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Fancy a Gourmet Break in Provence?

If you fancy an all inclusive Autumn Gourmet Break in Provence with vineyard tours given by our english speaking sommeliere, visits to St Tropez and of course fabulous seasonal dinners each eveng...visit us at http://www.yourtasteofprovence.com/2010/06/25/ourmetweekends/

for more information...

We have bookings for the 4 thru 8th November...why not join in - 3 double rooms to reserve left that we

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Added by Ian Wood on July 21, 2010 at 10:50am — No Comments

Dishoom: A Design Review

Dishoom caught my eye the other day whilst walking along Upper St. Martin’s Lane. With its smart black shopfront and little gold pendants hanging over the long marble sharing table in the window I just had to go in and have a look around. I didn’t have time to stop though so I made a plan to come back as soon as possible for a better look and to try some of the temptin

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Added by Carrie Webb on July 14, 2010 at 11:32am — No Comments

CitizenM Amsterdam: A Design Review

I recently went to Amsterdam and had the pleasure of staying at the CitizenM hotel there. With their brand new Glasgow hotel opening in August I thougt now might be be a good time to share my thoughts.

In case you’re not familiar with it, Citize

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Added by Carrie Webb on July 2, 2010 at 3:56pm — 4 Comments

Brunswick House Cafe: A Design Review

Lassco, the architectural salvage company, has recently opened the Brunswick House Cafe at its premises in Vauxhall.

Now dwarfed by the super-ugly St Georges Wharf complex, the once imposing Brunswick House stands proudly where it

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Added by Carrie Webb on June 17, 2010 at 10:25am — No Comments

Motivational techniques for your staff

After working for The National Skills Academy Hospitality for little over a month I have noticed an area in staff training which is sorely missed in many companies. There are very few places concentrating on motivating their teams in this current economic climate. I have noticed that unless your peers are passing this golden information do

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Added by Frances Sturt on June 9, 2010 at 10:00am — 4 Comments

Novotel Amsterdam City: A Design Review

OK so first of all I have to come clean and admit that I was actually part of the design team who created this interior! I will try to be objective but I'm making no promises!

The project began in 2006 with the masterplanning stage. I joined Proof Consultancy in 2007 and we began work on the concept. As the European flagship hotel for Accor's biggest brand this hotel was to be exciting, new and different. It was to blen

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Added by Carrie Webb on June 3, 2010 at 9:28am — No Comments

The Tommyfield: A Design Review

You can read this and other design reviews on our website www.paperspacedesign.co.uk

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Added by Carrie Webb on May 25, 2010 at 11:04am — No Comments

Keep the change

Having worked within the industry as a waitress I understand the confusion for customers as to who their card tips and service charge are going to. It does vary throughout the industry and many of the companies are not clear as to how much of a percentage is lost to cover legitimate cost and how much the server is finally left with. However the British Hospitality Association have published a voluntary code of practice on service charges and are urging restaurants, including hotel restaurants

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Added by Frances Sturt on May 24, 2010 at 6:21pm — 1 Comment

DIVISION BELL

DIVISION BELL With all the comings and goings in politics I could not help but remember the time I worked at Lockets Restaurant near the Houses of Parliament. Lockets was part of Genevieve Restaurants owned by Joseph Berkmann, for whom I worked at Au Jardin des Gourmets in Soho. As the position of Sommelier became available I jumped at the opportunity, for several reasons. The main reason was that Lockets was open from Monday to Friday only. For once I could enjoy the weekend like most of my fri… Continue

Added by Remo Mongiat - FBII on May 13, 2010 at 12:52pm — 1 Comment

An excellent start to my new venture.

On my first day at the National Skills Academy for Hospitality I had the pleasure of attending Jim Sullivan’s UK workshop 2010 Fundamentals “How to be brilliant at service operations and leadership”. I found it extremely interesting as his comical approach to presenting, combined with an interaction kept us all stimulated and focused throughout the day.

He covered a range of topics. One in particular interested me immensely; “why leadership needs to change as economy changes.” He

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Added by Frances Sturt on May 10, 2010 at 9:02am — 1 Comment

JUST FOR A LAUGH

Found this letter which was send to the Radio Times.

It is a challenge to the genius of Heston Blumenthal, the author said.

