Table talk
When training really pays off
John Tovey is celebrating his 25th season at the Miller Howe hotel near Windermere in the Lake District. He now feels able to take things a little easier by giving complete charge of the kitchen to head chef Chris Blaydes.
Chris has come on leaps and bounds since arriving at the hotel - apparently, when he started there 10 years ago, he was unable to boil an egg.
Some people like beginners, mainly because they can be moulded to fit, but isn't this a little extreme?
Keep up the national stereotypes
Swallow Hotels has just completed a survey of its overseas guests and the results seem to confirm most of our prejudices about other nations.
The general managers of Swallow's 35 hotels rated the Germans the hardest working, Arabs as the biggest spenders and Americans as the most demanding.
Among the visitors having problems getting acclimatised to the UK were Germans who thought everyone should be naked in saunas, and Japanese who wanted to go tuna fishing in the River Severn.
Watch out for the bogus repair man
Caterer columnist and London restaurateur Michael Gottlieb was the victim of a scam last week. In the middle of a hectic lunchtime service, a well-dressed man came into one of his restaurants holding a package. He asked to see Mr Gottlieb.
The manager told the visitor that Mr Gottlieb was not available, to which the man replied that he was returning a Cartier watch which he had repaired. Could the manager take it and pay him the £40 repair fee, he asked?
To get rid of the man the package was taken and put in the safe and £40 was handed over. And yes, you've guessed it, when the package was later opened it was empty. You have been warned!
Awards bonanza for friday's UK
Robbie Halkett, UK managing director of TGI Friday's, was more than delighted to pay excess baggage when returning from the group's international convention in the USA recently.
The reason for his good humour? Friday's UK scooped five of the seven major honours presented at the international awards ceremony held during the convention, including the International Franchise Group of the Year.
Other awards included International Restaurant of the Year for its Cheltenham outlet and International General Manager of the Year for the same store's Joel Wheaton.
Teaching Italians how to cook pizza
If you had to come up with a catering equivalent of the phrase "coals to Newcastle" then "pizza to Italy" might be among the first to spring to mind.
PepsiCo, owner of the Pizza Hut brand, is already engaged in just such a paradoxical export with the first franchised Pizza Hut outlet set to open later this year.
But French magazine Néo Restauration reports that PepsiCo has taken care not to extend into Southern Italy, where the tradition of the pizza is strongest. Some things are sacred, after all.
Better than a smack with a wet kipper
Big Easy, the Chelsea-based US-style barbecue and seafood restaurant, has just been appointed "official supplier" to the US Air Forces in Europe.
"F16 pilots unintentionally landing in Bosnia will now be able to tuck into one of our famous 32oz beef steaks… a lot more nourishing than ants!" enthused Big Easy owner Paul Corrett.
