Jackie Cameron: Her new culinary adventure

JUNE 2015

Who is killing the restaurant

industry?

CHEFS WHO

SHARE AWARD

How SA restaurant brands are rocking London

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IF WE DIDN’T LAUGH WE WOULD

have to cry, and that would make

my mascara run…

We are all doing business in

troubling 4mes for South Africa.

Corrup4on scandals by day, load-

shedding by night and rising pric-

es at all other 4mes—how long

can this go on?

Renowned economist Adam

Smith is said to have said, “There

is a great deal of ruin in a nation,”

by which he meant that countries

can endure a lot of hardship with-

out collapsing completely. Our gov-

ernment seems determined to put

that maxim to the ultimate test.

And still, the sheer chutzpah

and resilience and dynamism of

the restaurant industry continue to

amaze me. Load-shedding is a

huge challenge for restaurants,

who face losing business and stock

if they don’t have a back-up plan,

and face extra energy costs if they

do. But many restaurants are grab-

bing the opportunity presented by

power outages, not wasting time

lamenting the reality that our

economy is taking a severe knock

thanks to the fiasco that is Eskom.

We do not forget however

that one too many challenges can

be the last straw for a struggling

business. When a restaurant fails it

means the end of someone’s

hopes and dreams, and has severe

financial consequences. In this is-

sue we introduce a column by

marketing guru, restaurant con-

sultant and funny guy, Mike Said,

who examines all the factors that

undermine the success of the res-

taurant business.

Of course, Shakespeare actu-

ally said, “now is the winter of

our discontent…” But somewhere

in the world another funny mar-

ke4ng guru used the line to sell

discount tents—and goodness

knows, we need as many laughs

as we can get.

Get our app!

4 restaurants

6 cover story

5 cooking with the

wonderbag

6 jackie cameron’s

new cooking school

8 how sa brands are

conquering London

12 technology and the

restaurant business

14 are you insured for

load-shedding?

16 mike said what?

18 chefs who share

ON THE COVER: Jackie Cameron

has launched her food and wine

training institute

restaurants

SANDWICH BARON HAS INTRODUCED its new Ban4ng-

friendly menu, prepared especially for the increasing num-

ber of customers who are following this low-carb, gluten-

free, high-fat lifestyle.

“With so many South Africans following this ea4ng

plan, we wanted to support them with a choice of appro-

priately cons4tuted dishes that are also delicious and sa4s-

fying,” says Sally J’ArleEe-Joy, Sandwich Baron’s franchisor.

The five new meal choices have been introduced at all

50 Sandwich Baron stores. Now on offer are: a Ban4ng

Breakfast Box comprising two boiled eggs, two rashers of

bacon, two cocktail pork sausages and two tomato slices at

R30; a Ban4ng Lunch Box made up of a roasted quarter

chicken served with avocado and sliced boiled eggs at R37;

500ml of leek-and-sweet potato soup at R27; a Ban4ng

omeleEe filled with cheese, avocado and bacon, with a

side salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil at

R47; and a 250g tub of chicken livers at R22.

ALTERNATIVE COOKING TECHNOLOGIES

are always welcome in the South African

context where access to energy is not al-

ways a given, and energy costs are high.

With its cosy shape and vibrant

shweshewe fabric, the Wonderbag doesn’t

look much like an oven – but it func4ons

much like a slow cooker, without needing

any energy source.

Stews, soups, curries, meats, desserts

and even festive drinks like mulled wine can

be prepared to perfection without the risk of

ending up eating dry chicken or burnt soup.

AKer doing the basic prepara4on for a

meal, and bringing it to the boil, simply

transfer the pot to the Wonderbag, where

the meal can be leK to cook unaEended

without any fire or safety hazards.

Chefs are also discovering the

Wonderbag. Chef Jacqui Rey, who owns

Food MaEers

Catering, says

that the

Wonderbag

is a great addi-

4on to any kitchen.

