Category: Podcast

James Henderson on How to Build a Better Hospitality Experience

James Henderson has added a lot of titles to his name: podcast host, hospitality innovator, consultant, speaker, and even accidental festival owner. He’s pretty much done it all in the hospitality industry, having worked in bars, restaurants, and hotels. On his podcast, Hospopreneurs, James has interviewed several big names in the industry, including Janine Allis and Phil DiBella. We talked to James about his full-circle experiences in the hospitality industry, from his time as a blender cleaner at Boost Juice to interviewing the founder on his podcast, and his tips for aspiring and struggling business owners.

Building a Better Hospitality Experience

Many bars, cafes and restaurants struggle: first with getting their name out there, then with building and maintaining customer loyalty. To start, focus on providing great products and great service. But it’s about more than just the food and drinks. Hospitality, James says, “engages all five senses.” It’s about the experience – visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory – that the customer gets when they walk into an establishment. Whether it’s scent of Islay whiskey in a dark mahogany bar, or a bright café perfumed with herbal scents, the immediate sensory experience should attract customers, and tell them what your establishment is about.

The staff also helps complete the experience, for better, and for worse. Staff that welcome guests the moment they walk in, projecting an attitude of positivity and enthusiasm, will be passing it on to the customers. A lack of enthusiasm may do the opposite – or at least discourage any first-timers from visiting again.

Develop a Dedicated Staff

James has devised one simple method of testing his staff’s level of enthusiasm: high fives. If he offers up something as simple as a high five, and they can’t work up the energy to do more than a low five, it reveals to him that they’re not super committed to their role, and they probably don’t want to be there. If you’re not much of a high-fiver, you can develop your own simple metric to gauge individual dedication.

Not everyone, of course, comes into the job with the same level of enthusiasm. And, when things get busy or get tough, you need to keep up the morale so the staff can successfully manage. James suggests boosting morale by listening to staff, whether it’s their complaints, criticisms, or suggestions for solutions to a problem. Listening to staff and implementing their ideas empowers employees, making them feel like they have an influential role in the business. If they have an influential role, then they become more invested in the business’s success. Of course, this kind of advice goes well beyond hospitality, and can help make any business successful.

What Makes a Good Leader

Good leaders aren’t just always learning – they’re also helping their staff learn and grow, too. Even if, in the end, a valuable staff member ends up leaving your establishment down the road. Help teach your staff how to work in a new role that would be the next step up in their careers, and find out what it is that they really want to do. “Your job as a manager,” James says, “Is to give people fulfilment in their career,” not to pigeonhole them into a certain role.

This sort of good leadership also helps create other leaders. Training staff for new roles, then training that staff to teach newcomers, creates a mutually beneficial cycle of teaching and learning that will continue throughout their careers. You also may learn a new thing or two yourself. James has always been open to learning something new, and that openness to new experiences will help make anyone become a great leader.

Hospitality and Technology

In addition to an interest in hospitality and music, James also has an interest in technology, dating back to his involvement in a start-up that developed a rewards app for bars. He sees exciting things happening in the hospitality industry as a result of this technology. The proliferation of data on both customers and venues will likely help enable both parties to really know what they’re getting into from the start. On the low-end side of hospitality, service is likely to get more efficient and automated to keep costs low and quality consistent.

Despite the trend towards automation, James doesn’t see the human side of hospitality going away anytime soon. “I think that the bespoke creative nature of the industry will remain intact,” James says, “And you’re going to get human-driven experiences that will be more valuable.” It will always be important for humans to connect with one another, even across transactional relationships like those at bars and restaurants. Great people are the secret sauce for any great experience.

The most important thing to know when entering the hospitality industry, according to James, is understanding people. ” You need to understand human behaviour,” he says. “And understand the industry enough so that you can predict what customers want before they ask for it.” That understanding and connection, even if it’s over a few seconds or minutes, will ultimately make the difference for the customer.

Check out James’s Hospopreneurs podcast, or contact him for audio production services to market your hospitality business.

James’s Key Takeaways

1. Always be open to learning something new, and to new experiences.
2. Listen to people – you’ll never learn and grow if you don’t listen.
3. Check out Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why – or at least his TED talk on the subject.
   
4. Consider the entire experience, from beginning to end, from the food to the staff interaction, when making changes to your establishment.
5. Empower your staff by listening to their feedback and suggestions for improving the business.
6. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to help your staff progress in their careers and transition into new roles.
7. No matter how busy your schedule is, always make sure to take time out of your day to relax and think about things.

