Category: Podcast

Some would say that making the perfect cup of coffee is an art. As a matter of fact, there is an actual art to making coffee – latte art, that is. Using coffee as a canvas, latte artists make up a special breed of barista. Every year, competitions are held in Australia and around the world to showcase the best in this unique field. I sat down with the 2015 Australian and world champion, Caleb Cha, about his start in the field and his success.

Caleb didn’t start out with a passion for coffee. But once he arrived in Melbourne and took a job at a coffee shop, he started learning the art of extracting coffee. The more he learned, the more his passion grew. Eventually, he expressed that passion through latte art.

Melissa Caia, a teacher at the William Angliss Institute, first introduced Caleb to the art of latte design. One of his bosses also encouraged him to pursue this intricate artistic endeavor. He showed Caleb a particular pattern, and asked if he was able to do it. After a few tries, Caleb managed to produce the pattern, which turned out to be the 2008 world latte art champion’s winning design. Noticing Caleb’s talent, his boss urged him to start competing himself. That set Caleb down the road of learning and practicing latte art.

Even with all the hard work he had put into developing his skills, Caleb confesses that he still couldn’t believe that he had won the 2015 world championship. It hadn’t even been two years since he got into latte art. But over the course of seven weeks leading up to the championship, he worked on 14,000 cups of coffee. That’s a lot of coffee.

Caleb emphasizes the importance of staying calm. It takes a lot of focus and finesse to create award-winning latte art. But it can also get very frustrating. If you get frustrated while working, you might end up making more mistakes. Keeping calm while you’re at work will ensure that you maintain a steady hand and your art comes out the way you want it.

Working with such an evanescent art form, you should take photos of your work. Even when you’re just starting out, taking photos will help document your progress and can serve as a confidence booster. Sometimes Caleb admits that he would like to delete photos of his previous work, but he keeps them up as a testament to the progress he’s made.

If you want to get into latte art yourself, Caleb advises to first focus on controlling your hand movement all the way down to the joints. Considering how delicate latte art is, working on your fine motor skills is the most fundamental part of perfecting latte art. You can first practice with the simple designs of monk’s heads and hearts.

Once you’ve got a handle on those, you can start moving on to rosettas, tulips, and other more complex designs. Each type of latte art design requires various different motions and hand movements. For instance, a wiggling motion will help you make the perfect rosetta. Different angles and the size of the cup will also affect the designs that you can do.

Caleb claims that most of the different kinds of milks don’t affect his technique, with the exception of soy and almond milk. He finds these milks to be the most difficult to pour when working on latte art. But he’s managed to find a technique that allows him to work with these milks. He advises to steam soy milk for less time and to wait for ten seconds before swirling it and using it in your art. That way, it will be almost like working with whole milk.

All of this Caleb has learned on his own. Though he turned out just fine, he admits it would have been nice to have someone to really help him learn this very intricate skill. As a self-taught latte artist, he admits that he might’ve been able to progress much more quickly if he had had a mentor early on.

But the most important takeaway for Caleb? Don’t give up on something once you’ve started it. Even when things got difficult, Caleb told himself, it’s too early to stop. To this day he has yet to start something without seeing it through to the end.

Just as it is with any skill, latte art takes patience and practice. Whether you want to be a world champion or just have your lattes look nice, anyone can make great latte art. Who knows? You could even go from novice to world champion in the space of two years. With motivation and dedication, Caleb says, anything is possible.

You can find Caleb on Facebook under the name Caleb Tiger Cha, and on Instagram as @CalebTiger. You’ll see photos of his most recent work as well as receive updates on his whereabouts, workshops and events.

Caleb Cha’s Ten Takeaways

1. Be humble, reliable, and responsible.

2. If you want to get into latte art, or really any aspect of the coffee industry, find someone who can give you good advice.

3. If you want to work on achieving something, there’s no better time than now.

4. Read as much as you can about the coffee industry – the ASCA website is a good place to start.

5. When working on latte art, stay calm and keep your frustrations in check.

6. Controlling your hand movements and perfecting your fine motor skills will help you make great latte art.

7. If you’re a café owner, you can motivate and encourage talented and interested employees into pursuing latte art. It may help bolster employees’ skills and your business as well.

8. No matter the milk or machine, great latte art is possible with the right techniques.

9. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

10. Once you start something, don’t give up until you see it through.

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Working with food doesn’t always necessitate a busy schedule, but Zoe Bingley Pullin is one of Australia’s busiest health food gurus. Hosting a healthy eating program called Falling in Love with Food, Zoe coaches thousands on how to cook, eat, and live healthy. In addition to her work as a healthy eating coach and cooking show host, Zoe also works as a consultant for the hospitality industry and as a wife and mother for her family.

While this busy schedule isn’t unusual for many working in the hospitality industry, Zoe manages to practice what she preaches in her healthy eating program. She and her family manage, for the most part, to adhere to a healthy lifestyle. I spoke with Zoe to discuss her work and her advice for café and restaurant owners about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

While some specifications for the basic food groups have changed, the conventional wisdom of what a healthy diet consists of – mostly whole, unprocessed foods – hasn’t. However, in the modern world, it’s become harder than ever for some people to have a healthy diet. Especially among those in the hospitality industry, long, irregular hours can often have us reaching for the nearest snack – no matter the nutritional value – once we can catch a break.

Incredibly, Zoe has managed to juggle her work and family responsibilities and still eat healthy, and refrain from overindulging in coffee, alcohol, and chocolate. However, when she started out in the industry, working for a catering company and often keeping late hours – sometimes not finishing until three in the morning – she would turn to these unhealthy options for nourishment more often than not. It took some years of focusing on her own lifestyle and working on healthy eating that got her to change her habits. So, it’s important to note that any changes you want to make in your diet will take time and hard work.

First and foremost, Zoe advises to drink plenty of water. Workers in the hospitality industry are often doing a lot of running around, so it can be easy to forget to hydrate on a regular basis. It sounds simple enough, but even a little bit of dehydration affects your feelings of hunger and thirst, and your energy levels. Not drinking enough water can also affect your body’s ability to rid itself of toxins, which could make you feel even more tired, continuing the cycle. One easy fix for this problem is to have a bottle of water sitting on your bedside table and drink it all first thing in the morning when you wake up and before you’re out the door. If you don’t like to drink plain water first thing in the morning, Zoe recommends putting a little bit of lemon in it for taste.

