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MATCH<br />

MADE IN<br />

HEAVEN<br />

Soup-and-sandwich<br />

pairings are back<br />

in the spotlight<br />

The <strong>2017</strong> Pinnacle Awards <strong>Issue</strong><br />

ON THE<br />

MONEY<br />

Choosing the right<br />

payment-processing<br />

equipment for<br />

your restaurant<br />

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Browns Restaurant Group earns<br />

Company of the Year honours<br />

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VOLUME 50, NO.8 | DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong><br />

IN THIS ISSUE<br />

19 THE <strong>2017</strong> PINNACLE AWARDS<br />

Celebrating excellence in foodservice<br />

and hospitality<br />

20 COMPANY OF THE YEAR<br />

BROWNS RESTAURANT GROUP<br />

Vancouver-based BRG continues<br />

its upward trajectory<br />

26 REGIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR<br />

AROMA ESPRESSO BAR<br />

47<br />

The brand is taking the coffee-house<br />

model to the next level<br />

14<br />

30 ROSANNA CAIRA LIFETIME<br />

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD<br />

DONALD ZIRALDO<br />

His life’s work put Canada on<br />

the map as a premium wine-<br />

IAN McCAUSLAND [SCOTT MORISON COVER]<br />

FEATURES<br />

7 PASTA CHAMP<br />

Accursio Lotà wins Barilla Pasta<br />

World Championship title<br />

14 PERFECT PAIRING<br />

Soup-and-sandwich combos are<br />

back in the limelight<br />

47 PAY IT FORWARD<br />

How to choose the right<br />

payment-processing system<br />

50 GIN CRAZE<br />

Why gin is attracting new fans<br />

producing country<br />

36 INDEPENDANT RESTAURATEUR<br />

OF THE YEAR<br />

JANET ZUCCARINI<br />

Gusto 54 Restaurant Group owner/CEO<br />

is taking North America by storm<br />

40 CHEF OF THE YEAR<br />

JASON BANGERTER<br />

A commitment to local food fuels<br />

our Chef of Year’s culinary journey<br />

44 SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR<br />

McCAIN FOODS CANADA<br />

This iconic company remains<br />

hometown proud<br />

DEPARTMENTS<br />

2 FROM THE EDITOR<br />

4 FYI<br />

11 FROM THE DESK OF ROBERT CARTER<br />

52 CHEF’S CORNER: Alison MacNeil,<br />

Social Eatery, Calgary<br />

52<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 1


FROM THE EDITOR<br />

THE<br />

HUMAN<br />

TOUCH<br />

As we prepare to vault ourselves into a new year,<br />

we close off this one by celebrating excellence, just<br />

as we’ve done for the past 29 years, with the<br />

presentation of our annual Pinnacle Awards.<br />

By shining the spotlight on the people and<br />

companies that have done well over the past year, we highlight<br />

the success that is pervasive in the dynamic foodservice and<br />

hospitality industry. What would this industry be without the<br />

passion, dedication and commitment to excellence exemplified<br />

by our collection of winners — a group that includes operators,<br />

restaurateurs, chefs and suppliers.<br />

Clearly, people are the pulse of this industry. Regardless how<br />

pervasive and disruptive technology may become, without the<br />

human touch, foodservice operators can neither succeed nor<br />

thrive. What better way to recognize this than through our<br />

annual awards program?<br />

So, as we begin to wind down this celebratory year, marked in<br />

part by our year-long social-media photo contest called Made in<br />

Canada, whose finalists are showcased in this issue (see p.12),<br />

we also ready ourselves for celebrating yet another milestone<br />

— the magazine’s 50th anniversary.<br />

Hard to believe that in 2018 Foodservice<br />

and Hospitality will mark half a century of<br />

industry-wide coverage. Given the disruption<br />

that has occurred in the publishing industry<br />

over the past two decades, and the reality that<br />

some magazines have morphed into digitalonly<br />

publications or ceased publishing<br />

altogether, our ability to grow, expand and<br />

prosper during tumultuous times is quite<br />

humbling. It’s also a remarkable testament to<br />

our KML team and the industry we serve. And,<br />

in a year in which we will be celebrating our<br />

history covering this industry, how appropriate<br />

it is to launch the Foodservice and Hospitality<br />

Hall of Fame, paying homage to the operators,<br />

chefs and suppliers who have come together<br />

throughout the industry’s history to build,<br />

shape and move it forward.<br />

What better way to recognize these<br />

foodservice titans and ensure their continued<br />

legacy in the landscape of this important industry? We hope you<br />

stay tuned over the next few months as we profile these incredible<br />

individuals in both our magazine and on our website, where<br />

they will reside as a testament to all they’ve achieved in laying<br />

the foundation for a successful and vibrant future for all of us.<br />

Finally, in the spirit of the season, and on behalf of the entire<br />

KML team, we wish our readers and advertisers alike a truly<br />

wonderful holiday season — one marked by good health,<br />

happiness and, as always, a touch of magic. Happy Holidays.<br />

ROSANNA CAIRA rcaira@kostuchmedia.com<br />

@foodservicemag<br />

facebook.com/foodservicehospitalitymagazine<br />

instagram.com/rosannacaira<br />

NICK WONG, LOCATION PROVIDED BY VIA CIBO<br />

2 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


EST. 1968 | VOLUME 50, NO. 8 | DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong><br />

EDITOR & PUBLISHER ROSANNA CAIRA<br />

ART DIRECTOR MARGARET MOORE<br />

MANAGING EDITOR AMY BOSTOCK<br />

ASSISTANT EDITOR DANIELLE SCHALK<br />

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR TOM VENETIS<br />

MULTIMEDIA MANAGER DEREK RAE<br />

GRAPHIC DESIGNER COURTNEY JENKINS<br />

SOCIAL MEDIA/EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR JHANELLE PORTER<br />

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER/U.S.A. WENDY GILCHRIST<br />

ACCOUNT MANAGER MARIA FAMA VIECILI<br />

ACCOUNT MANAGER ELENA OSINA<br />

ACCOUNT MANAGER CHERYLL SAN JUAN<br />

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT DANNA SMITH<br />

CIRCULATION PUBLICATION PARTNERS<br />

CONTROLLER DANIELA PRICOIU<br />

ADVISORY BOARD<br />

CARA OPERATIONS KEN OTTO<br />

CRAVE IT RESTAURANT GROUP ALEX RECHICHI<br />

FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS LIMITED NICK PERPICK<br />

FHG INTERNATIONAL INC. DOUG FISHER<br />

FRESHII MATTHEW CORRIN<br />

JOEY RESTAURANT GROUP BRITT INNES<br />

KATIE JESSOP REGISTERED DIETITIAN KATIE JESSOP<br />

LECOURS WOLFSON LIMITED NORMAN WOLFSON<br />

WELBILT JACQUES SEGUIN<br />

SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM MANAGEMENT,<br />

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH BRUCE MCADAMS<br />

SENSORS QUALITY MANAGEMENT DAVID LIPTON<br />

SOTOS LLP JOHN SOTOS<br />

SOUTH ST. BURGER CO. JAY GOULD<br />

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS JUDSON SIMPSON<br />

THE MCEWAN GROUP MARK MCEWAN<br />

UNILEVER FOOD SOLUTIONS NORTH AMERICA GINNY HARE<br />

To subscribe to F&H, visit foodserviceandhospitality.com<br />

Published 11 times per year by Kostuch Media Ltd.,<br />

23 Lesmill Rd., Suite 101, Toronto, Ont., M3B 3P6. Tel: (416) 447-0888,<br />

Fax (416) 447-5333, website: foodserviceandhospitality.com.<br />

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 1-year subscription, $55;<br />

U.S. $80; International, $100.<br />

Canada Post – “Canadian Publication Mail Product Sales Agreement<br />

#40063470.” Postmaster send form 33-086-173 (11-82).<br />

RETURN MAIL TO: Kostuch Media Ltd., 23 Lesmill Rd., Suite 101, Toronto,<br />

Ont., M3B 3P6. Member of CCAB, a Division of BPA International. We<br />

acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada,<br />

through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF)<br />

of the Department of Canadian Heritage.<br />

Printed in Canada on recycled stock.<br />

Celebrating<br />

60 years of<br />

Family. Taste.<br />

Tradition.<br />

pillers.com/foodservice<br />

1-800-265-2627


MONTHLY NEWS AND UPDATES FOR THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY<br />

LOCAVORES UNITE<br />

Local Food Innovation Symposium touts<br />

benefits of local-food systems<br />

BY ANDREW COPPOLINO<br />

LOCAL LEARNING The Local Food Innovation Symposium was a chance for<br />

experts and foodservice operators to brainstorm about local initiatives<br />

With a promise to<br />

encourage connections<br />

and discussion<br />

in support<br />

of building and<br />

sustaining robust, resilient local-food<br />

systems, the Local Food Innovation<br />

Symposium at the University of<br />

Guelph represented a broad range of<br />

ideas about “local” for foodservice<br />

operators to consider.<br />

Trends, millennials, new food<br />

models, authenticity in marketing and<br />

food security were only a few of the<br />

topics covered at the symposium, cohosted<br />

by Gordon Food Service (GFS)<br />

and the University of Guelph in<br />

October. The event saw participants<br />

take in “Trends, Tips & Motivations to<br />

Localize,” presentations from Ontario<br />

local-food leaders, academics and<br />

researchers. There were also displays<br />

of local ingredients and a panel of<br />

chefs — moderated by Anita Stewart,<br />

The<br />

planet<br />

will need<br />

to produce<br />

70<br />

per<br />

cent<br />

more<br />

food<br />

than we<br />

do now<br />

to feed<br />

humanity<br />

by<br />

2050<br />

the University of Guelph Food<br />

Laureate — discussing “good-food”<br />

innovations and best practices.<br />

Look up — way up.<br />

Vertical farming is gaining popularity<br />

in Ontario. The practice of producing<br />

food in vertically stacked layers, vertically<br />

inclined surfaces and/or integrated<br />

into existing structures will,<br />

in the future, contribute to an<br />

increase in local food — and more of<br />

it year round.<br />

Gregg Curwin, CEO of GoodLeaf<br />

Farms in Nova Scotia, stated the need<br />

for new local-food models, citing<br />

food scarcity, growing populations,<br />

more chemicals required to grow food<br />

efficiently, a decline in food quality<br />

as well as consumer concern for good<br />

health and proper nutrition.<br />

Vertical farming systems — including<br />

the 50,000-sq.-ft. facility currently<br />

planned for the Guelph area — “are<br />

here to stay,” Curwin said. “The health<br />

demand is powerful.” The systems<br />

are a “suite of technologies,” including<br />

LED lighting, mechatronics and<br />

robotics, seed genomics (with no<br />

spray and no GMOs), and a smorgasbord<br />

of data.<br />

Sobering comments from professor Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute and Research Chair in<br />

Global Food Security at University of Guelph, stressed local food has to be set within a context of global food<br />

security. He cited calculations that the planet will need to produce 70 per cent more food than we do now<br />

to feed humanity by 2050. He also stated that climate change and “weird weather” will define foods and<br />

flavours in the future. Finally, he stressed the sad truth that while we grow a lot of food, we also waste a lot.<br />

TRINA KOSTER PHOTOGRAHPY [LOCAL FOOD INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM]; iSTOCK.COM/THANAPHIPHAT [GLOBE ILLUSTRATION]; ISTOCK.COM/PONKRIT [GLOBAL VEGETABLE INFOGRAPHIC]<br />

4 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


HUMBER COLLEGE [HUMBER STUDENTS]<br />

It’s a heavy capital investment,<br />

but one that means local food, which<br />

captures and re-deploys carbon at the<br />

same time it enhances phytochemical<br />

nutrition, maximizes yield, boosts food<br />

quality and safety and tastes good.<br />

Authenticity and marketing<br />

Food-and health-marketing specialist<br />

Isabelle Marquis said the term ‘local’<br />

has a broad definition that allows for<br />

“creativity” for foodservice operators.<br />

It covers where food is grown<br />

(from zero to 100 kilometres), how<br />

it’s prepared and by whom and what<br />

ingredients it’s made with. Despite the<br />

capacity of the definition, Marquis<br />

stressed “authenticity” must prevail<br />

and corporate values must reflect<br />

an understanding of “local,” values,<br />

including supporting local organizations,<br />

reducing carbon footprints,<br />

peak freshness and flavour and the<br />

ability to offer unique products.<br />

“However, words and values don’t<br />

drive sales alone,” Marquis said, pointing<br />

to the need to pay attention to the<br />

“human factor” with both customers<br />

and staff.<br />

Today’s consumers are looking<br />

for convenience and healthy choices,<br />

according to Asad Amin, vice-president,<br />

Marketing, for Ipsos Canada.<br />

In discussing how local “fits in,”<br />

Amin presented simple socio-economic<br />

factors that are driving foodconsumer<br />

customers. Convenience<br />

in dining and food purchasing is<br />

paramount, but there are marked<br />

increases in “food exploration and<br />

experiences,” he said, adding, “these<br />

are increasingly important.”<br />

Consumption factors range from<br />

the growing farm-to-table experience;<br />

the decline of meat protein and nonmeat<br />

protein consumption in vegetarian<br />

and flexitarian diets; “mindful<br />

eating” and serving millennials —<br />

30 per cent of whom say local is critical<br />

to them when seeking food and<br />

restaurant experiences. They want<br />

fresh, local and organic food and they<br />

seek information about it through<br />

social media.<br />

RESTO BUZZ<br />

Gooseneck Hospitality’s latest<br />

project — Bells and Whistles — has<br />

opened in Vancouver’s Fraserhood/<br />

Cedar Cottage district. The beer hall<br />

and casual-dining concept features a<br />

3,000-sq.-ft dining room and seating<br />

for 150 guests. The beer hall offers a<br />

full bar, approachable menu and an<br />

interactive table-games room with<br />

complimentary happy hour from 2<br />

to 5 p.m…Chef Patrick Kriss and the<br />

Alo team have launched a casual<br />

Bar Buca spinoff of the popular Toronto finedining<br />

restaurant. Located on the<br />

ground level of the same building that houses Alo, Aloette boasts a modern diner atmosphere and a noreservations<br />

policy. The restaurant’s menu offers simpler food that is more accessible and budget friendly<br />

than its fine-dining sister — with no overlapping offerings…King Street Food Company is expanding the Buca<br />

brand to the Yonge-and-Eglinton and Yonge-and-St. Clair communities. The new locations will be helmed<br />

by chef Rob Gentile, who will design and curate the food program…Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality (O&B)<br />

launched its Canadian-inspired restaurant, Shift, at Saskatoon’s newly opened Remai Modern museum of<br />

modern and contemporary art. The restaurant is led by husband-and-wife duo, executive chef Jonathan<br />

Harris and chef de cuisine Suyeon Myeong. The pair bring a keen awareness of the importance of seasonal<br />

ingredients and plan to update the menu frequently in order to highlight the ever-changing conditions and<br />

unique bounties of the region.<br />

Opening a new restaurant? Let us in on the buzz<br />

Send a high-res image, menu and background information about the new establishment to tvenetis@kostuchmedia.com.<br />

CAREER KICK-START<br />

Humber College has introduced new certificate<br />

programs, designed for students who want to<br />

explore unique routes in the hospitality and<br />

foodservice industry. New course offerings<br />

include the Active & Healthy Senior Living<br />

Operations Certificate and Food Service<br />

Operations Certificate programs. The Active &<br />

Healthy Senior Living Operations program is<br />

ideal for those who already work<br />

in the senior living industry and<br />

want to increase their level of<br />

responsibility, or those who work<br />

in a related industry and want<br />

to shift their career paths. In<br />

addition to covering areas such as<br />

finance, operations management,<br />

marketing and human resources,<br />

this program emphasizes<br />

senior wellness, recreation and<br />

nutrition. The course is designed<br />

for students who want to gain hands-on<br />

learning that will prepare them for work in the<br />

foodservice operations industry. The program<br />

branches out from the traditional restaurant<br />

route and also focuses on food trucks, catering<br />

and retail-store operations. It offers students<br />

right out of highschool, who may not be ready to<br />

commit to a full-time program, an opportunity<br />

to get their foot in the door and prepare them for<br />

further studies.<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 5


TAKING THE REINS Effective Feb. 16, Susan Senecal<br />

will assume the role of president and CEO of A&W Food Services of<br />

Canada Inc. and A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund. Senecal will be the<br />

company’s first fully bilingual CEO, as well as the first woman in the role.<br />