"I have been using a Wonderbag for

the past four years and I really love it from

an energy-saving point of view. You simply

cook your food for about 30 minutes be-

fore you put it into your Wonderbag and

then forget about it for a few hours.

“It is perfect for dishes that require

slow cooking, saves a fortune on gas and

electricity and you can't burn your food in

a Wonderbag. It is also mul4-func4onal, I

have even managed to make a delicious

chocolate malva pudding in it.”

Chef Jackie Cameron says: "The Won-

derbag is a wonderful tool to use when

you cook with a nostalgic slant. As my

cooking is all about memories I love to use

this slow-cooking process to produce

mouthwatering dishes like Wild Boar and

Bone Marrow or Guinea Fowl Puree and

Breast. It makes sense for the culinary

world to embrace cooking in this way. By

cooking in the Wonderbag you will use sig-

nificantly less electricity and gas.”

BAG IT

J JACKIE CAMERON’S SIGNATURE DISH IS

4reless crea4ve energy and innova4on.

Although just 30-something, Cameron has

won numerous culinary awards, held an en-

viable posi4on as head chef and published

her first cookbook, Jackie Cameron Cooks

at Home two years ago.

For the past 15 years Cameron says

has been working towards her ul4mate

goal—opening a school for aspiring chefs.

AKer seeking out many valuable experienc-

es and worthwhile challenges, she resigned

from her posi4on as head chef at the five-

star bou4que hotel HarQord House in the

KwaZulu-Natal Midlands in July last year,

and set about making that dream a reality.

“My focus now is on seeing growth

and development in others. I look forward

to sending out chefs who have confidence

in knowing that they have undergone cor-

rect training and have a holis4c under-

standing of this tough but extremely re-

warding industry,” she says.

A tough-but-fair taskmaster, Cameron

accepted only five students this year. “Of

all the applica4ons received they were the

ones that I believed would meet the chal-

lenges this industry presents,” she explains.

Graduates from Jackie Cameron School of

Food & Wine will be interna4onally accred-

ited – and, she believes, sought aKer. The

school can accommodate a maximum of 15

students and the dura4on of the course is

18 months.

Elaine Bosh off, Jackie Cameron, Jabu Ngwane and

with five aspiring chefs Cara Conway, Kate Cousins,

Emily Schmidt, Carla Schulze and Rai-Teree at the

new Jackie Cameron School of Food & Wine

RENOWNED SOUTH AFRICAN

CHEF AND COOKBOOK

AUTHOR JACKIE CAMERON HAS

OPENED HER NEW CULINARY

INSTITUTE, THE JACKIE CAMERON

SCHOOL OF FOOD & WINE IN

HILTON IN THE KWA-ZULU NATAL

THE SCHOOL THAT

JACKIE BUILT

L David Maich, UK director of Spur Cor-

pora4on, says: “All brands across the world

are tes4ng their models in London. If it

works here it will work anywhere.”

One South African food chain that has

led the charge in the UK is Nando’s. Creat-

ed in South Africa in 1987, Nando’s

launched its first restaurant in the UK in

1992. Two decades later has almost 400

branches on UK high streets.

Says Maich, “Nando’s is a tremendous

success because they have been flexible

and adapted the concept; not adopted a

rigid copy-and-paste brand standard.” He is

hoping to follow in Nando’s footsteps and

become another successful South African

LONDON IS A COSMOPOLITAN kaleido-

scope, with a restaurant scene to match. Its

high streets play like a round-the-world pit-

stop of cuisines, and increasingly woven

among them are African restaurants. CNN

correspondent Rosie Tomkins says South

African restaurants in par4cular are staking

their claim in the UK food market.

Washington Kapapiro is Chairman of

the Associa4on for African Owned Enter-

prises. He says, “For me what’s most ex-

ci4ng is the growth of what we call African

food. People are star4ng to iden4fy with

that brand.” With the brand comes the op-

portunity for chains to expand overseas

and London is seen as the golden 4cket.

