espresso September 2012

espressofast food & café culture

www.espressomagazine.co.nz | September 2012 | Volume 01 | Issue 05

A bit on the sideSauce, spice and all things nice

page 20

To bake or buy – The great debate page 23

Technology – Keeping up with the future page 26

September 2012 | espresso 1

EDITOR: Jane WarwickE: [email protected]

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Yes

Editorial

Everyone reading this magazine has an affinity with food – whether you opened your café, bakery or takeaway because you are emotionally involved in food or whether you simply see food as a viable business. All of you are surrounded by food all day, every day. None of you are hungry. So all of you should be even more attuned to the fact that in this country, this country where we are all – or should be – so very lucky, there are people going hungry. You spend your days surrounded by food, you even throw out food, and others go hungry.

You can have all the feelings and opinions you want about why people go hungry in New Zealand and you are entitled to them but while you are shaking your head and debating the issue, don’t forget about the children. Their hunger is not their fault. No matter that you might think their empty bellies are the result of poor parenting, bad money skills or simple neglect – no matter what you think, it is not the children’s fault they are hungry.

So check out your neighbourhood. Talk to teachers, clergy, the Police and other agencies. You might be able to help. How hard is it to fling another tray of scones or muffins in the oven, turn out another few pies, cut a few more sandwiches? Who knows that several years down the track, that young doctor now tending your old age, that young nurse, that young couple next door setting off to work each morning, all those young people with a future might have that future because you spent an extra ten minutes making Vegemite sandwiches for the local kindergarten and with full bellies they had the energy to learn and succeed. You’ll probably never know but go ahead and do it anyway. Someone out there will be grateful.

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.

Seneca

Roman Philosopher

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espresso | September 20122

The winner of our book giveaway – PIE by Dean Brettschneider – is the Arthur’s Pass Café & Store. There were a lot of entries so obviously pies are still obviously a top choice for customers!Thanks to Penguin Books for providing us with a copy to pass on.Watch this space for more chances to win books that we think you’ll enjoy.

Contents

esespresso shorts

3 No muffin unturnedJacinta Potter may be a novice baker but she was good enough to win the New Zealand section of the Muffin Break Ultimate Bake Off. The win qualified her for the Grand Finale at the Muffin Break Training Academy in Sydney.

4 The name game; Happy Birthday Diet Coke; Accolade for Chef; Snickers for Snickers; The Good Oil; T Rex Rules in 2012; Unique Bar; Usain Supports Gatorade; Tea Redefined; Guilt Free; What The…?!; Cooking Up A Storm; Yes, We Can!

cc café culture

8 Café of the Month: Tuihana Café AucklandAn Auckland cafe owner has used his IT skills to develop a low-cost text, tweet and email ordering system, which is starting to take off.

10 Monin Barista of the MonthThe original Caffeine Laboratory was destroyed in the Canterbury Quakes and Joel Raf’s new spot is in a shipping cube rather than a container. It’s only about two-metres deep and has no plumbing, just bottled water and a grey-water container stored neatly under the bench.

12 New Zealand Café of the Year UpdatePublic voting has begun in the inaugural New Zealand Café of the year competition but there is still time to put your café forward for a chance to win.

13 Crumbs! It’s a makeoverMake space on your front counter – one of New Zealand’s favourite biscuits has undergone its biggest packaging overhaul in 20 years. Cookie Time gets a new look.

ff fast foods

14 A little bit of Spain via FranceIt doesn’t take long for the first diners to arrive at the Paella Pan stall at the Sunday night markets in the Auckland suburb of Glenfield. It is clear that, although surrounded by dozens of other food outlets, Paella Pan is a firm favourite.

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16 Reinventing the wheelAfter travelling and falling in love with Italy and Italian food in particular, Phil Bennet returned to New Zealand, hung up his baker’s apron, put on a grembiule – an Italian apron – and began to make pasta. That was eleven years ago in a very different New Zealand, where fresh pasta was not so easy to find.

18 A moveable feastWhen it comes down to it, the easiest thing about starting up a pizza business, is simply that people like pizza, says Andy Thomson. The hardest thing is building a reputation and keeping it, especially if you are operating off a trailer in an earthquake-ravaged city.

29 Chicken and mushroom ravioli in a creamy port wine sauceEspresso sales manager, James Ellis shows how to make this delicious pasta dish from scratch.

Features

20 A bit on the side – sauce, spice and all things niceWhile a dish should be able to stand on its own, a good condiment can make an enormous difference to enjoying the taste, recognising the flavour and even appreciating the texture of a meal.

23 To bake or buy – The great debateWhat proportion of baked goods do cafés buy in, compared to how many items are baked on site? We spoke to 15 cafés that we knew had kitchen facilities before we conceded a rather bewildered defeat. Asking a café about buying in food was, in these 15 instances at least, met with silence, indigna-tion and not a little suspicion.

26 Technology – Keeping up with the futureIt is no secret that technology is moving faster than you can turn out hot pies and small businesses need to get up to speed or face losing business.

cc chit chat

30 Beware the scammersNew Zealand businesses are urged to be on the lookout for overseas scammers who appear to be targeting local busi-nesses regarding unsolicited trademark and domain name services with increasing frequency.

31 Brickbats and bouquets – How to survive a bad reviewThese days with new technologies, it sometimes seems our lives are spiraling out of control. What do you do if your café or bakery gets a bad review on-line?

32 Blackboard

Cover image of Caviaroli courtesy of Souschef.co.nz


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Available in 1 litre and 200ml glass bottles

100% pure organic made from ripe pomegranates

Jacinta Potter from Barrington Mall Muffin Break in Christchurch won the New Zealand franchise best baker in this year’s Muffin Break Ultimate Bake Off. Potter scored a near-perfect 99 per cent for her muffins from the judges, putting her in first-equal spot with a NSW finalist and late last month she headed off to represent New Zealand in the Grand Final round of the Muffin Break Ultimate Bake-Off 2012 at the Muffin Break Training Academy in Sydney.

"Baking is my passion - for me, it is all about creating my own little bit of love and allows me to really use my creativity and my imagination," she says. It was her first trip overseas, so she had a double dose of excitement to contend with.

In Sydney each of the six Grand Finalists was given just 15 minutes to serve the judges three traditional muffin varie-ties of their choice, plus one signature dish. “There was an incredible atmosphere while we were competing, filled with encouragement and support and excitement from everyone around us,” says Potter, whose signature dish was a raspberry

and white chocolate “Slake” – a cross between a slice and a cake.

Although Potter didn’t win she was chuffed to receive really positive feedback about her baking from the judges. “They told me I had a lot of potential considering I’ve been baking for just three months, and there were people competing who’d been baking for ten years! It was an amazing experience. I was surrounded by such a talented group of people and made some great friends!”

David Drury, national operations manager of Foodco New Zealand, which owns the Muffin Break brand, was a technical advisor at the competition. He said that Potter had handled the pressure extremely well and it had been heartening to see how she grew in confidence over the months from first entry to finalist.

The winner was Potter’s nemesis from NSW, Brett Mitchell of Muffin Break Erina, who had also done well in last year’s Grand Final.

No muffin unturned

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Limited edition cans and bottles of an upcoming Coca Cola promotion are expected to fly off the shelves as the younger set searches for their names and the names of their friends, so cafes, bakeries and other food outlets need to keep an eye on their stock to make sure they’re part of the action. New Zealand is just the second market for the campaign which will see 150 of this country’s most popular names appear on containers of the soft drink.

The Share aCOKE® campaign aims to encourage consumers to drink aCOKE® with a friend or someone else they want to get to know. The campaign will include a series of ‘vibrant’ television commercials featuring real Kiwis sharing aCOKE® with their family and friends, while out-of-home and targeted proximity advertising will support key retail partners, says Coca-Cola Oceania’s Marketing Manager, Brid Drohan Stewart. And if consumers can’t find their name or the name of a friend they can resort to the cans with Mate, Sis, Bro, Mum or Dad. An initiative in some shopping malls will also mean that Coke-lovers will be able to print off their own name on a label to attach to their COKE® purchase. Go to www.shareacoke.co.nz or the COCA-COLA New Zealand facebook page.

The name game

Happy birthday Diet Coke!

Diet Coke has turned 30 and is now said to be the world’s third most popular soft drink. The concept was the first addition to the now extensive Coca-Cola family and, claims the company, is often recognised as the most successful brand extension in history.

