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Ken McCulloch, owner of One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow, Scotland has been elected Hotelier of the Year for 1993. The award recognises his continuing contribution to the industry, his innovative, inspiring approach and his committment to excellence. McCulloch, who also works as a designer and owns restaurants in Glasgow, trained in hotel management with British Transport Hotels and became a general manager with Stakis Hotels at the age of 22. He opened One Devonshire Gardens in 1986 and believes its success is due to the staff team and its unique atmosphere rather than his personality.

The hospitality and catering industry regards 1992 as a year of disappointment. The economic recession and falling property market damaged many businesses while political changes did little to bolster tourism. Positive achievements such as reduced interest rates and falling inflation were overshadowed by growing unemployment, bankruptcies and falling revenues. The latter part of the year showed some increase in hotel occupancy due to the devaluation of sterling. Low property prices and the growth in contract catering have enabled some new businesses to open.

Supplying UK retail business is one of the toughest markets to crack-it's competitive, demanding, price-led and volatile. So what about branching into foodservice? It's an attractive proposition with out-of-home sales [...]

This week Sir Alistair Grant retires as Safeway chairman. The stores, customers and people working in retailing today bear little resemblance to those of 1958, when Grant came into the [...]

The City reacted with shock last week when Sainsbury's issued a profits warning that downgraded the group's results. Chairman David Sainsbury must act fast. In just a week David Sainsbury [...]

Not everyone seeks advice when they need it most. But when Kwik Save appointed Andersen Consulting to undertake a strategic review of its operation, it stood accused of under-investment in [...]

Next week Somerfield leaps away from its debt-ridden past and floats on the stock market. As the group heads towards its new future as a publicly quoted company, Linda Pettit [...]

Exhibition caterer Beeton Rumford, which supplies food services at Earls Court, London, is responsible for catering at the UK World of Hospitality catering exhibition. Alan Hardy, director of operations, coordinates the work of the company's 120 permanent and 240 part-time staff, who work in the exhibitions restaurants, cafes, mobile restaurants and function rooms. Beeton Rumford feeds information into a computer to help work out likely expenditure and amount of food required. During operations, Hardy surveys operations to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

Charge card company American Express's 15 million pounds sterling Quality People campaign, currently running in the UK's media, features many high-class restaurateurs and hoteliers. The aim of the promotion is to persuade consumers to use Amex as a method of payment and also to show the hospitality industry the value of accepting the charge card. The campaign has focused the attention of the public on some of the well-known industry faces behind successful hotels and restaurants, and has made them celebrities in their own right.

Some of the latest players in the UK's fast food industry include Hudson Bay Clipper, Arby's, Canadian Muffin, Chez Fred, Manhattan Pizza and Wendy's. Fish and chip restaurant Hudson Bay Clipper opened one outlet in 1992 and plans further openings in northern England. America's Arby's sandwich chain plans to have 50 UK franchised sites by 1998. Canadian Muffin, with three UK outlets, plans to have 50 stores by 1997. Chez Fred, with two outlets, expects to open a further 20 franchise units. Manhattan Pizza, with six units, plans a further four and also hopes to expand into retail outlets. Wendy's is planning up to 50 units in the UK after a false start in 1986.

Room Service is a gourmet home delivery company established in London, UK, earlier in 1993. It offers food from 21 restaurants in central London on its menu. Room Service USA, of which the UK firm is an associate, was the first gourmet home food delivery company to be set up in the US, where it now has between 75 and 100 competitors. Pizza outlets currently account for 89% of the UK home delivery market. Room Service delivers its catalogue of menus, which is regularly updated, to some 100,000 homes and stores data on a computer database. It plans to expand to other UK cities through franchisees.

The UK's cost catering industry recorded a turnover of 5.16 billion pounds sterling in 1992/93, with costs divided almost equally between food, accounting for 2.26 billion pounds sterling, and staff, accounting for 2.30 billion pounds sterling. Within the cost catering industry, the largest sector is business and industry, valued at 1.5 billion pounds sterling a year, followed by local authority education, valued at 1.1 billion pounds sterling, and the National Health Service, valued at 500 million pounds sterling. The catering industry is expected to see little overall change over the coming year, although changes will take place in the separate sub-sectors.

The celebration of the Royal Air Force's 75th anniversary includes receptions and meals for over 4,000 including eight members of the Royal Family. The event is held at RAF Marham, Norfolk, England on Apr 1 93. Wing Commander Mark Codgbrook, in charge of the catering arrangements, produces a 100 page plan. He regards the occasion as an opportunity to show what his catering service can do in the face of privatization. Three different meals are prepared on mobile kitchens with military precision. Waiting staff have to be trained and the restricted budget advered to. On the day, the weather affects the displays but the catering operation is successful.

Stella Penfold is quality standards officer for Forte's Travelodge chain of hotels. She visits the 94 hotels four time a year, unannounced, in order to check that standards are being maintained and that everything conforms to the uniformity of the brand. Penfold checks all aspects of the hotel's operations, from the exterior appearance to the way towels are folded in the bathrooms. Travelodge has an incentive scheme with rewards for the staff of the hotel with the most consistent score in this quarterly accomodation standards audit.

Butterfly Hotels owns four three star hotels in East Anglia, England. It also operates another under a management contract. The company was started in 1985 and has a carefully worked out formula for success. The owned hotels are all newly built and designed to minimise staff requirements and other costs. Couples are employed as managers and the directors take a personal interest in the daily running of the hotels. The management contract has rescued a hotel from receivership. Butterfly plans to open more hotels in the region once the recession is over.