It may also be difficult to eat regularly when you’re working a busy shift, and when your schedule may vary wildly from day to day. But normally you do know your schedule at least one day ahead of time. Zoe recommends to take a look at your schedule and see how much time you’ll have to take a break and eat. If you don’t think you’ll be able to eat for, say, five hours, while on a shift, have a high-protein, high-fat meal before that period. These nutrients provide slow-releasing energy, which will better sustain you over those five hours than a bowl of pasta.

Having healthy snack foods on hand will also help steer you away from unhealthy choices when you do have time to eat. Nuts, chopped-up fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, organic popcorn, and other such snacks fit right at home in a diet primarily consisting of whole, unprocessed foods. They will give you the bit of energy boost you need in between meals without the sugar, salt, and caffeine content of other options. Those options may seem more appealing at the spur of the moment, but in the long run they’ll run you down.

Finally, Zoe advises people who want to eat healthier to not beat themselves up over it. Not everyone eats healthy all the time, and it’s okay to indulge in McDonald’s or an extra cup of coffee once in a while. Getting out of the mindset that a single day of indulgence negates all the healthy choices you’d made prior to that will nurture a healthier relationship with food: that of pleasure and nourishment. After all, many of us in the hospitality industry love food – and it’s important not to lose touch with that.

Eating healthy is not easy, especially when you work in the hospitality industry. Fortunately, with just a few minor lifestyle tweaks, you can live a healthier lifestyle and keep on going with your business. You can find more information about Zoe’s work, and her Falling in Love with Food program, on her website.

Zoe’s Ten Takeaways

1. Drink a bottle of water first thing in the morning before you start your day.

2. Eat high-protein, high-fat meals when about to work a long day

3. Always keep healthy snacks such as nuts, dried fruits, and veggies on hand so you’re not reaching for the crackers and chips when it’s time for a snack.

4. It’s pretty easy to follow the 5 day/2 day philosophy – as long as you’re eating healthy most of the week, you can indulge in unhealthy but tasty meals and snacks once in a while.

5. But if you can’t keep it up, don’t sweat the small stuff.

6. Keep in mind that mental health is important, too – consult an expert if you feel you need help.

7. When it comes to serving up meals in your own café or restaurant, there’s no need to overwhelm with choices or variety – just a half dozen or so tasty but wholesome, simple options can suffice

8. If you want to open a health-focused establishment, be prepared to put the hard work in and find your niche.

9. To make your kids’ menu healthier, it can be as easy as substituting regular chips in favour of sweet potato chips in fish fingers and chips, or zucchini pasta for wheat pasta.

10. Zoe recommends reading the book Good Calorie, Bad Calorie if you want to learn more about the changing science around healthy eating.

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If you haven’t heard of Damian Griffiths, you may have heard of one of the restaurants his company owns: Alfred & Constance, Les Bubbles, Alfredo’s, or Doughnut Time might ring a bell. Doughnut Time, especially, has become a veritable phenomenon since opening in 2015. In the 21 months after the first shop opened, Doughnut Time has expanded to 27 outlets across four cities. I sat down with Damian to discuss Doughnut Time, as well as the challenges of the hospitality industry, and his plans for the future.

The concept for Doughnut Time, Damian says, came from an existing bakery concept, where doughnuts were selling out daily. These doughnuts were made by hand, and continue to be made this way. The look and feel of artisanal craftsmanship is even reflected in the shops, with a sort of rough-around-the-edges appearance. Damian says that these days, it’s about more than just the product. All the other factors – the team behind the product, the marketing, the branding, and even site location – come into play when selling a food and beverage concept.

When it comes to developing and marketing a brand, social media plays a huge role. An Instagram-able product, such as the doughnuts of Doughnut Time, makes the path to success a whole lot easier. An active social media presence helps create a sense of relatability, as many people use social media extensively. For Damian, keeping the product relatable to customers played a part in the success of Doughnut Time.

With such huge growth in a short of time – opening an average of 1 to 2 shops a month – Damian admits there were challenges to maintaining the integrity of the brand and product. Keeping the product consistent with the idea of artisanal craftsmanship was difficult to coordinate across so many sites. Ensuring that everyone gets the same product is easy with machines, but it’s not so easy when the product is handcrafted by humans. Doughnut Time managed to pull it off and has proven to be a massive success from Brisbane to Melbourne and everywhere in between.

While Doughnut Time has been hugely successful, there’s really no telling exactly which food and beverage concepts will take off. Damian says that at some point, you’ve got to have a little bit of faith. Things can be overthought, to the point that you can discourage yourself from going forward with your idea. But that’s not to say you can’t test an idea before going all the way with it. Doughnut Time itself started out in a bakery, and Damian looked at the success of the product and took a leap of faith that the product could do well all on its own. Customers are always looking for something new and fresh, and artisanal doughnuts happened to fulfil those criteria.

When it comes to finding new “star” employees, Damian says the process is easiest when the business is growing. People love to be part of a business that’s up and coming, where opportunities are ever expanding. Damian’s CFO had started out on the night shift for the Limes Hotel. As the business grew, so did her opportunities, and she was brought up through the company. Damian finds it much harder to find new talent when the business is matured and maintenance, rather than growth, is the main goal.

The hospitality industry can be a challenging place to work in, not least because of the odd hours that can run late into the night. Because of these unique challenges, Damian says it’s important to create a sort of familiar culture. If employees feel like family, they’ll be more likely to keep coming back to work putting in their best effort.

Transparency is also important in hospitality. If a customer has a problem, they won’t hesitate to write about it on the internet. Damian finds it extremely important to address customer concerns on the spot as soon as possible. He adheres to this philosophy in all aspects of business, always responding to messages in a timely manner. When it comes to irate customers, Damian says, often they just want to be heard. Sometimes lending an ear is all you need to do.

So what’s next for Doughnut Time? There may be an overseas expansion to Japan, once the many logistical hurdles are cleared. But Doughnut Time is not Damian’s only focus – with the Alfred and Constance group, he plans to continue working with the other concepts and even develop some new ones, in the years to come. With hard work, ingenuity, and a little bit of faith, Damian is sure to continue finding success.

You can follow Damian Griffiths on Instagram @damian_griffiths, and Doughnut Time @doughtnut_time. For locations and other information, visit http://www.doughnuttime.com.au.

Damian’s Key Takeaways

1. These days, it takes more than just a good product to succeed – you’ve got to develop ambience, and a branding and marketing strategy, as well.