Keep It Simple: Justine Schofield on What She Looks for in a Good Restaurant

When starting a café or restaurant business, being able to stand out and attract customers is the most important thing you want to achieve. After all, if customers don’t come, you’ll have to close your business. But it’s not easy when customers have so many cafes and restaurants to choose from on a single city block alone.

You don’t necessarily have to attract a whole bunch of customers at once, however. As long as your product and service are good, your first few customers will tell the people they know how good it is, and more will come. If you’re lucky, you might also end up with a celebrity endorsement, which will surely boost your numbers. And what might a celebrity chef look for in a restaurant? We spoke with Justine Schofield, a former MasterChef contestant and host of the TV series Everyday Gourmet, to find out.

Whatever You Do, Do It Well

First and foremost, Justine says, make sure that whatever you decide to do, you do it well. She sees a lot of people these days opening up specialized restaurants with single offerings – such as an oyster bar that serves only oyster dishes, as well as fantastic food that’s often paired with oysters. If you do want to specialize in that single dish, it better be perfected beyond anything else that you could offer on the menu. If that dish is good enough, customers won’t care that you don’t have many items on the menu – in fact, they’ll come to you just to eat that one signature dish you have on offer.

Strive for Taste, not Picture-Perfection

With the proliferation of Instagram as a promotional tool for restaurants and cafes, it can be tempting to focus on how your food looks on camera. But your food can look fantastic and still taste horrible. Before it looks nice, Justine says, it’s got to taste nice. Eating out is about the experience and enjoyment of food, and if all that ends with the first bite, you’ve lost a customer.

It’s also fine if the food doesn’t look perfect. In fact. Justine doesn’t like it when a dish looks too perfect – such dishes can be overwrought and overthought. Good food doesn’t have to be fancy, or even just look fancy – as long as it tastes nice, the looks will follow. Sometimes, the simplest dishes are what win people over.

 Watch Food Trends

If you’re looking to start a new restaurant, or possibly expand your business, have a look at what’s going on around you. Globally, Justine says, many food trends tend to start in Los Angeles and New York, then make their way overseas. Currently, for instance, she sees a lot of ramen noodle bars popping up. This, among other food trends, are coming for Australia.

But Australia isn’t just a follower. It can be a leader in food trends as well. Restaurateurs come from all over the world to Melbourne to look into the breakfast trend. “No one does breakfast like Melbourne,” Justine says, and people bring it back home. Here especially, the food doesn’t need to be overcomplicated. All you need for a good breakfast place can be the best scrambled eggs and the most incredible bread. Again, if the food is good enough, even if it’s a small, simple menu, the customers will come.

Be Authentic and Relatable

Authenticity also attracts customers. These days, people want to feel comfortable and at home in a good restaurant. Justine’s own show – now entering its seventh season – reflects this trend, as she demonstrates recipes with ingredients you can find at just about any grocery store. Most people don’t necessarily want a rare specialty when they eat out – all they want is to eat some good food in good company. As opposed to being overly aspirational or polished, a sense of attainability and relatability will draw people to your doors and to your menu.

Having your restaurant stand out in an already crowded industry isn’t easy. But it doesn’t have to be so complicated, either. If you stay true to yourself and your menu, you’ll find the customers you want.

You can follow Justine Schofield on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter under her name, Justine Schofield. If you want to learn more information about Justine and what she’s been up to, you can visit her website, justineschfield.com.au. Her latest book, Simple Every Day, is available wherever fine books are sold.

Justine’s Key Takeaways

1. Listen to your mother – she might just have the best advice you can get.

2. As Justine’s own mother told her, stay true to yourself.

3. Don’t overthink how your food looks or your ingredients list – sometimes the simplest is the best.

4. If you want to specialize in a particular dish, do it well.

5. Before thinking about how your food looks on Instagram, perfect the taste first.

6. Check out the book The Flavour Thesaurus if you’d like to experiment with your own recipes.

7. If you want to do some simple, easy cooking at home, look for Justine’s book, Simple Every Day.

8. Never underestimate a good set of scales.

9. If you’re up for it, give the world what Justine says it’s missing: a decent Béarnaise sauce.

Business Essentials: What You Need to Know About Insuring Your Café or Restaurant

They say that only two things are certain in life: death and taxes.  When it comes to doing business, we can add another item to the list: insurance. These days, it’s a necessary chore, but many business owners don’t find the topic very interesting or pleasant to talk about.