Chef, restaurateur and television host Michael Van de Elzen has been inducted into the Restaurant Association of New Zealand Hall of Fame. Marisa Bidois, CEO of the Restaurant Association said “Michael is a worthy inductee. His many skills, flamboyant personality, thirst for knowledge and love of the industry have helped him achieve great things as a chef, cookbook author, restaurateur and most recently as host of TVNZ’s Food Truck show.Van de Elzen began his career at Tony’s Vineyard Restaurant before moving to Kermadec and then Antik where he was head chef at just 22 years old. He did his OE in some of the best kitchens in London before

returning to New Zealand to open Molten in Mt Eden (Auckland). He has had two successful seasons of the show, Food Truck.

Accolade for chef

Snickers for snickersAs reported last month, often reviled broadcaster Paul Henry is fronting a Snickers ad that has the brief “when you’re hungry, you’re off your game”. Henry joins Betty White, Joe Pesci, Aretha Franklin, Liza Minnelli and Joan Collins who have featured in Snickers commercials in more than 56 markets. The New Zealand ad has drawn more than a few snickers from over 12,000 Kiwis who have downloaded the YouTube clip. See it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uiRvU6hcic

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First impressions count. Creating the right atmosphere by dressing like a professional will help your venue succeed. Dress for success. Inspire your guests with confidence by how you and your staff appear.

Call 050 Uniform (0508 643 676) now for your FREE Arrow Uniforms catalogue. Or download a copy - www.arrowuniforms.co.nz

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THE WINNING WAY TO WELCOME YOUR GUESTS

Chef Rex Morgan of Wellington’s Boulcoutt Street Bistro was the winner of Burger Wellington’s 2012 Cook Off. His entry served on a shoulder bone, held in place by a rib bone with sauce supplied in a cannon bone, saw off stiff competi-tion from Wellington City’s Shinobi Sushi Lounge, Plimmerton’s Topor Bistro and Bar, Miramar’s Café Polo and Greytown’s Bar Salute, say the organisers and had everything – “…drama, fun, spectacular presentation and flavour in abundance – the braised short rib was a particularly inspired touch. A better class of burger – a bit next level. A worthy champion.” The annual competition attracted 4510 votes in 17 days over 63 entrants. The five with the highest average score went to the cook-off. Winner: Boulcoutt Street Bistro (Wellington City) – The T Rex: Preston’s Hereford BBQ short rib and ground chuck patty with horseradish celery salad and beetroot relish, with handcut fries.Finalist: Shinobi Sushi Lounge (Wellington City) – Shinobi Spicy Fish Burger: Spicy Wellington Trawling Sea Market fish of the day patty with a kumara and red onion kaki-age, salad greens, and an avocado and tomato salsa in a steamed bun, with

lotus root crisps and ama-zu beetroot.Finalist: Café Polo (Miramar) – Polly’s Gone Burger: Freshly ground Wairarapa beef patty with PrimeStar beef bacon, caramel-ised onion, Polo BBQ sauce, housemade pickles and Kingsmeade Wairarapa Jack cheese on a toasted bun, with handcut truffle fries.Finalist: Topor Bistro and Bar (Plimmerton) – Poles Apart!: Polish keilbasa sausage with caramelised red cabbage, horse-radish aioli and balsamic-roasted porto-bello mushroom, with honey-roasted beetroot and gourmet potatoes.Finalist: Bar Salute (Greytown) – Bar Salute Dessert Burger: Banana and kaffir lime patty with candied persimmon, coconut, mango and chargrilled pineapple on Cottage Lane ciabatta, with chunky cinnamon sugared `fries .́

T Rex rules in 2012Chefs interested in culinary

oils should keep an eye on the 2012 New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition. The competition celebrates the quality and variety of culinary oils commercially available for retail sale in New Zealand, giving oil producers the opportunity to benchmark their quality product and promoting to consumers the best gourmet oils available in the marketplace. The competition, organized by the Canterbury A&P Association in conjunction with the Canterbury A&P Show, is in its ninth year and is open to New Zealand produced oils with classes for Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Light, Medium and Intense), Walnut Oil, Hazelnut Oil, Avocado Oil, and Infused Olive Oil. “The New Zealand olive industry is still relatively young with around 100 producers. It can be a challenge to profile New Zealand oils to consumers, espe-cially with the large number of imported brands currently avail-able,” says convener Rae Finlay. Entries close 5pm Thursday 25 October with winners announced on Wednesday 31 October 2012. www.theshow.co.nz/2012-show/feature-competitions/olive-oil/

The good oil

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Usain supports gatoradeFresh from his Olympic triumph, Usain Bolt is featuring in a new campaign for Frucor’s Gatorade. And, to the delight of many, the World's Fastest Man will be visiting New Zealand next month as part of a Gatorade promotional tour. Watch your local press for details.

Here’s a good product for your counter that might encourage your customers who think they are being ‘good’ and not buying a muffin, to nevertheless add something to their coffee order.Cookie Time has patented its One Square Meal bar in New Zealand, one of the rare times that food has actually been patented. The idea of a patent came up when the company developed the product, which is made up of exactly one third of the macro and micro nutritional needs that we need each day. The bar development was considered revolutionary because the approach was to start with a RDI, the recommended daily intake of nutrients and develop the bar around those requirements, rather than the other way around. Cookie Time general manager Lincoln Booth said that although there were many good nutritious bars out there as meal enhancements or replacements, there wasn’t any they could find that were so specifically balanced. It took six years for the patent to be granted, while the patents office thoroughly investigated the propo-sition and now, says Booth, Cookie Time has sole rights to sell food perfectly-apportioned from the RDI for 20 years. Cookie Time is developing a cereal and liquid form of the One Square Meal as well.

Café owners, bakeries and takeaways need to make sure they are stocked up with the new Just Juice Tropical Fruit flavour with 50% less sugar. Today’s health-conscious consumers are sure to be looking out for

it. The drink is sweetened with natural Stevia - a plant extract used for centu-ries by South Americans as a favoured natural sweetener, says the company. Other flavours with 50% less sugar are Juicy Orange and Cheeky Apple. Actor Antonia Prebble is the launch star of the new product, which comes in 1 litre and 2.4 litre packs. www.frucor.co.nz

Unique bar

Although it is often thought that the term ‘a square meal’ is a naval expression from the square wooden plates used by sailors in the days of sailing ships, it is now thought the expression came from America in the early 1800s. The word ‘square’ to mean honest or true was recorded back in the 16th century in Britain but it began to be cited in American publications around 1840 when, according to William Brohaugh’s book, English Through the Ages, “there was a spate of coinage of food words in the USA”. These included cottage cheese, cupcake, chili con carne, seafood and tenderloin. But, back to a square meal – this expression meant that you would be served a good and satisfying meal, an honest meal.

Super-low in sugar and super-rich in polyphenols - nature’s most powerful antioxidants – means Ti Tonics are definitely not your ordinary kind of drink, say the creators of the beverage. Founder, Dr Tracey King, an internationally successful tennis player and academic with a PhD in Health Psychology, teamed up with two plant scientists and entrepreneur James Ehau, on a “mission is to deliver better-tasting, better looking and better-for-you bever-ages”. Each bottle of Ti Tonic contains a base fusion of white tea, which as three times as many polyphenols as green tea and grape seed, which has polyphenols with an antioxidant effect 20x more powerful than Vitamin E and 50x greater than Vitamin C. The potion is then flavoured with pome-granate, blueberry, nectarine, passionfruit or mango. There are no artificial flavours, sweeteners or preservatives and less than 3g of sugar per serving. Each Ti Tonics drink has an ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbing Capacity) value of between 3000 and 5000, supplying the same antioxidant power as three servings of blueberries or ten servings of raspberries. www.ti-tonics.com

Guilt free

Playgrounds at American fast-food restaurants will have to meet strict cleaning standards under a proposed new law requiring the play spaces to be as germ-free as the eating areas. The law would require restaurants to devise policies to keep the areas clean and would be obliged to inform parents as to how regularly they clean the playground structures. Critics say the cost could be prohibitive.

What the…?!Germ busters

Tea redefined

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Not everyone looks forward to Christmas. For many people the celebration is just one more stress, especially about food. It is hard enough struggling to feed the family everyday meals without wishing there was something just a bit different and exciting to eat on 25th December. Cue the Wattie’s Cans Film Festival. On 7th November you can go to the movies for the price of a can of food, courtesy of Wattie’s, Hoyts, EVENT and Reading cinemas.