If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere SOUTH AFRICAN RESTAURANTS ARE CONQUERING

ONE OF THE TOUGHEST MARKETS IN THE WORLD—

TAKING LONDON BY STORM, REPORTS CNN.

ALL BRANDS ACROSS THE WORLD ARE TESTING

THEIR MODELS IN LONDON. IF IT WORKS HERE IT

WILL WORK ANYWHERE.

CNN Marketplace Africa covers the macro trends

impacting the region and also focuses on the

continent's key industries and corporations. Each

week the show also interviews a major player from

the region's business community in its Face Time

segment. Seen here is Ritch Allison, CEO of Dom-

ino’s Pizza International.

chain plan4ng its flag on UK soil, with Spur.

“We're now positioning ourselves for the UK

market which is vibrant, cutting edge and

punchy. To me that this is the way to go.”

Spur already has six restaurants in the

UK, including one in Belfast, and one in

Dublin, with interna4onal headquarters in

Amsterdam.

South African ex-pats in the UK are

welcoming these food chains to London,

says Maich. “They are great, very loyal sup-

porters and great ambassadors, but we

have to think broadly; we have to think of

the UK customer profile and that's who

we're targe4ng across the board.”

Another South African company vying

for a posi4on in the UK market is The Meat

Co., which also adapted its South African

roots to suit the UK market. Johnny Tom-

azos, CEO of Food Fund Interna4onal (the

company which owns The Meat Co., and

several other brands) says: “Here at The

Meat Co. the African link is perhaps more

subtle. This is not about tribal art on the

walls, this is modern Africa, and the hall-

mark of the dining experience is the beef.

Kapapiro aEributes a uniquely African

can-do spirit to the success of South Afri-

can restaurant chains in the UK: “I think

that culture is the founda4on for a lot of

growth we've seen in the African business

sector.”

NANDO’S IS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS IN LONDON

BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTED

THE CONCEPT. IT’S NOT A RIGOROUS COPY-AND-

PASTE BRAND STANDARD THEY ADOPTED.

Spur’s family-friendly formula of ribs, steaks and

entertainment for the kids is transla+ng well in the

UK market.

By Hilary W

ard

I f (like us) you were born before 1980,

we’re really sorry to be the bearers of

bad news – but technology is trans-

forming the restaurant business and there

is just no way to avoid it. From social me-

dia to mobile POS and cashless payment

systems, all kinds of applica4ons are trans-

forming both the opera4ons and the mar-

ke4ng of restaurants.

We’ve had to get with the pro-

gramme too. You will no4ce, for example,

that Restaurant Business is now longer an

old-fashioned print magazine, but pro-

duced in a number of digital and online for-

mats. And isn’t it so much easier, beEer

and more convenient this way?

The good news is that once you

get your head around the technology (or

find a 12-year-old to manage it all for you),

it can do amazing things for your business.

For restaurant management systems,

talk to Pilot SoKware. They have some ex-

cellent mobile and other solu4ons, and are

really good at simplifying the tech talk so

that it all makes sense, as well as offering

training and aKer-sales support.

Social media marketing is essential –

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and

online reviews are the spaces your custom-

ers are using to talk about you! Customers

are always on their phones these days—to

the extent that it is even affecting table ser-

vice! The Daily Mail UK reported recently

that diners are so busy tex4ng, talking,

blogging, taking photographs on their

smartphones and tablets, and trying to

DINERS ARE SO BUSY TEXTING,

TALKING, TAKING PHOTOS

AND TRYING TO CONNECT

TO THE WIFI THAT ONE

RESTAURATEUR CLAIMS

SERVICE HAS SLOWED DOWN

BY ALMOST AN HOUR!

How technology is transforming

the restaurant business, and how

to get a piece of the action

connect to the Wi-Fi, that

they don’t have 4me to actu-

ally look at the menu and

order, or eat their food when

it arrives. One New York

restaurateur tracked his restau-

rant’s CCTV footage and claimed that this

has slowed service 4mes down by almost

an hour in a decade!