Senecal succeeds Paul Hollands, who will retire as CEO after 37 years with<br />

A&W — 13 of which were spent as CEO. Hollands will continue as chairman<br />

of the board of A&W. “It has been one of my life’s great honours to<br />

lead such a wonderful enterprise that has been on the forefront of positive<br />

IN BRIEF<br />

enRoute has named Quebec City’s Battuto<br />

Canada’s Best New Restaurant. The 20-seat,<br />

400-sq.-ft. Italian diner is helmed by chef<br />

Guillaume St-Pierre. Similarly, small, chef-run<br />

spots nabbed second and third place — Canis<br />

in Toronto and Bar Von Der Fels in Calgary,<br />

respectively…After raising more than $35,000<br />

for Covenant House Vancouver’s Sleep-Out<br />

event last year, the Joseph Richard Group (JRG)<br />

increased its commitment to Lower Mainland<br />

at-risk youth by raising funds through its<br />

own company-wide Sleep-Out event, held in<br />

November…Monarch & Misfits has opened its<br />

first Sweet Salvation franchise in Dubai. The<br />

new location marks the Sweet Jesus brand’s<br />

first unit outside of Canada. Sweet Salvation<br />

Dubai will offer the brand’s signature chefinspired<br />

pimped-out soft-serve ice cream, as<br />

well as milkshakes and an assortment of hot<br />

and cold beverages…Cara Operations Limited<br />

has entered into a purchase agreement to<br />

acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the Pickle<br />

Barrel Group of Restaurants. The transaction<br />

is anticipated to close by the end of the year.<br />

The addition of Pickle Barrel will expand Cara’s<br />

portfolio of restaurants further into shopping<br />

centres where — aside from New York Fries —<br />

Cara’s brands have limited presence. Pickle<br />

Susan Senecal<br />

change for our industry and touches the lives of millions of Canadians every single week,” says<br />

Hollands. “Susan has been a large part of the growth and evolution of the company, and I am<br />

truly delighted that she will assume the strategic leadership of A&W into its next chapter.”<br />

Barrel’s successful catering business also<br />

adds a new sales channel for Cara…JW Marriott<br />

Hotels & Resorts and Time Inc.’s Food & Wine<br />

have announced the inaugural Venice Food &<br />

Wine Festival, to be held on May 3 to 6, 2018.<br />

The three-day event will take place at JW<br />

Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, located on the<br />

private island of Isola delle Rose and will feature<br />

immersive epicurean experiences showcasing<br />

Italian cuisine, wine and spirits — with a focus<br />

on the local Veneto tradition.<br />

PEOPLE<br />

François-Xavier Pilon has been appointed<br />

to the role of vice-president, Finance for<br />

Sportscene Group Inc. Pilon joined Sportscene<br />

Group in 2014, first as director, then as senior<br />

director, Financial Performance and Technology.<br />

He has also acted as interim vice-president,<br />

Finance…Mark G. Pacinda has retired from<br />

his role as the president and CEO of Boston<br />

Pizza International Inc. (BPI) and resigned as a<br />

director and CEO of Boston Pizza GP Inc. — the<br />

managing general partner of Boston Pizza<br />

Royalties Limited Partnership — and as an<br />

officer of certain subsidiaries of BPI. Jordan<br />

Holm, currently the executive vice-president,<br />

Marketing and Communications of BPI, will<br />

succeed Pacinda as president of BPI and as a<br />

director and the president of Boston Pizza GP<br />

Inc…Ocean Wise executive chef Ned Bell has<br />

released his first cookbook — Lure – Sustainable<br />

Seafood Recipes from the West Coast — coauthored<br />

by food writer Valerie Howes. The<br />

cookbook boasts 80 recipes, featuring 40<br />

varieties of sustainable seafood, designed for<br />

home cooks.<br />

COMING<br />

EVENTS<br />

JAN. 19 - FEB. 4 Dine Out Vancouver Festival,<br />

various locations, Vancouver. Tel: 604-682-<br />

2222; email: lpavan@tourismvancouver.com;<br />

website: dineoutvancouver.com<br />

JAN. 25-28 Guelph Organic Conference, Guelph<br />

University Centre, Guelph. Tel: 519-824-4120<br />

ext. 56311; email: goclocal@gmail.com; website:<br />

guelphorganicconf.ca<br />

FEB. 15 CAFP TOPs Celebration and Fundraiser,<br />

The Boulevard Club, Toronto. Tel: 416-422-3431;<br />

email: toronto@cafp.ca; website: cafp.ca<br />

FEB. 25-27 2018 Restaurants Canada Show,<br />

Enercare Centre, Toronto. Tel: 800-387-5649,<br />

ext. 7469; email: theshow@restaurantcanada.<br />

org; website: rcshow.com<br />

MAR. 17-18 Manger Santé et Vivre Vert, Centre<br />

des congrès, Quebec City. Tel: 438-405-8384;<br />

email: contact@expomangersante.com;<br />

website: expomangersante.com<br />

MAR. 23-24 Manger Santé et Vivre Vert, Palais<br />

des congrès, Montreal. Tel: 438-405-8384;<br />

email: contact@expomangersante.com;<br />

website: expomangersante.com<br />

FOR MORE EVENTS VISIT<br />

http://bit.ly/FHevents<br />

SUPPLY SIDE<br />

Collingwood Whisky has released the first<br />

instalment in its The Town Collection —<br />

Collingwood Double Barreled Canadian Whisky.<br />

The Collingwood Double Barreled Whisky<br />

features new tasting notes from its doublebarreled<br />

and extended maturation process,<br />

including notes of dry cinnamon, toasted oak<br />

and lightly dried orchard fruits…Chris Moreland<br />

is the new national director of Sales for<br />

Chesher Equipment Ltd., overseeing all regional<br />

Sales managers, directors and manufacturer’s<br />

rep agents. For the last year, Moreland has<br />

managed Chesher’s sales-management<br />

training program and is credited with<br />

expanding Chesher’s Ontario business, as well<br />

as providing culinary-development expertise in<br />

support of national accounts.<br />

6 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


COMPETITION COVERAGE<br />

PASTA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP<br />

Pasta<br />

PERFECT<br />

STORY BY ROSANNA CAIRA<br />

Leave it to an Italian pasta manufacturer to<br />

come up with the concept of a global pasta<br />

championship. In a country where pasta is a<br />

national obsession — and part of its culinary<br />

fabric — there are never enough pasta recipes.<br />

Barilla’s Pasta World Championship pitted 20<br />

young chefs from around the globe against<br />

each other to determine who could create the<br />

perfect pasta dish with the best new recipe.<br />

U.S.-based chef<br />

Accursio Lotà<br />

wins Pasta World<br />

Championship<br />

in Parma, Italy<br />

The sixth-annual competition<br />

got underway<br />

at Milan’s Palazzo del<br />

Ghiaccio and wrapped<br />

up in Parma at Academia<br />

Barilla — the international<br />

centre created by<br />

Barilla to spread awareness<br />

of Italy’s gastronomic<br />

culture worldwide. When<br />

all was said and done,<br />

Accursio Lotà, chef at<br />

Solara restaurant in San<br />

Diego, Calif., was crowned<br />

winner of the Barilla Pasta<br />

World Championship<br />

and presented with the<br />

Golden Tarella (die used<br />

to extrude pasta). Lotà,<br />

a native of Italy, won the<br />

two-day competition<br />

by beating out competitors<br />

from 15 countries<br />

(including Canada, which<br />

was represented by Joey<br />

Restaurants’ chef Connor<br />

Gabbott) and four continents<br />

with his “Seafood<br />

Carbonara,” an homage to<br />

the most celebrated and<br />

discussed pasta recipe.<br />

Lotà’s winning dish<br />

was a unique take on<br />

the traditional Italian<br />

recipe, featuring an explosion<br />

of baroque flavours<br />

and tastes of Sicily. The<br />

32-year old chef took the<br />

Carbonara concept and<br />

substituted the chicken<br />

eggs typically used in<br />

the recipe with seafood<br />

eggs. He then used green<br />

mandarins and red<br />

Mazara shrimps — classic<br />

ingredients from<br />

Sicily — to give the dish<br />

a Mediterranean flavour.<br />

As part of the dish, Lotà<br />

cooked seafood, scallops,<br />

red shrimps from Mazara<br />

del Vallo, cuttlefish and<br />

amberjack filet at a low<br />

temperature in guanciale<br />

fat to mimic the<br />

rich meatiness of pasta<br />

Carbonara, without eggs<br />

and dairy.<br />

Lotà, whose win was<br />

announced to thunderous<br />

applause from the<br />

audience said, “This success<br />

means a lot for me.<br />

It was so exciting to be<br />

chosen amongst the three<br />

finalists and winning has<br />

been amazing.” His dish is<br />

reflective of Lotà’s vision<br />

of the future of pasta. “I<br />

work abroad, but due to<br />

my Italian roots, pasta<br />

is already perfect in its<br />

simplicity. This is why<br />

the future of pasta, in my<br />

opinion, will be realized<br />

not only by reinventing<br />

pasta according to oneself,<br />

but by regenerating<br />

and reworking the classic<br />

accompaniments and<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 7


COMPETITION COVERAGE<br />

GLOBAL DOMINATION Competitors from around the world faced off for the title of Pasta World Champion<br />

sauces in new ways. This<br />

doesn’t mean destroying<br />

our traditions, but<br />

rethinking and reimagining<br />

both ingredients<br />

and techniques.”<br />

Lotà’s culinary journey<br />

began after graduation,<br />

when he was given the<br />

opportunity to work<br />

at the Four Seasons in<br />

Milan with Sergio Mei. At<br />

the age of 22, he moved<br />

to California where he<br />

had the opportunity<br />

to prepare a meal for<br />

President Obama. Today,<br />

he helms the kitchen at<br />

the Solare restaurant in<br />

San Diego, where he’s<br />

been selected Best Chef<br />

for the past three consecutive<br />

years.<br />

For Barilla, the<br />

140-year-old pasta<br />

company founded<br />

and headquartered in<br />

Parma, the Pasta World<br />

Championship is an<br />

opportunity to promote<br />

the popularity of pasta,<br />

the star product in its<br />

portfolio. According to<br />

Paolo Barilla, vice-chairman<br />

of the Barilla Group,<br />

“The Barilla Pasta World<br />

Championship has once<br />

again proven how important<br />

it is for promoting<br />

Italy’s gastronomic<br />

culture, the linchpin<br />

of which, is pasta. The<br />

championship rewards<br />

those that take our real<br />

cuisine abroad and was<br />

created to celebrate pasta<br />

and showcase its<br />

versatility, its ability to<br />

adapt to cultures and<br />

societies that differ<br />

greatly from one another,<br />

without losing its<br />

identity. In fact, pasta<br />

brings people together: it<br />

binds them and encompasses<br />

tradition and<br />

innovation alike.” FH<br />

The ABCs of The Barilla Group<br />

AT 140 YEARS OF AGE, the Barilla Group was born in Parma,<br />

Italy in a shop where pasta and bread were made. Today,<br />

the company is among the top food producers in the<br />

world, creating signature sauces in continental Europe,<br />

bakery products in Italy and crisp bread in Scandinavia.<br />

Barilla owns 28 production sites (14 in Italy and 14 abroad)<br />

and exports to more than 100 countries, including Canada.<br />

It produces 1,700,000 tons of food products annually, which<br />

are consumed the world over under the following brand<br />

names – Barilla, Mulino Bianco, Harrys, Pavesi, Wasa, Filiz,<br />

Yemina and Vesta, Misko, Voiello and Academia Barilla.<br />

The scale of what it does is “mind boggling,” as expressed<br />

by John Dickie, a British professor who hosted this year’s<br />

Pasta World Championship finals in Parma, pointing to the<br />

fact “it owns its own freight-train line to deliver the grains<br />

used in its production of pasta.”<br />

When the first shop opened in 1877, Pietro Barilla<br />

focused on making good food — today the company’s<br />

mission is “Good for you, good for the planet.” The company<br />

— now run by the fourth generation of the Barilla<br />

family — is committed to constantly improving its products,<br />

motivating consumers to adopt healthy lifestyles<br />

and improving food access. As part of that mandate,<br />

the company promotes sustainable supply chains and is<br />

intent on reducing the amount of CO 2 it emits, as well as<br />

the water consumed during production.<br />

Interestingly, while the fourth generation of the family<br />

is now at the helm, for a few years during the 1970s, the<br />

company fell out of family control. “In 1971, the company<br />

was sold by my father and my uncle, but it was repurchased<br />

in 1979,” Paolo Barilla told the audience of attendees<br />

at this year’s competion. He stressed the company’s<br />

mantra is to feed people what you would feed your own<br />

children. Barilla, who presented the award to this year’s<br />

winner, also stressed the importance of guarding tradition<br />

while acknowledging the importance of modernity. “We<br />

live in Italy and we’re proud of our country and our company.<br />

We are guardians of tradition but sometimes we get<br />

too lazy to look at the challenges. That’s our challenge —<br />

the adaption of tradition but the need to make it<br />

better.” And with that goal to make it better, the Pasta<br />

World Championship gives free rein to today’s young<br />

chefs to express themselves — to take an idea and offer<br />

a lot of solutions.<br />

And, if you think pasta is mired in tradition, think<br />

again. Barilla is working to dispel that notion with its<br />

BluRhapsody, a new exclusive 3D-pasta collection, born<br />

to impress both eyes and taste. The technology allows<br />

Barilla’s production team to use 3D printers to open up<br />

the future by creating new shapes. Three of those shapes<br />

were revealed at the dinner the night before the competition’s<br />

finale — Kalpis, with its amphora’s shape, Sphere<br />

and Salix. “We’re binding together contemporary technology<br />

with traditioon,” stated Barilla. “We’ve had shapes<br />

designed by tradition and we haven’t been able to design<br />

new shapes for some time. But with 3D, chefs will have to<br />

be the best interpreters of the future.”<br />

8 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong><br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