The deal is this – take a can of food to one of the above participating theatres on 7th November and they will swap it for a movie ticket. All the cans will go to the Salvation Army food bank as part of the organisation’s annual Christmas Appeal. But wait, there’s more! Wattie’s will match all donations can for can. Last year 45,380 cans were donated, which took the overall total of cans collected at this event over the past 18 years to one million. To check out what films will be showing and where go to www.watties.co.nz or https://www.facebook.com/wattiescansfilmfestival

Yes We Can! (with apologies to Barack Obama)

Diary itWattie’s Cans Film Festival7th November

Café Category entrants (meal and beverage under $25)• Adam & Evas, Havelock North• At E's Café, Havelock North• Bay Espresso Havelock North• Bay Espresso Market Street, Hastings• Bay Espresso Omahu Rd, Hastings• Bay Espresso Taradale• Bay Espresso, Karamu Road, Hastings• Groove Kitchen Espresso, Napier• Mega Cafe Hastings• Pernel Fruitworld, Hastings• The Tuki Kitchen, Havelock North• Thyme Café, Havelock North

Cooking up a storm in Hawke’s Bay

A dish that reflects the best produce from Hawke’s Bay is the aim of contestants in the sixth Hawke’s Bay Regional Signature Dish competition now on.

Cafes were only invited to join the contest last year and interest from this category remains high, says Jane Libby, Food Hawke’s Bay General Manager. Following feedback from 2011, a few changes have been made, tightening up on the Hawke’s Bay grown and produced criteria the chefs have to abide by. “It is an integral part of the competi-tion, ensuring we are really showcasing our food producers and abundance of produce in Hawke’s Bay, most of the Hawke’s Bay chefs are pretty good at supporting ‘local’ anyway, but sometimes it takes this event to spark a few of them into researching what we have on offer”, says Libby.

At least five ingredients in the proffered recipes must be purchased from the Hawke’s Bay Farmers Market, which is held in Napier on Saturdays and Hastings on Sundays. In the first round the ingredients do not have to be actually purchased at the market but they must be compo-nents that can be found there.

The entries are served at participating cafes and restaurants and are voted on by the public and by Food Hawke’s Bay judges until 21st September. Then the votes will be counted and the winner from each category will go into the final competition, the Market Challenge on 30th September. On this day the three finalists will be given time to purchase their ingredients at the market, where they will also be given a set amount of time to cook their dish, also at the market, using a BBQ and/or gas ring.

The event, launched on 7th September, runs for 5 weeks until the 16th October. Results will be announced at a cocktail function at the Hawke’s Bay Opera House on Tuesday 23rd October.


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An Auckland cafe owner has used his IT skills to develop a low-cost text, tweet and email ordering system, which is starting to take off.

Nate Dunn and partner Leslie Guillard bought the Tuihana Cafe in Mt Eden (Auckland) 18 months ago after deciding to invest in a cafe business instead of saving for their first home.

Dunn is also the co-founder of 3Bit, a software company and says while he may be the IT brains in the business, Guillard, who used to work for Bidvest, has all the hospitality know-how, so they

make a great team.Customers at their busy licensed

50-seat cafe can order on-the-go coffees and food via text, tweet or e-mail via soft-ware developer Dunn’s unique custom-made communication hub system.

The hardware is based on phone system hardware that his company used to sell, although he has since sold that division off.

“The main brains run off a touch-screen till connected to a small modem sitting under the counter, which plugs into our POS system. The software I’ve

written is the brain that communicates the orders.”

Customers send their text message order, e-mail or tweet, which the system prints off as a receipt for the barista to complete. They then reconcile the purchase when the customer comes to collect their order.

“It all started when we had customers inquiring about text ordering,” says Dunn.

His ideas were inspired after his involvement installing a similar system at a fast-food restaurant. The technology

CAFÉ OF THE MONTH

Tuihana CaféThe Future is NowTuihana CaféThe Future is Now


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used in that fit-out cost several thousand dollars but Dunn says for most hospitality businesses, the profit margins are too small to invest in such a costly system.

He says the beauty of his system is that busy baristas get to work with a printed receipt, scribble on it and add to it.

“Hospitality staff are really good at what they do, but not usually with computers, and this way is simple.”

The system sends customers a reply message immediately acknowledging their order.

Dunn has looked at other technology options, but in a busy cafe environment where the dust from coffee grinds and food can be spilt on more expensive tablets, his system comes up trumps.

At present Tuihana has about 45 customers registered on the system with up to 15 using it every morning and the rest probably twice a week. The majority prefer to text their order.

“Text messaging is definitely growing. The big thing is getting people signed on but once they are, they’re away.”

Staff training has also been important

to ensure the system is sold to patrons.“We’ve had ads about this method

of ordering in the cafe for months and people don’t read them, but if we suggest it they are more receptive.”

Dunn is now looking at how he can sell his system to other New Zealand hospitality owners. He’s partnered with a local POS installer interested in installing the system, but says he won’t make a push until all the bugs are worked out of the system.

Tuihana Café, 114 Dominion Road, Mt Eden. @tuihanacafe


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It’s a bleak, grey winter day in Christchurch. Even the brightly painted shipping containers that now pass for shops and cafes in the devastated city’s new Re:Start precinct can’t quite dispel the gloom. Except over there, in the right-hand corner just by where some food wagons from the crumpled Arts Centre have relocated, someone is laughing. Joel Raf, barista of the Caffeine Laboratory is cracking a joke with a customer although as you glance around at the CBD, which is now an enormous building site, you’d wonder what there was to laugh about. Lots, it would seem, especially if you are a local and as is common in the face of disaster,

becoming adept at black humour. Raf’s new spot, now the original

Caffeine Laboratory is a heap of rubble, is in a shipping cube rather than a container. It’s only about two-metres deep and has no plumbing, just bottled water and a grey-water container stored neatly under the bench. Raf is pensive and somewhat bashful for the camera but once the lens is put away his cheerfulness returns and he is back to bantering with his customers. They’re mostly regulars, who have followed Raf from the coffee shop’s original site now somewhere under the earthquake debris, to the first resur-rection in a container on Montreal Street and onto the Laboratory’s second outlet

BARISTA OF THE MONTH

Joel Raf – Caffeine Laboratory


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in this half-container on Cashel Street.Business is steady, says Raf despite the lack of seats and

only being able to offer a takeaway service. The biggest downside seems to be for Raf himself; the late winter wind is whistling past and there is a wicked chill in the air that seems independent of the icy wind. “The steam and heat from the coffee machine, keeps me warm,” he says but I’m not entirely convinced. What I do know, is that Raf must be committed to his job and his customers because it’s been a long time between permanent premises and looks as if it will be even longer still before many of the cafes and coffee bars in Christchurch’s CBD in particular, get any new foundations at all.

“We were lucky,” he says. “We were allowed into our old shop and got out most of our equipment undamaged. It made it easy to set up again. And everyone wanted some sort of normalcy as soon as possible so really, as long as we had our name displayed and continued to make great coffee, it didn’t really matter where we served it from. All that matters is that the customer continues to get what they want and expect from us, even if now it is only in a paper cup.” The group of customers prepared to stand and wait, stamping their feet and blowing on their hands confirms that. www.caffeinelab.co.nz

Discover Ultimate Creativity with MONIN!

In 2012 MONIN celebrates its 100th Birthday built upon a legacy of quality, innovation, versatility and service. With over 80 products in the range, MONIN is ideal for use in cafes, bars and foodservice. Crafted from only the best natural ingredients (pure Cane Sugar, fruits, fl owers, spices and nuts) to create genuine fl avours, MONIN Syr-ups are not only tasteful but versatile; from sophiscated cocktails, fl avoured coffees and tea to fl avoured sodas, milkshakes and smoothies…the possiblities are endless!

The MONIN range includes Syrups, Purees and Sauces and is perfect for all beverage creations, from simple

classics to extravagant creations!

Contact your Stuart Alexander sales representative for more information or call Consumer Services,

phone 0800 188 484

Discover ultimate recipes on: www.MONIN.com

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ccPublic voting has begun in the inaugural New Zealand Café of the year competition but there is still time to put your café forward for a chance to win.

You have until 18th October to register and come up with a clever and tasty way of using Wattie’s baked beans and Kiwi bacon. How hard can that be? Everyone loves baked beans and bacon, so ask around your friends and neigh-bours – how do they like their baked beans and bacon? This will give you some valuable ideas for your own take on a favourite recipe.

Public voting via text, online and Facebook closes on October 28. Once the votes are counted the top three cafés from five key

Voting begins!regions go through for judging. They are scored by an expert panel based on appear-ance, atmosphere, service, meals and overall experience. The winner will be announced in November.

The Grand Prize includes:• A TV feature of your café and your

Wattie’s Baked Beans and Kiwi Bacon dish

• An online recipe feature• Your recipe emailed to the Food in a

Minute database, which currently has over 110,000 people subscribed

• Recipe cards featured in-store at New Zealand supermarkets

• Your café and your Wattie’s Baked Beans and Kiwi Bacon dish profiled on Food in a Minute, Café of the Year, Wattie’s Baked BeaNZ and Kiwi Bacon Facebook pages

• Monthly mentoring from Tony Adcock and Geoffrey Chun for six months.

