August 2007 Archives

With the school term set to start Kitchen Rat has heard rumblings that 1920's style American prohibition practices could become reality in England with sugary snacks - about to be outlawed other than at lunch times - the new alcohol.

Yes in future years it seems school leavers will reminisce about knowing Jimmy the Fist and William the Kid (literally) who saw an opportunity and earned so much selling cakes and such at break-times that they no longer needed pocket money.

Certainly at least one school is apparently intending to hide banned cakes and sugary snacks under the counter when the Ofsted inspectors call, although there are fears over whether the pupils will keep stum.

With enterprising want-to-be Al Capone's doing rather nicely in the playground supplying illicit sugary goods one suspects there will be plenty of children ready to spill the beans to the inspectors and speak-easy to protect their share of the market.

School caterers vs children vs the authorities. Just what have we set in motion in the name of healthy eating?

School food trust at sea with Captain Pugwash>>

Chips are down: School caterers on the march to war>>

School meals reform is likely to backfire, says Compass boss>>

Pubs might get knocked as the less sexy side of hospitality but who cares about being sexy when you are rolling in cash?

Well Punch Taverns's chief executive Giles Thorley certainly doesn't (actually I can't voutch for Thorley's worries about being sexy but in this context I hope he lets it slide). Thorley pulled in a total salary package of £11,276,000 last year. A staggering 1,148 times the average salery of employees in the group which at £9,821 is the second lowest of any FTSE company.

Thorley is only the third highest paid director in the UK behind Bob Diamond Jr at Barclay's (£23m) and Bart Brecht at Reckitt Benckiser, the makers of Cilit Bang (on £22.1m).

While such a wage packet will make the vast majority of us whince (particularly those on the average wage at Punch) poor Rooney Anand at Punch rival Greene King must be wondering where he went wrong. Last year he only scraped together £891,000, less than a 12th of Thorley's package.

While there will be a little of the green-eyed monster in all of us when we look at what Thorley earns - it is worth remembering the old adage: it's not the size that counts but what you do with it. Judging by the reaction it appears the only thing Thorley has done with his wages is generate bad headlines for Punch.

It seems 2007 is turning out to be a very good year for contract caterer Aramark.

Kitchen Rat hears the caterer has pulled off a second major business and industry catering win following its estimated £15m a year BBC contract.

Aramark’s credit must be high as the caterer has taken over the complete running of banking giant HBOS’s catering, thought to be around 25 sites nationwide. A major coup!

The feeding duties were previously split between Aramark and Sodexho and although the value of the deal has not been officially confirmed industry sources believe it to be multi-million. Estimates run from £8m in annual turnover up, so that should keep the bank manager from the door.

Silly season is of course August for the media at large and a particularly mouth watering piece of silly City gossip doing the rounds (again) is that the UK’s largest pub company – by number of boozers – Punch Taverns could be subject to a bid.

But just who would have the dutch courage required to pull of such an audacious bid for a FTSE 100 company as the world's financial markets lie in ruins?

None other than Mitchells & Butlers, which with turnover in 2006 of £1.72b and pre-tax profit north of £200m might just have both the bottle and the financial clout to do so.

In an espresso fulled expansion of breakneck proportions Costa Coffee is set to open its 600th store tomorrow (15 August), or is it?

The Whitbread owned company has coffee outlet 600 lined up to fling open its doors to the general public in London’s Wimbledon tomorrow.

Far from Kitchen Rat to be a mean (coffee) bean but wasn’t it just back in May of this year that the then surprising news that Costa had surpassed coffee chain rival Starbucks lead several commentators to cry foul?

Exciting news reaches us from Thistle Hotels, which is really pushing the boat out to treat its employees.

The chain has invested in new facilities for its employee rest areas, accommodation and workspaces, giving workers “the opportunity to relax in style”.

Head of HR Christian Armstrong said: “The upgraded facilities will make it a home from home for employees. High quality furniture will be distributed to each of the hotels and employees will be able to choose their own accessories and soft furnishings.”

With the new series of Hell's Kitchen getting ever closer, nervous ITV mandarins this week called Marco Pierre White in for a heart-to-heart about his language.

A seven-second lag on the ‘live’ broadcast will allow the producers to bleep out any unacceptable language, but that doesn’t dispel the spectre of Marco causing mortal offence to lip-readers up and down the country.

According to the chef, a pale, unassuming man from the legal department turned a bright shade of beetroot as he read out the c-word, the n-word and the host of other –words that Mary Whitehouse had nightmares about.

Latest London restaurant rumour to reach the Rat after the news that Caprice chef director Mark Hix was quitting the group that runs the Ivy is that the boys at Two-Michelin starred Pied À Terre in Charlotte Street are planning to spread their wings and launch a second site in the capital.

Details are sketchy at present but Pied à Terre majority owner David Moore and chef business partner Shane Osborn are said to be poised to sign for a new property shortly.

An extra bit of tittle tattle suggestions that a new star will be installed to look after the day to day cooking and there is some sort of connection to a BBC TV show.

David Moore opinion: Let diners decide whether to tip>>