There is no escaping it though. You

have to be there as a business and as a

brand—to have a presence on social media

and online restaurant guides, so you can

respond and take advantage of the oppor-

tuni4es that abound to get feet through the

doors, bums on seats and build goodwill

and brand awareness.

If it’s all new to you, consider employ-

ing a social media manager, or at least tak-

ing a social media course. An excellent

place to start is UCT’s Get Smarter online

short courses. They have both social media

courses for small businesses and restaurant

management courses!

Recently, when staff at a KFC store

in Braamfontein were filmed on a

smartphone hosing down chicken

pieces on a concrete floor, the

story quickly went viral on social

media, only to be picked up the

mainstream media both here and

overseas. As they say, ‘The Internet

is forever.’ Not engaging in social

media is not an option—you can’t

stop people posting about your res-

taurant, from their smartphones, or

on their blogs. It used to be that

you only had to worry about what

an influential food critic was writing

about you in the newspaper once

a week. Now everyone with a

Twitter account is a food critic. The

good news is that social media

can really work for you too. It’s the

new word-of-mouth and the trick is

to make sure that what people are

saying about you is mostly good.

T THE WORST FEARS OF SOUTH AFRICAN

business owners of a repeat of the 2008

blackouts are being realised, with billions

of rand in poten4al economic growth being

wiped out every month as widespread

power outages affect the country.

Load shedding currently tops the list

of insurance nightmares keeping business

owners awake at night. But it may not be a

nightmare that businesses can insure

against.

Persistent load shedding is the num-

ber one insurance nightmare for compa-

nies and individuals, because most policies

simply do not cover the consequen4al

damages that could arise from a power

cut.

A power cut is a foreseeable event

and insurance is designed for events that

are not planned. Load shedding is, unfortu-

nately, predictable and therefore managea-

ble. The onus of risk mi4ga4on therefore

lies on the business owner rather than on

the Insurer.

Fully 90% of claims are not likely to

be covered in the event of a power cut, as

coverage would generally apply up to a

limited amount where power surges or

spikes cause damage to equipment, like

servers or printers.

S4ll, business interrup4on insurance

is being taken out on the mistaken belief

that they are covered for consequen4al

losses, when in fact this type of insurance

only covers perilous events such as wind,

snow, fire, or an explosion as the underly-

ing cause.

There has been an increase in re-

quests for this type of insurance and we

are trying to educate clients that it may

not be the solu4on to load shedding prob-

lems.

HAVING A ROMANTIC CANDLE-LIT DINNER IS NOT AS

MUCH FUN AS IT USED TO BE. LOAD-SHEDDING NOW

POSES A SIGNIFICANT RISK TO RESTAURANTS,

WHO STAND TO LOSE PEAK-HOUR BUSINESS,

AS WELL AS STOCK. BUT DON’T ASSUME THAT YOUR

INSURANCE WILL COVER THESE RISKS,

WARNS BRIAN VERPOORT OF STANDARD BANK

THE LOAD-SHEDDING INSURANCE RISK

C CRIME THRILLERS ARE ALL THE RAVE right

now, and although I am no James PaEerson

or Lincoln Child, the slow but painful death

of the South African Restaurant Industry

makes for some preEy interes4ng reading.

“Death?” you ask. Am I not being a

liEle too drama4c, a liEle too severe…? I

think not! Restaurants are closing down

weekly and those that are able to survive

are doing so against great odds. Of course

there are the excep4ons to the rule.

Like all good crime writers, let me

begin by introducing our lead character…

the vic4m! The restaurant industry has al-

ways been a difficult industry and there are

a number of factors that unsuspec4ng en-

trants are oKen not aware of. For one thing

it is a factory… You need to turn raw materi-

al into finished goods in liEle or no 4me at

all. Secondly it is retail with a twist, your cli-

ents then sample the product in front of

you and not once they have arrived home

and thirdly they are only expected to pay

for their purchase AFTER they have enjoyed

it. Combine these factors with a few others

like cash, alcohol and ego and you quickly

realise why an owners visit to any table is

so fraught with danger.

