Scottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

Scottish Italian restaurant group, Massimo Restaurants, has announced a major deal with the Maxim office park development in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

The company has revealed a £1.3 million investment deal to launch its sixth Scottish restaurant at Maxim, following the opening of its Edinburgh restaurant in November 2008.
Massimo has agreed a deal to operate an 8,726 sq ft restaurant at Maxim over two floors, with potential to serve around 150 sittings on the ground floor and a further conference/function venue on the first floor with capacity for 250 people.

It is anticipated that the new restaurant will create more than 30 jobs for the
£330m Maxim development, Scotland's largest ever speculative business park.

The Massimo group has been operating in Scotland for 13 years and currently operates five restaurants across Scotland's central belt with a combined multi-million pound turnover.

Maxim Chief Executive, Karen Campbell said: 'This deal shows that there is a long-term confidence in the market that Maxim has the potential to become a significant UK business destination, offering a high quality-of-life working environment.'

C2, an initiative encouraging Scottish food and drink businesses to work collaboratively across their supply chains, has launched a new networking website to help connect businesses within the sector.

The website, which is designed to serve as a discussion forum for farmers, food producers and suppliers to the food and drink industry, allows users to communicate share best practice in supply chain issues, set up interest groups and promote events.

C2, the Cultivating Collaboration project was set up by SAOS Ltd with funding support from the Scottish and EU Governments.
'We have established an online framework for the sector to communicate and explore potential partnerships with each other,' says Alan Stevenson, Supply Chain Development Director at SAOS.
'All you have to do is click on the link, join the network and then invite others who they think might be interested.'

It can be accessed directly at http://c2scotland.ning.com or through the main C2 website at www.ctwo.org.uk.

Scottish hospitality businesses struggling to secure investment have been offered a lifeline after the re-launch of one of the country's top investment conferences promised to release between £6 million and £45 million in equity funding.

The Connect Conference, which was saved from extinction six months ago by The GO Group, will now offer Scottish tech-venture companies the opportunity to raise millions in equity funding.

Enterprise Minister Jim Mather welcomed the development, saying: 'I welcome the prospect of Connect Scotland playing an important part in developing new and innovative hospitality firms in Scotland, and helping to deliver sustainable economic growth. I'm certain that Connect's activities will complement the comprehensive range of innovation and investment support which is already on offer in Scotland.'

Connect will provide business owners with the opportunity to pitch to potential investors. Chief Executive of the Glasgow-based GO Group, Isabell Majewsky, said: 'Connect is integral to the development and growth of Scotland's technology ventures, and our focus is to maintain a programme of support for companies and to help them to realise their true growth potential.'

In order to guarantee the future success of Connect Scotland, Majewsky insists that changes have been made to the previous model: 'By linking the Connect network across the UK we have created a synergy that will flourish in both Scotland and beyond.'

Since 1996 Connect has been instrumental in securing £220 million in private equity, helping 165 companies to present their business propositions to potential financial backers. Connect works with all sectors of the technology-business community, from venture capitalists to corporate financiers, lawyers to patent attorneys and banks to universities.

A group of leading UK chefs are aiming to attract recruits for Action Against Hunger's annual fundraising campaign, Fight Hunger. Eat Out.

The initiative, which runs from 1st-31st October, sees Raymond Blanc, Antonio Carluccio, Giorgio Locatelli, Oliver Rowe and Michel Roux Jr, among others, calling on fellow chefs and restaurateurs to join the fundraising campaign.

Founded in 1998, Restaurants Against Hunger is an international movement which has helped to raise more than £1.2 million towards the fight against child hunger.

Each October and centered around World Food Day on the 16th, thousands of food lovers across the country are invited to dine out at participating restaurants to raise vital funds to combat hunger and malnutrition worldwide.

Restaurants may add an optional donation onto their bills, or a small percentage from a designated dish on the menu can also help.

Raymond Blanc, OBE and Ambassador for Action Against Hunger says: 'I'm a keen supporter of Action Against Hunger's campaigns and what I particularly love about Fight Hunger. Eat Out. is that it encourages diners to eat out and to try new restaurants while uniting the industry and its clientele. In 2008, 500 restaurants signed up for the cause and we hope that they will be joined by many more businesses who want to get involved.'

