Facing rising costs from every direction, enterprises in the hospitality industry can feel overwhelmed but it’s often the small invisible costs rather than the big-ticket items that relentlessly chip away at the bottom line, fatally wounding businesses.
That’s according to Blathnaid Bergin of The Business of Food consultancy who will give a free workshop on how to achieve big savings by making small changes, organised by Laois Enterprise Board, in the Maldron Hotel, Portlaoise, on Thursday, March 9 from 2 to 5pm.
“During this three-hour practical, interactive workshop, we will address those small costs which can amount to very significant savings over the course of a financial year,” Blathnaid said.
One of a family of nine from Cullohill, Blathnaid, nee O’Connell, grew up with an appreciation for good seasonal food.
Siblings Tom, Darina (Allen), Rory and Richard also went on to carve out careers in the hospitality industry.
“Richard set up a bakery in Abbeyleix with Adrian Mueller when he retired from corporate finance but he since sold it to the two head bakers,” she said.
The death of their father before their youngest sister was born saw their mother take over the running of the family general merchants’ business.
“We had a pub, grocery, an undertaker, an agricultural business and a service station. My father was also an auctioneer. My mother rationalised the business and we eventually just had a pub and agricultural business.
“We all had a very strong work ethic from the time we were very small children, it was just the part of the way we did things. We all pitched in, and everyone had a job to do, no matter how tiny they were. I remember my youngest sister’s job was to give the kitten milk on the saucer.
“So we grew up very much knowing that we were part of a team so that everybody really pulled their weight. There was no such thing as lying around not doing anything. There was always something to be done.”
After graduating from Shannon College of Hotel Management, Blathnaid worked in the UK and then in hotels in this country.
“I then came back and ran our own pub food business, having married locally.
“I ran that for a number of years and then when our four children were growing up, I started my own catering business, and I also gave cookery classes for a number of years.”
She has been running her consultancy, The Business of Food, for 25 years, giving short, focused courses on the business of opening and managing a food service business.
Over that period, she has done a master’s degree in hospitality management as well as Lean Six Sigma green and yellow belts and a slew of other diplomas including conflict resolution and mediation.
Since the mid ‘90s she has worked as an adviser with all sectors of the industry. She works closely with the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, the Licensed Vintners’ Association in Dublin and the Irish Hotels’ Federation. She has been the business facilitator at Ballymaloe Cookery School for several decades now.
She is also a keynote speaker in her alma mater, The Shannon College of Hotel Management, to graduating students. “I have been doing keynote speeches to them for the last few years which is a great honour.”
Recently the hospitality sector has come under fire for what some see as price gouging.
“I’m not an apologist for the restaurant industry but I do know that all the costs associated with running a restaurant have risen exponentially, particularly, and it’s not a secret, the utility costs have gone absolutely through the roof. However, I know that there is still great value to be had,” Blathnaid said.
“One of the things that I find odd is that we feel as a society that food should be cheap. And I think we have been marketed this narrative for decades now by the food industry, particularly the food manufacturing industry, that for some reason we should be expecting to get a really good quality chicken for €4.99 or be able to buy a kilo of carrots for 49 cents.
“It’s just not okay, I think it’s insulting to the people who rear animals and who grow vegetables.
“I think having food that is good for us that we are going to put into our bodies and that will have an immediate impact on our health, there is a price to be paid for that.
“There are some restaurants that their prices are definitely out of line with the cost of living. However, there is great value to be had.
“I was in Dublin on a recent Saturday night. I had a really good quality three-course meal in Fallon & Byrne and it was tremendous value for €39.
“We had first class service, and we had a similar experience in Rolys in Ballsbridge before Christmas; absolutely top end restaurant for €39 for three-courses of excellent food and service.
“There are many many restaurants like that, that are trying to keep up their standards and keep their costs as low as possible.
“I don’t want to make a generalisation here, but sometimes restaurants, when they get into some sort of economic trouble, instead of looking at every area of the business where improvements can be made and where costs can be saved, their first knee-jerk reaction is to put up prices and that’s a mistake because people will need to examine the business and see where money can be saved because there are always areas of the business where money can be saved,” said Blathnaid.
