The American operator of a Brisbane Pizza Hut restaurant was last week fined $35,000 after a cooked cockroach was found in a barbecue meatlovers takeaway pizza. The Brisbane Magistrates Court was told a Brisbane City Council inspection of the Pizza Hut at Bellbowrie had found “a serious and extensive” cockroach infestation”. The raid on the restaurant in city’s outer west in August by the council’s environmental health officers found food ingredients stored in open containers in the preparation area below fittings that were cockroach-infested, a bag of flour that was not kept in a vermin-proof container, dirt, dust, food and cockroach waste had accumulated on the floor, walls were soiled with grease and cockroach faeces, dead cockroaches and cockroach waste was dried into a hinge of a refrigerator, and live cockroaches on a refrigerator seal and hinge. Subsequent tests on the offending pizza found the cockroach, known as the blatella germanica nymph, was alive when it was cooked. The council suspended the licence of the restaurant operated by Yum! Restaurants. The Sunday Mail (Brisbane), July 6.
Renowned for their string of successful restaurants and award wining wines, Fiona and Kate Lamont are adding another string to their bow. The sisters’ latest offering, Lamonts Wine Store Cottesloe, is a European inspired tapas and wine bar combined with a wine store. In one of the more salubrious western suburbs, delicious food and wine is served at the wine store from 11am to midnight. “Im really excited about this. The market wants this type of thing,” Kate says. The wine store stocks a comprehensive selection of premium drops from around Australia and the world. Patrons are able to purchase all wines on the wine list for their personal cellars. Each week Lamonts Cottesloe wine selector John Jens will be serving up a selection of the most interesting wines. The “grazing style” menu offers a tantalising selection of small tastes, including lobster and fennel terrine, wagyu beef and mushroom pie, and confit duck salad. Licensing laws allow you to enjoy a drop without purchasing food. Prestige Property. July 6.
Weeks after announcing write-downs of up to $700m on the value of its global wine business, Foster’s is resuscitating a forgotten Tasmanian wine label as it seeks to rebuild momentum in the restaurant market. The launch of a new top-shelf brand is a rarity at Foster’s, which is seeking to consolidate its portfolio of more than 50 wine brands and comes as chairman David Crawford embarks on a review of the wine business, which could result in asset sales. Heemskerk, originally launched in 1975, enjoyed considerable success in the 1980s before being hived off into the Cellarmasters wine club business as an in-house brand available only to members. Foster’s sold the Cellarmasters business last year but retained the Heemskerk label, which group marketing manager for specialist brands Nicholas Crampton said would be restricted to restaurants and fine wine retailers. “It’s the same strategy used by most of the top boutiques … it’s one Foster’s hasn’t used as aggressively before,” he said. The ubiquity of Foster’s brands, including Penfolds, Lindemans, Wolf Blass and Rosemount, in retail outlets has been their downfall in on-premise sales, with few restaurant diners willing to shell out $50 or more for a bottle of wine they know they can buy for less than half that price at Dan Murphy’s. Foster’s also lost restaurant customers after the 2005 acquisition of Southcorp by attempting to sell both beer and wine through a single sales team, alienating high-end clients accustomed to more specialised service. Mr Crampton said 95 per cent of Heemskerk wines, which were priced at up to $60 a bottle, would be sold through restaurants. The Australian, July 7.
Pioneer chef dies
Joan Campbell, the influential chef and food editor, has died in a Sydney nursing home aged 96. As food editor of all three Australian Vogue titles, she more than anyone else defined the look of modern Australian food on the plate. Campbell was influential in putting Australian food on the world map. Working with Vogue’s photographers, she brought an entirely new sensibility to food photography. It revolutionised the way food was depicted: instead of contrived studio photography, her dishes emphasised fresh ingredients, minimally garnished, apparently shot in natural light. Through her work for Vogue Entertaining, Campbell drew international acknowledgment that what was happening in Australia was at the forefront of world food trends. It is all the more extraordinary that her career in food began when she was in her fifties. Moving to Sydney in the early 1960s, she took up cooking classes and began catering to the social set, including the Packer family. She came to the attention of Ita Buttrose, who recruited her as food editor of Cleo. Then followed a stint writing restaurant reviews for The Sunday Telegraph in 1978. The Australian, July 18.
The Victorian Government has recently introduced the Public Holidays Amendment Bill 2008. The main purpose of the bill is to amend the Public holidays Act 1993 to provide greater certainty as to public holiday arrangements in Victoria; to repeal provisions relating to the appointment of additional and substituted public holidays by non-metropolitan Councils; and to provide for a public holiday on Melbourne Cup Day or a substituted day to be observed in all parts of Victoria.
The change that will have the biggest impact on small business is the setting of Melbourne Cup Day as a standard public holiday in all parts of Victoria. Currently some regional areas are Public holiday free on Melbourne Cup Day, as Melbourne Cup Day has only been observed in Metropolitan Melbourne. This means that business located in regional areas that may have traded Melbourne Cup Day without the application of Public Holiday Entitlements will now be made to do so.
In non-metropolitan areas, where a substitute Public holiday was traditionally observed (e.g. Local Show/Race Day) following a declaration by the Local Council, the Local Council must now make an application to the Small Business Minister for that substitute day to be enforced.
Though these changes have been promoted by parliament as a means to “give Victorians certainty about public holidays and allow improved planning for Victorian businesses and employees” the reality for many small businesses is that it could lead to an increase in costs.
