Scottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

The CIS Excellence Awards 2009, in association with both Blue Arrow Catering & Caterer.com, has released the shorlist for this year's finalists:

The confirmed finalists in the 11 CIS Excellence Award categories are:

The Healthier Scotland Award

Donaldson's Bistro, Donaldson's School
Brockies Lodge Hotel, Inverness-shire
Fraser Adam, ARAMARK at Chevron North Sea

The Innovation in Training Award

Robert Allan, Apex Hotels Ltd
St Andrews Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa

The Contract Catering Chef of the Year Award

Yoram Odentz, Sodexo
David Ward, Prestige Scotland (Hampden Park)
Eddie Ward, ARAMARK

The Food-Tourism Award

A Taste of Arran
Cameron House Hotel
The Mhor Group

The Restaurant Newcomer of the Year Award

Restaurant at the Rutland, Edinburgh (Signature Pubs Group)
Cameron Grill Restaurant, De Vere Deluxe Cameron House
Ship 2 Shore, Linlithgow

The Pub-Restaurant Excellence Award

Anglers Inn, Guildtown, Perthshire
Element, Edinburgh (Signature Pubs Group)
Stravaigan, Glasgow

The Award for Excellence in Hospitality Education

Norman Robertson, Ayr College
Willie McCurrach, Glasgow Metropolitan College
David Auchie, South Lanarkshire College

The Hotel of the Year Award

Cameron House Hotel, Loch Lomond
Isle of Eriska Hotel, Benderloch
Kinloch Lodge Hotel, Isle of Skye

The Restaurant of the Year Award

The Horseshoe Inn, Eddleston, near Peebles
Michael Caines Restaurant in Abode, Glasgow
Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow

The Chef of the Year Award

Bruce Sangster, Sangster's Restaurant, Elie
Tony Borthwick The Plumed Horse, Edinburgh
Charlie Lockley, Boath House Hotel, Nairn


The Lifetime Excellence Award

To be announced on the night!

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR THE INDUSTRY EVENT OF THE YEAR!
To reserve your tickets for the awards ceremony on Thursday 28th May at the Hilton Glasgow, call 08700 11 50 20 or email judith@mdpd.co.uk. You can also download a booking form by visiting the CIS Excellence Awards website and clicking on the "Booking" icon.

Dunn's has been appointed to design and build a further Aberdeen outlet for Jimmy Chung's Bar and Chinese Buffet. With a project value of £500,000, the latest venture. located at Westhill retail park Aberdeen, is the fourth outlet that Dunn's has designed for the chain.

'Jimmy Chung's is an outstanding success story and a stunning example of how experienced hospitality sector operators, such as Chung Wong, have the confidence to continue to expand and invest, despite the recession,' said Michael Dunn, Managing Director of Dunn's.

Swisscom Hospitality Services, a subsidiary of one of Europe's leading telecommunications companies, has invested in the Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland's scholarship and bursary programmes.

Joining as a corporate sponsor, Swisscom Hospitality Services support HIT Scotland's aim to improve aspirations and standards in the industry. Each year the charity's bursaries help thousands of students facing financial difficulty. The emerging talent scholarship scheme looks to inspire the leaders of tomorrow through unique experiences and placements on international training courses.

Swisscom Hospitality Services are specialists in designing, building and managing hotel networks.

Information technology and communication is the foundation of a successful hotel,' says David Hill, UK Sales Director from Swisscom Hospitality Services. 'We believe the work of HIT Scotland is important to driving the industry forward and putting people in place to take advantage of emerging technology.'

www.hitscotland.org

One of Edinburgh's newest and most successful restaurants, the dogs, is opening a second venue at the beginning of June. The original dogs opened in March 2008 and achieved a Michelin Bib Gourmand less than a year after opening.

The second restaurant, which has an Italian theme, is provisionally called '(a)more dogs' and will be located at 104 Hanover St, only a few doors away from the original. The new venue will also seat around 100 diners compared to the 50 covers available at 110 Hanover St. Manager David Ramsden expects to create a dozen or so new jobs in the process.

The Premier Inn Livingston (Bathgate) is holding its official launch event on Wednesday 6th May from 11:15 to 13:30 after a £1m refurbishment. The new hotel is extending an open invitation to the business community to hear views and advice on beating the recession.

Philip Riddle, VisitScotland's Chief Executive, will officially open the latest 74-bedroom Premier Inn in Starlaw Road, Bathgate.

Duncan Walker, President of the West Lothian Chamber of Commerce, will be conducting a talk on how as a business community, companies can help each other through the recession.

There will then be an opportunity to network with other businesses, and Premier Inn will be providing a complimentary brunch for all.

Contact Mike.Clarke@whitbread.com to attend the official opening.

Food and facilities management services provider, Sodexo, has announced the appointment of Wan Mak as Head of Nutrition and Dietetics, in a newly created role.

Mak, a registered dietitian who has worked for Sodexo's Education division for three years, will be responsible for health and wellbeing matters, and for driving the company's Healthwise philosophy across its business.

Mak has extensive experience of working in the UK and abroad, with roles at Leeds Teaching Hospital, the University of Hong Kong (SPACE) and St James's University Hospital.

She was presented with Sodexo's Corporate Citizenship employee of the year title last year for the support she provided to the Education team, which offered healthy eating advice and bread-making workshops to more than 500 schools across the UK.

'With nutrition becoming ever more important in our lives and our industry, there is no better or more exciting time to focus on the key issues of health and well-being across Sodexo?s business segments,' she said.

www.uk.sodexo.com

The London International Wine Fair takes place from 12-14th May 2009 at ExCel in London, with an expected 14,000 visitors meeting around 1,000 exhibitors.