The Canadian Factor<br />

When Canadian chef Connor Gabbott<br />

decided to enter the Pasta World<br />

Champtionship, the Vancouver-basd<br />

product-development chef at Joey Restaurant<br />

did so for a couple of reasons. “I’m a very<br />

competitive person, so I initially entered<br />

purely for the challenge, plus I love pasta,”<br />

said Gabbott. As one of Joey’s development<br />

chefs, Gabbott and the test-kitchen team have<br />

been working on upping its pasta offerings<br />

“for a while now, so there’s been a lot of pasta<br />

cooking going on behind the scenes in the<br />

test kitchen. A lot of technique that went into<br />

my signature dish for the Barilla World Pasta<br />

Championship actually came out of the development<br />

of our new Pasta Pomodoro, which<br />

we just launched at select test stores.”<br />

As one of 20 competitors at this year’s<br />

pasta competition, Gabbott said his biggest<br />

challenge was timing. “We had exactly 60<br />

minutes; there was no window for error.<br />

I think a lot of chefs struggled with it; I know<br />

I could have used an extra two minutes at<br />

the end to put some finishing touches on<br />

my dishes.”<br />

The Canadian chef used his roots to<br />

develop a dish that represented sense of place.<br />

“I made a Canadian version of Wild Boar<br />

Ragu. I used a classic Neapolitan ragu as my<br />

inspiration and added some personal and<br />

Canadian touches. I’m very passionate about<br />

hunting and introducing friends and family<br />

to wild-game meat. It truly is the ultimate<br />

form of organic food and is a great renewable<br />

Canadian competitor Connor Gabbott<br />

from Joey Restaurant in Vancouver; (left)<br />

Gabbott executes his Canadian verson of<br />

Wild Boar Ragu<br />

Drake Commisary, Toronto<br />

Photography by Kayla Rocca<br />

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COMPETITION COVERAGE<br />

resource. Boar is something that lends itself<br />

very well to pasta and we have wild boar in<br />

Canada, so it seemed a fitting way to introduce<br />

people to it,” said the chef.<br />

“A traditional Neapolitan ragu has whole<br />

cuts of veal and pork cooked in the sauce.<br />

With the time constraints we had, I cooked<br />

my beef cut — chuck flat — in a pressure<br />

cooker. This reduced the time from two to<br />

three hours down to 35 minutes. I substituted<br />

wild boar in place of pork and presented it<br />

two different ways. I used a minced wildboar<br />

salami inside the sauce, just lightly<br />

sweated. With the salami being small, it isn’t<br />

super noticeable, but when eating the pasta<br />

it brings a great sour salami flavour to the<br />

sauce. Secondly, I made some wild-boar<br />

bacon crisps to garnish the top of my pasta.<br />

I brought all of the meat products with me,<br />

so it really was a Canadian ragu. The sauce<br />

was kept simple — a classic tomato sauce<br />

seasoned well with garlic, olive oil, salt and<br />

pepper. To garnish the plate, I made an olivewhipped<br />

ricotta for the plate and the top of<br />

the pasta was garnished with basil leaves,<br />

Calabrian chilies and a Quebec sheep’s milk<br />

cheese called Allegretto.”<br />

Though Gabbott didn’t place in the top<br />

three, he learned a great deal. “I learned a lot<br />

of new techniques; the competitors brought<br />

some great ideas. It was inspiring. But some of<br />

the biggest learnings about pasta came from<br />

my time practicing and refining my dish.”<br />

But the learning didn’t stop there. “I<br />

underestimated the level of food and talent<br />

that would be present at this competition. If<br />

I did it again, I would change the direction<br />

I took my dish in; bring more technical<br />

cooking aspects to my dish and push the<br />

boundaries of what a traditional pasta is. I<br />

went in focused on making a great classic<br />

pasta. Secondly, I made a decision during the<br />

middle of the competition to start cooking<br />

my pasta a couple minutes later than usual. I<br />

did this to make sure the pasta was nice and<br />

hot when it went to the judges. Looking back,<br />

it was the wrong decision; I should have stuck<br />

to the timing I had developed during my<br />

practice runs and used the extra time to refine<br />

the finished dishes.”<br />

Canadian competitor<br />

Connor Gabbott<br />

from Joey Restaurant<br />

in Vancouver<br />

Ultimately, he says, the learning was<br />

invaluable. Asked if he would compete again,<br />

Gabbott is unequivocal. “Absolutely. I’m not<br />

sure if Barilla takes competitors back two<br />

years in a row but I want redemption.” FH<br />

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FROM THE DESK OF ROBERT CARTER<br />

INNOVATIVE<br />

THINKING<br />

Are cannabis-infused drinks<br />

the next big thing?<br />

iSTOCK.COM/CREATIVE-FAMILY [CANNABIS DRINK]<br />

Micro-brew Share of Total Beer Servings<br />

18%<br />

21%<br />

17% 18%<br />

Total Canada Total West Ontario Quebec Atlantic<br />

In late October, Constellation Brands —<br />

the $42-billion company behind beer<br />

brands such as Corona and Modelo —<br />

announced it was betting on marijuana’s<br />

national legalization by agreeing to take<br />

a 9.9-per-cent minority stake in the $2-billion<br />

Canadian medical-marijuana company,<br />

Canopy Growth. The company, now known<br />

as Arterra Wines Canada, also announced<br />

plans to begin producing cannabis-infused<br />

drinks, which it could begin selling in Canada<br />

as early as 2019.<br />

While the announcement may have caught<br />

some people in the foodservice industry off<br />

guard, the company’s attempt to diversify its<br />

offering is exactly the kind of innovation the<br />

beer industry needs right now — especially<br />

when it comes to larger, multi-national brewers<br />

struggling to grow market share.<br />

With craft-beer showing the only significant<br />

growth within the beer category, the<br />

investment makes good business sense. The<br />

flood of micro-brews has helped to sustain an<br />

otherwise flat beer market — the micro-brew<br />

share of beer servings nationally has jumped<br />

from 12 per cent in 2013 to 18 per cent in<br />

<strong>2017</strong>, helping to expand total Canada beer<br />

servings by three per cent in the current year,<br />

according to NPD Group CREST data. And<br />

this increase in market share by independent<br />

craft brewers has<br />

come directly at the<br />

expense of the larger,<br />

multi-national players.<br />

Given the fact that<br />

gaining access to provincially<br />

managed liquordistribution<br />

networks can<br />

be a challenge in Canada,<br />

many of these craft brewers<br />

rely heavily on the foodservice<br />

industry to help distribute and<br />

market their products. That said,<br />

beer servings in foodservice have made a<br />

modest rebound over the last few years, especially<br />

in Western Canada, where micro-brew<br />

popularity is the strongest (see chart).<br />

As you might assume, volume is well<br />

distributed across all ages,<br />

however, the most influential<br />

group is younger adults<br />

aged 25 to 34. This group is<br />

now the largest and fastestgrowing<br />

cohort for beer.<br />

15%<br />

They are the most likely<br />

to order beer compared to<br />

other types of alcohol and<br />

are most likely to order<br />

micro-brews.<br />

The <strong>2017</strong> edition of the<br />

NPD Group’s Full-Service<br />

Restaurant (FSR) Dining Report confirms<br />

these consumption patterns are on-trend and<br />

expected to continue. Younger adults report<br />

enjoying the search for new and interesting<br />

food-and-beverage offerings when they dine<br />

out at FSRs. They’re also the most likely to<br />

be looking for local and Canadian offerings<br />

on menus — two notions that align well with<br />

micro-breweries. Conversely, these consumer<br />

preferences also make it harder for the larger<br />

multinationals to grow their share.<br />

Innovation has long been held up as a<br />

growth platform in a foodservice market<br />

struggling to add visits or grow real dollars.<br />

Meanwhile, consumers are constantly searching<br />

for restaurant brands that can offer experiences<br />

that are different and worthy of their<br />

food budget. An innovation platform that<br />

includes unique and adventurous offerings is<br />

an ideal way to stand out in an increasingly<br />

competitive market.<br />

This begs the question — could cannabisinfused<br />

beverages be the next big trend in<br />

the beverage and alcohol industry? For now,<br />

there are far too many uncertainties to know<br />

for sure; however, one thing is certain: innovation<br />

(in one form or another) is needed if<br />

the larger multi-national brewers plan to fend<br />

off the craft-beer assault. FH<br />

Robert Carter is executive<br />

director, Foodservice Canada,<br />

with the NPD Group Inc. He<br />

can be reached at robert.<br />

carter@npd.com for questions<br />

regarding the latest<br />

trends and their impact on<br />

the foodservice business.<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 11


OUR INSTAGRAM WINNERS (from left) seasonal produce by @chefandrewevans; beetroot, daylily, Queen Anne’s Lace and wild rose by @chefbangerter; Canadian farmland by @eng<br />

Announcing the<br />

A CELEBRATION OF CANADIAN FOOD CULTU<br />

The Made-in-Canada photo contest has drawn to a close and we’re pro<br />

at this year’s Pinnacle Awards Gala held in Toronto. Throughout the y<br />

creative side by entering photos that reflect a typically Canadian them<br />

chefs, as well as quintessential Canadian restaurants. A big thank you to all<br />

OUR SPO<br />

PLATINUM<br />

GOLD


chack; brunch at @whatabagel by @wakeupeatthis; edible fried Maple leaves @canoerestaurant by @_alteredstate_; wild Pacific sockeye salmon with maple lentils by @cheftj80<br />

WINNERS of the<br />

RE THROUGH THE LENSES OF OUR READERS<br />

ud to present the winners, who took home Experience Canada grand prizes<br />

ear, Foodservice and Hospitality readers have been invited to tap into their<br />

e focusing on Canadian ingredients, products, menu items, Canadian-born<br />

of our contest sponsors for their support.<br />

NSORS:<br />

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FOOD FILE<br />

Soups and<br />

sandwiches<br />

offer the<br />

perfect<br />

combination<br />

for healthconscious<br />

diners<br />

BY DENISE DEVEAU<br />

14 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


1<br />

3<br />

2<br />

4<br />

5 6<br />

iSTOCK/OZGUR COSKUN [TOP VIEW OF SOUPS, OPPOSITE PAGE]; AMY HO [ PORK JOWL BAO, RAILTOWN SMOKED-MEAT SANDWICH, MUFFULETTA]<br />

7<br />

8 9<br />

1. Railtown Café’s Muffuletta sandwich 2. Bowl of warm, seasonal flavours from Montreal’s Soupesoup 3. Breakfast sandwich from Pumpernickel’s 4. Soupesoup<br />

serves up classic Borscht 5. Ham and Swiss sandwich on ciabbatta at Soupesoup 6. Fragrant lentil soup from Montreal’s Soupesoup 7. Smoked-meat sandwich at<br />

the Railtown Café 8. Classic cream of broccoli at Soupesoup 9. Pork Jowl Bao from Heritage Asian Eatery<br />

The soup-and-sandwich combo has become a mainstay in the foodservice world. Some see it as a healthier option to<br />

heavier fast-food offerings, while others see a chance to explore different flavours and cultures. Others still have a<br />

hankering for classic combinations that bring back fond memories of family lunches.<br />

Though soups and sandwiches may seem like pedestrian menu items, they represent a wealth of opportunities for<br />

operators to apply their creative talents, whether they’re putting a new spin on a classic chicken-noodle soup or adding<br />

an ethnic flair to a pork sandwich.<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 15


MC/TM<br />

A soup for all seasons<br />

The seasonal aspect of soup makes it an interesting menu offering.<br />

“Naturally, soup gains popularity in the fall and winter. When it’s<br />

a cold and rainy or snowy day, sales skyrocket,” says Tim Cuff, chef<br />

consultant with The Fifteen Group — a Vancouver-based restaurant-consultancy<br />

company.<br />

Soup has been a core business for Soupesoup in Montreal since<br />

it opened its doors 16 years ago. The restaurant offers a rotation of<br />

five to six soup options daily and the menu is updated seasonally<br />

based on the ingredients available, says Martin Trudel, president.<br />

Not surprisingly, 90 per cent of its sales take place during the<br />

lunch period. “Lunch is a time of day when people can disconnect<br />

and really enjoy a meal, but the time factor is important. They want<br />

a fast-paced option that’s healthy, rather than going for fast food or<br />

sitting an hour-and-a-half in a restaurant,” Trudel says.<br />

Soup is also the perfect way to balance the nutritional factor in<br />

meal planning, he adds. “You can pair a vegetable soup with a<br />

ham-and-cheese sandwich; or a hearty beef soup with a salad to get<br />

your protein.”<br />

With 200 soup recipes in Soupesoup’s library, there’s plenty of<br />

diversity. “People who come back several times want variety. They<br />

like to travel within a lunch menu and are looking for flavours of<br />

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www.saputofoodservice.ca • 1-800-672-8866<br />