The four regional winners will also get monthly mentoring from Tony Adcock and Geoffrey Chun for six months as well as $1000 worth of product from Goodman Fielder and Wattie’s and a 12-month member-ship to The Restaurant Association. Fifteen regional finalists will also get a 12-month membership to The Restaurant Association.

See www.nzcafeoftheyear.co.nz. for details.

Voting begins!Voting begins!

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MASSIVE SUPERSPRING SPECIALS ONLINE!

Above specials only available onlinewww.a1safetynpackaging.co.nz* Carton prices only valid till 30/09/12* *all prices are GST inclusive*

A1 Safety & Packaging NZ Ltd

Serviettes Straws 12oz Smoothie Cup

$24ctn $90ctn $135ctn $86ctn $37ctn $120ctn1000pcs

With Dome Lid

Individually Wrapped

10,000pcs3000pcs

330x600

Foam Food Box

Containers with Lids

500ml

TG288

500 6Roll

Lacy Food wrap

500

Make space on your front counter – one of New Zealand’s favourite biscuits has undergone its biggest packaging overhaul in 20 years.

New Cookie Time signs are being rolled out the length and breadth of the country - more than 900 in all - as the Cookie Muncher critter gets a makeover by Italian artist Alessandra Sorrentino.

The first new signage went up on 10 September at the Kirk Road dairy in Christchurch, which was one of the first outlets that Cookie Time founder Michael Mayell delivered to. Way back then, in 1983 and aged just 21, Mayell put 70 glass cookie jars in 70 Christchurch dairies and installed the first sign. It was one of the best moves of his life and now there surely cannot be anyone, from Cape Reinga to Bluff, who doesn’t know just what a Cookie Time biscuit is.

Since then there have been six versions of the signs, all of which are now displayed on the roof of the Cookie Time head office in Templeton.

The rebrand has been more than a year in the making and was led by award winning

Dow Design and an internal CTL team of seven. Consumer insights were central to the rebrand, says the company which undertook research that revealed a number of focal areas for the new look. These included highlighting Cookie Time’s taste, flavour and size, with real ingredient credentials and big chunks of chocolate.

Michael Mayell, who holds CTL 50:50 with brother Guy Pope-Mayell says the rebrand has been a major undertaking to refresh and modernize while retaining a true Kiwi flavour.

“We know the Cookie Time brand and the

Cookie Muncher have an iconic place in Kiwi culture and hold fond memories for many people, so this was all about re-engaging and putting the focus on real cookies made with real ingredients – brought to you by Cookie Muncher.”

“With double digit growth across the Cookie Time range, we know we’re doing the basics right. But with our 30th anniversary coming up in early 2013, we felt the time was right to do something special to set us up for the next 30 years.

The rebrand, gearing up for the company’s 30th birthday next February, will also see four new products launched to complement the 20 existing SKUs – a Nut & Chocolate Fix, new four packs of graduate (medium) size Chocolate Chunk and Triple Chocolate, and a new seven pack of rookie (mini) size Triple Chocolate cookies.

Crumbs! It’s a Makeover

Micheal Mayell and CT marketing manager Lizzie Parker


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There once was a paella that weighed 32 tons. The ingredients list went like this: 6,000 kg rice; 12,000 kg chicken and rabbit; 5,000 kg vegeta-bles; 1100 litres olive oil; 250 kg salt; 16 kg saffron; and 13,000 litres of water. It took 30,000 kg of coal and wood to heat the giant pan which was 21 metres across and over four metres deep. Ten people were constantly stirring the ingredients, ninety people all up were involved in the making of it, 110,000 people were involved in the eating of it and the publishers of the Guinness Book of Records crossed another remarkable feat off their to do list.

Proportionately you would almost think a paella that size would be needed to satisfy those queuing eagerly at Paella Pan at

the Sunday night markets at Glenfield on Auckland’s North Shore.

It didn’t take long after the market opened before the first diners arrived at Paella Pan and significant inroads were being made into the three large shallow dishes that simmered on the heat. It is clear that, although surrounded by dozens of other food outlets, Paella Pan is a firm favourite.

The first pan, the popular seafood paella, is the biggest and has fat fillets of fish, mussels in the shell, prawns, clams, saffron and peas simmering in rice. The second pan has a paella of beef, pork and chicken and the third pan contains tartiflette made up of bacon, onions, potatoes and cream cheese.

Vegetarian options are also available. Paella Pan is the brainchild of Aaron

Kirkland, who hung up his rugby boots and made one of the best decisions of his life. He bought a paella pan – or two – and brought the Spanish concept – and a wife – back to New Zealand after a decade of playing rugby in France. It’s a long way from racing up the rugby fields of Lezingnan Corbieres and Pia to racing around Auckland dishing up paella but it is something he wouldn’t swap.

Kirkland had the idea about three years before he quit rugby. Paella outlets were common in France – “like their Chinese takeaways”, he laughs – and he loved the dish. On a visit home he checked out a couple of

A little bit of Spain via France

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places along the restaurant strip of Auckland’s Ponsonby Road and didn’t find any versions that were a match on what he ate and loved in France. He spoke with his wife, Linda and they decided to make a go of it and returned to the Pacific.

They were wondering where to start when he heard about the La Cigale French market in the suburb of Parnell. He approached the convenor Mike Lind who was only too happy for the Kirkland’s to bring their product, pointed them in the direction of the City Council to get the correct papers and then they fired up the gas bottle and never looked

back. They got their first function the very next week and now cater around 150 private functions and 40-odd weddings per year.

Not bad for someone who really didn’t have a model, except as an observer and decided on which “bits and pieces” he needed to make it work. His idea of “bits and pieces” turned out to be giving it a strong branding and logo, making sure his staff (often French nationals on working holidays) were turned out in neat uniforms, offering the concept to corporate events organisers and adding tapas and sangria as options as required. He can also offer crepes, courtesy of his wife, who is

no stranger to whipping up batter to feed 600 guests, but that is another story.

The nature of the business means, of course, that they are working when others are playing but when they do get time off, they particularly like to visit friends on Waiheke island where Kirkland can also drop a fishing line. They also like to travel but with a full-on business and with an 11- and 5-year-old Kirkland admits it’s a bit of a juggling act. But it’s a lot of fun and not a hard sell. “All it takes is one look at the pan and they want some. And when one person buys, the others will follow.”

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In an ideal world Phil Bennett would spend his time mountain-

biking, snow skiing and waterskiing along with a dozen

more outdoor pursuits. Although in the real world this is not

going to happen, Bennett is lucky enough to follow another

passion in his workaday life – Italian food, in particular pasta.

Reinventing the wheelChristchurch restaurants and the fresh pasta was hand-folded seven or eight times and fed through the rollers of a hand-cranked pasta machine. That process was a very long way from the two imported Italian pasta machines he now has that produce up to 200kgs of pasta per hour. However, even mechanized the process requires a split shift, starting at 5am and 7am and Bennett’s day is typically 12 hours.

Fresh pasta is referred to as laminated, meaning it is made with whole eggs and rolled into itself. It has a texture and bounce not found in extruded dried pasta, which is made with flour and water. Pasta Vera flavours include tomato, spinach, cracked pepper, mushroom, fresh basil, squid ink, saffron, chilli, citrus and beetroot although there is really no limit to what you can flavour pasta with, says Bennett, including chocolate. Sweet pastas are not yet part of the New Zealand palette though, he laughs. However, any flavour a chef can think up can very probably be incorporated into pasta and Bennett has fulfilled such individual orders.

Most New Zealanders are still introduced to pasta through macaroni cheese, lasagna or

After travelling and falling in love with Italy and Italian food in particular, he returned to New Zealand, hung up his baker’s apron, put on a grem-biule - an Italian apron – and began to make pasta. That was eleven years ago in a very different New Zealand, where fresh pasta was not so easy to find.

Starting a new business is always a risk, but even though Bennett’s risk was alleviated somewhat under the watchful eye of his wife and business partner Linda Murphy, a financial consultant, it was still a leap of faith. But it was obviously a leap in the right direction because now Pasta Vera (real pasta) has grown from one kitchen to two small factories employing 17 staff and delivering to restaurants nation-wide.

In the beginning it was very labour-intensive, remembers Bennett. His clients were mostly local


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spaghetti bolognaise, the infamous ‘spag bol’ that has wafted its savoury smell through decades of student flats and although these remain favourites, there are now more sophisticated flavours available, especially amongst stuffed pastas.