2. A social media presence – especially if you’ve got an Instagram-able product – is a must.

3. Respond to customer’s complaints as soon as they arise, if possible.

4. Don’t take criticism too personally, but take it seriously.

5. Maintain transparency about your business with customers and staff.

6. Hiring from within can help retain the best talent and boost employee loyalty to the business.

7. A friendly, familial work environment will also help keep the ship running smoothly.

8. Damian recommends personal hero Danny Meyer’s book, Setting the Table, which you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Table-Transforming-Hospitality-Business/dp/0060742763

9. When expanding your business, keep consistency in mind: once your brand is out there, people expect certain things from it.

10. Finally, take that leap of faith – nothing is ever guaranteed to succeed, but if you’ll never know unless you take the chance.

    

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Great food and superb service are key ingredients to success for anyone in the hospitality industry. But the design and ambiance of a space also contribute to success. Graham Charbonneau and Dave Bickmore, the guys in charge of design firm Studio Gram, have won many awards after, including the eat drink design awards and the international bar and restaurant design awards. Every design that Studio Gram puts out is different, based on their own client’s story and preferences.

Photographer – Jonathan VDK

One of the most important things Graham and Dave consider when designing a café is the story that the café owner wants to tell. In fact, their favourite projects are venues that have a unique and compelling story. For one of their clients, Africola, they designed the venue to reflect owner Duncan Welgemoed’s diverse background.

The design of a café or restaurant can also offer a distinct sense of place. An Italian restaurant and a French bistro, while both fine eating establishments, don’t evoke the same environment. Food is a large part of travel and experience of a place. Dave and Graham also have a passion for travel and often take food’s cultural connection to place and incorporate it in their designs.

The spaces that Studio Gram designs never come off as inauthentic, which plagues loads of restaurant venues these days. David and Graham say that often the sense of inauthenticity comes from the details. Everything, from the choice of furniture to the saucers and forks, contributes to the ambiance of a restaurant. Graham and Dave, meticulous blokes they are, don’t hesitate to point out which small details come off wrong.

Photographer – Jonathan VDK

Usually, Graham and Dave start off by meeting with the client and checking out the space in question. A thorough discussion of what the client wants gives them a good starting point to brainstorm design ideas. Then they move on to the traditional design stages: concept design, design development, and then documentation, in which they do the actual drawings. Afterwards it goes into the building phase, and the concept starts becoming a reality.

The process often takes about three months, as clients usually have a three-month rent-free period that they want to take advantage of. Their quickest project, from site inspection to opening day, was Cranky Fins in Palm Beach, at seven and a half weeks.

The idea of employing a designer for their café or restaurant business may be a new idea for café owners. Graham and Dave have plenty of suggestions for what to do – and what not to do – when working with a designer.

Communication is one of the most important components of a great working relationship. Clients who understand what they want, and communicate their wishes clearly, are the easiest to work with. If they don’t, there can be some misunderstandings and loss of valuable time and productivity. When consulting with your own designer, be clear about what you want.

Photographer David Sievers

Trust is also important when working with a designer. One of the hardest things to do as a business owner, Graham says, is giving that control away and trusting someone else to do the job right. But one also learns that as a business owner you can’t be in control of everything at all times. Find a designer whose work you like and whose reputation you trust. There may be disagreements, but to a certain extent you’ve got to have trust in your designer’s opinion and abilities.

These days, the look of a place is everything: its instagramability, so to speak. Here, Graham and Dave remain on the cutting edge, designing some of the most instagramable spaces in the industry. Instagram has become so quintessential to the promotion of their brand and business that, Graham says, it’s become more important than having a website.

The ability to reach thousands of followers instantly can have a bigger impact on promotion than linking them to a website. You don’t even need to have a traditional brick and mortar café to garner a following – have an Instagram account and a pop-up shop, like Abbots and Kinney’s, and you’re in business.

Photographer – Jason Lucas

Dave and Graham have been quite busy since starting up Studio Gram, and there’s no rest in sight. Next in the works are some projects with restaurants, wineries, and even some hotels. They also acknowledge that other designers are doing great work, and it’s up to you to find the best for your business. With clear vision and communication, you and your designer can also create something great.

Photographer – David Sievers

You can check out Studio Gram’s website, http://studio-gram.com.au, or their Instagram, @studio_gram, for more.

Dave and Graham’s Ten Takeaways

1. Communication is key – know what you want and be clear about what you want from your designer.
2. Have trust in your designer.  If you’ve hired wisely, you can trust that he or she will make the right choices for your venue.
3. Though if you disagree about something with your designer, don’t hesitate to let him or her know. Again, communication is key.
4. Open an Instagram account for your business. Instagram these days can even be more essential to building a following than a website.
5. If you’re interested in design, check out design blogs locally and around the world.
6. For designers: if your work is polarizing, you’re doing something right.
7. Consider the story of your venue – what do you want to convey to the customers?
8. Also consider what sort of place you want your customers to go to. What sort of Italian restaurant, for example, do you want to evoke?
9. Even the smallest details are important when creating a certain ambiance.
10. As David’s dad says, measure twice, cut once. Be thorough before you make the final decision.

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 Episode 7: Getting the (Work) Family Together: Ken Burgin’s Advice on Recruitment

The staff of a café or restaurant is kind of like a big family. Unlike a family, however, you’re able to choose who you think is a best fit to join in. Ken Burgin spoke with me about how to take advantage of this ability to choose, especially since restaurants and cafes are very people-focused businesses. If your own staff doesn’t get on, customers will take note.

Ken’s been in the business since the 1980s, starting out as a café owner, so he shared with me a lot of advice about recruitment and staffing. From running Café Troppo in the ‘80s and ‘90s to his work today with Silver Chef and Profitable Hospitality, Ken has amassed great success and valuable experience in the hospitality industry, and has a lot of advice to share.

Putting together a happy family that gets on well is easier said than done. Staff are not only the most expensive resource, but the most variable. One can reasonably expect frozen chicken filets to not answer back and bottles of wine to remain in place until they’re needed. The same can’t be said of human resources. Lots of people are looking for jobs, but most of them, in all likelihood, are not a good fit for your business. At the same time, there are people looking for the right job – and that could be your workplace.

The first challenge, then, is finding the right applicants. Rather than list off the clichéd attributes of ideal employees, mention what’s great about your workplace in job ads. Is your place of business close to public transport? Have flexible or daytime hours? Is it a modern kitchen? Be sure to promote what your business has to offer them.