Contrary to popular belief, some insurance companies out there honestly do want to make things easier for their clients. One such company is WFI Insurance, and we spoke with regional manager Carley Byrnes, who focuses primarily on hospitality insurance for their office in Sydney, about how to navigate insurance.

Invest the Time and Research

Business owners in the hospitality industry often lead busy lives, and opening up a new business can be particularly stressful and time-consuming. So when it comes to insurance, most people just do it over the phone and want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Carley says this is not a good way to go about it. If you invest some time into research and money into a good policy right at the start, in the long run it may pay off – especially if you have to make an insurance claim in the future.

Most café owners don’t know much about insurance going in. And insurance isn’t the most exciting topic. But it’s necessary to review your coverage thoroughly so you know what incidents you can file claims for.

Establish Good Relationships

To establish a good relationship with your insurance company, get in contact early on, and connect with someone that will know your business. An insurer focused on hospitality, and a manager who knows your business in particular, will make things a lot easier for you in the long run.

Keep up with Business Growth

Many business owners in the hospitality industry also don’t keep up with their business growth. As your business grows, your insurance policy needs may change. Carley recommends reviewing your insurance policy when it comes time for the annual renewal, and speak with your insurance manager about whether you need to make any changes to your existing policy.

Get Fire Insurance…

You can cover your business for lots of different things, but Carley strongly recommends businesses to cover two main areas. Insurance for fire and weather-related disasters is a must – especially in the hospitality businesses, where kitchen fires are a known hazard. Fires also tend to put your business out of commission for days or even weeks on end, which can really affect your bottom line. Insuring for fires will better guarantee that you’ll be able to keep your business up and running long after the repairs are made.

…And Public Liability Insurance

The other category of claims Carley recommends covering for tend to be a bit complicated, and very messy if you find yourself not covered for it. Public liability insurance overs a wide range of accidents and incidents that your business could be held liable for. For restaurants and coffee shops in particular, where a lot of people come and go, accidents may happen, and in case someone sues for liability, coverage will come in handy.

Mind Your Neighbors

Why else is it important to have good insurance coverage? Well, unless your business completely stands on its own, anything that occurs in your business – especially fires or other such disasters – may affect your neighbors, as well. Places such as business complexes and shopping malls are keen to get things back up and running quickly, and good insurance can help ensure that.

Be Prepared

Shopping for a new policy can also be quite daunting for a new business owner in any industry. But searching for information these days is as easy as plugging search terms into Google, so go online and peruse the website. If it seems like a good fit, then ring them up for more information and a quote.

If you already have a policy, you can have that on hand to make it easier for comparison, and the area manager will make suggestions to improve and refine it. If you’re a new business, get as much paperwork as you can together in terms of what your expected turnover is, how many employees you think you’ll have, cost of your fit-out, and so on in order to get an accurate insurance estimate.

Keep Records

Record-keeping is essential to ensuring that you get good insurance. Take photos of your establishment to record what items you have inside just in case you do need to file a claim, and retain receipts of all the items you purchase. Many of us don’t always do this, but while it’s not terribly likely to happen, nothing is impossible. So it’s always best to be prepared, so that when you file a claim, you know exactly what to claim for.

If you want to learn more about WFI Insurance, visit wfi.com.au and find your area manager. You can also contact Carley directly if you have any questions or comments.

Carley’s Key Takeaways

1. When speaking with an insurance representative, bring your paperwork – that way, you’re better prepared in case you have to make some changes.

2. Find an insurance agent who knows your business and knows you, as well.  If you have a more personal connection with your insurer, you get more personal and prompt service, as well.

3. Don’t rush into a policy – review your policy before you buy it.

4. Take photos and video of your equipment and merchandise when you first sign up for insurance – that way you know what you have and the condition of everything well before you have to file a claim.

5. Make sure you’re insured for fire and public liability – the two most common insurance incidences you’re likely to have.

6. Insuring against machine breakdown is also a necessity for those in the hospitality industry – you don’t want to miss a beat just because something’s broken.

7. Put in as much time and effort as possible into finding out what your insurer actually covers, so that in the long run, you’ll save money.

8. Be mindful of your business neighbors – anything that affects your establishment may affect them, as well.

9. Engage in risk management when setting up your business – putting preventative measures in place such as CCTV may help lower your premiums.

10. As your business grows, evaluate your policy annually to see what coverage you need to add and drop.

All About the People: Jordan Toft on The Keys to a Successful Kitchen

Jordan Toft has been in the cooking business for a long time:  20 years, in fact. He got his start at the tender age of 15 working in the Sydney Opera House kitchen, and has been working as a chef ever since. He’s also lived on three continents, working in restaurants located in France, Italy, and the United States. Over the years and across his travels he’s learned several key things that have helped him bolster his career, and he spoke with Slammed Hospitality Talk to share some of these nuggets of wisdom.