Bennett offers a variety of shapes including Pansotti which is a large 70mm circle pasta with black truffle and forest mushroom; Ravioli with roasted beef, chicken with roasted garlic and basil pesto, spinach and ricotta, pesto and three cheese, roasted pumpkin and ricotta; Tortellini filled with braised beef, prawn and crab, roasted chicken, pumpkin and ricotta, spinach and ricotta, and herb and four cheeses; and Ravioloni with mushroom, walnut and feta. All are part of an extensive range which chefs often add to by requesting special fill-ings for their own menu requirements. But it is not all exotic. Bennett adds local flavour horopito to some of his potato gnocchi, one of the other Italian dishes Pasta Vera provides, as well as various pesto sauces, lasagna and cannelloni.

And actually, he does sneak in a macaroni cheese (it is a smart businessperson who recognises that some things are simply non-negotiable) and just to remind himself that despite his love for Italian food he remains a Kiwi at heart, there is a Pasta Vera shep-herd’s pie.

Everybody in the food business knows that this is not an industry for whimps, that a combination of hard work and good staff is the only way to make it a success. And if there is ever any doubt, then you need only consider Bennett and his team, whom he applauds as fantastic. His commitment to the business has resulted in customers nation-wide and this client base has certainly helped ensure Pasta Vera continued to succeed after the Christchurch earthquakes, when many of his local buyers were wiped out. Sophia Loren said of herself that “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.” The same, in a less voluptuous way, could be said of Phil Bennett and Linda Murphy. www.pasta.co.nz

According to Italian Notes.com the first documented recipe for pasta is from around the year 1000, in the book "De arte Coquinaria per vermicelli e macaroni siciliani" (The Art of Cooking Sicilian Macaroni and Vermicelli) written by Martino Corno, chef to the powerful Patriarch of Aquileia. And, reports IN, the city of Venice issued Paolo Adami a license to open the first pasta factory in 1740.


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When it comes down to it, the easiest thing about starting up a pizza busi-ness, is simply that people like pizza, says Andy Thomson. The hardest thing is building a reputation and keeping it.

But so far, so good for Thomson and his brother, Chris. Their company, Base Woodfired Pizza, has not only survived the decimation of Christchurch but also grown. Its physical survival was mostly due to the fact that the company didn’t have a bricks and mortar premises but a custom-built trailer – because Base really is a moveable feast.

The Base concept began with Rod Thomson and his stepsons, Andy and Chris all of whom had an interest in pizza beyond mere consumption. Thomson senior is a stonemason and he built a pizza oven in the family’s back-yard, which quickly became a gathering point for family and friends. “We just loved it,” laughs Andy. “We’d spend hours trying out different types of pizza bases and toppings. We’d try some new combination and even while we were eating that we’d be discussing what we might try next. It was not always successful but it was always fun.”

There came a time around the pizza oven one mealtime when someone mused how great it would be to make pizza as a job. That brought a sudden silence because, after all, there was no reason why they couldn’t make that their job. Sure they weren’t trained bakers or chefs but they’d made enough dough, sauces and topping combina-tions for themselves – who said pizza makers couldn’t be self-taught? What a buzz that realization was. Now they needed a point of difference. It was all very well having what they believed was a good product, but they needed to find a way of getting the customer to them. Great idea number two – instead of coaxing the customer to the pizza, take the pizza to the customer. And so the mobile pizza service was begun, with an Al Forno kitset pizza oven imported from Italy by Auckland Firm, Fired.

The business was an instant success with queues quickly forming at sports games, festivals, fairs and private

events. It was also hard labour, but they were having fun, so it never seemed like work, says Andy. The opening of the outdoor food court in the Re:Start mall in Cashel Street was an ideal time to launch another outlet. “It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride, actu-ally,” says Chris. “Selling in the mall is completely different to following the sports and events crowds. If the weather is lousy, people still go to the sports ground and are really pleased to be able to buy some hot pizza to keep them warm. But in the mall, with most of our customers from surrounding businesses, if the weather is cold, they simply stay in their offices or go to an indoor dining area. But it is interesting how many people do brave the weather and come for a pizza and stay outside to eat it sitting on the mall seating or the rims of the garden planters.” With the wood-fired oven burning at 400°C it’s not so uncomfortable for Andy and Chris in the winter and in summer, they simply can step away from the trailer when the heat gets too much. The outlet opens at 11am but the Thomsons will have been hard at work long before then. They make their pizza sauces daily and give themselves a head-start by making at least 45 dough balls for bases before opening.

They have a set menu ranging from the basic Tomizza base with fresh homemade tomato sauce, sliced Mozzarella and oregano ($13) to flavours like the Butter Chicken pizza with tender chicken pieces on a bed of hummus, smothered in curry sauce ($15) or the Vege Supreme, with a selection of seasonal vegetables such as capsicum, courgette, mushrooms and onions with fresh mozzarella and Tuscan seasoning on a tomato sauce ($15).

Base also offers catering from $649 for up to 40 people through to $1199 for up to 120 people. This works out to around about $9 per head for the biggest group and includes 100 pizzas with any toppings listed on the menu, three-and-a-half hour’s attendance by Base and four Base staff for two hours.

In their down time, the two are not averse to eating at other pizza outlets to check out the competition and both like going to the movies. Chris is also a keen footballer but is currently sidelined due to a broken foot. www.basepizza.co.nz

A moveable feast


It would be hard to beat a Base pizza but the trend for low-carb meals puts such succulence out of reach for many people. However, here’s a recipe that’s currently popular with pizza-lovers following a low-carb diet.

Ingredients• 1 1/2 cup shredded cauliflower• 1 cup shredded smoked mozzarella

cheese• 1 egg beaten• Pinch of dried oregano• Onion salt to taste• 1 small garlic grated• 2 teaspoon olive oilPreparation1. Remove stems and leaves and grate

cauliflower to the size of rice (You can use a cheese grater or pulse a few times in a food processor)

2. Microwave for 1 – 1 1/2 min– just to get it softened (Don’t overcook it – it will result in a mushy crust.)

3. Let the cauliflower mixture cool down a little bit. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients.

4. Preheat oven to 220OC.5. Put ‘dough’ on a baking sheet or

pizza tray and pat out into two pizza bases.

6. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden.7. Cool on a rack.8. Treat as a normal pizza base.

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Bit on the side

Sauce, spice

and all things

nice

Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière is consid-ered the Western world’s first food critic writing articles about food and how it should be prepared and eaten in the early 1800s. He famously said that a well-made sauce will make even an elephant or a grandfather palatable, which his readers thought was a very clever comment and chortled into their dinners.

Elephants and grandfathers aside, he has a point. While a dish should be able to stand on its own, a good

condiment can make an enormous difference to enjoying the taste, recognising the flavour and even appreciating the texture of a meal.

It’s easy to buy a condiment but there huge variances in quality. There is nothing wrong with most of the bulk-produced condiments – they provide the double requirement of being both cheap and flavoursome but are you prepared to go that little bit further? Are you prepared to fork out a bit more cash – not always, but sometimes – to support the market of the small producer that uses local ingredients and offers something just that little bit different? After all, it is these small points of difference that brings the customer to your café and not the one next door.

The Bay of Islands has always been a bit of a food basket for new products and artisan growers.

At Ludbrook House fat Black Mission figs grown in the home orchard are combined with lemon and preserved ginger to make a chunky fig conserve, perfect with cheese and on artisan breads. This type of fig is considered by many to be one of the


Bit on the side

highest quality figs that can be grown.Merlot, Syrah and Sauvignon jellies are

something very new to try with meat and cheese dishes. They are made from Far North grapes, which are blended with fresh herbs and spices. They can also be melted to use as a glaze or put in a tiny tart shell with some crème fraiche to make an instant dessert.

There are a lot of plum sauces on the market but the one from Ludbrook House is made to a family recipe three generations old, so that’s a point of difference over your competitors, wholesale sauces. This is also the type of sauce where you can actually taste the difference between a commercial crop of plums and those grown in the home orchard. (www.ludbrookhouse.co.nz

From the top of the North Island to the

top of the South Island Nelson Naturally is another family-owned business that strives for taste and flavour above all. There is a huge range of condiments to choose from, a long way from the company’s original premise, making decent mustard. They still make mustard including Barrelhouse English Mustard , a medium strength condiment made with green peppercorns, horseradish, garlic, Worcester sauce and beer. This is one of the company’s most popular items, so if you’re not sure what mustard to choose, this would be a good start.

With mustard as a staple it’s no wonder Naturally Nelson also makes the Hellish Relish range of chilli products which now includes Black Pepper Sauce, an item they believe brings a whole new approach to

hot sauce. It is tangy and slightly fruity with a good bite and of course, a strong black pepper flavour.