Once you’ve got applications pouring in, efficient management of the inquiry and interview process is key. When getting in touch for the interview, keep the conversation direct and to the point, with all the relevant information for getting there and the meeting time clearly communicated. But the interview itself should not be rushed through. Ken says to keep in mind that it’s more of a two-way interview. Both of you will be considering whether you will want to work with the other.

The third tip Ken had to share was keep your promises. When people hear something like $20 an hour, they expect to be paid that much after taxes, and if they finish at 10:00, they’ll be clocking out, not cleaning up, at that time. Being clear and straightforward about such things as wages and hours will get the best people coming to you. Managing recruits’ expectations so that they will be met or even surpassed, just as with customers, will ensure that only the best will join your family, and maybe even stick around for the long haul.

With new staff coming on, some level of training is necessary. However, Ken says, there’s no need to have a half-day or full-day staff training workshops, which can be costly and tricky to manage, time-wise. He prefers what he calls ten-minute trainings. If some staff need to be taught about one item on the new menu, he’ll ask them to come in a bit early the next day and show them how it’s made, have a tasting, and so on.

You don’t even have to do the training yourself. If possible, designate a staff person as the lead trainer. While they may need their own training on how to train other staff, having a staff member fill the role of keeping track of who has to learn what can free up your time to manage and run other aspects of the café. Often, Ken says, people don’t like delegating things – especially owners attached to their baby of a business – but as a business grows, delegating tasks can help you be a better business owner.

When training, Ken keeps in mind that “what we learn with pleasure we never forget.” Training does not have to be serious or dull. If you communicate the necessary information in a light and even fun way, it will make a hell of a first impression on new employees. They should go home at the end of their first day at work feeling great about their new workplace, boss, and co-workers, and it’s up to you to make that happen.

Even if you find the best people around, employees won’t always work out perfectly – they may be a bit slow, or prone to certain errors, or perhaps they’ve stopped greeting customers with a smile. Addressing such issues early on is essential to maintain good employee relationships. Emphasize that you’re here to support them, and employee morale may improve. Even when things go sour and they must be let go, managing staff with grace and care can go a long way.

The hospitality business is all about people, and it starts with the staff as well as the owner. Finding the right people for the job is a difficult task, but in the long run you’ll have a happy, healthy family working together to make the business a success.

You can find Ken Burgin on LinkedIn and Twitter @kenburgin. You can also find out more about his business, and seek out more hospitality advice, at his website profitablehospitality.com.au, and the Profitable Hospitality Facebook page.

Ken ‘s Key Takeaways

1. When placing job ads, mention all the qualities about your business that make it an attractive place to work – you’ll attract more of the recruits you want.

2. In the interview phase, keep in mind that it’s a two-way conversation, with the both of you asking questions of the other. A small skills test may not hurt, either.

3. While interviews should not be rushed, communicate scheduled interview times and follow-up calls in the most efficient way possible, such as text message.

4. Be honest about the parameters of the job, such as wages and hours, so that employees’ expectations are met or even exceeded.

5. Train a little and often. Ten-minute trainings every now and then will likely improve employees’ ability to absorb the information, and not take up too much of your own time.

6. On the first day, keep it light and maybe even a bit fun so employees have a good first impression.

7. Create a welcome pack to help make a good first impression on new employees as you welcome them into your restaurant family. Read Ken’s advice on what to include in this package at

   http://profitablehospitality.com.au/how-to-create-a-welcome-pack-for-new-employees/

8. YouTube videos can be a good resource for ten-minute trainings.

9. If your time is tight, it’s okay to delegate training tasks to another experienced staff person.

10. If employees are having problems, identify the problem and work with them to correct it. There’s no need for an iron fist.

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Starting Off Smart: Richard Edwards on Leasing a Space for a Café

When starting up a café or restaurant, it’s all about the location. From the neighborhood to the interior of the space, the location can make or break an establishment. When you’ve found one you like, it may be tempting to just sign off on the lease without much thought. But as with any contract, it’s a good idea to know what the terms are and what you’re getting into – and how to get a better deal.  I talked with Richard Edwards of Whites Legal, a firm that specializes in the hospitality industry, about what you need to keep in mind when leasing a premises and how to negotiate.

Richard is an avid supporter of the hospitality industry, and finds the industry to be in the midst of an exciting time. He sees many cafés these days working to do things better and more interesting with coffee, breakfast, you name it. In his home base of Melbourne, the café Lawyers, Guns, and Money offers a unique experience and atmosphere, with Vietnamese-style coffee and traditional offerings.

Richard has made his career out of challenging traditional thinking – just because it’s the way things have always been done doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it. Rather, Richard asks, how about working out a way to do it better? Part of this is making his work more client-focused, prioritizing people and relationships.  We mainly spoke about lease agreements, and Richard has a lot of advice to share with aspiring café owners.

Richard’s primary piece of advice is know what you’re in for before you sign. The lease agreement is the single most important document behind the hospitality business. Without a lease, you lose the location, and without a location, you’ve got no business. It’s also critically important to know the terms and value of the lease, so that if the time comes to sell or relocate, you won’t be surprised later on. Many people who go into the hospitality industry have no legal or even a business background, so consulting a lawyer is a good strategy if you’ve got questions about a potential lease agreement.

Standard lease agreements include the usual terms such as how much rent will be paid when, requests for insurance and other compliance agreements, and the tenant reserving the exclusive right to occupy the premises. But there are other provisions that hospitality folks might come across, such as damage, destruction, and relocation clauses. Richard advises to exercise caution and to avoid if possible, such clauses.

What’s wrong with these clauses? Well, they can be often misunderstood, usually against the tenant’s favor. In relocation clauses, more common with shopping center properties, the landlord may reserve the right to relocate your business. After you’ve spent all the time and money fitting out a particular space, if your landlord reserves the right to relocate you, it leaves you at a business disadvantage. Richard advises to, if possible, refuse to accept relocation clauses, because it can happen at a moment’s notice and can’t be properly accounted for.

Damage and destruction clauses relate to tenant rights and landlord obligations in the event of a fire, the façade falling down, or some other disaster. It can outline how long you have to wait before you can walk away from the lease, whether the landlord has any obligations to repair the damage, and compensation on the part of the tenant. Particularly since it can be so costly to repair and remodel, you need to make sure you get decent compensation.