New features this year include:

1) The Sommelier Wine Awards
2) An on-trade only area, where around 300 exclusive on-trade wines will be available to taste
3) Wine List Clinic: specialist consultations for those working within the on-trade

For the fourth year running LIWF will also feature the Wine Faults Workshop, a practical seminar session examining the most common faults found in wines today.

To visit, register at: www.exporeg.co.uk/reg/wine09/login.asp or visit www.londonwinefair.com

An Edinburgh-based Italian restaurant group has launched a special meal deal to help raise money for a local children's charity.

Vittoria and La Favorita are offering families the chance to pay just £1 for a child's meal at any of its three venues, with all of the money being donated towards the Forth One and Forth2 Cash for Kids appeal.

'We?re hoping that this will prove very popular with families across Edinburgh,' says Linda McKeown, Manager at Vittoria on the Bridge. We'll be running the offer for the foreseeable future and hopefully it will encourage more people to come and have a great family night out while donating some money to a good cause.'

To qualify for the deal, parents must choose at least a main course from the a la carte menu at any of the three restaurants; Vittoria on the Bridge, Vittoria on the Walk or La Favorita.

Every £1 paid for a child's meal will be donated to the Forth One and Forth 2 Cash for Kids appeal, which helps support underprivileged children in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Diners are welcome to offer a further donation towards the charity if they wish.

Scottish-based leisure company, VW Leisure Ltd has submitted a planning application to West Lothian council to build Scotland's first large-scale, eco-friendly leisure park.

It is hoped that the proposd £15 million investment will begin work in winter 2009, providing 100 jobs in the building sector over 18 months and 250 full- and part-time positions when the centre opens in summer 2011.

A former sand and gravel quarry, the site has been restored over a period of five years in preparation for major redevelopment.
Spanning 72 acres on the edge of A801, the development will be well-placed for quick access from major cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.
The developers expect to attract visitors from central Scotland and beyond, generating an estimated £6m turnover in its first year.

Wayne Gardner Young, a director at VW Leisure, said: 'A scheme of this undertaking will provide a welcome boost to the local economy in terms of job creation, particularly at a time when we are facing challenging conditions across a range of industry sectors.

Revenue and occupancy levels in Scottish hotels fell during February in line with the rest of the UK as the downturn in the economy continues. According to the latest survey by accountants and business advisers, PKF, rooms yield in Scotland fell by 10.3% in February, compared to a decrease of 13.4% across the UK, while occupancy levels fell by 5.2% compared to a drop of 7.7% across the UK.

'It should be noted that Scotland's figures are coming down from a historically high starting point and are only now drawing level with the rest of the UK,' says Alastair Rae, a partner in the Hospitality and Leisure sector at PKF. 'Indeed, the actual figure for rooms yield in Aberdeen is, at £61.41, the highest outside London.'

The downturn in the economy is now hitting all price sectors of the market, although less so in the lowest range as this had already experienced substantial falls in occupancy and rooms yield over the last year.

'The deteriorating economic climate coupled with some severe weather conditions have combined to make the start to 2009 pretty challenging for Scottish hoteliers,' continues Alastair. 'There is now ample evidence of reduced spending in both the leisure and business markets, resulting in continuing falls in both occupancy and rooms yield. This is occurring across the UK and there is no city or region in our survey which has not had a decline in occupancy and rooms yield since the start of the year.

'The reduction in both occupancy and rooms yield is broadly in line with the other parts of the UK, so this is a sector-wide reduction which is unlikely to pick up until there are some signs of a recovery in the wider economy.

'It is clear that the coming year is likely to be very difficult for the hotel sector, with our early predictions of a difficult 2009 now being widely experienced across all of the hospitality industry. Although some character and destination hotels are suffering less, several mainstream operators have had low room rates and some very attractive incentives on offer for the Easter weekend, which indicates that they are wrestling with a fairly subdued market.'

The Institute of Hospitality 2009 Annual Lunch will be held on Tuesday 9th June at One Whitehall Place in London.

Attracting senior management professionals from all areas of the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry, the event presents is an ideal opportunity to share ideas and forge new contacts.

The pre-lunch champagne reception begins at 12 noon, followed by a three-course lunch commencing at 1pm. Members (MIH) and Fellows (FIH) of the IoH are encouraged to help shape the future of the professional body through their participation at the AGM, which starts at 11am.

Visit www.instituteofhospitality.org to reserve your tickets at the lunch and AGM.

Peter Lederer CBE has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by HIT Scotland at their annual industry dinner last week.

Lederer, who is Chairman of Gleneagles and VisitScotland, and president of the Institute of Hospitality, was nominated by a group of senior hospitality professionals for his dedication to helping talented people in industry, his leadership, council and his ability to raise the aspirations of those around him.

David Cochrane, Chief Executive of HIT Scotland, said: 'Throughout his career Peter has helped many individuals reach great levels within our profession. He has achieved many awards and accolades but has never looked to take credit personally. It was fitting to pay tribute to Peter, not only as a leader, but also for his friendship, advice and hard work. He is an inspiration to the tourism and hospitality industry, in Scotland and beyond.'

The fundraising dinner attracted over 450 guests, raising £60,000 for HIT Scotland's university bursary fund and industry scholarship programme. Over £2 million has been raised by HIT Scotland since its inception in 1994, with more than 8,500 students having benefited from the bursary scheme.

Peter commented: 'It's important that the industry looks to continually develop and improve. Managers always say that their biggest asset is their people, and we need to invest in them, even when times are tough. If we continue to raise aspirations and encourage the leaders of the tomorrow then we can come through any challenge the industry may face.'

Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include: Neil Thomson, Chief Executive of the Federation of Chefs Scotland; Ken McCulloch of Dakota hotels; Andrew Fairlie and James Thomson.

www.hitscotland.org