®/MD<br />

Soup’s<br />

on<br />

Soup sales are growing,<br />

according to the latest statistics.<br />

The NPD Group data from August<br />

<strong>2017</strong> reports an increase of 1.6 per<br />

cent over the past 12 months, with<br />

the strongest growth in Western<br />

Canada and Quebec in the casual<br />

and mid-scale sectors.<br />

The under-35 age group is<br />

indexing lower, but starting to<br />

respond to new presentation concepts<br />

such as soup shooters, or<br />

pairings with artisan bread, cheese<br />

or beer, according to Sherrie Clark,<br />

brand manager, Campbell Soup<br />

Company of Canada in Toronto.<br />

“There’s an opportunity for operators<br />

to make soup more relevant<br />

for a sector that’s big on sharing<br />

when dining out.”<br />

With operators facing labour<br />

shortages, Clark reports a significant<br />

increase in pouch-format<br />

sales. “It’s a much easier solution<br />

for heating and serving. We’re also<br />

cleaning up labels on all frozensoup<br />

products as soup is seen as a<br />

healthier option.” (Technomic 2016<br />

data shows that 85 per cent of<br />

consumers would like restaurants<br />

to be more transparent about<br />

what is in their menu items).<br />

And don’t forget the garnish.<br />

Campbell’s own research shows<br />

adding a garnish can increase a<br />

soup’s selling price by upwards<br />

of 25 per cent. Examples include<br />

garlic chips, crème fraîche, horseradish,<br />

chives, cheese crumbles or<br />

tortilla strips.<br />

ON A ROLL<br />

Pancake Duck<br />

Roll from<br />

Heritage Asian<br />

Eatery<br />

the world. There are a lot of Asian<br />

and Indian influences in what we do.”<br />

In the case of high-end operators,<br />

soups are made from scratch and<br />

carefully considered, McDowell says.<br />

“Full-service operations are expected<br />

to have two soups. Upscale-casual<br />

[feature] more, since soup is often a<br />

first-course option.”<br />

Even with a classic such as chicken<br />

noodle, an upscale operator might<br />

make the pasta from scratch or make<br />

interesting shapes. “People want to<br />

know you made it,” says McDowell.<br />

At the Drake Commissary in<br />

Toronto, for example, chef de cuisine<br />

Jonas Grupiljonas’ chicken-noodle<br />

soup uses different flours — such as<br />

rye and caraway — for the noodles.<br />

For the most part, he prefers to prepare<br />

borscht and sour soups because<br />

they are more complex in flavour.<br />

The sum of its parts<br />

McDowell says the industry is seeing<br />

more well-thought-out, original<br />

sandwiches. But the appeal of sandwiches,<br />

beyond the taste and healthiness<br />

over other fast-food choices, is<br />

simple economics. “Customers don’t<br />

want to spend $30 on a full entrée at<br />

lunchtime. A sandwich made with<br />

freshly baked bread is always trend-<br />

iSTOCK.COM/PLOYCHAN [THAI NOODLE WITH PORK BALL IN BOWL, SOUP’S ON SIDEBAR]; AMY HO [ PANCAKE DUCK ROLL]<br />

16 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


FOOD FILE<br />

Sandwich<br />

fixings<br />

Sandwiches and<br />

soups are a blank<br />

canvas for chefs to<br />

get creative. Here<br />

are a few trending<br />

ingredients:<br />

ROOT VEGETABLES — beets are<br />

growing in demand alongside<br />

the usual carrots and parsnips<br />

Low-and slow-roasted meats —<br />

Whatever the cut, slow-roasted<br />

meats are becoming a highdemand<br />

menu option<br />

Porchetta – More chefs and<br />

consumers are rediscovering this<br />

traditional Italian salted boneless<br />

pork. Porchetta is roasted over<br />

wood and stuffed with garlic, rosemary,<br />

fennel and/or other herbs<br />

to add loads of savoury flavour<br />

ing.” He notes flavours such as mint,<br />

cilantro and rosemary are “hot flavours<br />

right now. People want [food]<br />

that pops with fresh herbs, aioli or<br />

a vinaigrette.”<br />

“In the past, sandwiches were just<br />

delicious and cheap. Now, they also<br />

need to be nourishing and healthy,”<br />

Cuff says. As such, top-quality<br />

ingredients are an integral part of<br />

the equation.<br />

When planning a sandwich menu,<br />

Cuff recommends operators look to<br />

the right sources, starting with the<br />

bread. “Find a good baker that makes<br />

good bread. That’s number-1.”<br />

A growing number of operators<br />

are looking for more traditional<br />

breads that use ancient grains and<br />

less-processed flours. “If you can get<br />

millet, flax, buckwheat or sunflower<br />

seeds, you get a great flavour profile<br />

and texture,” Cuff says.<br />

What goes on that bread is of<br />

paramount importance. When considering<br />

meat choices, Cuff suggests whole cuts. “If you have a whole<br />

chicken or beef-chuck roast you can get better flavour, moisture and<br />

texture.” Slow roasting is a great option for secondary cuts, he adds.<br />

“You get really flavourful meat that’s tender.” Cuff also stresses the<br />

importance of a good spread to hold it all together. “A garlic aioli is<br />

great because you can always do something unique with it,” he says.<br />

But, warns chef Dan Olson, of Railtown Café in Vancouver, operators<br />

have to be careful not to reinvent the wheel when it comes to<br />

sandwiches. “We don’t like to get too crazy. We focus on the ingredients<br />

first. “People are more educated when it comes to food and<br />

appreciate the quality of products where nothing is processed.”<br />

His menu is based on six proteins — beef, brisket, pork, chicken,<br />

turkey and salmon. He also offers a weekly special that plays on classics,<br />

such as an upscale version of Philly cheesesteak, meatball or<br />

Cubano sandwiches. The biggest seller, by far, is the chicken club on<br />

focaccia, he reports. “We also get a ton of demand for vegetarian and<br />

vegan sandwiches.”<br />

Every product is prepared in-house — from the bread and meat<br />

to the toppings and condiments. “We use our own rye bread for<br />

our Reuben, sourdough for smoked turkey and multi-grain for our<br />

salmon salad. The only thing we don’t make in-house is the glutenfree<br />

bread.”<br />

Railtown even makes its own condiments, including whole grain<br />

mustards. “We look for the perfect richness, sweetness and acidity to<br />

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FOOD FILE<br />

PERFECT PAIRINGS The slow-roasted pork sandwich from the<br />

Railtown Café; classic tomato soup from Montreal’s Soupesoup<br />

tion. Having 15 ingredients on a plate<br />

gets confusing.”<br />

The art of the sandwich<br />

Sandwich making has become an<br />

art form, says Soly Ziv, president of<br />

Toronto-based Pumpernickel’s. “It’s all<br />

about artisanal sandwiches made with<br />

high-quality bread and ingredients.”<br />

In response, Pumpernickel’s has<br />

introduced a line of slow-cooked roast<br />

beef and turkey sandwiches, as well<br />

as a porchetta sandwich and a selection<br />

of gourmet breakfast sandwiches.<br />

“These are becoming very popular, even<br />

beyond the breakfast hour,” Ziv says.<br />

“McDonald’s has already been doing it.<br />

Others, like us, are upscaling them with<br />

ingredients like truffle and basil and<br />

fresh bread.”<br />

Wraps are maintaining popularity,<br />

particularly on the catering side, he<br />

adds. “People don’t want messy food.<br />

Wraps are very neat compared to<br />

holding a big sandwich.”<br />

Felix Zhou, chef and co-owner of<br />

Heritage Asian Eatery in Vancouver, is<br />

doing his own variation on a traditional<br />

theme with his French/Asian-inspired<br />

bao sandwiches. “What’s really in right<br />

now is pork-belly bao with house-made<br />

kimchi.” The beauty of a bao, he says, is<br />

that it’s easy to hold, lighter in texture<br />

and relatively economical. “People don’t<br />

want to have salad all the time. [Bao] is<br />

tasty, reasonably priced and offers good<br />

value. And you can pull flavours from<br />

anywhere to make them.”<br />

Putting it all together<br />

McDowell believes simplicity is key<br />

when putting a menu together. “We<br />

recommend a 10-to-25 item menu;<br />

keep within those bounds. That number<br />

includes soups and sandwiches. Then<br />

you can put your focus on putting out<br />

high-quality products.”<br />

In addition, says Cuff, operators<br />

need to think carefully about the pairings<br />

when planning menus. “If you are<br />

offering a grilled-cheese sandwich, you<br />

have to have a tomato soup. It’s like a<br />

marriage. You can’t have one without<br />

the other.”<br />

He adds that quick-service restaurants<br />

tend to go for something familiar<br />

but interesting. “It has to be tasty.<br />

Quick-serve shouldn’t mean cheap; it<br />

should mean quality that can be delivered<br />

fast. You want good-quality tomatoes,<br />

garlic, onions and cream rather<br />

than a can of tomatoes in a blender.<br />

Anything you put in your mouth should<br />

have layers of flavour.” FH<br />

JELGER+TANJA PHOTOGRAPHY [PORK SANDWICH]<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


This year marks the 29th anniversary of KML’s celebration of the best in<br />

foodservice and hospitality. Our annual Pinnacle Awards honour companies<br />

that have demonstrated not only business success over the last year, but<br />

also shown their commitment to the communities in which they operate.<br />

The following pages tell the inspiring stories of this year’s winners.<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 19


SLUG HERE


COMPANY OF THE YEAR<br />

NOTHING<br />

TO<br />

CHANCE<br />

Led by founder and CEO<br />

Scott Morison’s singular vision,<br />

Browns Restaurant Group<br />

dares to be different<br />

BY CHRIS POWELL<br />

PHOTOGRAPH BY IAN McCAUSLAND<br />

CEO Scott “Scotty” Morison<br />

of Browns Restaurant Group<br />

IT DEBUTED 13 YEARS AGO with a name randomly<br />

selected from a phone book, but nothing in the Browns Restaurant<br />

Group (BRG) journey since has been left to fate.<br />

Today, the Vancouver-based company finds itself closing in on<br />

annual sales of $150 million, with several new additions to its flagship<br />

chain, Browns Socialhouse, on tap and a series of complementary<br />

concepts in various stages of development.<br />

Along the way, it has become a beacon for would-be franchisees<br />

attracted by an enticing combination of steady year-over-year revenue<br />

growth and a dining concept — premium casual — that analysts<br />

say possesses considerable upside.<br />

From its conception to its current success, the company’s<br />

course has been assiduously charted by its founder and CEO Scott<br />

“Scotty” Morison, a veteran restaurateur and a member of the B.C.<br />

Restaurant Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014.<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 21


PROUD TO BE A<br />

TOP 100 COMPANY<br />

It was the mid-2000s when Morison — one of the founding partners<br />

of the enormously successful Cactus Club restaurant chain in<br />

1988 — came up with the idea for a new chain of casual restaurants.<br />

Based on a smaller footprint (between 2,500 and 3,000 sq. ft.), it would<br />

be a cross between a restaurant and a neighbourhood pub; franchiseeled,<br />

not corporately owned; and the chain would target mid-sized markets<br />

such as Kamloops, B.C. and Moose Jaw, Sask. in addition to major<br />

centres. Most importantly, it would emphasize quality and a distinctive<br />

customer experience, best exemplified by a “snowflake” approach to<br />

design that ensured no two restaurants were alike.<br />

But, while Morison had a clear vision for this new company, he still<br />

didn’t have a name. Then he flashed back to a CNN interview with the<br />

founders of upscale U.S. steakhouse chain Smith & Wollensky — who<br />

revealed they arrived at the name by each flipping to a random page in<br />

the phonebook and choosing the first name they pointed to. Intrigued,<br />

Morison adopted the same approach — only to immediately inform<br />

his wife Elizabeth that he needed a do-over. The first name he pointed<br />

to has long since faded from memory, although Morison jokes that it<br />

would have likely required his new restaurants to offer a terrific matzoball<br />

soup.<br />

The second name he pointed to, “Brown,” had no such associations<br />

— essentially providing a blank slate upon which Morison could<br />

imprint his fledgling chain’s values and identity. “Browns didn’t mean<br />

anything, which is why I really liked it,” he says.<br />

More than a decade later, BRG means plenty to customers, employees<br />

and a growing list of would-be franchise partners all clamouring to<br />

be part of a success story that is still being written.<br />

BRG is forging a singular path in the premium-casual category — a<br />

format boasting a “long runway for growth” according to a 2015 report<br />

from U.K.-based research firm Euromonitor International.<br />

Browns Socialhouse has grown quickly — it now boasts 65 locations,<br />

primarily in Western Canada — while maintaining double-digit<br />

revenue growth and posting EBITDA typically more than double the<br />

industry average.<br />

The company plans to open 20 new restaurants in Western Canada<br />

over the next two years, while Ontario is very much on senior management’s<br />

radar. It currently has one corporately owned restaurant in<br />

Oakville, with a new location slated for Ottawa.<br />

Its continued business success is an undeniable factor in a terrific<br />

12 months that have seen it overhaul the Browns Socialhouse menu,<br />

the ongoing development of two new chains — including a pizza-led<br />

concept called Liberty Kitchen — and continued corporate socialresponsibility<br />

initiatives.<br />

Fittingly, for a career restaurateur, many of Morison’s decisions<br />

relating to BRG are based on a gut feel. He’s openly disdainful of what<br />

he calls the “paralysis-by-analysis bullshit” employed by Browns’ competitors.<br />

“We don’t believe that’s the nuts and bolts of the business,”<br />

he says. “If you can’t feel it and you can’t smell it, you don’t know<br />

what you’re doing. I don’t care what the spreadsheet tells you. [My<br />

approach] is more intuitive, but grounded in practical experience.”<br />

THE TOP<br />

100


“There’s really nothing<br />

that hasn’t been<br />

thought through or<br />

[is] done by chance,<br />

whether it be design,<br />

music, lighting,<br />

or service. Everything<br />

is well thought-out”<br />

SCOTTY MORISON<br />

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Morison is content to leave the cold, hard business numbers to a<br />

seasoned senior-management team led by his two trusted lieutenants:<br />

president and COO Scott Ward and executive vice-president, Business<br />

Development Bruce Fox.<br />

Morison’s personal focus, refined throughout his more than 30<br />

years in the business, is on creating a singular dining experience.<br />

“There’s really nothing that hasn’t been thought through or [is] done<br />

by chance, whether it be design, music, lighting, or service,” he says<br />

with a hint of pride. “Everything is well thought-out.”<br />

Case in point: Morison is personally involved in selecting every<br />

song heard by Browns Socialhouse customers, whether it’s a dinner<br />

playlist featuring a combination of Sergio Mendes, Pitbull and Stevie<br />

Wonder, or a late-night playlist boasting Queen, Keith Urban, Johnny<br />

Cash and Ray Charles. “I categorize it and decide where it goes and<br />

what time of day it plays,” says Morison, who is known for his habit of<br />

“Shazaming” songs that intrigue him so they can potentially be added<br />

to the playlist. “I always look for what I call ‘eater-friendly’ music.”<br />

He also keeps a series of binders overflowing with clippings from<br />

trade magazines around the world, which he uses as inspiration for<br />

everything from Browns Socialhouse’s light fixtures to its fabrics and<br />

floor coverings.<br />

“Scotty’s view of the business is ‘If you can see it, touch it, hear it,<br />

taste it or smell it, then he owns it,’” says Fox, who joined BRG in 2008<br />

after spending nearly 18 years as president of the franchise-development<br />

consulting business Catalyst Hospitality. “When you talk about<br />

attention to detail, he’s way down in it. It’s details, details, details.”<br />

One of Morison’s habits is walking through a restaurant, noting<br />

not just what customers are eating and drinking, but gauging the<br />

mood at their table and looking for the tell-tale signs that provide a<br />

window into their dining experience. If guests are wearing a coat, for<br />

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BROWNS SOCIALHOUSE<br />

restaurant . bar . socialize<br />

The trademarks that appear are the property of their respective trademark owners.<br />

example, the temperature inside the restaurant is probably too cold; if<br />

they’re constantly scanning the room looking for a server to take their<br />

order, then the service might not be up to snuff.<br />

“I call it ‘old-school restauranting,’” he says. “I haven’t looked at a<br />

check average for my business in 30 years — nor will I. For me, the<br />

metrics are, are my franchisees and customers happy?”<br />

Based on BRG’s <strong>2017</strong> numbers, they are. The company is on track<br />

for a record $150 million in system-wide sales this year, despite economic<br />

headwinds in key markets such as Alberta (where it operates<br />

18 restaurants) and a general downturn for the casual-dining sector as<br />

a whole.<br />

In July, BRG announced it had secured a multi-product loan facility<br />

from CWB Franchise Finance that will be used to consolidate and<br />

refinance existing corporate debt as it looks to grow its Western-<br />

Canadian footprint and readies itself for a long-anticipated move<br />

into Eastern Canada.<br />

Morison says he is heartened by the warm reception Western<br />

Canadian chains such as Moxie’s, Earls and Joey have received in<br />

Ontario and anticipates franchisee demand will be high in Canada’s<br />

largest province.<br />

“Everybody loves what [West-Coast chains] do, collectively, so<br />

we can’t wait for restaurant operators to discover us and say ‘I’d like<br />

to become part of your team.’ If we get the same foothold in Ontario<br />

as we did in the west, we’ll do it all over again; it’s going to be<br />

hyper-speed.”<br />

Fox says there’s an informal hierarchy within BRG as it relates to its<br />

expansion strategy: B.C. first, Western Canada second. The company<br />

views Ontario as a “completely new country,” he says, while any plans<br />

for possible expansion into Quebec and the Maritimes are “off in the<br />

distance for us.”<br />

Closer to home, a new team headed by culinary director Damon<br />

Campbell and culinary development chefs Michael Steh and Kristian<br />

Eligh, has retooled the Browns Socialhouse menu, introducing new<br />

items while retooling customer favourites such as pizza.<br />

“It took about three or four months [for the new culinary team] to<br />

calibrate, which was understood to be part of the plan, and they started<br />

to introduce flavours, ingredients and new techniques and have<br />

evolved the [menu],” says Ward, who joined BRG as VP of Operations<br />

in 2009 and is now just a little more than a year into his new role as<br />

president and COO.<br />

Campbell, who was previously executive chef at Bosk restaurant in<br />

Toronto’s upscale Shangri-La Hotel, says much of the acclimatization<br />

period was spent determining the abilities of the cooking teams across<br />

the Browns Socialhouse network, while simultaneously learning an<br />

entirely new customer base. “The goal remains the same — putting<br />

out delicious food — but I do think that you’re cooking for a different<br />

audience, at a different price-point, so that’s an adjustment,” he says.<br />

“You’re essentially learning your consumer all over again.”<br />

Campbell and his team have also worked its way through the menu,<br />

making a series of subtle tweaks and changes, such as the addition of<br />

a new Ancient Grain & Kale salad and a Chili-Lime Fish Sandwich<br />

made with Icelandic cod. They also started making the white sauce for<br />

pizzas in-house and have changed the dredge mixture for the Spicy<br />

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Chicken Taco and Baja Fish Taco.<br />