When managing a kitchen, Jordan says, the most important thing to consider by far is relationships. In the hospitality industry, people are both the biggest assets and the hardest challenge. It’s not easy sometimes to keep the morale up in such a high-stress environment as a kitchen during the busiest hours of the day. But as we say, the hospitality industry is all about the people, so head chefs must lead by example and inspire their staff to do their best.

Fostering a sense of teamwork is paramount to boosting your restaurant’s success. Staff who feel like they’re a part of a team, and that they have some say-so in running things – whether they’re a sous chef, head chef or lowly line cook – will work better and give you their best effort. If everybody works better in the back of house, this will motivate the front of house, as well. And an overall better work experience will create a better customer experience.

These days, Jordan says, with so many flashy cooking competition shows, people might get the wrong idea about what it takes to be successful. Young people are not so much lazy as misunderstanding the amount of work it takes to achieve such levels of success. And unfortunately, many people can work hard for decades and not see the results they want.

Jordan advises young aspiring head chefs to take your time. Learn your craft – preferably for about ten years, as he did, focusing specifically on perfecting his cooking craft. He spent some time getting to know chefs that he respected, such as Peter Doyle, and learned as much as he could from them. He started young, so he could easily put concerns about money aside and focus purely on the craft of cooking. By his late 20s he was in a place where he could focus on climbing the ladder and striking out on his own.

As an older chef, he advises other veterans to give advice and guide young aspiring chefs so they can learn their craft and pass on their own industry knowledge. This is all a part of developing relationships with your staff so you have a healthy work environment. Hard work is necessary, of course, to achieve success as a restaurant, and costs can get high, but it’s important to remember that it’s not just about the money. It’s also about the craft and creativity that goes into making a great dish that people enjoy. Something as simple as pulling someone aside and telling them that they did a great job that day will help boost morale.

Of course, things will not always go so well, but Jordan only berates employees when they’ve done something wrong and underhanded – not when it’s an honest mistake. Gone are the days of employees enduring a boss’s tirade for hours on end and still showing up to work the next day. Now a good kitchen is run as a supportive environment to foster talent and teamwork.

Organization is also key to running a successful kitchen. If all the staff and equipment are running smoothly, then you can better concentrate on creating great product. Organization ranges from managing how the cool rooms are to labeling and shelving food items and keeping equipment clean and up to par. If any hiccups occur in the kitchen, the whole system can be thrown off, and focus shifts to getting the system right again – not a good use of the kitchen staff’s energy. Jordan burdens a lot of the organization upon himself, especially for scheduling purposes, taking a top-down approach so there’s a clear sense of responsibility and accountability.

It’s also important to keep in mind the creative side of food. Jordan specializes in running farm-to-table establishments, creating daily menus to reflect the availability and seasonality of the local food he was sourcing for the restaurant. The most successful restaurants in the business offer something a little more than just something to eat – a whole experience can often come packaged with it. Serve a great product, and the great experience will follow.

In the future, Jordan looks to open up another location of his restaurant, Coogee Pavilion, as well as focusing on his current ventures. If you want to keep up with what Jordan’s doing on social media, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @jordanwtoft.

Jordan’s Ten Takeaways

1. If you’re a young aspiring chef, take your time to learn the craft. The opportunities will easily follow.

2. With kitchen staff in particular, building group morale is essential to run a successful kitchen.

3. Building relationships is key in the restaurant business – with customers, staff, and farmers if you source your ingredients directly.

4. Good organization will allow you to focus solely on the product.

5. Veteran chefs take note: just as young chefs should seek guidance and advice, you should be willing to give it.

6. Keep your menu balanced between your signatures and your mainstays to manage costs and keep prices reasonable for your particular restaurant tier.

7. Make sure you focus on your product – if the food’s not great, people won’t come back to your restaurant.

8. Young chefs should also keep in mind that it takes a lot of hard work to reach a certain level of success, and be prepared to put that work in. In the end, it’s all up to you, what you make of your career and success.

9. Even as a chef, consider the guest experience as well. Keep in mind that there’s no strict dividing line between the front of house and back of house.

10. Though creativity and craft will help you stand out, don’t lose sight of the numbers – you can have the most creative dishes around, but if you can’t recoup costs, your restaurant won’t last long.

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.

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.

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.

    

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.

 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.

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/