There is a wide range of high quality ready-prepared food available to caterers which would be useful at Christmas. Foods available include canapes, starters, main courses, and desserts and include traditional Christmas fare as well as new ideas. Seasonal table and other decorations are also available.

If your salon doesn't have the right licences to serve food and drink, you could face a hefty fine. Linda Pettit reports FOOD HYGIENE: THE BASICS ) Ensure staff always [...]

Case study Head: Master of art Stand: Nicky Clarke is one of the most recognised hairdressers in the industry and he is expanding his business. Linda Pettit looks at his [...]

Learning at Work Day this Thursday is an opportunity for employers to make skills and training more fun. Linda Pettit reports More than 6,000 organisations and at least a million [...]

The one-to-one guidance of mentoring can be an invaluable source of development for the individuals involved, as well as being beneficial to the organisations themselves. Linda Pettit reports Mentoring has [...]

With the deluge of problems the industry has had to cope with over the past 18 months, it's easy to lose sight of what continues to succeed in this business [...]

Thistle Hotels, London's biggest hotel operator, lost its battle for independence last week when it reluctantly agreed to a pound sterling627m takeover bid from its biggest shareholder, Singapore investment firm [...]

Chef Antony Worrall Thompson (far left) is currently stretching his wits and skills to the utmost in an attempt to survive in the jungle for the ITV series I'm a [...]

McDonald's in bid to shed Pret A Manger chain Fast-food giant McDonald's is looking to sell its stake in the UK sandwich chain Pret A Manger, according to reports. The [...]

Thistle is in talks with numerous potential bidders to rival Singapore investment company BIL's pound sterling555m hostile takeover offer on Monday. The group has been courting offers from hotel groups [...]

Rational, the Bavaria-based oven specialist, invented the technique of combi-steaming in 1976 and has been installing its combis in catering kitchens ever since. Diane Lane puts chief executive Gunter Blaschke [...]

WHAT THE INDUSTRY THINKS ABOUT BRITAIN AT WAR The Cabinet might have been split over the issue of war with Iraq, and there's little doubt a conflict has been inevitable [...]

Simon Binder, founder of the Cafe Med chain, has been named as the new managing director of Groupe Chez Gerard as the company reported trading improvements in the second half [...]

The search is on to find the best hospitality outlook in Britain read on for full details... ... If you've got a fabulous view from your premises, then it could [...]

Proposals to radically change the way in which the capital's food markets operate were last week revealed by the Corporation of London and included catering suppliers being concentrated in New [...]

Mandarin Oriental International this week announced a 36% rise in profits for 2002, to US$55.3m (pound sterling34.9m), with turnover rising 4% to US$547.5m (pound sterling345m). Profits rose on the back [...]

Six Continents, revealing details of its proposed demerger this week, has pledged a raft of cost-cutting measures to ease the pound sterling109m cost of splitting its hotels and retail businesses. [...]

Any time, any place, anywhere... Chef's tables, where diners eat in the kitchen in full view of the kitchen brigade, are becoming all the rage around the world. But one [...]

Noodle bar chain Wagamama this week opened its 19th outlet in the UK in London's Broad Street. The new restaurant is part of the expanding chain, which now has 14 [...]

Spirit Group, the private pub company headed by former Cafe Rouge boss Karen Jones, is in talks to acquire the rival Tom Cobleigh chain for pound sterling108m. The company, which [...]

Our round-up of what the critics are saying... Giles Coren extols the virtues of vegetables at Roussillon in London's Belgravia The Times Magazine, 8 February 'My meat-free missus did not [...]

By Angela Frewin Hoteliers in Manchester report that business has remained buoyant in the wake of the Commonwealth Games held in the city over 10 days last July. Fears that [...]

The reopened Grill Room at London's Cafe Royal has a very British menu to match the grandeur of the refurbished restaurant. Dan Bignold reports Open the door to the Grill [...]

Hospitality networking association Arena is organising a charity ball to coincide with Hotelympia 2004. Dubbed BallArena, the event will pull together different sectors of the industry to raise money for [...]

Lincat takes Britannia Warwickshire-based manufacturer Britannia Kitchen Ventilation has been taken over by Lincat Group. Martin Craddock, Lincat's chairman, said: 'Kitchen ventilation is set to grow as environmental health and [...]

Black pudding and pork belly helped Anthony Williams, head chef at the Williams Arms in Devon, carry off the British Meat Pub Chef of the Year title when the event [...]

Most customers ordering meat in a restaurant in the UK assume that it's British. In reality, just over a third is British. The Meat & Livestock Commission says improved labelling [...]

Sales of organic food show no sign of slowing -- despite Iceland's revelation that not all its customers could stomach it. But as the category moves mass market, can it [...]

ASK Central Concept: Established in 1993 with the first ASK pizza restaurant. Operates its ASK and Zizzi brands across 156 sites. Both offer Italian food with starters from 1.95 [pounds [...]

CWS is aiming to improve its retail profitability by instilling simple retailing disciplines, stripping costs out of the supply chain and focusing the estate on core concepts. Chief executive Graham [...]

Half of supermarket shoppers would rather have lower prices in-store than a points incentive scheme, although shopper participation in loyalty card schemes has risen to saturation point as consumers become [...]