Often, hospitality people fall in love with the location and then accept everything bolted into it – even if it’s not ideal. Richard says this is one of the biggest and most common mistake he sees with his clients. One client of his went ahead and bought a place he loved, but there were no grease traps built into the location. As a result, he’ll have to build that in and spend more money than perhaps originally intended. Don’t get too caught up in the dream and lose your business sense.

Tenants may easily fall in love with a place, but landlords rarely become so taken with a particular tenant. In the case of a business lease, it’s an investment. Landlords don’t care so much about the details of a business plan, but simply whether or not you can pay the rent. Landlords may look at things such as your previous business experience and your assets. If you don’t have many assets to back yourself up, it’s even more critical that you have a solid argument for your business plan – and perhaps a good lawyer.

It’s also important to understand the numbers. If you don’t have much of a business sense, you should definitely do some reading up on it, or find someone who has some. Leasing a premises, along with the other costs associated with it, can cost big money, and you need to have an idea of what the short and long-term costs that might be related to the lease.

A common clause in café lease agreements includes market rent reviews. This clause states which particular years in which the landlord will do a market review, and in between six and three months of the renewal period, a new rate may be decided upon. The details of such clauses can be confusing for the layman, who might gloss over it.

Know your rights as a business tenant. It puts you in a better position to negotiate. Consulting another party to evaluate the lease and soliciting a second opinion, as it were, will give you a better idea of what the actual market rate of the rent is and to avoid getting taken advantage of.

Another commonly misunderstood clause is renewals, and they can vary from area to area. Know the dates – normally between nine and three months for each renewal period – and put them in your calendar, so you know that you can be proactive when the time comes around for renewal. Normally, the landlord is the one who initiates the renewal process, but if not, it’s good, again, to know your laws and be prepared.

Guarantees are also often misunderstood among aspiring café owners. There’s normally an obligation for owners of a company to personally guarantee the payment of rent, and if not, then the landlord can boot you off. If you don’t have a lot of money behind your business, you may have to put a guarantee. Keep that in mind when negotiating.

If you’re working with a partner, or multiple stakeholders such as investors, directors, and shareholders, Richard advises to write up stakeholder agreements. These agreements outline everyone’s rights and obligations related to the business. For example, who has the final sale or fit-out on food on the front of house? Who has to provide guarantees? How will you raise more money? Much like a prenuptial agreement, you can define, in writing, how the business relationship is going to work. Thus, in the case of hard times, or the end of the business relationship, it is much less fraught and messy.

Richard says such stakeholder agreements are not common enough; in fact, all businesses could benefit from them. For Richard, relationships are tantamount to success in the hospitality industry. Even in the overall business sector, it’s about the people you meet and shake hands with. It’s important for café owners to foster good relationships with all partners in the business, especially in the event of a falling out. Even if you’ve already started, it’s never too late to draft one, as long as things are going well.

When negotiating a lease, it’s best to avoid gray areas as much as possible. For example, it’s inadvisable to occupy a premises before the date of the lease actually starts The much less complicated way to go about it is to at least obtain a tentative agreement beforehand, which basically outlines how much rent will be paid and so on. Then, once you’ve gone over the lease and all terms have been agreed upon, whether it’s the same day or a few weeks or months ahead of time, you can start realizing your dream for the space as soon as you get the keys.

Richard recommends several resources for people looking into entering the hospitality industry, not least of which his own Small Plates blog on the Whites Legal website. Richard writes in a casual, layman tone so non-legal experts can easily understand the concepts he comments on. Richard also recommends Open Table for a business point of view and Lucky Peach for different ideas and thought-provoking articles. Richard also recommends Serious Eats, especially their 3,000-word article on how to boil an egg – actually a useful guide for restaurateurs of all skill levels.

Leasing agreements are an important first step in starting up your café business, so knowing what you’re getting into is paramount. This only scratches the surface of Richard’s hospitality-focused legal expertise, however. His firm covers the gamut of the hospitality business, so there’s a lot more out there to learn. If you’d like to get in touch with Richard, you can find his details through whiteslegal.com.au. You can also subscribe to Small Plates and follow Whites Legal on Twitter for more tips related to the legal aspects of the hospitality industry.

Richard’s Key Takeaways

Don’t sign a lease agreement unless you understand all the clauses and terms of the agreement thoroughly. You don’t want to be caught off-guard later on.

Understand the numbers – consult a trusted associate or learn up on it yourself.

You may fall in love with a place, but keep in mind the costs and whether the place has everything you need.

Avoid relocation clauses in your lease agreements, if possible.

Keep in mind you may have to back up your lease agreement with guarantees. Evaluate your assets and how much risk you’re willing to take on. Guaranteeing your mother’s house, for example, may be too big of a risk to take for you.

With a renewal clause, make sure you understand the parameters and are well prepared when the time comes for a renewal.

Draw up a stakeholder agreement with business partners, investors, and other key players in your business. It will make things much less messy if and when the business relationship ends.

Consult an expert if you need help understanding all the terms of a lease agreement.

Richard recommends the journal Lucky Peach (http://luckypeach.com/) and the blog OpenTable (http://blog.opentable.com/) to read about food and the hospitality industry.

Check out the article on Serious Eats on boiling an egg, as well as the many other interesting and provocative articles you can find there: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html

You can also check out Richard’s Small Plates blog on the Whites Legal website: http://whiteslegal.com.au/small-plates/

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Change is Good: Culture Hacker Shane Green’s Advice on Adapting to the New World of Customer-Centred Service

It’s never been more exciting to be in the hotel industry, according to Shane Green. With the rapid advancement of social media and mobile technology and the rise of disruptors such as Airbnb, the hotel industry is being shaken up in unprecedented ways. In the midst of all this change, Shane has lots of advice about how to stay afloat and get ahead in the hotel business.

Shane Green is the former general manager of Hayman Island and host of the TV series Resort Rescue. Working as a consultant for struggling hoteliers, Shane has a lot to say about what people are doing wrong in the industry – and who’s doing it right. We spoke at length about the rapid changes occurring in the hotel industry, what’s doing well, and what people can do to improve their chances of success in an evolving industry. As the founder of SGE International, a business consulting and training company, Shane has given a lot of business talks, and he has plenty of wisdom to impart for aspiring hoteliers.