Campbell is also keen to introduce what he describes as “more<br />

composed” entrée items. The process got underway in October with<br />

the addition of three sirloin-steak-based entrées and Campbell hopes<br />

to add additional cuts based on customer acceptance and how well the<br />

culinary teams adjust to the new cooking requirements. “Introducing<br />

steak is a whole other skillset for the cooks, so I don’t think introducing<br />

four different cuts at once is the way to go,” he says.<br />

Next year will see an emphasis on both entrées and bowls for<br />

the lunch crowd. While Campbell is wary of making any substantive<br />

changes to the #28 Dragon Bowl — the best-selling item on the<br />

Browns Socialhouse menu — he hints patrons could see a “2.0 version”<br />

of the popular favourite.<br />

From a business perspective, meanwhile, a carefully managed<br />

growth plan is very much front and centre. Browns Socialhouse<br />

recently opened its newest restaurant in Winnipeg, across from the<br />

MTS Centre, while the parent company is currently developing a new<br />

pizza-led concept, Liberty Kitchen, with the first location set to open in<br />

Surrey, B.C. next spring.<br />

BRG is also developing a third concept, called Browns Crafthouse,<br />

which Ward says will emphasize craft beer and cocktails, scratch cooking,<br />

et cetera. The new concepts are designed to complement the<br />

Browns Socialhouse model and, in some cases, will be situated in close<br />

proximity to existing restaurants.<br />

Fox describes BRG’s approach to franchising as “guided ownership,”<br />

designed to help its partners succeed in an industry where roughly<br />

60 per cent of all new restaurants fail within the first three years. He<br />

credits the high success of BRG restaurants to the company’s insistence<br />

on working with experienced restaurateurs; BRG, he says, is “ruthless”<br />

when it comes to selecting franchisees. Fox typically receives anywhere<br />

from five to 10 franchise inquires a week, with only three or four a year<br />

ultimately ending up as a franchisee.<br />

“Guests deserve it,” Fox explains. “How would we dare put a<br />

franchise in the hands of someone who doesn’t know the business<br />

and say ‘You can learn it at the expense of the customers?’ There’s<br />

no way.”<br />

Currently, the 65 Browns Socialhouse locations are in the hands of<br />

approximately 20 franchisees, many of who are keen to add to their<br />

portfolio. One franchisee group owns seven locations and is in the<br />

process of building three more, while another is at five and is building<br />

another five.<br />

“We’re headed for 100 restaurants through internal growth,” boasts<br />

Fox. “We don’t need any outside parties to come in — we have enough<br />

momentum within the system to get us to that mark.”<br />

Morison insists he will continue adding to the story that began<br />

more than a decade ago. “I still feel like I’m in the first chapter of<br />

what this company is going to be one day,” he says. “We’re just getting<br />

warmed up.” He’s adamant, however, that Browns will continue to<br />

forge its own path in a business defined by copycats and conformity.<br />

After all, it’s too late to start doing things by the book now. FH<br />

STAY<br />

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REGIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR<br />

COFFEE 2.0<br />

Aroma Espresso Bar celebrates<br />

a decade of great coffee and<br />

even better food<br />

BY LAURA PRATT<br />

PHOTOGRAPH BY NICK WONG<br />

WHEN ANAT DAVIDZON was a student working toward her computer-science<br />

degree in Jerusalem, she would feed the effort with salads and sandwiches<br />

from a local coffee shop whose prepared-onsite cuisine she couldn’t resist.<br />

When she moved to Toronto to start on an MBA, she couldn’t bear the thought<br />

of leaving her discovery behind, so she decided to bring the shop with her.<br />

Aroma Espresso Bar — this year’s pick for F&H’s Regional Company of the<br />

Year — is an original purveyor of the twin fuels of modern life: coffee and goodfor-you<br />

eats. Its Ontario locations (44 by the end of <strong>2017</strong>), the majority of which<br />

are in the GTA, are bustling tributes to the stylish success story Davidzon — who<br />

co-owns the brand’s Canadian rights with Toronto financier Earl Gorman — and<br />

her team have cultivated for this Israeli organization’s overseas outpost.<br />

Ten years after Aroma opened its first Canadian location in Toronto’s Annex<br />

neighbourhood, Davidzon has just put the finishing touches on its 40th, in a bustling,<br />

bright, very urban corner-pocket in the shadow of the CN Tower, just this<br />

side of the Air Canada Centre. A gleaming stone floor offsets exposed ducts and<br />

brick walls adorned with framed food photos. At the front counter, a display case<br />

brims with bloated bureka and delicate alfajores — the famous caramel-cookie<br />

sandwiches from Peru. Customers here are a mixed bag, many having wandered<br />

in from a FanFest across the street, complete with superhero bodysuits and alien<br />

ears. But there are also families helping children tuck into fig-and-goat-cheese<br />

croissants and lentil soup, and road warriors reconciling laptops with fist-sized<br />

date pastries.<br />

Aroma’s wide-ranging Mediterranean-inspired menu has many highlights,<br />

including salads made with ancient grains most Canadians have yet to discover<br />

and sandwiches made with bread baked fresh onsite every day. Davidzon likes to<br />

tell a story about quinoa, and how, when Aroma introduced this now-pervasive<br />

rice alternative in 2008, she’d keep a bowl of it beside her at the counter, so she<br />

Anat Davidzon, managing partner,<br />

Aroma Espresso Bar<br />

26 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong>


could educate customers on its unfamiliar marvels. It was the same<br />

with kale, she says, and now with freekeh, an ingredient newcomer<br />

poised to be the next supergrain. “As a company, you need to have an<br />

innovative mindset,” she says of taking the lead on such novelties. “It’s<br />

got to be part of your values.”<br />

Along with bread, a raft of eclectic pastries (think Greek yogurt<br />

cherry danish and coconut-orange cake) are baked in the kitchen and<br />

everything is made-to-order — another distinction that separates<br />

Aroma significantly from its coffee-shop competitors, where food is<br />

wrapped in cellophane or has been sitting in a chilled plastic container<br />

for a day.<br />

Davidzon also decries the lack of ambiance on offer at many coffee<br />

shops. “I’d get a coffee and a sandwich and sit in the parking lot,”<br />

she remembers of her early Toronto coffee-drinking experience. It’s<br />

why she invested serious time and effort in her stores’ “modern look,<br />

slick design, comfortable seating and music.” Ten of the locations are<br />

licensed, with wine, beer and a Signatures drink menu with hot and<br />

cold drinks that can be spiked.<br />

Taken as a whole, these characteristics make up the “Aroma twist,”<br />

an approach to foodservice embraced by Aroma disciples that promises<br />

the unexpected. It’s including a hard-boiled egg on the avocado sandwich,<br />

for one. Or topping Moroccan-spiced chicken, black quinoa and<br />

brown rice with tahini yogurt (house-made, of course). At its heart,<br />

says manager of Marketing and Communications, Daniel Davidzon,<br />

the Aroma twist is applying techniques and ingredients that aren’t as<br />

common in North America as in Europe and the Middle East to foods<br />

from here.<br />

And then there’s the coffee, which isn’t just a critical ingredient in<br />

Aroma’s success, but a potential impediment to it. On the one hand,<br />

admits Daniel, the company struggled with the limitations the name<br />

imposed on the brand for the whiff it gave of being a coffee shop only.<br />

(A desire to, instead, showcase customers “eating huge salads out of<br />

ceramic bowls with real utensils” is what informs a franchise-design<br />

tenet that forbids papering the windows with posters.) The food-oblivious<br />

moniker, shrugs Davidzon, simply means “you have to invest a lot<br />

more resources in explaining what it is that you do.”<br />

On the other hand, says David Hopkins, president of restaurant<br />

consultancy The Fifteen Group, the coffee element of Aroma is at risk<br />

of being diminished by the company’s passionate emphasis on food.<br />

“Maybe they’ve got a huge coffee following that I don’t know about, but<br />

I know a lot of people who go to Aroma and it’s not for the coffee.”<br />

Ultimately, Aroma vies for consumer attention from both coffee<br />

shops and healthy-food purveyors, equally. Such extensive competition<br />

presents a tall order, says Davidzon, who admits to “waking at three<br />

every morning thinking about [my] challenges,” because Aroma has<br />

to tackle all the aspects of its competitors’ operations under one roof.<br />

“I have to train Jay to make the salad in this location and Tim to make<br />

the same salad in another.”<br />

The trick to ensuring that consistency, she says, is identifying qualified<br />

owner-operated franchisees, giving them tools and training, and<br />

CONGRATULATIONS!<br />

Kruger Products congratulates all those<br />

who have received recognition at the<br />

Foodservice and Hospitality <strong>2017</strong> Pinnacle Awards<br />

© <strong>2017</strong>, ® Registered and Trademark of Kruger Products L.P.


making them feel part of a family. When Semion Merzon opened his<br />

1,500-sq.-ft. Aroma franchise in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. in mid-<br />

2014, Davidzon, who was pregnant with her first child, came to the<br />

store on opening day to help. “She drove from Toronto, ran around<br />

the kitchen all day and worked shoulder to shoulder with me,” Merzon<br />

says. “She didn’t have to do that; there are a million other people she<br />

could’ve sent. It helped me a lot. I don’t know how it is with other<br />

franchises, but I wonder whether they have this connection.”<br />

Davidzon hastens to qualify Aroma’s competition as both doublebarrelled<br />

and non-existent. After all, there was a yawning absence of<br />

the type of concept Aroma loosed on the market when it launched in<br />

2007 — places where you could get high-quality espresso-based coffees<br />

and tasty, fresh-food offerings that went beyond a bagel and cream<br />

cheese. And it’s this combination, she contends, that continues to distinguish<br />

Aroma from almost everything else out there.<br />

“Outside of a few indie shops, it’s very difficult to find a full-service<br />

Italian espresso-bar experience where you can also have fresh, hearty<br />

food that’s made to order,” says Daniel, who is Anat’s cousin and joined<br />

Aroma in 2014. “You can go into Freshii and get an amazing bowl, but<br />

you’re not getting coffee there. Or you can go into Starbucks and have<br />

an amazing coffee, but your sandwich will be wrapped in plastic.” You<br />

bet, agrees Hopkins. “I can’t think of a concept that offers quality coffee<br />

as well as that level of quality of food offerings. They’re well set up<br />

for success because of that.”<br />

Still, Daniel acknowledges the landscape has changed since Aroma<br />

made Canadian landfall. “Now there are so many healthy-food places<br />

offering variations of the same thing that people can choose from.<br />

We’re aware of that.” But, he says, the company considers competition<br />

good for business because it ensures Aroma is on its toes.<br />

He points to the bowl trend and how Aroma sought to raise the bar<br />

with its Moroccan-Spiced Chicken and Grain Bowl, introduced as a<br />

temporary holiday item last year, but kept on in response to “phenomenal<br />

feedback.”<br />

Supporting the communities in which it operates has always been<br />

a key tenet of Aroma Espresso Bar, partnering with such diverse organizations<br />

as Children’s Aid Foundation, Unity for Autism, Baycrest,<br />

Women’s Brain Health Initiative, Lymphoma Canada, Lean In Canada,<br />

Mount Sinai Foundation and more.<br />

As for future growth, Aroma will continue to cultivate its growing<br />

catering program and “strategically open new locations in areas where<br />

we feel it will meet the customers’ needs.” The company is planning<br />

its first Vancouver store in 2018. But equally important to expansion<br />

is ensuring the current locations flourish inside the standards of the<br />

brand. “You have to create processes — and to execute, monitor and<br />

enforce them,” says Davidzon. “If you don’t, quality will be affected.”<br />

“We’re not done. There’s a lot more to do. People are more educated<br />

and they travel more. They care more about what they consume<br />

than they did 10 years ago. Whether or not we created that trend, it’s<br />

the reality. I hope we’re part of that. I hope that people get inspired<br />

by Aroma.” FH<br />

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SLUG HERE<br />

Donald Ziraldo, owner of Ziraldo Estate<br />

Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.<br />

and his son, Aspen<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD<br />

A RARE<br />

VINTAGE<br />

More than 40 years after<br />

starting his career as a wine<br />

producer, Donald Ziraldo<br />

remains the man who put<br />

Canadian wines on the map<br />

BY ROSANNA CAIRA<br />

DONALD ZIRALDO’S NAME IS synonymous with<br />

success. The 68-year old co-founder of Inniskillin Wines and<br />

now owner of Ziraldo Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake,<br />

Ont. has led a charmed life: he’s travelled the world, driven fast<br />

cars and rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous. But the<br />

gregarious entrepreneur will forever be known as the man who<br />

put Canada on the map as a producer of premium-estate wines<br />

and exceptional Icewines, as well as the country’s greatest wine<br />

ambassador. Along the way, the charismatic Ziraldo has garnered<br />

myriad accolades and awards, succeeding against all odds<br />

with uncharacteristic Canadian panache and flair.<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 31


“The advantage<br />

of Icewine was<br />

it was Canadian<br />

and people<br />

could understand<br />

how a cold<br />

country like<br />

Canada could<br />

produce it”<br />

DONALD ZIRALDO<br />

Born in St. Catharines, Ont. to Fiorello and Irma Ziraldo, the eldest<br />

of three boys was raised in a close-knit Italian family in Niagara-onthe-Lake,<br />

where his father owned Ziraldo Farms & Nursery. When his<br />

father suddenly passed away when Donald was only 15, the teenager<br />

assumed increased responsibility on the farm and in the nursery. It<br />

wasn’t surprising he ended up enrolling in the agricultural college at<br />

the University of Guelph where he earned a BSc in Agriculture in 1971.<br />

It was a chance encounter with Karl Kaiser — a former teacher and<br />

Austrian immigrant who happened to show up at Ziraldo Nursery one<br />

day looking to buy some European grape varieties to make homemade<br />

wine — that spurred a chain of events culminating in the two men<br />

revolutionizing the Canadian wine scene.<br />

“Karl came to the nursery to buy hybrid vines,” recalls Ziraldo. At<br />

the time, most of the wines produced in Canada were made from the<br />

indigenous Labrusca vines — the same ones that produce Concord<br />

grapes. “He didn’t want those vines because they produced a sweet,<br />

foxy taste,” characteristic of much of the wines produced in Canada<br />

at that time. Kaiser had heard that Ziraldo had been experimenting<br />

with winter-resistant, hardy hybrids and propagating them in his family’s<br />

nursery for several of the area’s wineries, including Brights and<br />

Château-Gai. After buying the Friulan vines, Kaiser eventually returned<br />

with a sample of the wine he made from them for Ziraldo to taste. One<br />

thing led to another, with Kaiser ultimately proposing, “Why don’t I<br />

make it and you sell it?”<br />

It was the beginning of a relationship that would give rise to a new<br />

appreciation for Canadian winemaking. But it didn’t come without<br />

challenges. The duo approached the LCBO for a winery license, which<br />

had not been given out in Ontario since 1929. Persistence and determination<br />

fuelled the young Ziraldo, who found a friend and a mentor in<br />

General George Kitching, then head of the LCBO, who even provided<br />

Ziraldo with barrels to age the wines. “There was no grand plan,”<br />

recalls Ziraldo. “I was busy working seven days a week with my mom<br />

and two brothers but it seemed like a good idea.”<br />

It wasn’t until the duo produced their first wine, a Maréchel Foch,<br />

which placed first in a wine competition, that the partners realized<br />

they were on to something. The wine was produced from vinifera<br />

vines and Ziraldo and Kaiser were counting on being the first winery<br />

to introduce the varietal. But, a month before they planned to launch<br />

their wine, a TV commercial aired featuring Château-Gai’s Paul Bosc<br />

Sr., extolling the virtues of the first Maréchal Foch, and pre-empting<br />

Ziraldo and Kaiser. The partners were devastated. “Luckily,” recalls<br />

Ziraldo, “they produced so little of it, they ran out quickly, forcing consumers<br />

to buy our Inniskillin product. I always thank Paul Bosc Sr. for<br />

getting us started,” laughs Ziraldo.<br />

With Kaiser as the consummate winemaker — experimenting<br />

with varietals such as Riesling, Chardonnay and Gamay — and<br />

Ziraldo the astute marketer and voice of the fledgling company,<br />

Inniskillin not only succeeded, it thrived based on the partners’ philosophy<br />

that only premium grapes could produce premium wines.<br />

“We refused to do anything that was mediocre. Our dream was to<br />

make world-class wines.”<br />

“Finding a place for the table wines was a real struggle,” admits<br />

Ziraldo. In fact, it wasn’t until the company introduced wines produced<br />

from frozen grapes on the vine that success really took hold. “It<br />

was Karl’s idea and I thought it was the dumbest idea — I told him he<br />

was drinking too much of his own wine,” quips Ziraldo. “What is this<br />

frozen wine you’re talking about?” But Kaiser was right on the money,<br />

evidenced by Inniskillin’s strong showing in Bordeaux in 1989 and<br />

its momentous win in 1991 when it was awarded gold at VinExpo in<br />

Bordeaux and the Grand Prix d’honneur for its Vidal Icewine. “We got<br />

a lot of play from that,” says Ziraldo. “There was a real wow factor with<br />

the Icewine. You couldn’t go wrong. The advantage of Icewine was it<br />

was Canadian and people could understand how a cold country like<br />

Canada could produce it,” explains Ziraldo.<br />

At the time, it was unheard of for a Canadian wine to gain that kind<br />

of international acclaim. It was also unheard of for a Canadian wine<br />

company to market itself so well. “We came back to Niagara and all<br />

of a sudden we had double-decker busloads of Japanese tourists buying<br />

armfuls of the Icewine to bring back home. It grew from there. We<br />

were at the right place at the right time,” he says, pointing to the strong<br />

team that helped him. While it surprised even Ziraldo, he was astute<br />

enough to recognize the potential of the product and the power of the<br />

niche market they were creating.<br />

He was also one of the first wine producers to understand the<br />

importance of targeting restaurants. “I discovered sommeliers and they<br />

became our personal ambassadors,” recalls Ziraldo. “If they like your<br />

wine, they recommend it and the third-party endorsements are better<br />

than anything else.”<br />

Ziraldo’s influence on the Canadian wine industry goes well beyond<br />

32 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


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“I’ve always felt<br />

that I was put on<br />

this earth to do<br />

something… To<br />

be able to use the<br />

platform to allow<br />

people to get over<br />

skepticism that<br />

we couldn’t<br />

produce wines<br />

in a cold nation<br />

has been amazing”<br />

DONALD ZIRALDO<br />

his role at Inniskillin. He founded and chaired for seven years the<br />

Vintner’s Quality Alliance (VQA) — a legislated wine authority that<br />

produces a stringent code of regulations for Canadian-produced<br />

wines and ensures the premium quality and origin of Canadian<br />

wines. In the process, he helped raise the country’s profile as a wineproducing<br />

nation. He was also instrumental in creating the Cool<br />

Climate Oenology & Viticulture Institute at Brock University, where<br />

he was its first co-chair — helping to solidify Niagara as an innovative<br />

cool-climate region. Bringing the marriage of food and wine together,<br />

Ziraldo also chaired the capital campaign for the Canadian Food and<br />

Wine Institute at Niagara College.<br />

Along the way, he’s received many distinctions. In 1998, he was<br />

awarded the Order of Canada for his role in promoting Canadian<br />

wines and received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Brock<br />

