Tyneside-based Tavistock Leisure reveals plans to double the size of its hotel portfolio in the north east in 2008, as well as expand its Italian restaurant chain.
Efforts underway to ensure all hotels in the seaside town hold the correct licence as fears grow over shabby hotels dragging down Blackpools reputation.
Tragus midmarket restaurant group has signed an agreement in principle to run nine restaurants across four UK Center Parcs ;holiday villages;. The restaurants currently trade under the Chez Pierre, Luciano's and Hugo's names across ...
The role of the host is under-played and under-valued, but initiatives such as Restaurant magazine's Front of House awards may redress the balance says Fay Maschler An acquaintance of mine has written a book based on the history of the London ...
The old image of the North-East as a culinary desert is challenged by the company that has brought a Michelin Star to Windermere ;We have a lot of local staff working for us in the North-East, and because we have four different businesses ...
A third of all new restaurants fail in the first year. Here's how to make sure yours isn't one of them Finding the right venue for your new restaurant can be challenging at the best of times. Brimming with ideas, you're likely to be ...
Whether it's a high-profile celebrity event or a relaxed affair, there's a host of different strategies for a successful launch party You're new in town and you want everyone to know about you. Can you really boost your profile by handing...
There may be some obscure cooking competitions here, but look at what the Venetians get up to… The most bizarre cooking competition I ever went to involved teams of blindfolded leather-clad dwarves on trampolines competing to see who could ...
Look after your staff because healthy, happy staff are not only good for your soul but good for your business Wander around the back streets of any big city and you'll see shadowy figures in chefs' whites and waiters' get-ups, clutching...
New air-conditioning legislation designed to help reduce global warming comes into force this month A new piece of environmental legislation will come into force on July 4 which will affect all restaurants with air conditioning. The new F-gas ...
Nobody wants to bar a customer, but if you feel there really isn't any choice, here are some ways of doing it right. Barring customers is an uncomfortable thing for most restaurateurs, and getting anyone to acknowledge that it happens is very ...
Fine dining Nottingham favourite picks up top prize again World Service in Nottingham has reclaimed the title of Nottingham Restaurant of the Year in the 2007 awards. The restaurant, in Nottingham's Lace Market, won the award in three consecutive...
The biggest single charge that a restaurateur has to pay is usually the rent, and with most leases specifying five yearly rent reviews (although there are some that have them every three or four years), it's worth getting to grips with how they ...
Here is a good scam for you restaurant owners keen to bolster your profits. Offer fresh mint tea and fresh ginger tea. Put a few leaves of the herb or a few slices of the root (don't bother peeling) into a teapot, add boiling water and charge ...
Restaurants are under increasing pressure to reduce levels of salt in food. Here's how to do it It is a widely acknowledged fact that much of the UK's population eats too much salt. Government guidelines recommend no more than 6g a day for ...
Terry Durack of The Independent on Sunday Review picked up the Restaurant Critic's award at the Glenfiddich Food & Drink Awards 2007 at a ceremony held at Sketch in London's Mayfair. Judges, which included restaurateur Bruce Poole of Chez...
Of course we all want to keep the customer happy, but what about when they're just plain wrong? The customer is always right. Aren't they? What about if one goose-stepped up and down in front of a group of horrified German diners, shouting ...
Chef turnover is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry, generating massive annual costs, recruitment expert David McHattie suggests ways to tackle the £95m question When you last recruited a chef, the chances are it took you a while .
The first contact a potential guest makes with a restaurant is what will keep them coming back A casual enquiry about the price of the set lunch; a request for a copy of the menu; a reservation for two on a Saturday night. From surprisingly small ...
A rise in expendable income means diners are likely to eat out more, but this is no time to sit back and relax It's never been more important for restaurateurs to get really good at marketing. Customers are more choosy about where they spend ...
Selected by the largest, most internationally diverse panel yet, with 22 voting regions worldwide, Restaurant magazine presents the list everyone's been waiting for...The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants How we did it The academy system of voting that...
When a customer's big night out finally comes around, it's vital that service meets expectations You've been planning this meal for a long time, the reservations were made months ago. The food is excellent, the building is beautiful, but...
Restaurateurs are advised to pay attention to the latest amendments to the Work and Families Act With the introduction of the new Work and Families Act at the beginning of April, restaurateurs need to ensure they're up to speed with the changes ...
Waiting on tables is all about serving the customer, not a management brief, writes Fay Maschler The brief encounter that is the relationship between a waiter and a customer in a restaurant is fraught with the same difficulties that attended Celia ...
Silver service or pub grub? We ask those behind some of the most successful gastropubs how they strike the balance It's a familiar scenario. You knock back a couple of halves in the downstairs bar, ascend the rickety staircase to the dining room...
After a High Court case making employers liable for staff harassment, there's a very real risk that robbery could hit you twice over if you don't take precautions Restaurateurs risk claims of negligence if they fail to protect their staff ...
Bar dining is the height of fashion, with many restaurants catching on. It’s a good look, but only if you get it right Trendwatchers, particularly those who visit New York with any regularity, will be well aware of the trend for bar dining. ...
Breakfast is the perfect time to put distance between yourself and the competition The nature of a successful breakfast service is speed and numbers, getting as many customers in and out as quickly as you can. Employing staff with the right attitude,...
All aboard!Restaurant magazine's College Restaurant of the Year Awards for 2007 went with a splash on the Thames It was a night to remember – 100 catering college students celebrating their success on board The Symphony cruising the River ...
Fernando Stovell, Head Chef at the Cuckoo Club in the West End of London, lays out his armoury of essential tools for the kitchen Fernando Stovell worked for four years in the Wellington Club in London before moving to the Cuckoo Club in 2006. ...
A new High Court ruling has made the employer liable for any sexual harassment, be it boisterous, discontented or amorous, of their staff at the hands of the public A new law has been passed in which the High Court ruled conclusively that employers ...
How to keep your restaurant and staff in line with the new H&S regulations Three out of five restaurants in the UK admitted putting false information in their health and safety, food safety and fire safety books in order to pass inspections, ...
A successful ‘no reservations' policy means you'll need to learn line management When the L'Atelier concept came to London, it opened with a ‘no bookings' policy normal to chains. That changed only a few weeks after ...
Fay Maschler ponders the apparent evolution of restaurant PR and finds many a missing link My late, much-missed pal Alan Crompton-Batt was often credited with having invented the profession of restaurant PR. It was in the early 1980s, after he got ...
As new laws make employers liable for employing illegal workers, the Home Office offers some guidance The Home Office has launched a new toolkit to help restaurateurs who hire migrant workers to stay on the right side of the law. This follows the ...
Alex Renton wrestles with the notion of a truly green restaurant and empathises with Pizza Express workers My new restaurant idea is the Carbonara Neutral: at this serious-minded neighbourhood ‘organo-bistro', electricity will be generated ..
It's all about you – but remember, when it comes to effective CVs and applications, it's what potential employers want to see that counts When a busy manager receives hundreds of applications for a single position on their staff, very ...
Tragus, owned by Blackstone, has bought Ma Potters restaurant company, which includes the Ma Potters Bar Restaurant and Chargrill brands, for £14.15m. The 16 UK sites are predominantly in shopping centres and have an average of 100 covers per ...
