restaurant Ilia, has sold the site to the restaurant chain Obikà Mozzarella Bar blaming rising rent and rates in a small venue for the closure of the high-end establishment.

Effectively matching spirits with food is a sure-fire way to increase average spend per head

Food and drink matching trends: Spirits/Cocktails

By Luke Nicholls

As we have seen in previous parts of this feature, food and drink can be a marriage made in heaven for restaurants and pubs. But cocktails, apéritifs and spirits are not products that tend to be associated with food and they are rarely even advertised...

Hotels in the capital are placing more emphasis on their F&B offerings and are prepared to pay for talent to help improve it

Average salary for F&B director in a London hotel rises 25%

By Emma Eversham

The average salary of a food and beverage (F&B) director at a London hotel has risen 25 per cent to £58,350 in the last year as the capital's hotels strive to become more competitive in their restaurant offerings. 

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