University. Additionally, he was voted one of the Top 25 Entrepreneurs<br />

of the 20th century in Canada by the National Post. “To be acknowledged<br />

by Canada is a true honour and to be voted amongst the Top 25<br />

CEOs, with 24 other men that I admire, is incredible,” says Ziraldo. In<br />

2004, Ziraldo was conferred Honorary Citizen of Fagagna, his father’s<br />

hometown in Fruili, Italy, where the dynamic businessman also owns<br />

a vineyard growing Picolit grapes. But he’s particularly proud that<br />

being a wine producer has given him a platform to do something<br />

significant. “I’ve always felt that I was put on this earth to do something…To<br />

be able to use the platform to allow people to get over<br />

skepticism that we couldn’t produce wines in a cold nation has been<br />

amazing.”<br />

Ziraldo’s work has been groundbreaking. According to iconic<br />

restaurateur Franco Prevedello, “Ziraldo is the real pioneer of<br />

the now great Canadian wine industry. Donald is the Canadian<br />

Robert Mondavi.”<br />

Though Ziraldo left Inniskilllin in 2006 after Constellation Brands<br />

acquired the company, he quickly realized retirement wasn’t for him.<br />

By 2007, he was back planting a new vineyard on the site of the original<br />

Inniskillin estate winery and, a year later, he launched Ziraldo<br />

Estate Winery, where, after much research, he’s turned his focus to<br />

organic and biodynamic wines and his attention to Riesling Icewine.<br />

Not surprisingly, the accolades continue. Earlier this year — 27 years<br />

after Inniskillin’s great win at Bordeaux — Ziraldo Estate Winery<br />

garnered the “Best-of-the-Best” Special Award for its Riesling Icewine<br />

from the Citadelles du Vin at Bordeaux’s VinExpo wine show.<br />

He also managed to find time to manage the Senhora Do Convento<br />

port winery in Portugal. As fate would have it, while managing the<br />

winery he met Victoria Gilbert, a documentary-film producer. In<br />

2012, they married and she became a partner in his business, as<br />

well as mother to their four-year old son, Aspen, named after the<br />

city where Ziraldo spent so much time indulging in his other<br />

passion — skiing.<br />

As someone who helped Canada develop its wine industry, Ziraldo<br />

is gratified to witness first-hand the growth in the Niagara region,<br />

where more than 150 wineries now dot the landscape, as well as in<br />

Canada, which now boasts a total of 500 wineries. But he’s frustrated<br />

that Canadian wines haven’t grown as much internationally, pointing<br />

to other, smaller wine-producing nations such as New Zealand —<br />

with a population of 4.7 million compared to Canada’s 35 million —<br />

as an example of a new-world wine producer that has achieved great<br />

success internationally. He hopes the next generation of winemakers<br />

will help remedy that.<br />

For now, he’s happy to share his industry knowledge, to serve<br />

as a mentor to the next generation of wine producers and to pay it<br />

forward. “I want to encourage and support young people and young<br />

winemakers,” says the man who paved the way.<br />

And, while Ziraldo Estate Winery keeps him busy doing what he<br />

does best, these days, he’s deriving the most joy from experiencing<br />

fatherhood for the first time at a later stage of his life. “I’m so blessed<br />

to have Victoria in my life. She’s allowed me to live life backwards.<br />

She’s a phenomenal mom and I’m enjoying helping to raise my son.<br />

I’m now happiest when working in my vineyards, with my son by<br />

my side.”<br />

Fittingly, he’s come full circle, raising his son on the same tract<br />

of land where he achieved so much success with Inniskillin and not<br />

too far from the farm where he himself was raised. “Who knows” he<br />

says with a tinge of pride in his voice, “maybe someday, instead of<br />

being a ski bum or a scuba diver, my son might want to be in the<br />

wine industry.” FH<br />

34 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


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INDEPENDENT RESTAURATEUR OF THE YEAR<br />

PURSUING<br />

PASSION<br />

Janet Zuccarini continues<br />

to define neighbourhood<br />

dining in Toronto and beyond<br />

BY DANIELLE SCHALK<br />

PHOTOGRAPH BY NICK WONG<br />

TWENTY-SOME YEARS AGO, Janet Zuccarini was<br />

unexpectedly faced with an opportunity to take over a prime<br />

restaurant location in downtown Toronto — an opportunity that<br />

ultimately led her to move back to her native city, launched her<br />

career as a restaurateur and laid the foundation for the Gusto 54<br />

Restaurant Group.<br />

Despite opening her first restaurant, Cafe Nervosa (later<br />

renamed Trattoria Nervosa), in 1996, Zuccarini officially launched<br />

the restaurant group — of which she is owner and CEO — in<br />

2015 to encompass her growing roster of restaurant and hospitality<br />

ventures. Gusto 54’s portfolio currently includes five Toronto<br />

restaurants (including two with partners Jeff and Nuit Regular), a<br />

catering and commissary division and a recent expansion into the<br />

U.S. market with the opening of a restaurant in Venice, Calif. The<br />

company, which boasts more than 400 employees, recorded gross<br />

36 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

Janet Zuccarini, owner/CEO,<br />

Gusto 54 Restaurant Group


evenues of approximately $23.7 million in 2016.<br />

As the daughter of an equipment importer who supplied foodservice<br />

operations with espresso machines and other equipment,<br />

Zuccarini had one foot in the restaurant industry at a young age.<br />

However, she never thought this was the industry she would end<br />

up in.<br />

It was while visiting Toronto for a friend’s wedding — after moving<br />

to Italy where she received an MBA from Boston University in<br />

Rome — that her entrepreneurial journey began. “I wasn’t planning<br />

on moving back to Toronto, but that location [in Yorkville] became<br />

available and [I met with] my two partners…literally two weeks later,<br />

I was in the restaurant business,” she recalls. “It fell in my lap and, at<br />

that moment, I didn’t realize that this is absolutely my passion. I am<br />

really fortunate. I always knew I would work for myself, but I didn’t<br />

know what that [business] would be.”<br />

When Trattoria Nervosa — which focuses on home-cooked<br />

Southern Italian food — launched, Zuccarini had two partners and<br />

was leasing the space. Over the course of the restaurant’s first five<br />

years of operation, she bought out her two partners and began focusing<br />

on saving enough money to purchase the building that housed the<br />

restaurant when its 10-year lease ended. “I thought it was, strategically,<br />

a very important move,” she explains. “People said I was crazy…<br />

I bought it over market value but, at that point, I felt secure — that’s<br />

when I started to be open to the idea of ‘what’s next?’”<br />

The Yorkville restaurant, which boasts 75 seats plus a 45-seat patio,<br />

remained her sole focus until 2012, when she opened another Italian<br />

concept in Toronto’s King West neighbourhood — Gusto 101. And,<br />

increasingly rapid growth continued thereafter.<br />

“As a woman, I will confess that I was making room in my life to<br />

get married and have kids. When I saw that things were maybe not<br />

going that way, that gave me more energy to put towards the business,”<br />

Zuccarini explains. “Gusto 101 was a test. When we opened and<br />

it was successful, my confidence grew.”<br />

She soon partnered with the Regulars to open Pai Northern Thai<br />

Kitchen in 2014; launched Gusto 54’s Catering and Commissary<br />

Kitchen, coinciding with the launch of the restaurant group, in 2015;<br />

and an online boutique under the Gusto 54 banner went live in 2016.<br />

Gusto 54 has seen several further additions over the course of the<br />

last year, including its second collaboration with Jeff and Nuit Regular<br />

(Kiin); the group’s acclaimed entry into the L.A. dining scene (Felix<br />

Trattoria); and the November launch of Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen.<br />

This year also marked Zuccarini’s debut as a judge on Food Network’s<br />

Top Chef Canada.<br />

“It’s only made possible because of the incredible team that I have<br />

behind me now. My life has gotten easier,” says Zuccarini, noting that<br />

the formation of Gusto 54 Restaurant Group really allowed for this<br />

level of growth. “I might be the visionary — figure out the concept,<br />

the chef and what the design is going to be like — then I have an<br />

entire team I can pass the ball over to. They then descend on it and<br />

plug in all of our systems and procedures. We [now] have a whole<br />

CONGRATULATIONS<br />

Chef Jason Bangerter<br />

<strong>2017</strong> PINNACLE AWARDS<br />

CHEF OF THE YEAR<br />

CONGRATULATIONS<br />

to Janet Zuccarini of<br />

Gusto 54 on her<br />

Pinnacle Award Win.<br />

Manufacturing over 100<br />

different pasta’s we can satisfy<br />

your every need and have<br />

you coming back for seconds.<br />

Quality is unsurpassed as we<br />

use only the freshest and best<br />

available ingredients with no<br />

preservatives.<br />

THE PASTABILITIES ARE<br />

ENDLESS!<br />

OUR<br />

to University of<br />

Guelph alumnus<br />

Donald J.P Ziraldo,<br />

C.M., LLD,<br />

Ziraldo Estate Winery,<br />

Recipient of the<br />

Rosanna Caira Lifetime<br />

Achievement Award<br />

The Pinnacle Awards<br />

<strong>2017</strong><br />

905-891-0510<br />

www.ajlanzarotta.com<br />

416-259-2902<br />

queenspasta.com<br />

www.uoguelph.ca<br />

38 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong><br />

AJLanzarotta_SSC.indd 1<br />

<strong>2017</strong>-10-26 SSC.indd 9:52 AM1<br />

<strong>2017</strong>-10-13 UniversityofGuelph_SSC.indd 11:17 AM<br />

1<br />

<strong>2017</strong>-11-09 2:43 PM


protocol for opening a restaurant and it gets easier every time.”<br />

Opening in L.A. was a bit of a gamble, but the 100-seat Felix<br />

Trattoria is already a roaring success, counting celebrities such as<br />

Cameron Diaz and Gwyneth Paltrow among its regular patrons. It has<br />

collected numerous accolades — ranking at the top of a number of<br />

best-new-restaurant lists for the city and even the U.S. as a whole.<br />

“I had to create a parallel life [in L.A.],” says Zuccarini. “Toronto is<br />

easy to build on — we have our infrastructure already set. We had to<br />

assemble a whole new team out there.”<br />

This team includes chef Evan Funke — a maestro of handmade<br />

pasta. “I wasn’t going to go [to L.A.] and only find a chef; it had to be<br />

somebody who already had a following,” notes Zuccarini. “I couldn’t<br />

just go in there as this Canadian woman and open up a restaurant in<br />

L.A. — it had to be a triple-A address with a triple-A chef.”<br />

The menu at Felix features focaccia with sea salt and rosemary;<br />

squash blossoms stuffed with fior di latte and green garlic; pizzas; and,<br />

of course, pastas, such as Trofie with pesto genovese and pecorino stagionato<br />

and gnocchetti riposo with oxtail ragu and mozzarella.<br />

Despite a variety of concepts, Zuccarini’s vision of creating<br />

transporting dining experiences is realized in each of Gusto 54’s restaurants.<br />

And, it’s this mandate that will continue to shape and tie<br />

together the company’s future endeavours. “I want to keep moving<br />

forward in all aspects of the business — food, decor, service, music —<br />

we want [to offer] the full package,” the restaurateur explains.<br />

This package also includes Gusto 54’s culture, which focuses on<br />

developing its employees and leaders within the company and being<br />

an active member of the communities that support it. The company<br />

has put a focus on feeding and educating children and impoverished<br />

communities through campaigns such as Margherita Mondays, which<br />

donates $1 from the sale of Margherita Pizzas and Margarita cocktails<br />

to Breakfast for Learning and St. Paul’s Catholic School. It also<br />

donates funds to organizations such as the Children’s Aid Society,<br />

Food for the Poor Canada and the Canadian Red Cross.<br />

With her latest concept, Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen, newly<br />

launched in November, Zuccarini plans to turn her attention to<br />

expanding in L.A. However, Torontonians can still look forward to<br />

new projects already in various stages of planning, including the longawaited<br />

Gusto 501 and an extension of Pai, which goes by the working<br />

title Same Same.<br />

“I feel very strongly that the next move for us as a company will be<br />

moving into the fast-casual [market],” Zuccarini says. “We are quickly<br />

getting a name for Italian food and pasta in L.A. and North America.<br />

I would like to capitalize on the great press that we have been getting<br />

and the talent of Evan Funke and turn it into something that has the<br />

potential to scale much more easily.”<br />

Despite Gusto 54’s expanding footprint, and thanks to her headoffice<br />

team, Zuccarini remains free to revel in her passions, including<br />

travel and divining the company’s path into the future. “I can kind of<br />

work from anywhere in the world right now — I have a lot of freedom.<br />

And, I hate to say it, but ‘hashtag-blessed.’” FH<br />

CONGRATULATIONS<br />

to this year's Pinnacle Award Winners<br />

from your friends and family at Zuccarini<br />

1335 Davenport Rd. Toronto (416) 537-3439 www.zuccariniltd.com


SLUG HERE<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


CHEF OF THE YEAR<br />

LOCAL<br />

LEGEND<br />

Chef of the Year Jason Bangerter<br />

draws inspiration from his own backyard<br />

BY AMY BOSTOCK<br />

PHOTOGRAPH BY NICK WONG<br />

Chef Jason Bangerter,<br />

Langdon Hall<br />

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR chef Jason Bangerter, you’ll probably<br />

find him in his garden, foraging in the woods around Langdon Hall or visiting<br />

local farmers. The self-proclaimed locavore has a culinary philosophy deeply<br />

entrenched in the terroir of Canada and is renowned for his commitment to<br />

home-grown cuisine.<br />

“I’m passionate about food, ingredients and the beauty of the ingredients,”<br />

says Bangerter, executive chef at Langdon Hall Hotel & Spa in Cambridge, Ont.<br />