To register, visit www.restaurantsagainsthunger.org or call the fundraising team on 020 293 6190.

Recruitment consultants are missing opportunities, according to a survey of hospitality HR and recruitment managers by Caterer.com, the specialist jobs website. The survey indicates that consultants need to adapt their business practices during the economic downturn, particularly in terms of meeting client demand for cost-effectiveness.

Some 80% of respondents gave quality of candidates as the most important factor in choosing a recruitment source, with cost being the second biggest factor. However, although there was consensus that recruitment consultants provide quality candidates, only 22.8% felt they provide good value for money.

The survey also revealed that there was scope for recruitment consultants to improve service. The most effective source for filling recruitment positions emerged as specialist job boards such as Caterer.com (28.7%), employer websites (13.9%) and word of mouth (13.5%), and recruitment consultants with 10%.

Significantly, specialist industry consultants were seen by hospitality HR and recruitment managers as 20 times more effective than general consultants, with over 60% of respondents who use consultants choosing those with specialist industry experience as a preferred supplier.

'We wanted our survey to explore how recruitment consultants are perceived by employers in the hospitality industry,' says Ian Burke, Caterer.com Website Director. 'We feel that the White Paper will strengthen this relationship and help recruitment consultants become more effective in satisfying their clients' needs.'

To read the report in full, visit the Caterer.com website.

An award-winning Edinburgh chef has announced he is to open a new dining venture in the heart of Edinburgh city centre. Roy Brett, of The Grill at Dakota Forth Bridge , will launch 'Ondine' within the newly opened Missoni Hotel on George IV Bridge this September.

Craig McKenzie from the Milton Restaurant, Banchory, has beaten five other finalists to claim the title 'Young Scottish Seafood Chef of the Year' at the Edinburgh School of Food and Wine in Newliston, Edinburgh.
Craig, 18, received a specially commissioned trophy, a bottle of champagne, a week's work experience with top seafood chef Roy Brett, and the opportunity to cook a meal for First Minister Alex Salmond and guests at a celebration dinner.

The panel of judges, headed by Kevin MacGillivray, President of the Federation of Chefs Scotland, and Vice President, Ian MacDonald, included Roy Brett and Neil Ritchie from the Food & Drink Division of Scottish Government.

The competition was launched in May as part of a wider initiative designed to encourage greater consumption of Scottish seafood.

www.seafoodscotland.org

Daniel Hall has been appointed Executive Head Chef at Blythswood Square, The Town House Collection's five-star hotel due to open later this year.

Joining Blythswood Square from the Pool House Hotel, Wester Ross, Daniel had previously held the head chef positions at Braeval Restaurant in Aberfoyle and aboard the Royal Scotsman train.

A national finalist in the Young British Chef of the Year in 2000, he was also crowned Young Scottish Chef of the Year in 1996.

Scotland's hotel sector continues to outperform its counterparts in the rest of regional UK during May, according to the latest monthly survey by accountants and business advisers, PKF. In Scotland there was 0.6% increase in occupancy compared to
a 5.5% drop for regional UK, and a 6.4% fall in England alone. Meanwhile, rooms yield fell by only 4.1% in Scotland as opposed to 14.6% in regional UK and 15.9% in England.

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow had an increase in occupancy, 2.3% and 2.9% respectively, but Aberdeen actually dipped by 10% in May.

'The latest monthly figures indicate that Scotland seems to be outperforming the rest of the UK during these very difficult times,' says Alastair Rae, a partner at PKF. 'In particular, Edinburgh and Glasgow are holding up well in terms of occupancy and rooms yield, and Edinburgh has now had two months of positive occupancy figures and a reasonable degree of stability in rooms yield.

'These figures are relatively positive for Scotland, but should be treated with some caution, as it is clear that we are still some distance from recovery. The hospitality sector will improve when the wider economy picks up and there is little evidence to suggest that this is likely to occur before next year. The tourism market will provide a necessary lifeline for much of Scotland's hotel sector while business expenditure remains deflated.'