Dukkah is also increasingly popular as a condiment and the company offers Moroccan Dukkah, which is slightly hotter and sweeter than most dukkahs and has proven among the most popular of the range. Moroccan Dukkah is blended with almonds and a La Kama spice mixture (cinnamon, black pepper-corns, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric). This dukkah can also be mixed with breadcrumbs to coat lamb cutlets before frying or grilling. (www.nelson-naturally.co.nz)

Although New Zealand-produced home-made style condiments can offer a carefully crafted local edge, there are other more exotic condiments to choose from as well.

Winner Best Condiment New York Hot Pepper Awards 2011

The Best Price in New Zealand for this great product!

We believe this must be the best Caramelised Onion Relish in New Zealand

Become a Cafe-Deli! Nelson Naturally can also off er an amazing

range of delicious retail condiments that can make an impact on your bottom line.

The famous North African chilli...a spread for wraps, falafel sandwich, use it as a dip, alone, with sour cream, cream cheese or olive oil; an antipasto condiment; add some to soups, nachos or braising sauces; it is the perfect serving sauce for kebabs, koftas etc; it is also a hamburger paste, can be added to dressings, the traditional condiment for lamb, merguez, any couscous meal...

From the Republic of Barbeque...a smoky fl avour for sauces, soups, dips and many marinades, it gives a bar-beque fl avour to meats or grilled peppers, can be used to make tofu bacon, can be mixed with cheese before grilling, used in hot smoking for increased fl avour, can be used to make smoked salt, smoked sausages and chipotles...

Suddenly a New Zealand favourite...a tasty condiment that is at the same time a spread, a dip, an ingredient for many serving sauces; great on fi lled rolls or as part of a ploughman’s lunch; with cold meats or cheeses, as a table condiment; with potato wedges, bread-and-dips or corn chips; it can also be used on a pizza, or in a panini ...

Nelson Naturally is proud to introduce espresso subscribers to three fantastic

fl avours your customers will love

The world on a plate

Great products and attractive prices atwww.nelson-naturally.co.nz or call us on 03 5483780


Bit on the side

Ingredients:• 2 lemons juiced • 1 Heilala vanilla pod split open and the seeds scraped or 1 tsp of Heilala Vanilla Bean Paste • 2tsp grated light palm sugar • 100ml good quality olive oil • Flaky sea salt to taste Method:Mix all ingredients into a jug or shaker. Stir or shake to combine.heilalavanilla.co.nz

Although there are no New Zealand figures currently available it is interesting to note that the Australian business information group Datamonitor's latest report "Sauces, Dressings and Condiments in Australia to 2013", the market for sauces, dressings and condiments clocked total sales of A$1.8 billion in 2008.

Wet cooking sauces and seasonings together contributed more than half of total sales. In compar-ison, table sauces, dressings and pickled products together contributed about one-third of the total market, while condiments and dips formed the remaining share. Datamonitor predicts the total sauces, dressings and condiments market size to grow at an average annual rate of over 3% to reach the value of more than A$2.1 billion by the year 2013.

Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing

EASY RECIPE TO SPICE UP YOUR CABINETBaked Feta with Tunisian Dukkah• Cut firm feta cheese into cubes and place in a

shallow baking dish.• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Tunisian

Dukkah. • Bake in a hot oven (200°C) until browned. • Use as a spread in sandwiches, pita wraps or

kebabs or serve with fresh crusty bread With thanks to Nelson Naturally.

Caviaroli is a dramatic condiment. It is made using a new tech-nique which surrounds olive oil drops with a thin layer of water with sodium alginate which then go into a calcium bath (basic spherifica-tion). Don’t fret about the scientific whys and wherefores, simply be impressed by its beautiful colour and appearance. Caviaroli pearls really lift a dish to new heights sprinkled over a salad, set around smoked fish or egg dishes. It’s one of the condiments available from Simon Gault’s Sous Chef range of imported condiments.

The range also includes Murray River Gourmet Pink Salt Flakes. You can present this salt in a small bowl for sprinkling by hand. The taste difference between these flakes and regular salt is marked and the pink colour also adds an interest to the plate.

Cream with porcini mushrooms is a thick-ish sauce of chopped mushrooms, sunflower oil, salt and garlic that can be used as a paste on pizza bases, Panini, vol-au-vents, pasta dishes and gourmet sandwiches. It has an intense flavour that mushroom lovers will really appreciate. (www.souschef.co.nz)

And straddling the divide between locally produced and imported is Hailala vanilla. This fragrant bean is cultivated in Tonga and proc-essed in Tauranga. The range of 100% pure products includes vanilla pods, extract, paste, syrup and sugar. The syrup can be used in just

about everything including coffee and other beverages and can be added to cabinet food including cereals, fruit, pancakes, yoghurt and in baking.

Hailala Vanilla Paste is even more versatile and can be used in baking, whipped cream, crème brulee, shortbread, cheesecake, and Panna Cotta. It is an economical alternative to using Vanilla beans as one teaspoon of paste equals one bean and every jar contains 80.


To Bake or BuyThe great debate...or not?

To bake or buy


To bake or buy

This would be an interesting article, we thought. What proportion of baked goods do cafés buy in, compared to how many items are baked on site? What is the cost vs. savings ratio? How much does the café save on labour, power and equip-ment costs? How does it really affect the bottom line?

Simple questions needing simple answers? Not so, it turned out. We spoke to 15 cafés that we knew had kitchen facilities before we conceded a rather bewildered defeat. Asking a café about buying in food was, in these 15 instances at least, met with silence, indignation and not a little suspicion.

Aside from the few who might not have really understood the question due to language barriers, it seems that the query was not seen as a question but as a criticism. So there the story petered out.

Another colleague laughed – he regularly buys some scrumptious morsel from a café in the Eastern Bays and when he told the proprietor they were delicious and asked where she got them from, for no other reason than he was making idle conversation, she crossly told him she made them, that she was – and she pointed to the sign – a purveyor of homemade items. “Really?” thought Mike. He could see that her kitchen was little more than a galley, with a sink, a couple of hotplates and two microwaves. There were bakers

boxes stacked under the sink unit. “Obviously she didn’t bake them,” he says. “Frankly I didn’t care whether she did or not – they’re delicious and I only buy them from her. I don’t know who else sells them. I’ll still go past other bigger, perhaps more modern, cafés to buy off her, because she’s the stockist. So whether she buys them or bakes them herself, it doesn’t bother me as long as I can have one. And while I’m there I usually buy a coffee, which is good even though it’s not my favourite brand. Sometimes I buy a sandwich, too. They’re good sandwiches and she does make these; I’ve seen her at the bench.”

Of course cafés buy in, that’s why there’s a food supply industry, but it seems odd that no-one will talk about it. Perhaps we were just unlucky with our café choices but it was a pretty straight unlucky run. But, if you’re reading this and snorting in disbelief while leaning on the pile of boxes the courier has just delivered, please, feel free to email us and let us know. We still think, sensibilities aside, it is a good question – is it best to bake or buy? Does your choice save you money or is it just sheer convenience?

Please help us finish this story.From the side of the baked goods

supplier, of course, our result is ludi-crous. They have clients up and down the country keeping them in business,


To bake or buy

“From my Family to yours” Ph 03 379 1027 [email protected] try our range contact:

Serve authentic Mediterranean flat bread

from the people who know it best.

souvlaki Bread Pizza slab Bases

Naan/roti tortillaPita Bread

Pizza Bases

Although you derive a great deal of satis-faction in baking your own goods and also retain some individuality in your product, the case for buying in is strong. Buying in ensures consistency in a product as the quality control is part of the suppliers promise. It definitely saves time and labour and we suspect it saves money. It allows the café to change its blackboard menu easily by simply picking up the phone to a supplier. It means you don’t have to bake six loaves or pies to ensure baking items yourself is economical and then hope you sell them all to avoid wastage.

It means you can buy in pizza bases and use your individual creative skills to create the topping. A Giannis rectangular pizza base couldn’t be made in a small café oven but the sheer size of this product means you can cut them into your own custom sized edibles; edibles that are unique to your business. Now that has to be good for business and arguably, for the customer.

even if they’re not admitting it.And consider this; there are

foods you simply cannot make yourself, like the Mediterranean flatbreads baked by Giannis Michaelides, a Greek Cypriot. His company has grown since he first arrived here in 1966 and today his entire family is involved in baking the bread, still using a recipe that belongs to his mother and no-one else has that. Café sales are heavily bread-based and making bread is time-consuming. It would be a very small café with a very small turnover that could make its own bread and justify the labour and risk of running out of sandwiches before running out of demand. So if high-turnover and a point of difference are needed, of course a smart café is going to buy in something like Giannis’ breads. A further argument for buying in is to cater for the modern palate: the modern sandwich – the Panini, wraps, tortilla, pita, naan/roti and souvlaki/kebab bread, pizza bases

– and the modern inclinations: dairy free, vegan and vegetarian. Giannis bakes all these options and freezes them as soon as they have cooled from the oven. This means that the user can use what they want, when they want it. The quick freezing also means that when the items are reheated they are indistinguishable from an item freshly baked on site. That’s one of the special characteristics of flat breads.