“At Langdon Hall, I’ve been very lucky to have such a wonderful space that has<br />

a garden, foraging on property and farmers that are just 10 or 15 minutes away<br />

with some of the best greens I’ve ever used.”<br />

This passion can be traced back to Bangerter’s childhood and summers spent<br />

with his grandparents in Nova Scotia. “My grandparents are amazing cooks.<br />

There was always something cooking and, when the tide went out, we’d run out<br />

and dig for clams. We’d bring all the beautiful harvest back and cook it in the<br />

front yard over a fire,” he recalls.<br />

At home in Ontario, “we would end up on a lake, fishing for pickerel and<br />

pike, learning to fillet and having these great feasts,” he says. “My dad’s sister is<br />

actually a bit of a gourmand and loves to cook. My first experience with classic<br />

French cooking, like escargot, was at her condo when I was maybe three years<br />

old.”<br />

But being a chef wasn’t on his radar. “I was on a ski trip and cooking for<br />

some friends. These guys said to me, ‘you should be a chef.’ And I laughed at<br />

them and said ‘why would I be a chef? This is what I do for fun.’ And that’s<br />

when it clicked.”<br />

So Bangerter packed his bags, left his job at a Penticton, B.C. ski resort and<br />

returned to Toronto where he enrolled in George Brown College’s Culinary<br />

Management Program. “I hit the ground running and that’s how it started.”<br />

It’s also how he met his mentor John Higgins, who led the kitchen at The<br />

King Edward Hotel. “After doing my research, [I found out] he was the top dog.<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 41


I remember, it took me a good month to get an audience with this guy.<br />

I walked into the kitchen at The King Edward and it was just like that<br />

first scene in Ratatouille, with all these pots clanging, people yelling<br />

and flames.”<br />

Higgins encouraged Bangerter to pursue his studies and offered him<br />

the chance to work on weekends in the staff cafeteria. “From there,<br />

it just blew up. I fell in love with being at the hotel and being in the<br />

kitchen and I learned my job quickly.”<br />

Soon he started taking on jobs in other departments. “It got to<br />

the point where I’d finish a class and, if I had an hour break, I would<br />

just run across the street in my whites, join the kitchen and jump in<br />

anywhere. I’d work for an hour, then run back to my next class,” he<br />

says. “For the first year, I probably worked for free four days out of the<br />

week. And, for me, that was a huge bonus to my development. Kids<br />

coming out of the colleges were at the beginner level and, by that time,<br />

I was way further ahead — it was a great advantage for me.”<br />

Higgins continued to play a role as Bangerter’s career progressed.<br />

“He actually took me to help him, on several occasions, with the<br />

national culinary team and he gave me the opportunity to go to<br />

Europe for a short stint.”<br />

While he’s had a number of mentors along the way, including Anton<br />

Mossimann and Michael Bonacini, Bangerter says every person he’s<br />

ever worked with has inspired him. “I never think I’m better than anyone<br />

else so much that I can’t learn from them. And there are tons of<br />

macgregors F&S ad chef of the year.pdf 1 11/6/<strong>2017</strong> 9:54:14 AM<br />

other chefs that, indirectly, were an inspiration.”<br />

During almost a decade as a chef at Auberge de Pommier in<br />

Toronto, he constantly studied Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Olivier<br />

Roellinger, Raymond Blanc, as well as Charlie Trotter, Thomas Keller<br />

and Patrick O’Connell. “These chefs were a big inspiration,” he<br />

explains. “A couple of years ago, I won the International Rising Chef<br />

Award from Relais & Chateaux…All the chefs that I had looked up to<br />

were the ones that were handing me this award.”<br />

Bangerter says he still gets goosebumps just talking about it. “Now, I<br />

kind of feel like, okay, you’ve made it — these are colleagues now.”<br />

These experiences drove home the importance of mentorship in an<br />

industry Bangerter says can be cutthroat. “You can be humbled and<br />

learn something so important from a dishwasher,” he says. “Everyone<br />

has the opportunity to influence and inspire anyone in the kitchen.<br />

As you grow and develop in this career — and get to the point where<br />

you’re in a position like I’m at — there needs to be a big focus on the<br />

next generation and the people that work for you.”<br />

His advice to young chefs is “put your head down. Nothing comes<br />

quickly in this industry and you’ve got to prove yourself, work hard<br />

and listen. Everyone wants to be at the top and, to be at the top, you<br />

need drive.”<br />

“[Being a chef] is very confrontational and stressful,” he says. “It’s<br />

competitive, but the one thing that I’m teaching my staff, especially my<br />

senior staff and my sous chefs, is that their job is not to prove they’re<br />

better than everybody else — it’s to get everybody below you to the<br />

point where they could, potentially, be better than you.”<br />

CHEF<br />

OF THE<br />

YEAR<br />

Chef Jason Banger ter<br />

Congratulations Chef on receiving the<br />

prestigious Pinnacle Award.<br />

Macgregors Meat & Seafood Ltd., is<br />

proud of our partnership and thank you<br />

for your continued support.<br />

www.macgregors.com


Bangerter walks the talk in this regard. His team at Langdon Hall<br />

has had a phenomenal year — jumping from 29th place to 15th in the<br />

<strong>2017</strong> Canada’s 100 Best publication. In the same year, Bangerter was<br />

named Chef of the Year at the OHI Gold Awards and Langdon Hall<br />

was chosen to host the North American Relais & Chateaux Congress,<br />

welcoming more than 40 owners from Relais & Chateaux properties<br />

across North America and France.<br />

“I’m fortunate [Langdon Hall is] hard to get to,” he says. “People<br />

who work here are some of the best — they make the decision and<br />

sacrifice to work in a place that’s not near a major city and doesn’t<br />

have transit. It’s difficult to be a chef out here, but the people we get<br />

are dedicated and focused. I have talented people that want to learn<br />

and that puts pressure on me to be more on top of things, to be more<br />

hands on, to develop things more frequently.”<br />

It also makes it challenging, as a husband and father to two boys —<br />

nine and 11 years old — to achieve work/life balance. “My work is my<br />

life, but I have a life outside of work, too. I’ve got a wife and two kids<br />

and I have to make time to be a super-star at both,” he says.<br />

After nearly 25 years in the industry, Bangerter’s culinary philosophy<br />

has come full circle. “First and foremost, it’s an ingredients-first<br />

approach. When it comes to cooking, I’m cooking from the land and<br />

I feel like I’m getting a little bit weird in terms of using the land and<br />

connecting it to tell a story. For example, I have a tuna dish right now<br />

and I serve it on a tuna spine instead of using a plate. The same thing<br />

with things from the garden — I’ll pull something from the garden<br />

and serve it on leaves…it’s [about] connecting the earth and terroir to<br />

the food and showcasing that to the guest.”<br />

The chef stands firm in his support of local farmers, as well as<br />

ensuring his cooks are going to the garden and not only harvesting<br />

their own product, but understanding and respecting it. “It’s important<br />

to me to understand that no matter what [the ingredient] is — a fish, a<br />

pig or a plant — that we’ve taken that life and it’s our responsibility to<br />

do something really special with it and not waste any part of it.”<br />

It’s also about supporting the community, he stresses. “Why would<br />

I order tomatoes from California when I’ve got a farmer 10 minutes<br />

down the street that is growing better tomatoes and, by buying his<br />

tomatoes, the product is fresher. It’s going to taste better and we’re supporting<br />

our community. It’s Cambridge first, it’s Ontario second and<br />

then it’s Canada — the philosophy is fresh, local and sustainable.”<br />

Langdon Hall has deep roots in its community and Bangerter is<br />

a staunch supporter of local charitable initiatives, including RARE<br />

Charitable Foundation, Community Living Cambridge, Autism<br />

Ontario, Canadian Hospital Foundation, Sick Kids Hospital, the<br />

Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation and the STOP Community<br />

Food Centre, just to name a few.<br />

The next few years show no signs of slowing for Bangerter and his<br />

team at Langdon Hall, which recently opened a new wing with an<br />

event space that seats 120, eight new guestrooms and a new spa. But,<br />

he says, he’s up for the challenge. “I’m proud of where I am now, of the<br />

team I’ve built and what we’ve has achieved so far this year,” he adds. FH<br />

Congratulations<br />

CHEF JASON<br />

on earning this<br />

prestigious award!<br />

From your partner in success,<br />

info@mortonwholesale.com • mortonwholesale.com • 1-800-265-5663


SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR<br />

ROOTED<br />

IN<br />

SUCCESS<br />

McCain Foods Canada<br />

remains hometown proud<br />

BY AMY BOSTOCK<br />

PHOTOGRAPH BY NICK WONG<br />

ON THE BANKS OF the Saint John River<br />

in New Brunswick sits the town of Florenceville —<br />

French fry capital of the world and home to the global<br />

headquarters of McCain Foods.<br />

Founded in 1957 by Wallace and Harrison McCain,<br />

along with their brothers Robert and Andrew, McCain<br />

Foods’ processing plant was able to process 1,500 lbs.<br />

of potato products every hour in its first year of production.<br />

With only 30 employees, in its first year it was<br />

able to gross approximately $150,000 in sales. Today,<br />

the company nets global sales in excess of $9 billion,<br />

employs more than 20,000 people in 51 production<br />

facilities on six continents and sells one-third of the<br />

world’s frozen French fries.<br />

Jeff Veysey, vice-president of Foodservice<br />

Sales and Greg Boyer, director of Marketing,<br />

McCain Foods Canada (left)<br />

44 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong>


FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


“Every step of the way,<br />

McCain has remained<br />

as proudly Canadian as<br />

we were on day one”<br />

JEFF VEYSEY, VP FOODSERVICE SALES<br />

This year, the iconic Canadian company is celebrating its 60th anniversary.<br />

“For 60 years we’ve provided restaurant operators with potato<br />

products they can proudly serve to their customers,” says Jeff Veysey,<br />

vice-president of Foodservice Sales for McCain Foods Canada. “We<br />

deeply value the long-standing relationship we have with Canadian<br />

restaurant operators as well as our distributor partners.”<br />

McCain’s business philosophy, he says, has never wavered. “Our<br />

goal is to support Canadian restaurant operators by bringing forward<br />

customized solutions developed by a committed team that’s always<br />

working with them in mind.”<br />

To that end, the company has invested more than $1 billion globally<br />

in the last year to help meet the strong demand for McCain products.<br />

In Canada, this includes expansion of its Coaldale, Alta. facility,<br />

which employs more than 200 workers, and a $65-million capacity<br />

investment in Florenceville, N.B. — the birthplace of McCain.<br />

“It’s been a big year for investment,” says Veysey. “This investment<br />

will bring additional production capacity to help continue to meet<br />

strong demand for the products in Canada and internationally.”<br />

Florenceville is also home to McCain’s Potato Technology Centre,<br />

utilized by all McCain companies around the globe and provides<br />

ongoing research as part of the company’s extensive investment in<br />

knowledge and research into the Canadian restaurant landscape. “We<br />

take a leading position on both the potato and the appetizer side of<br />

our business for new-product development,” says Greg Boyer, director<br />

of Marketing. “It’s grounded in a solid understanding of the foodservice<br />

channel and we do tons of consumer and operator research.”<br />

For example, recent research conducted by McCain shows 52 per<br />

cent of Canadians are eating more vegetables now than they did even<br />

a decade before. “What they’re looking for is something different —<br />

not just peas and carrots,” says Boyer. “We see tremendous growth<br />

in products such as cauliflower, so what we’ve done is take a look at<br />

[these] versatile vegetables, which are on trend, and determined how<br />

we could capitalize on those trends.”<br />

As a result, this year McCain launched its battered cauliflower bites<br />

to tap into that emerging trend. “We know operators are looking for<br />

something unique, differentiating and ownable, so we’re suggesting<br />

tossing them in their signature wing sauce. What that does is allows<br />

them to offer a vegetarian alternative to wings…they taste amazing<br />

and have a very low food cost.”<br />

The Spicy Battered Pickle Fry, under the Anchor Brand, also<br />

launched for foodservice this year. The cornmeal, horseradish and<br />

mustard-battered treat can be paired with a Caesar drink or used on<br />

top of a Montreal smoked-meat sandwich.<br />

Sometimes it isn’t about new products, but reimagining old<br />

favourites, says Boyer. “Consumer tastes are constantly changing and<br />

that’s an exciting challenge in the foodservice industry. It allows us to<br />

reposition our product line-up. We know taste preferences and eating<br />

patterns are cyclical and what we’re seeing right now is a big resurgence<br />

of Tater Tots. It’s a familiar comfort food that people sometimes<br />

forget about but then, when it’s on the menu, everyone wants it. We’re<br />

seeing restaurant chefs embracing that.”<br />

The company’s innovation isn’t limited to its products — which<br />

require more than 6.5 million tonnes of potatoes every year. On the<br />

technology front, it recently redesigned its website. “We know operators<br />

are busy,” says Boyer. “We wanted to make sure they could find<br />

exactly what they needed in just two clicks. For example, if an operator<br />

was opening a sandwich shop and only had ovens, they can search<br />

for product lines optimized for baking in an oven.”<br />

McCain Foods Canada’s products benefit from a strong network of<br />

more than 150 different farm families across the country. “They grow<br />

all of the potatoes we use in our products,” says Veysey. “We value our<br />

relationships with those growers and share different expertise with<br />

them. We have a strong agricultural team that works in partnership<br />

with them.”<br />

With five production facilities in Canada, Boyer says it’s important<br />

to work with farmers within the local communities. “We’re trying to<br />

keep our transportation and carbon footprint down and make sure<br />

we have access to fresh local produce to supply our plants.”<br />

Community is also at the core of the company’s charitable endeavors.<br />

“At McCain Foods Canada we strongly believe in making a difference,<br />

especially in the local communities in which we operate,” says<br />

Boyer. “With five locations across Canada, plus an office in Toronto,<br />

we have an opportunity to make a real difference — be it product<br />

donations, financial contributions or employee volunteer efforts.”<br />

McCain has partnerships with Foodbanks Canada in the communities<br />

in which its employees live and work, supporting projects such as<br />

school-breakfast programs and an annual holiday toy and turkey drive<br />

at the Florenceville facility, which provides meals to those less fortunate<br />

in the community. “This was started in 2007 by 10 employees<br />

and they helped 148 families,” says Boyer. “Over time, that has grown<br />

to 30 volunteers [who have] helped approximately 400 families.”<br />

The company also supports these initiative through its “Be Good.<br />

Do Good,” awards recognizing individual employees who have made<br />

significant contributions in the community.<br />

It’s all part of McCain Foods Canada’s commitment to its Canadian<br />

roots and the cornerstone on which the company culture has been<br />

built. “Every step of the way, McCain has remained as proudly<br />

Canadian as we were on day one,” says Veysey. “Our global headquarters/leadership<br />

remain in Canada so we’re proud of our Canadian<br />

roots and our investments in Canada. We continue to invest heavily<br />

in Canada.” FH<br />

46 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


EQUIPMENT<br />

ON THE MONEY<br />

Finding the right<br />

payment processor<br />

for your restaurant<br />

impacts the bottom line<br />

BY ANDREA VICTORY<br />

Your restaurant works hard for its money and as<br />

a restaurateur, you know the value of a dollar.<br />

So, when it comes to processing payments, your<br />

restaurant needs more than just a terminal.<br />

Payment processing for consumers and merchants<br />

is a big deal. According to Payments Canada’s 2016<br />

Canadian Payment Methods and Trends report, in 2015, the<br />

payments market in Canada grew to 20.9 billion transactions<br />

worth more than $8.9 trillion.<br />

As a restaurateur, concerns go beyond simply accepting<br />

payments and having the most up-to-date technology. The<br />

impact of payment processing for restaurant owners can<br />

best be summed up by Dan Ferracuti, owner of Safari Bar<br />

& Grill and Drums & Flats in Toronto. “Payment processing<br />

is a huge expense. When we first opened it was probably<br />

a 50-50 split as far as people paying cash as opposed<br />

to credit, and now it’s probably 90-10 as far as credit cards<br />

go. Nine out of 10 transactions are either credit or debit —<br />

there’s very little cash anymore.”<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 47