Restaurant & Catering Victoria has developed a pro-forma letter for members to use to encourage the council to request a substitute day should the bill pass through parliament unamended.
From 1 July each year workers’ compensation benefits are indexed and the new benefits are published in the Victorian Government Gazette. This year the changes include:
the employers’ medical cost excess has increased from $546 to $564
the maximum weekly compensation payment a worker can receive has increased from $1,210 to $1,260 gross per week
the maximum lump sum payment for impairment has increased to $396,690 and the lump sum for death to $265,590.
All indexed amounts can be viewed in Gazette No. G 26, dated Thursday 26 June 2008 at www.gazette.vic.gov.au
The value of a penalty unit has also been indexed. One penalty unit now has a value of $113.42. This means the maximum penalty against a corporation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 is $1,020,780. The maximum penalty for an individual is now $204,156.
A new electronic calendar from the Tax Office is now available to help small businesses better manage their tax lodgement and payment deadlines throughout the year.
Your small business tax calendar can be downloaded from the Tax Office website and provides reminders of lodgement due dates for small businesses, bookkeepers and tax agents. Based on individual circumstances, the calendar records all the due dates required for the year, such as due dates for employees’ superannuation and lodgement of business activity statements.
The calendar can generate reminders, including when a lodgement or payment is due. Download a free copy of the tax calendar from www.ato.gov.au
An exciting opportunity to learn from the best sommeliers in the world is coming for Australian beverage professionals, with the ‘royalty’ of the Court of Master Sommeliers scheduled to arrive here in August this year.
Fine Wine Partners are pleased to facilitate the Court’s first visit to Australia, giving local sommeliers the chance to gain an internationally recognised qualification.
With over 160 Master Sommeliers around the world and only one in our region - Cameron Douglas in NZ - this is offers the chance for our sommeliers to work towards becoming Australia’s first Master Sommelier.
The courses and examinations will be held at the Sofitel in Melbourne and Sydney.
Restaurant & Catering Victoria is proud to announce the arrival of the Hospitality Purchasing Network, created specifically to help members.
Electricity
Telecommunications
Motor Vehicles
Stationary & Paper Products
Business Insurance
Commercial Cleaning Products
Eftpos & credit card fees
Hotel and Tableware
Natural Gas
WorkCover Insurance
The Hospitality Purchasing Network is dedicated to assisting members to source new & better products, to compare suppliers, to work out & assist with pricing & to chase up & simplify paperwork. You’re not on your own anymore.
This week the Workplace Relations Sub-Committee met to discuss Workplace Relations reforms (including the Award Modernisation process). The Committee spent quite some time working on a next draft of a modern award. In addition to the next draft the Association is developing a vision of what the modernisation process should be able to achieve.
The Sub-Committee has agreed that the vision for the modern award is that :
Award coverage is able to be defined in clear statements that are consistent across the nation.
Schedules are collapsed into the Modern Award were possible.
All references in working hours, penalty rates and overtime sections of the award refer to the first five days of the working week and the sixth or seventh day (not Monday – Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
Consistent pay rates are established for each grade (at less than the maximum).
Apprentice and Training Rates are based on a combination of competency and work experience not simply time. These rates are collapsed into one set of rates.
A consistent schedule of Junior rates is established – from 17 – 21.
Part time arrangements are defined in terms of a consistent 3 – 38 hours averaged over 4 weeks and include specific provision for seasonal workers.
Arrangements for annualised salaries are included (if 25% over the award rate is paid) – without the capacity for a count back on hours worked.
A standard 20% casual rate applies.
Standard ordinary hours are defined as 38 hours per week. No time or day of the week based penalties apply.
Overtime is defined as each day stands alone, 1 ½ for the first two hours and double time after that – with no overtime for casuals.
The Association is currently drafting a submission that will reference each section of the draft award. The rationale for this submission is as follows:
These documents will need to be referred to in detail in a submission to the commission arguing for the establishment of a separate restaurant and catering modern award. It is proposed that the rationale for this submission is as follows:
· The Act requires that Modern Awards (must be simple to understand and easy to apply, and must reduce the regulatory burden on business; and together with any legislated employment standards, must provide a fair minimum safety net of enforceable terms and conditions of employment for employees; and must be in a form that is appropriate for a fair and productive workplace relations system that promotes collective enterprise bargaining but does not provide for statutory individual employment agreements; and must result in a certain, stable and sustainable modern award system for Australia).
· Restaurants and caterers are vastly different from Hotels in so far as their structures, their staffing arrangements and their operations.
· The hospitality sector is a rapidly growing sector and is part of the changing economy that is already 80% services and growing. Modern awards must eventually realize the demands of the modern world of round the clock service provision.
· Restaurants and catering businesses are small business in the main and have very few dedicated workplace relations resources. Simplicity and clarity are most important outcomes of the modernization process.
· In the pursuit of simple to understand and easy to apply awards, R&CA presents a draft modern award for restaurateurs and caterers.
· In the pursuit of the objectives of economic sustainability and efficient and productive work performance, the proposed modern ward is the status quo and does not seek to upset the careful balance of wages and conditions in the current system.
· The proposal for a draft modern award respects the differences in operational and revenue models across restaurants and the hotel / club sector. Restaurant and caterers are food businesses with significant structural and operation similarities. They have low margins and do not enjoy large profits for gaming supported by regulation in most States / Territories.
· In the interests of true modernisation the Association also presents a vision for what it believes the modernization process should achieve.