Try this groundbraking recipe. It is for a Patagonian-style dish ' with a twist ' .

You will need an extinct frog. Don't worry, any extinct frog will do. Cook the frog by waving at it every time you enter the kitchen. It will take about a year to cook through. If you like it crispy, start to give it a wave and a wink afte

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Added by Remo Mongiat - FBII on April 23, 2010 at 3:58pm — 2 Comments

Intuition in Business: Are You Your Own Best Advisor?

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Added by Margie Tosch on April 14, 2010 at 9:19pm — 1 Comment

The Springboard update

Another busy week ahead at Springboard with the closing date for Olive Barnett Awards 2010 http://bit.ly/9F5Cdj on Tuesday and our annual fundraiser event in May, people in events team at head office will be flat out!

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Added by Sam Coulstock MIH on April 12, 2010 at 6:20pm — No Comments

Bangalore Express (City): A Design Review

The new Bangalore Express restaurant just off Gracechurch Street in the City had a hard act to follow in the form of the original at Waterloo with its dynamic blue-green colour palette and its bunk-bed style booths. Waterloo Leisure (the company behind the Bangalore Express restaurants) aims to re-invent the curry house as a modern venue offering fast, healthy indian f

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Added by Carrie Webb on April 6, 2010 at 5:39pm — 2 Comments

The hotcatUK Blog: Contacts, Friends and who you give access to your inbox

The concept of "online friend" is somewhat different to what we would consider a "friend" outside cyberspace. If you have a look at my facebook and hotcatUK profiles, you will see that I have somewhere between 200 and 400 friends/contacts. I really aren't that popular, as I will explain.

This morning I spend a bit of time looking at my contact/friend list here on hotcatUK just to find that it breaks down, roughly, as follows:… Continue

Added by Jose Ruiz on March 20, 2010 at 9:30am — 4 Comments

Haya

Ok here goes as this is my first blog entry on here I think it would be best that the people who read later entry’s should know a little about me.

Where to begin. I started off working in the Zap club in Brighton as a Bar back when I was 18. I soon fell in love with working in the Indus

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Added by Alexander Spencer on March 9, 2010 at 9:06pm — 1 Comment

The hotcatUK Blog: hotcatUK Live events

hotcatUK isn’t just about the forums…

Every month or so, we at hotcatUK venture out from behind our keyboards and arrange gatherings so that our members can meet each other in real-time social networking. It helps cement the contacts made on the website itself and has contributed in making hotcatUK a busy and friendly online… Continue

Added by Jose Ruiz on February 28, 2010 at 8:00pm — No Comments

7 Steps to Creating a Social Media Strategy

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Added by Margie Tosch on February 26, 2010 at 8:59pm — No Comments

Do you know a Scot who deserves recognition

Just a quick note below about the HIT Scotland lifetime achievement award. They are currently seeking nominations, so if you know of someone who has had an impact on your career get in touch with David Cochrane. They are looking for nominations from members of the industry so feel free to nominate someone close to you or someone you respect from afar.

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Nominations Sought for Scottish Hospi

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Added by Joe Walton on February 26, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

The Benefits of Refurbishment in an Economic Downturn

This article was recently published in Total Hospitality Magazine. (Issue 40)… Continue

Added by Carrie Webb on February 25, 2010 at 1:19pm — No Comments

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Will Davies, Deidre Saunders, Raul Levis and 2 other members are attending Jose Ruiz's event

hotcatUK Live (London) at The Paramount Club

July 29, 2010 from 6:45pm to 9:30pm

hotcatUK Live are monthly networking events for members of hotcatUK. They are the perfect time to catch up with fellow hotel and catering professionals, make new contacts and discuss the hottest topics affecting hospitality in a relaxed atmosphere.…

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Deidre Saunders and Lucy Green joined hotcatUK

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Neil Preston commented on Jose Ruiz's event 'hotcatUK Live (London)'

p.s. Richard, be careful of your probing tongue now after a few glasses of wine ;-)

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Neil Preston commented on Jose Ruiz's event 'hotcatUK Live (London)'

Hi All Just spoken with Bronen Vienna regards the social network recruitment presentation today and it sounds like it was very informative, shame I couldn't make it! Alas tonight I will not be able to attend as it is our Off to Work annual meeting…

4 hours ago