When it comes to industry game-changers, Shane points to the likes of Airbnb. Disrupting the hotel industry with a home-sharing model, Airbnb is strongly customer-focused. And what the customer wants today is an immersive travel experience, getting more of a feel for the local people, food, and culture. The rise of Airbnb, Shane says, is due in part to hotels taking the customer for granted, and failing to deliver what the customer wants. Disruptive models thrive when the existing model isn’t working, so the success of Airbnb is a lesson hoteliers can learn from. It’s incredibly important for hotels to deliver an experience to the guests, one that encapsulates the local flavour and culture.

Social media and mobile technology have changed the business game for a lot of industries, including hotels. This is an area in which Shane admits he lacked foresight, dismissing the likes of Trip Advisor ten years ago, before the proliferation of social media platforms. But now that the social media phenomenon has exploded into ubiquity, hoteliers need to get online. More than anything, it’s important for hotels to be active and responsive on social media, or else it appears to customers that you don’t care about what they have to say.

In the age of the internet and social media, some of the most important employees are the ones who will be answering the phones and emails, Shane says. The people who handle the online presence of your hotel can make or break your reputation. It’s essential to train them well, empower and enable them to be active online as a voice for the company.

Shane is a self-described “culture hacker,” and he believes that one of the cornerstones of a hotel’s success is the culture. And values, he says, are what create that culture. When getting into the hospitality business, you must figure out what your values are. In Shane’s case, values drive his decision-making. The next step is hiring employees that fit the culture – which can be more challenging than you might think.

All employees, Shane says, are important to ensuring business success, and employees that don’t fit the culture will likely hold the business back. Shane advises that when hiring, have a job candidate speak with as many people as possible when interviewing, sort of speed-dating style. If they’re still smiling at the end, you may have yourself a new hire.

But it’s not just about hiring the right employees. It’s also about keeping them happy and productive. While 20 per cent of employees will be superstars and perform no matter what, Shane says, five per cent won’t give a damn and do as little work as they can get away with. The rest will over- or underperform depending on whether the superstars are adequately recognized for their work or if the slackers are insufficiently held accountable for their behaviour. Shane believes that many employers spend too much time running after the poorest performing workers. He advises to give your best people all the time they need, and the worst “enough rope to hang themselves with” before letting them go.

Shane Green Slammed Hospitality

Though he’s turned a successful career in the hotel industry into a lucrative speaking one, Shane admits he’s made mistakes in his past. At Hayman Island, they were sometimes unprepared for the big crowds on the big holidays, and he discounted the role technology would eventually play in everyday life. But, he says, “without mistakes you can’t actually get innovative, creative; and quite honestly, it’s that creative innovation that’s going to keep our industry exciting.”

Big changes are happening in the hotel industry, and Shane couldn’t be more thrilled. He predicts that in the next ten years, a single platform may connect everything to the hotel, through an app downloadable on any mobile device. All a future guest may need is an app to have a great hotel experience. In the near future, he’ll keep giving talks, running SGEi, and start a podcast and possibly a TV show this year. But whatever the future holds, you can be sure that Shane will be ready for it.

Shane Green’s Key Takeaways

1. Focus on what makes you unique, and celebrate it – that’s what will bring customers to you.
2. Figure out your values and the culture of your business, and stay true to that culture.
3. Develop a customer experience strategy: deliver the best products, enliven the senses around the environment, allow your guests to have as much time as possible. And of course, make sure you have the right people to bring all these elements together.
4. Maintain an active presence on social media, and if you can, develop your own app, to keep a conversation going with customers.
5. When responding to comments on social media, keep it short, sweet, and polite. Having a second pair of eyes to check comments for grammar is also a good idea.
6. Transparency and honesty is also important when interacting with customers online and off.
7. The cleaning up and preservation of the environment remains an important but too often ignored issue – and hoteliers can do their part to reduce waste, source food and materials locally and organically, and support conservation and other environmental initiatives.
8. Hire folks who fit into your company culture. The speed-dating interview model may be worth a try.
9. When you take on new employees, give them an amazing first day, then teach them how to deliver a similarly amazing experience to guests.
10. Make sure to recognize and reward your best employees, and hold your worst performers accountable. This will help the employees in the middle be more productive.
11. Look at what the company Zappos does. Zappos is considered to have the best customer service and call centre out there today.
12. As Steve Cannon of Mercedes-Benz says, “customer experience is the new marketing.”
13. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – view them as a chance to step back and try something new. But if you keep making the same mistake, it may be a sign to leave the business, and try something else.
14. If you travel to New York City, try the new app Killer Rezzy – an app he recommends by Shane Green that enables you to reserve a good table at any restaurant, guaranteed, for only $30. http://www.killerrezzy.com/killerrezzy/index.php
15. Luxury lodges have the customer-centred local atmosphere down. Look to lodges such as southern Ocean Lodge and Wolgan Valley Lodge for resorts doing it right.
16. Smart, savvy general managers become the centre of their communities.
17. A nugget of wisdom from Shane Green: “Your customer experience will tell you everything you need to know about what’s under the hood.”
18. Keep learning, maintain an open mind, and look out for what’s next.
19. Finally, don’t be afraid of change – be able and ready to adapt to new trends and technologies that may affect the way people do business.

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We spoke with Ben Milbourne, a season four contestant of Master Chef, and host of Ben’s Menu, about his time on the show and what he’s been up to since. Ben has turned his passion and newfound celebrity into a successful business. Under the umbrella moniker Food By Ben, he gives food tours, serves degustation dinners, provides cooking demonstrations and motivational speaking engagements. Most of these endeavours combine a love for food and home – everything, from the home office to the food sourced for culinary transformation, is located in his native Tasmania.

Ben views his time at Master Chef as an incredibly educational experience, with the judges serving as mentors at times, pushing and encouraging him when he needed to be. But he also found the atmosphere isolating, with no newspapers, TV, or extended contact with loved ones allowed. “You become a really raw human,” he says of the experience. “Your ability to cope has been completely taken away from you.” As a result, contestants become extremely emotionally invested in the food that they make, which is criticized constantly on the show. “Don’t go so hard on them when they’re crying.”

Though Ben has found success through an old medium, he sees that young aspiring chefs have plenty of opportunities these days. Entrepreneurial chefs can open up their own food trucks with less risk and investment capital than a traditional restaurant and are free to experiment with their own cuisine. But, like any business, running a successful restaurant is teamwork – finding a good staff is among the most challenging and rewarding things about the business, he says. Ben even travels with his exec chef so that she can imbue the same philosophy and care in her dishes as he would in his.