Marcel’s new hotcake range from Van Dyck Fine Food is another case in point. The Belgian recipe may be replicated by others but can it be replicated as well as Marcel Naenen does it, in his self-designed New Plymouth premises using equipment he, with his background in engineering, developed himself? Why bother even trying? Just be grateful that the Apple & Cinnamon and Choc Chip hotcakes are something you can quickly and easily serve up to the customer.


Technology

It is no secret that technology is moving faster than you can turn out hot pies and small businesses need to get up to speed or face losing business.

Although Paymark’s Phil Deason says in several years we’ll be “leaving the house without our wallet”, that is already the case among the younger crowd who eftpos purchases of just a couple of dollars, even less.

Smartphone technology is fast taking over and phones will become an integral part of our purchasing lives.

“The phone is so central to people’s lives now. It’s their music, calendar, email, games and camera.”

“It’s a very small step to put payment, loyalty programmes and location-based services telling you that a customer is walking past, onto these phones,” says Deason.

The mobilisation of POS systems has arrived and in many instances staff can take a client’s requests with an iPad or iPod and email them a receipt.

“The technology is here,” says Deason, “And these devices will move into the main-stream within 12 to 24 months.”

So operators need to gear up for the future and put strategies in place to look at which options target their customers most effectively and how to use this technology.

Use of Contactless cards or ‘tap and go’

cards, which are waved in front of an Eftpos terminal for transactions below $80, is growing. Customers can tap the card and put in their pin number for any transaction above $80 and Deason says that although very few have it now, it will grow strongly in the next 12 months.

And these contactless cards are merely 'a stepping stone' to mobile phone payments.

“Within the next 12 to 24 months customers will be tapping Eftpos terminals with a payment card embedded inside their phone. It’s already happening in limited releases overseas and there are initiatives underway in New Zealand,” according to Deason.

Viaduct director Mark Unwin says with rapid developments in contactless cards and iPhone technology, operators are best to lease equipment so they can change easily as systems are upgraded.

The readers for contactless cards will be the same as for smartphones, but operators should work with their supplier so they’re in a position to change.

Loyalty programmes such as Reward Junkie and EftPlus are also vital for 'trending customers'.

ACR System’s sophisticated SwiftPOS Hospitality software is being rolled out onto hospitality Panasonic POS terminals around the country.

ACR general manager Lee Edwards says

Keeping up with the futureSue Fea


Call: 0800 WIZBANG (0800 949 226) Email: [email protected]

You’ll wonder how you managed without it...

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Big chains like Muffin Break, The Mad Butcher, Barworks and Hollywood Bakery are all using SwiftPOS.

Esquires Coffee will be the first in New Zealand to roll out the SwiftPOS Menuboards module, a new feature just released.

“When you do product descriptions, promotions, Happy Hour price changes, graphic changes in SwiftPOS – they’ll all automatically update to your Menuboards, so you’re not using two applications,” says Edwards.

SwiftPOS Vouchers programme enables graphical vouchers with serialised QR barcodes to print out on receipt printers. Customers can present this at the counter to redeem their free coffee or beer. It’s scanned and interrogates the SwiftPOS software.

Edwards says SwiftPOS will also create a

voucher and export an image of it to the QR voucher code that can be posted to your business Facebook or webpage.

“Right now customers can grab vouchers on their phones, open them and take them to the bar and scan that straight off their phone onto a QR reader.”

“This sort of stuff is affordable and it’s starting to take off,” says Edwards.

Phone users can store vouchers on their phone, he advises. “Your membership card is now on your phone as a QR code.”

Advanced web ordering is already here and proving popular with cafes.

iPads are already being used in the likes of Jack Tar’s in Auckland where staff now walk around and take orders via iPad. At Dawson’s a cheaper method using iPods has proved great for “queue busting”. Staff move about taking orders via iPod with an Eftpos terminal in their pocket. Payment is made, it’s

Technology


Technology

cheap and efficient and the operator makes more money, says Edwards.

ACR will also be the first in the country to release integrated EftPOS to iPadPOS this month (September).

“Waiters will take your order via iPad at your table. It’s printed straight out in the kitchen. I come back with your meal and bring up your table on my iPad, hand you the Eftpos terminal in my pocket and you pay right there and then.”

The possibilities are endless. iPad ordering at tables, reading the newspaper online while we eat?

But Dineworks co-owner Dan Davis cautions against this with people already spending so much time in front of screens.

“Some people’s eyes are on screens all day. They may want a break when relaxing in a restaurant.”

Davis is sure there will be a market for iPad menus. However, technology should not replace good service.

“When I look at the restaurant culture – we like nice printed things; they’re easy on our eyes. The people who come and sell the food to you and explain it, you want that human interaction.”

His new Dineworks Touch interactive menus are instead placed beside traditional menus outside restaurants to draw customers in.

Secured in a metal lockable enclosure, the system is already proving its worth for Molten Restaurant in Mt Eden and Dineworks has orders to install them in seven more restaurants. In the first six weeks it attracted more people inside and data showed people

were watching up to two videos of dishes being prepared.

“It can be a real experience. Sometimes menus don’t communicate that. What we’re doing across video and technology is making the most of that imagination.”

“A fundamental part of a person’s decision is outside, what’s on the menu, what it costs and why it costs that much. They can read Bomb Alaska and see a high price tag or actually watch it being made right there on video, the flames pouring up, and go, ‘wow, I want that’!”

Davis says the biggest opportunity for restaurants right now is storytelling. Video, photos and social media enable that.

Wizbang’s Chris Smith says self-service kiosks are already taking orders and purchases in a handful of food outlets in New Zealand. Customers follow a voice prompt, select their order and any modifications, such as soy in their coffee, via touch screen, type their name, swipe their loyalty card and pay.

EftPOS can be integrated into these systems, just as it is in many supermarkets kiosks.

Wizbang is also writing its own business intelligence module, OneTapBI, similar to Loaded Reports and Summa. Data is captured from the POS system and used to monitor stock, purchasing and even alerting operators when wage costs exceed a set average so staff can be sent home early.

New technologies are something we can be sure of, so the sooner small businesses get on board the easier it will be to adapt to the future.

Technology can’t develop fast enough for owner of the busy Rangiora Bakery, Ron Van Til, who wants a LRS (long range systems) table tracker for his 80-table cafe operation.It works like this. A small tag transmitter is placed underneath each table. Customers take a disc to the table which sends a signal back to staff on a screen, easily identifying, via a GPS style system, where that customer is sitting.“We’re just waiting for the technology. We’d be happy to be a prototype for anyone wanting to develop one. We would throw some money at it to be the test guinea pig,” says Van Til.He’s already using RFID’s (radio frequency identification device) in his large wholesale operation for tracking pellets and stock in the freezer.


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INGREDIENTS:Ravioli Dough1 cup Semolina durum flour ( from Weston Milling)2 eggs1 tablespoon water1 tablespoon olive oil2 tablespoons waterChicken Mushroom Filling150g chicken, cooked and chopped50g chopped and sautéed mushrooms1 tablespoon chopped parsley1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon1/8 cup cream1/4 cup mango chutney, or tomato chutneySauce1 cup port wine8 peppercorns, cracked1 bay leaf2 shallots, diced3 cloves minced garlic1 cup chicken stock1 cup cream1 tablespoon Dijon mustardGarnishChopped parsley and basil, sliced olives and chopped sundried tomatoes.

DIRECTIONS:Pasta: Mix the flour, 1 egg, water and olive oil until a

dough is formed. Divide into two pieces. Roll each piece out

on a floured surface into a large rectangle. Mix remaining egg and water together with a whisk to

make an egg wash. Brush on one side of each piece of pasta.

Filling: Saute chopped mushrooms in garlic butter. Add herbs, mix cooked, chopped chicken with other filling ingre-dients until well mixed. Place 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling 2 inches apart on pasta sheets to make a "grid" of filling. Place second piece of pasta over this, egg washed sides together. Cut into 2 x2 inch stuffed pasta squares (ravioli) using a knife or ravioli cutter. Seal ravioli by pressing edges with a fork. Flour well and set aside.