CHOOSING WISELY<br />

Often, restaurant owners seek<br />

recommendations from their<br />

POS provider when choosing a<br />

payment processor. Alex Barrotti,<br />

founder & CEO of TouchBistro<br />

— an iPad POS that integrates<br />

with nine different payment processors<br />

— explains that restaurants<br />

often look to them during<br />

the sign-up phase to help find<br />

a solution. “We base it on their<br />

needs. If they are a quick-service<br />

restaurant, then we might go with<br />

Contactless payment<br />

options have been a<br />

game-changer for<br />

restaurants<br />

one solution; if they are a fullservice<br />

restaurant and they need<br />

mobility or payments at the table,<br />

then we would go with a different<br />

solution. Not every payment<br />

partner today has a full suite<br />

of offerings.”<br />

READ THE FINE PRINT<br />

Crucial to finding a processor<br />

is understanding the fine print.<br />

Wolfgang Guembel, founder &<br />

president of Lock Street Brewing<br />

Company in St. Catharines,<br />

Ont. knows the feeling of getting<br />

burned. “There’s fees on the<br />

back-end that you don’t see until<br />

you get your statement. The [processing<br />

company] will say they<br />

have the lowest fees per card, but<br />

when you look at your statement,<br />

there can be handling fees, or<br />

some kind of generic processing<br />

fee that’s a lump sum.”<br />

John Morgan, director of<br />

Independent Solution Providers<br />

at FI & Partner Management<br />

for Moneris, warns to check for<br />

extra costs up front. “Make sure,<br />

as a restaurateur, you understand<br />

[whether] there are any costs<br />

from a third party. Ask, ‘when I<br />

pick you as a restaurant system<br />

and I pick you as a processor and<br />

your two systems are talking to<br />

each other, are there any additional<br />

costs involved?’”<br />

He also stresses the importance<br />

of knowing your responsibilities<br />

before signing on the dotted line,<br />

“Make sure you know going in<br />

who does what if something goes<br />

TAP AND GO Choosing the<br />

right payment-processing<br />

solution saves operators time<br />

and money<br />

wrong. If the pin pad breaks, or<br />

appears to not be working, where<br />

is the problem? Is it the network;<br />

is it the restaurant system, or<br />

is it a processor problem? As a<br />

restaurateur, you shouldn’t have<br />

to spend any amount of time<br />

figuring that out. Make sure you<br />

understand the support model<br />

going in.”<br />

PROTECT YOURSELF<br />

Ferracuti says that when it<br />

comes to fraud and chargebacks,<br />

it can be confusing determining<br />

when you’re protected and<br />

when you’re not, as a merchant.<br />

“Unfortunately a lot of it you<br />

iSTOCK.COM/DGLIMAGES [CARD PAYMENT, BOTTOM LEFT]; SQAURE [TERMINALS, TOP AND INSET]<br />

48 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


EQUIPMENT<br />

iSTOCK.COM/RATMANER [MOBILE PHONE PAYMENT]<br />

THE NEXT WAVE<br />

Mobile payments and<br />

digital wallets are gaining<br />

traction in restaurants<br />

Launched in October 2015,<br />

Starbucks was the first national<br />

retailer to offer its own mobilepayment<br />

technology and loyalty<br />

program. Today, its Mobile Order<br />

& Pay is available at almost 1,000<br />

Canadian stores and boasts more<br />

than 1.2 million active Canadian My<br />

Starbucks Rewards members. Mobile<br />

payments through the mobile app<br />

now represent 20 per cent of all<br />

in-store transactions in Canadian<br />

Starbucks stores.<br />

But the mobile experience isn’t<br />

just for big companies with custombuilt<br />

apps. The rise of chip-and-pin<br />

technology means mobile payments<br />

such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and<br />

customers paying with digital<br />

wallets are accepted wherever tap<br />

technology is available. Demand is<br />

on the rise as consumers become<br />

accustomed to paying with their<br />

phones. The good news is<br />

that many restaurants<br />

can already accept<br />

mobile payments from<br />

guests with their current<br />

contactless terminal.<br />

don’t realize until it happens to<br />

you. You have the conversations<br />

and it’s all good until you actually<br />

get somebody that disputes<br />

the card or you get a fraudulent<br />

card or whatever you may have; it<br />

really is something you learn by<br />

experience. Unfortunately, most<br />

of the time you end up on the<br />

wrong end.”<br />

Ferracuti has taken a handson<br />

approach to protecting his<br />

business. “If someone swipes a<br />

credit card, we are actually not<br />

protected by the credit company<br />

if it turns out that the card is<br />

fraudulent. So, we’ve taped over<br />

our swipers,” he says. “Luckily it<br />

doesn’t happen very often and<br />

with the pin-chip technology, it<br />

hardly happens at all anymore.<br />

Since pin-chip technology has<br />

been in place, we’ve seen a huge<br />

reduction as far as disputes of<br />

payments. It’s a better system.”<br />

CONTACTLESS PAYMENT<br />

The good news is that contactless<br />

payments are on the rise.<br />

“Contactless is booming in<br />

Canada. Almost all payment<br />

cards in Canada are contactlessenabled<br />

and almost 85 per cent<br />

of Moneris retailers — including<br />

restaurants — are now accepting<br />

contactless payments,” says<br />

Morgan.<br />

Tap-and-pay in the foodservice<br />

businesses is becoming standard<br />

across the board for both restaurants<br />

and guests. In October<br />

of this year, U.S.-based Square<br />

launched its contactless and chip<br />

reader in Canada, making it possible<br />

for foodservice businesses<br />

to accept debit and Interac, credit<br />

cards and mobile payments with<br />

the Square system.<br />

THE FUTURE IS NEAR<br />

Beyond the increase of tapand-pay<br />

technology, consumers<br />

and merchants alike are seeking<br />

seamless solutions. “There’s a<br />

line blurring between the solution<br />

and the payments,” Barrotti<br />

notes. “A lot of our customers are<br />

more bothered by the fact they<br />

have to talk to one person for the<br />

software, another for the payment<br />

and a third for the hardware —<br />

they just want it to come from<br />

one source.”<br />

It seems that’s already becoming<br />

reality. With the recent launch<br />

of its contactless and chip technology,<br />

Square removed the final<br />

barrier to becoming a full POS<br />

solution for the restaurant industry.<br />

Previously, Square wasn’t an<br />

option outside of pop-ups or<br />

off-site events, as accepting debit<br />

or mobile payments wasn’t a possibility<br />

— only credit cards could<br />

be swiped. Now, with all payment<br />

options on the table, a free POS<br />

app for iPads and a low one-time<br />

cost-per-reader ($59), the high<br />

expense of payment processing is<br />

getting a run for its money.<br />

THE BOTTOM LINE<br />

Though praised for its innovation<br />

and low cost, new solutions for<br />

the payment-processing industry<br />

aren’t necessarily going to see a<br />

sweeping takeover in foodservice.<br />

For one, restaurant owners often<br />

have a long-term contract with<br />

their current payment processor<br />

that will need to run its course.<br />

Ferracuti has been through multiple<br />

systems and spent years<br />

troubleshooting with one before<br />

switching to a different option —<br />

even though that meant signing<br />

on at a higher cost. “For me, it<br />

all came back to reliability. The<br />

3G units were a little bit more<br />

expensive on a rental basis, but<br />

they saved us so much more in<br />

customer satisfaction that, to me,<br />

it was worth it.”<br />

Guembel, a fan of Square, initially<br />

tried out the system in his<br />

brewery, but switched after three<br />

months because the solution<br />

didn’t accept debit at the time.<br />

“Messaging and just managing<br />

the expectation of the customer<br />

goes a long way. If you’re going<br />

to trend toward something new,<br />

whether that’s going paperless,<br />

Apple Pay or Square, take the<br />

time to make it really clear to<br />

the consumer upfront. The time<br />

to teach [customers] that you’re<br />

doing something new is not at<br />

the time of payment.”<br />

Now that Square accepts debit<br />

and mobile payments, Guembel is<br />

excited, “It’s forward thinking and<br />

I love that about it.” FH<br />

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />

DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 49


POURING FOR PROFITS<br />

GIN CRAZE<br />

A new generation of drinkers is enjoying gin<br />

BY TOM VENETIS<br />

Gin has traditionally been<br />

seen as a drink your father<br />

enjoyed — a reliable<br />

staple, but not something<br />

that newcomers to the<br />

world of spirits gravitate towards.<br />

But, in recent years, the spirit has<br />

grown in popularity as newer and<br />

younger drinkers (18 to 35 years<br />

old) take to this venerable drink and<br />

more brands and varieties come to<br />

market. Today’s gin aisles feature a<br />

wider selection of products from<br />

around the world, as well as a growing<br />

number of small local distillers.<br />

This appeals to the younger millennial<br />

and Generation-X crowds, who<br />

otherwise wouldn’t drink gin.<br />

“Consumer choice today has<br />

never been as great as it is now,” says<br />

Jeremiah Soucie, president and head<br />

of distilling with Kinsip House of<br />

Fine Sprits in Bloomfield, Ont., (formerly<br />

66 Gilead Distillery). “If you<br />

look at the LCBO, one of the largest<br />

purchasers of spirits and alcohol in<br />

the world, five years ago they may<br />

have only had a half-dozen [gins],<br />

and they would have been the big<br />

brands. Now, you see them bringing<br />

in smaller and more interesting<br />

brands from around the world and<br />

within Canada.”<br />

Alanna Bailey, category manager<br />

of White Spirits with the LCBO,<br />

says gin has been growing steadily<br />

Fan Favourites<br />

The most popular<br />

gin brands<br />

at the LCBO<br />

BOMBAY<br />

SAPPHIRE<br />

TANQUERAY<br />

BEEFEATER<br />

HENDRICK’S<br />

DILLON’S<br />

UNGAVA<br />

GEORGIAN BAY<br />

MALFY<br />

KING’S LOCK<br />

CONESTOGA<br />

in Canada. “In Ontario, we have had<br />

compounded double-digit growth<br />

over the last several years,” she says.<br />

“The great thing about gin-category<br />

growth is we have seen strong growth<br />

in all areas of the category.”<br />

According to the most recent<br />

LCBO Year in Review, 2016-<strong>2017</strong>, gin<br />

ended the year at $84.2 million in<br />

sales, gaining 9.2 per cent. The report<br />

also showed gin consumers continue<br />

to gravitate to premium- and deluxepriced<br />

products, which rose eight per<br />

cent and 31.5 per cent, respectively.<br />

This is mirrored in other provinces,<br />

such as B.C., where gin recorded<br />

sales of $11,701,294 in the fiscal<br />

<strong>2017</strong>/2018 Q1 — up from Q4 sales<br />

of $7,928,163.<br />

Bailey says while premium brands<br />

continue to do well, one of the great<br />

stories for gin is the growing popularity<br />

of varieties made by small,<br />

local distillers across Canada.<br />

Peter Hunt, president and master<br />

distiller with Victoria Distillers<br />

in Sidney, B.C., says drinkers are<br />

attracted to smaller, artisanal distillers<br />

such as his because many are<br />

open to trying the unique flavours.<br />

Take its popular Victoria Gin, which<br />

balances its flavour of juniper with<br />

notes of citrus, floral and spice, or<br />

the company’s Oaken Gin, which<br />

takes the classic Victoria Gin and<br />

matures it in oak to give vanilla and<br />

caramel notes.<br />

Soucie works with local growers of<br />

grains and adds local herbs, lavender<br />

and hops to the Juniper’s Wit Gin.<br />

Nova Scotia’s Ironworks Distillery’s<br />

gin uses Nova Scotia juniper berries,<br />

and rosehips, combined with<br />

an infusion of balsam-fir bud eau de<br />

vie. Quebec-based Ungava’s gin uses<br />

Labrador tea, cloudberry, Nordic<br />

juniper and other botanicals.<br />

“Customers want to see and try<br />

more complex flavour profiles with<br />

their gin, similar to the whisky category,<br />

where you can taste the differences<br />

in the source of origin and the<br />

flavours the distillers bring to their<br />

product,” adds Bailey. FH<br />

iSTOCK.COM/IGORR1 [MAIN COCKTAIL IMAGE]; LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD OF ONTARIO [LIQUOR BRANDS]<br />

50 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


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CHEF’S CORNER<br />

PERFECT FIT<br />

Chef Alison MacNeil brings her<br />

home-cooking style to Calgary venue<br />

BY TOM VENETIS<br />

When Calgary’s Telus Spark science centre<br />

sought to revamp its foodservice operations,<br />

the venue’s management tapped<br />

celebrity chef Roger Mooking to be its<br />

culinary director and rebrand its on-site<br />

restaurant to Social Eatery by Roger Mooking. Mooking<br />

then set out to find a local chef to help bring his vision<br />

to life.<br />

For chef Alison MacNeil, it was the perfect fit. “I<br />

liked what they wanted to offer, which was better,<br />

healthier food choices . . . with less of an emphasis on<br />

pre-fabricated foods.”<br />

As chef de cuisine, MacNeil manages the kitchen in a<br />

very hands-on manner. “I’m active in the kitchen, as I’m<br />

usually doing the breads in the morning and making sure<br />

everyone is ready to go,” she says.<br />

The tag-line for the restaurant, ‘Home Cooking with<br />

a Global Twist,’ also aligned with MacNeil’s cooking philosophy.<br />

“It’s important to cook fresh food, from scratch,”<br />

she says. “[I would] describe my cooking style as comfort<br />

food. My background is part Italian so I cook lots of pas-<br />

BITS&BITES<br />

Favourite<br />

food memory:<br />

“Fresh pasta.”<br />

Favourite<br />

ingredient:<br />

“I love to cook<br />

with what is<br />

fresh and<br />

in season.”<br />

Favourite Culinary<br />

Destination:<br />

“Northern<br />

Spain.”<br />

tas and I like to cook French cuisine<br />

— peasant dishes that are comforting<br />

and warming.”<br />

MacNeil’s approach was forged in<br />

her childhood home, where cooking<br />

was part of family life. “I can’t<br />

remember a time when I wasn’t cooking.<br />

We cooked every day and when I<br />

got into highschool I already know I<br />

wanted to go to culinary school.”<br />

MacNeil entered the culinary<br />

program at the Southern Alberta<br />

Institute of Technology (SAIT).<br />

Following graduation in 2002,<br />

she apprenticed at the Wildwood<br />

in Calgary under Joseph Wiewer<br />

and Roghelio Herrera, followed<br />

by two years at Toronto-based<br />

Teatro restaurant under executive<br />

chef Dominique Moussu. She<br />

then moved to Canadian Rocky<br />

Mountain Resorts, where she spent<br />

six years helping to develop the<br />

foodservice and hospitality businesses.<br />

In 2014, she and her husband, chef John Michael<br />

MacNeil opened Black Pig Bistro, a Spanish-themed<br />

restaurant in Calgary. “I wanted to bring Spanish food<br />

to Calgary and when we opened, we were voted as the<br />

number-1 restaurant in Calgary. I could not have been<br />

happier.” She sold the restaurant to her business partner<br />

in 2015.<br />

Social Eatery is focused on fresh food and working<br />

with local providers for ingredients. The menu changes<br />

with the seasons in order to highlight the fare of local<br />

farmers — fresh berries in the summer and root vegetables<br />

in the winter, for example. Popular items include<br />

baked-daily cheese buns made with aged Canadian cheddars<br />

($3.88); the Stacked Sandwich featuring 10oz. of<br />

shaved Alberta beef ($15.88); and the Spolumbo’s sausage<br />

on a bun ($7.88). The menu also features many vegan,<br />

vegetarian and gluten-free foods, as well as a kid-inspired<br />

menu. “Now, we are giving people freshly prepared<br />

foods — foods that are not your standard cookie-cutter<br />

approach. It’s been very well received by everyone.” FH<br />

COLIN WAY [ALISON MACNEIL PORTRAIT]; iSTOCK.COM [BITS & BITES]<br />

52 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM


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