Even with the franchise being named in his honour, Ben emphasizes that the whole operation is a team effort. Of the four major parts of the business, Ben only runs two; while his wife, Sally, is in charge of the other two parts. Together they play off each other’s strengths – Ben’s of cooking and media and Sally with tourism and event planning – to develop the successful business they’re running today.

Among the most important questions he asks his staff each day is, are we having fun? And if you’re not having fun, take a step back to figure out why, and fix it, is Ben’s simple advice. In such a crowded and competitive industry, the level of staff enjoyment can make or break a restaurant.

Of course, quality raw ingredients also make for a great restaurant, and Ben is a staunch advocate of locally sourced and organic ingredients. Part of his business philosophy is one degree of separation – the restaurant staff acting as gastronomic mediator between producer and consumer – and practices what he preaches. As it’s an ever-growing trend the world over, it’s hardly a passing fad. “Keep it tasty the way nature intended.”

Adaptability and a positive attitude are also essential when going into the restaurant industry, according to Ben. The only constant is change, as they say, and when it comes to working in the hospitality industry, faith in humanity, and hope for a better world, is key.

Another key to success, and among the best piece of advice Ben has received in his life, is to know your strengths and weaknesses. “Figure out what cards that you were dealt and how best to play them.” And as opposed to trying to make them fit a certain box, play them to your advantage. Though Ben is not a morning person, he gets his most productive creative work done at night, and dedicates those late-night hours late to writing recipes, menus and flavour profiles.

In spite of his unusual career journey, Ben wouldn’t change anything for the world. “I’ve been one of those lucky people who’s loved the work that they’ve been doing,” he says. However, “I probably would’ve given myself some advice on how to beat Andy in the final [of Master Chef].”

Ben is emblematic of this generation of up and coming chefs, with a unique look to match his unique approach to the restaurant business, sporting a sleeve of artful tattoos on his arms. Of the tattoos, which quote from a Marianne Williamson poem, he got during his teaching days. It served as a starting point for the first lesson, and as inspiration for students at an age of insecurity to let their inner light shine. Then, as now, Ben sees himself as an example for others, encouraging them to take risks and pursue their passion.

You can find Ben on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagam, under Ben’s Menu and ben_millbourne. Season 3 of Ben’s Menu debuts in 2016.

10 Takeaways from Ben

The competition at Master Chef is rough – but it makes you realize whether or not you really want to be in the business, and Ben came to the realization that he did.

One degree of separation from food sourced to food served is catching on in restaurants and in the culture. Always make sure it’s the good stuff.

Stick to what you love – if you love the food you make, other people will love it, too.

Find the right staff for your restaurant and share your passion within them – they’ll learn to love it too.

You don’t need a lot of capital or even clout to start your own business these days – even food trucks can become wildly successful.

But don’t spread yourself too thin – prioritize wisely.

Ask your staff if they’re having fun. If not, take a step back and see what you need to fix so that you all enjoy the work.

Inspirational quote: “As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give permission for others to do the same.”

(from A Return To Love: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/17297.Marianne_Williamson)

The ability to adapt to change is ever more important in todays’ fast-paced world.

Play to your strengths – understand both your strengths and weaknesses, so you can use them to your advantage.

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Sasa with the world barista champion trophy

Bringing the Best Coffee from Bean to Brew – Sasa Sestic’s Secrets of Success

It’s been a long hard road to success for Sasa Sestic. The current Australian and World Barista Champion is the founder of Ona Coffee, winner of best espresso and best roaster. After seven years of striving for the title of world champion, he has finally won it, and has been busy ever since. Success never sleeps, and a good cup of coffee certainly helps.

Winning competitions is nothing new to Sasa. In his native Serbia, Sasa and his brother were top handball players in their country. After immigrating to Australia, they played for the national handball team in 2000. Though he had a chance to sign on to continue playing professionally with several teams, Sasa decided to leave the world of sports and enter another extremely competitive field: the hospitality industry.

Sasa first worked in bars, clubs, and fine dining restaurants. It wasn’t until a barista position opened up in his wife’s café that he decided to move into the coffee industry. Back then, he didn’t love the taste of coffee – that is, until a trip to Sydney and a local Campos Coffee – made him wonder if they were just brewing it wrong. “You’re looking at these baristas, how professionally they work…they’re making these delicious cappuccinos and you do not need to add any sugar.”

When he returned to his adopted hometown of Canberra, he decided to try out some of the methods he’d seen in Sydney, including brewing on demand and producing rosettas in the cups. Part of it also included changing the recipe to better suit the coffee to the water in Canberra, as he discovered that the taste of the coffee changed depending on where the water came from.

Sasa & Pete

In some ways, working in coffee can seem glamorous. And passion, Sasa says, is important. But you also need to have the drive and dedication to make your business a success. For him, participating in barista competitions kept his knowledge up to speed and helped him perfect his brewing skills.

The story of the OCD (Ona Coffee Distributor) is a story of learning from failure. At a barista tournament in Singapore, Sasa’s unnecessarily lost points from the technical judges. The reason? The coffee brewing baskets could only hold 15 grams’ worth of coffee – a smaller capacity than his coffee’s usual 20 grams. As a result, the distribution of coffee was noted as uneven. Afterwards, Sasa devised a tool to distribute the coffee evenly for a better brew, no matter the size of the basket. Thus, the OCD was born, and he has been perfecting it ever since. The fifth iteration seems to have perfected the process, and the OCD is now available to consumers worldwide.

Sasa’s OCD Distribution and Tamping Tool

Being a good barista consists of much more than customer service, or brewing the best cup of coffee. It’s more of a mix of the two. Half of the skills required for a good barista are hospitality, Sasa says. Customers won’t want to drink the coffee, even if it’s the best in the world, if the baristas are cold and uncommunicative. However, technical skills and some degree of expertise in the coffee growing and roasting process are important. While only a head barista, as it were, should have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the origin and particularities of coffee, some basic knowledge of brewing and a palate developed enough to tell the difference are all essential.

Seeing Double – Two world champions

When it comes to coffee, it’s best practice to know as much about the bean as possible, from where it’s grown to how it should be best roasted. This is where Project Origin, established by Sasa in 2011, comes in. Project Origin goes to farms and in some cases has actually purchased them, to ensure the best possible quality coffee is produced there. On the Project Origin website, you can find information about Ona’s coffee producing partners, the varietals grown, and details about the growing process there.

