Catering Melbourne Blog

The dreams of three young Victorian apprentice chefs have been realised as the winners were announced for the 2008 Thierry Marx Career Development Award at a luncheon at the Brasserrie by Philippe Mouchel today. This years winners are:

· Petros Dellidis - The Press Club,

· Natalie Watkins - Waddingtons at Kergunyah and

· Kate Niewenhuizen - Pettavel Winery and Restaurant Waurn Ponds.

Out of six finalists, Petros, Natalie and Kate have won a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to France in early August for a months work experience at Thierry Marx’s Chateau Cordeillan-Bages in Bordeaux.

Apprentices will receive airfares, accommodation and assistance with incidental expenses while their employers will receive an allowance to offset additional staffing costs while the apprentices are in France

It was originally intended to send only two apprentices but the judges unanimously found that all three candidates were deserving of the honour, with all receiving the maximum scores in the judging process

Hi Lauren

I just wanted to let you know that the lovely girl who catered for our party last Saturday at 2 Susan Court, East Keilor (I’m not sure of her name) was absolutely FANTASTIC. Not only was she well organised and very efficient, she was so polite and just a lovely lovely girl. She did a wonderful job by herself and she’s to be commended.

Everyone at the party was very impressed with her and if we ever need your services again we’ll personally ask for her!

he’s a real credit to Catering On the Move!

PS: The food was fabulous also, especially the duck parcels!! Thanks again

Allison Griffiths Personal Assistant to Leanne Abela

Pearsons Barristers & Solicitors Pty Ltd *

Hi Lauren,

Everything did go well on Friday night – everyone had such a good time.

Please personally thank your staff for me, they were fabulous and put up with a lot from the crowd of very rowdy patrons.

They were extremely professional and personable.

Also, thank you for allowing us to extend, everyone was having such a great time and it made the night to be able to continue on.

Thanks for all your assistance again and I will ensure I get this paid as soon as possible.

Thanks again

Tracey

Tracey Lawson

Finance and Operations Coordinator

PA to Dr Beverley Eldridge, Director of Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy Department

Hi Oron

Just wanted to say thank you for your help with the food – I enjoyed it and only had good feedback from our guests, the night was a great success

Cheers

Noam

Dr Noam Pik BVSc, BMVS, IVAS, MBA

Managing Director ASAP Laboratory Pty Ltd

The soaring Australian dollar is costing major wine exporters millions of dollars and has caused a slowdown in bottled sales. While exports reached a record $3.02bn last year, experts say a combination of drought, the high dollar and foreign competition means the industry now faces significant challenges. Bottled wine exports are still growing but at a declining rate and experts believe the growth may stop within two months. The rising dollar is particularly hitting the price-sensitive cheaper end of the market, as the buoyant Aussie dollar makes exports more expensive. Premium brands that tend to sell on quality and reputation rather than price appear to be more shielded from the exchange rate impact. Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation manager of information and analysis Lawrie Stanford said the rising dollar also was seeing an influx of cheaper wine from South Africa, Argentina and Chile. Sunday Mail, May 4.

Drought and higher temperatures mean some wine-growing areas will be less productive. Climate change could wipe out up to 80 per cent of Australia’s wine production as large parts of inland irrigation zones become too hot and dry to support grapevines, a US academic has warned. Visiting Australia on a fellowship with Melbourne University, environmental scientist Dr Greg Jones said winemakers in the US and Europe were buying up land at higher altitudes and in coastal regions where cooler conditions would provide a buffer to global warming. Similarly, in Australia, as higher temperatures reduce inland rainfall, horticultural zones reliant on irrigation, such as the Murray-Darling Basin, may no longer be productive. “The biggest issue in Australia is how the water situation will work its way out. Without irrigation, 80 per cent of the Australian industry is in peril,” Dr Jones said. The Australian, May 5.

Foods group Kraft has revealed plans to cut portion sizes as it struggles to keep prices down in the face of the surging costs of ingredients such as corn and rice. In the week after McDonald’s rattled investors with its first monthly decline in US like-for-like sales in five years, the maker of Kraft cheese and Kool-Aid drinks reported a 13 per cent fall in its first-quarter profit, to $US608 million ($648 million). The company blamed rising prices, pointing out that the price of wheat, used in its Triscuit and Wheat Thins crackers, more than doubled in the first quarter. Kraft said it would respond by introducing a range of smaller products and repackage Oscar Mayer deli meats in single-serve portions. Weekend Australian, May 3.

One of South Australia’s iconic hotels is for sale for the first time in more than 20 years. The Ozone Seafront Hotel, on the foreshore at Kingscote, on Kangaroo Island, was one of the original buildings in the town when the hotel was built in 1907. It was destroyed by fire in 1918 and rebuilt within the original stone walls, which survived the blaze. Renovations in the late 1990s discovered most of the hotel’s charred interior had been swept into the basement, which had served as workers’ quarters, and the base of the hotel was built on top. The current owners, who bought the hotel in 1987, believe it is time to move on and are looking for expressions of interest to take over the licence. Manager Chris Schumann, who has worked at the hotel for 19 years, said the Ozone had a large role in the island’s community. He said it was one of the major employers on the island, with 70 staff, a third of whom had worked at the hotel for more than a decade. The hotel was also a community meeting place. The Advertiser, May 3.

The case against another interest rate rise next week has been strengthened by figures showing a fall in the volume of retail sales in the first three months of the year, particularly in department stores. Although the latest official figures showed modest growth in the value of sales in the month of March alone—up 0.5 per cent—the total volume of sales fell in the first quarter of the year by 0.1per cent. The fall coincided with consecutive 25-basis point rate rises in February and March, which followed two increases late last year and three in 2006. The rise in the value of sales in March was mainly driven by food, with prices pushed higher by the drought and fuel costs. The higher prices meant food sales by value were up even though volume was down. CommSec senior analyst Craig James suggested the figures showed consumers were making tough decisions in the face of higher interest rates and food prices. “Soaring global food prices are adding to the inflation burden and unpublished figures by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that the higher prices are being passed on to consumers,” James said. “Cafes and restaurants have increased prices by the highest levels in over 17 years, yet these increases in prices are not helping in improving profitability, as consumers have sharply cut spending at food outlets over the March quarter.” Weekend Australian, May 3.

The sky may be about to fall on the country’s retailers, but it has not quite happened yet.Shoppers have been reining in spending this year, unnerved by mortgage rates and the steady bleat of anguish from the financial world. But the outlook for retailers brightened somewhat in March, with the value of sales climbing 0.5 per cent. Market economists expected a 0.2 per cent rise, so the evidence suggests some of the scarier recent headlines about retail pain might have been a bit overcooked. “Almost all of the bounce is due to food, which rose a massive 1.7 per cent in March,” said ANZ’s senior economist, Katie Dean. “This is the biggest monthly rise in food retailing in nearly five years and is almost entirely due to higher food prices, not volumes.” Sales of larger household items have been nudging on a downward trend for four months, while the hospitality sector has dipped after four years of relentless growth. “Higher costs of living and added higher interest rates are not going away any time soon. Consumers are continually adapting to the ongoing added stress on the household budget, and spending decisions are being re-evaluated to ensure the maximum benefit is obtained,” said an equities economist at CommSec, Savanth Sebastian. Sebastian said unpublished Bureau of Statistics figures showed cafes and restaurants had raised their prices by more than at any time in the past 17 years, while customers had cut back spending at food outlets sharply in the past three months. Sydney Morning Herald, May 3.