Sauce: Saute chopped shallots and minced garlic in some butter. Toss in cracked peppercorns, bay leaf and port wine and reduce over high heat until nearly dry. Add chicken stock and reduce until total volume is about a 1/ 4 cup. Add cream and Dijon mustard, whisk, and reduce until sauce is very thick. Keep warm.

Place the ravioli in boiling water. They are done when they float to the top. Remove and strain. Sprinkle and coat with a little olive oil to avoid it drying out.

Toss ravioli with the wine sauce, sprinkle with chopped parsley, basil, sliced olives and sundried tomatoes.

Alternatives: You can substitute port wine with a sweet red wine like Merlot, sherry or chianti or any sweet white wines like Zinfandel. Fillings can be changed to suit your prefer-ence from vegetarian, duck, pork meats or seafood.

Chicken & mushroom ravioli in a creamy port wine sauce

James EllisSales Manager


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The list of scammers known to send unsolicited requests identified by IP Australia include:• Globus Edition SL, Palma de

Mallorca, Spain• Company for Economic

Publications Ltd, Vienna, Austria• IT & TAG, Switzerland• Company for Publications and

Information Anstalt, Liechtenstein• INFOCOM, Schaan, Switzerland• Edition The Marks KFT• International Bureau for Federated

Trademark & Patent Register• Gaia Almanach LTD• Commercial Centre for Industry

and Trade, Switzerland• European Institute for Economy

and Commerce EIEC, Belgium• Institute of Commerce, Trade and

Commerce, Switzerland• TM Collection, Hungary

New Zealand businesses are urged to be on the lookout for overseas scammers who appear to be targeting local businesses regarding unsolicited trademark and domain name services with increasing frequency.

While café and bakery owners may not think this applies to them, you would be surprised says Intellectual property expert, Theodore Doucas of Zone IP and Zone Law, an intellectual property consultancy and law firm in Wellington.

Those who have a Facebook or web pages are targets and common scams go like this. You register you domain name and the scammer picks up on it. The scammer e-mails you and advises you that someone else has that name or is applying for it – either under the pretext of having links with your company or that they have simply chosen the same name by chance – and offers to repre-sent the New Zealand company or secure the domain name so that it is exclusively yours, for a fee.

A lot of this activity is coming out of China and for the many Chinese café and bakery owners in this country it is not unrealistic that they might want to register their business name in China as a link to their homeland, as a statement or, who knows, one day they or a family member might open a sister café back home. If this applies to you, clearly check the e-mail you have in hand before you send off money to a stranger.

Doucas said over the last few months his firm has received triple the usual amount of calls and emails from businesses on the receiving end of the scammers.

“I’m not sure why there has been an increase in unsolicited activity from a number of scammers – particular out of China and Hungary – but it may be because not enough is being done to warn local businesses about these scams.

“The Australian Trade Mark Registry (IP Australia) actually publishes a list of scammers, but the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) does not. So it may be that lack of education makes us easier targets.”

Doucas, who consults on trademarks in both New Zealand and Australia, said it was easy for scammers to collect contact details because the contact information of companies along with their trademark details is public information on the IPONZ and IP Australia Trade Mark Registers.

“Increasingly I get inquiries from people who have been sent a letter by a Hungarian company with what looks like an invoice, claiming that the recipient’s renewal fee is now due and to please pay $US1,600.00. This is especially prevalent for New Zealand businesses who have filed their trade mark applications in Australia.

“When you realise that a standard renewal fee in New Zealand is $NZ100 or AU$350 in Australia, you can see immedi-ately that it is a scam. My advice when you receive an unsolicited email or letters about trademarks, domain names or intellectual property in general – and you are unsure about it – is to consult an intellectual property lawyer or expert to put your mind at rest,” he said.

Beware the scammers

ZONE IP provides personal and cost effective intellectual property (IP) advice for businesses of all sizes, focusing on affordable and effective results, with a realistic commercial approach to protecting IP assets. The company specializes in one-on-one customised solutions to ensure comprehensive protection for IP assets and manages client’s IP Portfolio’s by finding the right solutions and people for individual needs. ZONE IP initiated TRADE MARK ZONE, New Zealand’s first online assisted trade mark filing service and offers expert trade mark assistance from the convenience of the home or office.

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These days with new technologies, it sometimes seems our lives are spiraling out of control. That picture that was taken of you at what you thought was a private party suddenly hits the internet – there you are, beaming smile, food down your chin, shirt half undone – and strangers worldwide share last Saturday night with you. Mostly, you’re just a nine-day wonder but sometimes that nine days can leave a lingering impression.

Tweeting can be worse, because it allows the tweeter to send out a negative comment instantly, without having to stop and think about it first. Even if the tweeter retracts the comment when they have got over their fit of pique, the post might have already gone viral.

What do you do if your café or bakery gets a bad review?

First check that there isn’t any substance to the criticism. It’s hard to take censure but sometimes you just have to step up to it. Was your food really at the standard it should be? Was your café or bakery as clean and tidy as it should be? Is your staff welcoming and did you really have to take your grumpiness out on the customer, no matter how annoying they were?

Once you have established where you actually stand in the saga, move into action.

If you are at fault, apologise immediately. Don’t be defensive. A simple ”Wow! Did we?

We’re so sorry – contact us and we’ll fix it for you”, is a good way to start. The quicker you get onto it, the better the result. While the customer is still seething is the time to take action, not later when they’re still cross but have got over the initial anger. At this stage it can be hard to retrieve the situation because the customer simply doesn’t care one way or the other, so get on-side with them quickly.

If you don’t believe you are at fault, still move quickly and proactively. Don’t say you believe the customer was mistaken or try to defend yourself in any way. Trying to avoid a perceived injustice even if you are blameless is not what the customer wants to hear. Send them the same simple ”Wow! Did we? We’re so sorry – contact us and we’ll fix it for you” message and you can put your side of the story across when they return. Only discuss the alleged problem with the person complaining. Don’t put out a multi-broadcast of your own saying the criticism was wrong, it won’t go down well with those who are loyal to the customer. It is better to fix the problem face to face and then let the appeased customer tell their friends what a brilliant job you did of rectifying the problem. Their message is far more powerful than your defensive broadcast, which will probably be received with an “of course they WOULD say that” derision. Some advisers

believe you shouldn’t reply on-line but if you have been criticised by a tweet broadcast, it is probably a good idea to reply in the same fashion. That way, followers of the original tweeter can also see that you are trying to make things right. Recent studies show that seven out of ten people trust on-line reviews as much as they do family and friends, so you need to get on-line, too to show you are receptive to criticism, real or imagined.

Don’t rally your friends and family and get them to unleash a flood of positive reviews – you’re bound to be found out and it will do you a great deal of harm.

ACTION PLAN1. Be calm – don’t be defensive2. Make sure you are not at fault and if

you are, own the problem immediately3. Contact the complainer to apologise

and offer to rectify the problem4. Accept that even if you are right, you

are wrong. Sometimes it is just better to grin and bear it. It’s better to be seen as someone who will put things right than someone who will argue the toss

5. Most importantly, if you are wrong make sure the situation doesn’t happen again. One negative tweet can be bad enough; more complaining about the same thing will be disastrous

Brickbats and bouquetsHow to survive a bad review

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2012–Served–All Year

Marketevents

2013 Marketevents

May7-9 SIAL CHINA 2013

Shanghai

18-21National Restaurant Association (United States) Show 2013 Chicagowww.restaurant.org

If you have an event you’d like us to highlight just email

[email protected] with the details.

October

5-9Anuga, Cologne, 'Taste the Future', the world's largest food and beverage fair and leading food fair for the retail trade and the food service and catering marketwww.an uga.co m

September

14-16The Food Show Christchurch 2012 Canterbury Arena www.foodshow.co.nz

23Marlborough Strawberry Festival Blenheimwww.straw berry newzealan d.co m

25-27Foodtech PacktechAuckland, ASB Showgrounds. www.foodtechpacktech .co.nz

27

A Whiskey and Cheese Affair Aucklandwww.kapitico l lection .co.nz

2012 NZ Food Awards gala dinner – Auckland www.foodawards.co.nz

November

11-10Food & Wine ExpoAuckandwww.foodan dwineexpo.co.nz


7Gluten-Free Vendor Food Fair Hastingswww.hawkesbay nz.co m

20

FEAST Gisbornewww.feastgisborne.co.nz

"it" Bay of Islands Food & Wine Festival Paihiawww.paihianz.co.nz/it–festiva l/

21-25 SIAL 2012, Paris, The World's 'Number 1 Food Exhibition'. www.sia l paris .co m

25 Christmas Country Fete Culverdenwww.thefete.co.nz

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