One of the people Sasa most admires is a farmer at one of these coffee producers, Don Fabio of Honduras. Sasa credits Don Fabio as giving him one of the best pieces of advice that he’s ever gotten: “When you pick a coffee cherry, it comes perfect from the tree. It’s only up to us farmers, roaster, and baristas how much damage we’re gonna give to that coffee.” To this day, Sasa says, that piece of advice has been a driving force of his career in coffee.

His sports past has fuelled his healthy appetite for competition, which continues to thrive to this day, evidenced by his participation in barista competitions and tournaments. Though it wasn’t always easy, Sasa preserved, which he says is another important component to success.

Sasa’s Ten Takeaways

1. Passion is important, but knowledge, skill, and dedication will get you far in the coffee industry.

2. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy sense of competition – and paired with perseverance, even if you don’t win the first time, you may win sometime down the line.

3. When opening a café, first know what does the company stand for? What is the role you play in the community? Match the café atmosphere to those answers.

4. Baristas should not just be coffee experts, but customer service experts, as well.

5. Good managers are also important, to carry out the vision of the café owner.

6. Take moments of failure as opportunities – they may lead you to your next success.

7. You can find the OCD machine here: https://onacoffee.com.au/shop/ocd-ona-coffee-distributor/

8. Read this book by W. Clement Stone:

   http://www.amazon.com/Success-System-That-Never-Fails/dp/1604599316

9. Google Maps is something he just can’t live without

10. Humility and living a simple life not so obsessed with money and things is virtuous in our materialistic era – Sasa certainly thinks so.

11. For more info on what Sasa and his team are up to visit:

 https://onacoffee.com.au

https://www.facebook.com/onacoffee

https://www.facebook.com/sasa.sestic/

http://projectorigin.com.au

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From appearances on Masterchef Australia to expanding his café into a franchise, the wind blows in the right direction for Ben O’Donoghue. We spoke with Ben in his newly opened Billykart Kitchen in the West End of Brisbane. An easy-going personality on and off the screen, Ben has made a name for himself on television and the real world.

As the West End is the second location – the original Billykart is in Annerley – we asked Ben how the opening went. Though the restaurant is thriving today, there were some bumps in the road. “Nothing happened on time, everything went wrong that could’ve gone wrong.” Some of the frustrations, Ben thinks, were due to his relative lack of control and good communication. With the first Billykart, Ben worked directly with everyone in charge, even the builders. Still, he considers the experience satisfying, and takes everything in stride.

Opening the first Billykart in Annerley with his wife was not so smooth, either. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did. Among other disasters, the coffee machine broke down and a juicer mishap covered a worker in fruit pulp. They also got some harsh criticism on social media, which his wife found tough to tolerate. Ben considers critics on sites such as Yelp to be selfish and shortsighted in their comments. “They don’t consider the impact that their perceived professional opinion has on others.” That said, he doesn’t take online comments seriously, and has kept going with the restaurant franchise.

Today, it’s as important as ever to have a bit of empathy. Listening to exclusively negative criticism is a waste of time, Ben says. But if someone has more thoughtful and constructive criticism, they may be worth listening to. As a customer and business owner, Ben learned to be unafraid to voice a complaint in the moment – even when dining at a good friend’s restaurant.

Ben has always been interested in cooking, but stumbled upon a career in food rather accidentally. After spending the summer volunteering on an island off the coast of WA, he loved it so much that he found a way to stay. This led him to taking a kitchen job. He found a strong sense of camaraderie with the chefs in the kitchen, and the workdays were fuelled with adrenaline and action. His first time making béarnaise sauce was on the job, with some help from the head chef, and he succeeded spectacularly. Ben credits this experience to hooking him into a career in restaurants.

Things have changed in the industry since Ben started out. In addition to the arrival of social media and the proliferation of the everyman as critic, the back of house atmosphere has changed. There’s a skill shortage, he says, in part due to the cutthroat working conditions for young chefs and apprentices.  The traditional expectation of starting out at 70 hours a week may keep some talent from entering the industry. He generally keeps his own kitchen crew to 40 hours a week. “If you want longevity, you’ve got to give people a bit of work-life balance, you know?”

Having expanded his single restaurant into a burgeoning franchise, Ben has a word of advice for those looking to do the same. When expanding into a second location, planning is key, and something he admits he could’ve done better in his own expansion. “You’ve got to make sure that the product you’re delivering meets the expectations of the customers.” Having good support in place is just as important as when starting up your own business.

In spite of all his good luck, Ben says he could have struck out on his own sooner. He’d had multiple opportunities in the past, but decided not to take them. He advises young chefs today to go ahead and be brave, strike out on your own. It’s easier, in some ways, to take a big risk when you’re young – if it doesn’t work out, you can dust yourself off and go back to working for others. As you get older, there’s a lot more at stake if you fail.

Having been in the industry for over 20 years Ben has seen trends come and go. From nouveau cuisine to molecular gastronomy and health food trends, Ben’s just about seen it all. Next on the horizon in food, he predicts simpler organic foods to be featured in a casual atmosphere. Diners, for instance, are making a comeback.

But what does the future have in store for Ben? “I want to take over the world,” Ben jokes. On a more serious note, Ben looks to open a third location and possibly open up Billykart Kitchen for dinner. Yet whatever the future holds for Ben O’Donoghue, fair winds are sure to carry him on.

Ben hasn’t spent much time cultivating a social media presence – though he hopes to change that in the near future – but you can look up Billykart Kitchen online, located in West End Brisbane and Annerley.

Ben O’Donoghue’s ten takeaways

1. Have courage – if the timing seems right, take a risk. Start that business, or open up that second location!

2. If there seems to be a fixed path laid out in life, that doesn’t mean you have to take it. Follow your heart.

3. Stay focused on what you want to deliver. Stay true to your loyal customers.

4. Don’t let negative comments wear you down. But listen to reasoned criticism.

5. When acting as a critic yourself, be constructive and thoughtful in your own comments.

6. You might want check out South Park’s take on the subject of amateur critics:

7. As Oliver Peyton once told Ben: Always hire someone better than you.

8. Though it takes a lot to run and work in a restaurant, work-life balance is important.

9. If you have a complaint, say it the moment it happens.

10. If you’re looking to expand your restaurant, plan it well and stay organized. And a steady cash flow doesn’t hurt, either.

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