Mike Said is a marketer, public speaker, commi.ed dad and part-

+me adrenaline junkie. Today, his company MikeSaidWhat? ad-

vises clients on branding, strategy, market development, custom-

er service and social media. His ability to impart knowledge in a

humorous and down-to-earth manner has made him a sought-

a2er speaker at corporate func+ons and conferences. Visit

www.mikesaidwhat.co.za or email mike@mikesaidwhat.co.za.

Who is killing the restaurant industry?: Part 1

RESTAURANT PROFITABILITY, OR RETENTION, IS AT AN ALL-TIME LOW. IN THE

PAST A RESTAURANT OWNER COULD EXPECT TO RETAIN 18%-24% OF HIS

TURNOVER (EBIT) THIS FIGURE IS NOW DOWN TO BETWEEN 7%-14%… SOME-

THING ON PAR WITH WHAT THE WAITERS ARE EARNING IN TIPS AND OFTEN

LESS THAN THE LANDLORD IS RECEIVING IN RENT!

Despite these challenges it remained an aErac4ve

and seemingly lucra4ve pursuit because profit margins

were acceptable to high IF you could manage your busi-

ness properly.

Alas all that has changed over the past several years.

Restaurant profitability, or RETENTION as it is oKen re-

ferred to in the restaurant industry is at an all 4me low.

Whereas in the past a restaurant owner could expect to

retain 18%-24% of his turnover (EBIT) this figure is now

down to between 7%-14%… something on par with what

the waiters are earning in 4ps and oKen less than the

landlord is receiving in rent!

There are a number of key factors that have contrib-

uted to this. First and foremost is considerably slower

than an4cipated growth, and the impact of this is a mas-

sive increase in the rental to turnover ra4o that should

ideally be si^ng at 11% or less. (I shall delve into this a

liEle further in Part 2: The Suspects – Landlords.)

Secondly increased input costs as food prices climb

and a budget conscious clientele con4nue to put pressure

on restaurants NOT to increase their prices. (I shall delve

into this a liEle further in Part 3: The Suspects – Suppliers

and Part 4: The Suspects – Customers).

But it would be untoward of me not men4on the

owners, franchisers and other industry players that are

contribu4ng to the decline either through total apathy

and neglect or in some cases sheer stupidity.

So the picture is a NOT preEy one and the casual4es

are moun4ng… Who is to blame and what can be done

about it? Watch this space for details…

T The Chefs Who Share charity event this

year includes a wonderful opportunity for

restaurants to put forward their most tal-

ented and promising young chefs to win a

place working with the country’s culinary

elite at the gala dinner in September.

The aim of the CWS: Young Chef

Award is to iden4fy and nurture talented

young chefs. The 14 chefs they will be

working with count among South Africa’s

culinary elite, and will be role models and

mentors for the emerging kitchen stars.

It will offer a once-in-a-life4me oppor-

tunity for South Africa’s younger genera4on

of chefs to work alongside their culinary

idols and gain exposure to a high-profile

audience. One young chef will also win an

incredible trip to Europe.

On the night of the gala dinner, the

chefs work in seven teams of two, with a

sommelier, with each duo crea4ng a unique

four-course menu for 36 guests.

Chefs between from 18 to 29 years old

working in a position ranging from demi chef

to junior sous chef qualify to enter. To enter,

up-and-coming chefs have until July 15 to

create an innovative canapé that will be

served together with a glass of Champagne

as a culinary highlight of the evening.

In August, a panel of top chefs and ex-

perienced foodies, will join Africa on a

Plate producer Lentswe Bhengu to judge

the canapés submiEed and select seven

young chefs as compe44on finalists, who

will win a spot in the event kitchen.

Africa on a Plate producer Lentswe Bhengu

New Chefs Who Share opportunity for young chefs