“Sometimes people think: ‘Oh God, I’ll have to get that huge bill down but often it’s the small everyday costs that are leaching money out of the business that actually bring it down in the end.
“It’s kind of like death by a thousand cuts, a dripping tap on a stone will eventually wear down the stone even though it’s only water. It’s that small drip drip drip everyday of money being wasted, costs not being noticed.
“That is the purpose of that workshop, to give people some tools to look at costs in a way that they can make practical changes to save money. It can be something very small but over the course of a year it makes a significant financial difference,” she said.
“Some businesses have staff shortages. I have noticed others, particularly front of house, are overstaffed and the staff there don’t know what they are doing.
“I have seen this on so many occasions where there are just bodies on the floor but because those bodies haven’t been properly trained, there are twice as many as there needs to be.
“If they had got the proper training from the people who are employing them, they could make do with half the people.
“If you don’t give people the correct skills of the job you are expecting them to do, they are going to take twice as long to do it and you will probably need two or three people to do the job.
“I think kitchen skills are scarce and of course restaurant kitchens have had their own difficulties. There has been a lot of publicity about working in kitchens and that, fortunately, is changing, and many people left the industry during Covid and have found greener pastures.
“In some cases, and I think it’s not a bad thing, many menus have got smaller. In many cases many menus were too big anyway and it was also adding to the cost of running the business,” said Blathnaid.
“I’m not sure that the crisis is as urgent as it was. I think it is easing. I was at CATEX recently and I got that impression from speaking to people as well. The great pressure that was there a few years ago is beginning to ease a little. There are sections of the industry where there are still staff shortages no doubt, but I think a lack of training is a factor.”
Turning to industry trends, solo and casual dining are all very much embedded in the way we do things, according to Blathnaid.
“My own view is that there is going to be more and more leaning towards people wanting places that they can go in the evening other than the pub. I know that there was a stab at this a few years ago.
“It probably was ahead of its time but to have cafes and places like that open late in the evening would be great, so we have alternatives to pubs.
“I think that’s going to continue to be something for the public to be looking for. Vegetarianism is very much embedded again in the way we do things and anybody that doesn’t have a decent vegetarian menu is absolutely missing out on business.
“The vegan thing, I’m not sure. I think a lot of people are just watching that space and some aspects of the vegan diet are being questioned by professionals.
“I’m not sure where that’s going to go but I think it will be interesting to watch and see if that becomes as mainstream as vegetarianism has done,” Blathnaid said.
“I think we are a nation now that eats out regularly and expects to eat out regularly and I can’t see that changing anytime soon. I know that I tried to book a restaurant in Dublin about six weeks ago and phoned twelve restaurants before I got one with a free table.”
“It’s common place for people to eat out even with people having to tighten their spending a little bit. It’s part of the way we relax now.
“Whereas before you would have a bottle of wine at home it’s very much: ‘Let’s go out and meet some friends in a local restaurant or café.’ We also have more and more choice around that now,’ said Blathnaid who encourages people to support their local restaurants, cafes and food producers.
She welcomes plans to open a neighbourhood restaurant in the Bramley building, Abbeyleix, at the end of April, by Sam Moody, former head chef at Ballyfin Demesne. More about the new venture can be found on Instagram and Twitter, @thegoodmoody
“I think the trend towards people wanting to know what’s in their food is continuing. What people are really questioning now is the provenance of their food, where it has originated. I think with the whole global crisis and environmental crisis and the air miles and all of that, it is very much part of the conversation now,” said Blathnaid.
“If you look at one ingredient for instance, the avocado which was the ingredient of choice for many years, people are now becoming a little bit uncomfortable about it.
“I always advise restaurants and cafes not to have avocado on the menu because besides being a really wasteful ingredient – you never know until you cut into an avocado whether you are going to be able to eat it or not – there is a whole ethical and moral issue around avocados as well which can be quite tricky.
“So that whole thing about flying food half around the world so that we can enjoy it, I think that’s going to become more and more of a conversation where people are asking is it really necessary.
“So it would be really nice to see the proper seasonal food because with globalisation came access to everything all the time. But with supply chain issues, environmental issues may be tipped on its head again.”
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