A humble, underpaid Chinese chef could bring about the demise of Melbourne's traditional cut-price dumplings that sell for as little as $6.50 a plate. The migrant worked long and hard making dumplings in Chinatown, but a court has found he was underpaid $200,000 and ordered the restaurant to pay up. The record ruling has restaurant owners and Melbourne foodies alike shaking at the prospect of price hikes for favoured Asian delicacies to cover increased labour costs. Industry sources fear one man's battle for fair wages could lead to several claims against restaurants where migrant workers are employed, forcing up prices or closing businesses. Chang Chang was a successful mainland China chef when his cousin organised a sponsored work visa for him to work in Australia. He made millions of delicacies over three years at the Camy Shanghai Dumpling and Noodle Restaurant, where queues of patrons wait outside the modest two-storey venue for some of Melbourne's cheapest dumplings at $6.50 a plate. Mr Chang worked 13-hour days from 9.30am-10.30pm with only five-minute breaks, which had to be approved by the boss, for $100 a day. He worked six days a week and his only holiday was Christmas Day, according to Federal Magistrate Grant Riethmuller. The court found that Mr Chang had been underpaid from December 2004 to January 2008. Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne), April 17.
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Diners' free breath tests
Diners in Randwick will be able to check their blood alcohol level before driving this Easter with some cafes and restaurants providing free breathalysers. Participating businesses will have more than 200 single-use breathalysers for patrons to use to ensure they are under the legal limit before driving. The scheme is an initiative of Randwick Council and the eastern beaches liquor accord. ``You don't have to be drunk to be affected by alcohol. You might feel sober, but no one drives well after drinking alcohol,'' mayor Murray Matson said. Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), April 17.
Service, where the bloody hell is it?
Not enough staff, not enough training, not enough manners. Welcome to Australia, where the hospitality industry needs some lessons in how to be hospitable. When you walk into a hotel or resort and the staff greet you with "You right
A-Line dresses, there?", you could call it a unique Australian welcome. Or you could call it a shameful lack of training. Low service standards are widely considered to be one of the biggest threats to Australia's tourism industry, with travellers encountering everything from inappropriate greetings to downright rudeness and refusal to help. While there is general agreement in the industry that the problem is serious, and getting worse, no one quite seems to know what to do about it. Sydney travel agent Wendy Buckley says even some of Australia's "best" hotels and resorts have a disgraceful standard of service. "I've travelled so much in the past few months and I've seen it everywhere," Buckley says. The managing director of the family travel specialist Travel with Kidz, Buckley says "you go into the average hotel in Australia and most of [the staff] have attitude. They should be appreciative that the guest has chosen to holiday in Australia and they're not." Buckley believes the problem is caused by a lack of leadership from hotel owners and managers. "You can't blame the Gen Y person who's been thrown in there; they're influenced by who's around them," she says. The Sun Herald (Sydney), April 17.
Portrait with cheesy flavour
London: There have already been many portraits of the couple, but the latest is hoped to give everyone a slice of the royal wedding. A pizza chain in Britain has created its own edible image of the couple ahead of their wedding. The chain, Papa John's, worked with a food artist to create the pizza, which includes Catherine's veil made from mushrooms; her dress from cheese; and William's suit out of salami and capsicum. Jack Swaysland, Papa John's vice-president for Europe, said: ``It seems like the whole country has got royal wedding fever, so we just had to do something special to celebrate this momentous occasion.'' The Advertiser (Adelaide), April 18.
Chinese to act on food safety
The Chinese government has vowed to tighten food safety regulations in an attempt to allay the concerns of teams attending the world championships in Shanghai in July that eating contaminated meat there could lead to an athlete giving a positive drug test. Chinese food safety standards have become a serious issue in sport following cases of athletes testing positive to the banned substance clenbuterol after competing or training in China. A recent study conducted by the Cologne anti-doping laboratory found that 22 of 28 travellers returning from China tested positive for clenbuterol, probably from food contamination. Swimming Australia wrote to the International Swimming Federation (FINA) last month to raise the issue and the Shanghai organising committee has now announced that the local authorities will supervise food production ``from farm to fork'' and ensure food quality meets international standards. The Australian, April 18.
Burgers are healthier, but causing pain in the wallet
It��s less likely today you can pay for a burger with the loose change in your wallet. Restaurants and steakhouses in Canberra are selling them for as much as four times the price of the undisputed popularly elected ruler of the burger world the Big Mac. Prices at a few stores surveyed ranged up to $20. Retailers said gourmet burgers were now healthier and customers were prepared to pay extra for the meal they described as "traditional" and "rustic". Gus's Cafe in Civic sells a tasty burger with specially made beef patty and chips for $20. Hotel Kurrajong sells a big beef patty burger with cheese, onion, relish and french fries for $18.50. Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse general manager Adam Heathcote said the key to a good burger was affordability. He said a burger became too dear as the price neared $30. His business's "classic" Wagyu beef burger retails for $18.90. "As beef prices rise, businesses need to look at meat cuts that aren't prime
cheap Bridesmaid dresses," Mr Heathcote said. "Soon we actually want to give customers a choice of three cuts they can have that's the next bastion." Canberra Times, April 17.
Sisters plan to visit gran
Sisters Sammy and Bella Jakubiak will visit their gran in Poland instead of opening a restaurant with their $100,000 prizemoney from My Kitchen Rules. Sammy, 22, and Bella, 27, from Sydney, were crowned the winners during a nail-biting grand final last Wednesday. They said they didn't feel ready to run a restaurant. ``We know how to cook, but we don't know how to run a business,'' Sammy said. ``We don't want to lose all our money on a business venture if we don't have experience in the industry.'' It's been five months since they won the competition, but Bella said the win only hit home on Wednesday. Since then, they have had dozens of offers of work. The sisters have launched a personal chef service, cooking their tasty dishes for top dollars in people's homes. Sammy said they'd already had calls. They also have a blog, SammyandBella.com, to write about their culinary journey to Europe in July. The Sunday Mail (Brisbane), April 17.
Desperation drove chef's man to crime
A man who burned down the office of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's Melbourne restaurant committed an ``impulsive, unsophisticated, desperate'' act while upset over the death of a former partner
cheap Cocktail dresses, a court has heard. Kevan Stralow, 34, was the general manager of Fifteen when he stole $23,000 of its takings during 2008 and burned down the office to cover up his crime. A Victorian County Court jury on Wednesday found him guilty of 16 counts of theft and one count of arson over the blaze that destroyed the building where the office was located. The trial heard that soon after joining Oliver's staff in January 2008, Stralow would miss regular banking dates and deposit the money a few days late. Prosecutors told the two-week trial that Stralow stole the money and gambled it away. At a pre-sentencing hearing yesterday, Stralow's lawyer Mark Regan told the court his client was a man of previous good character who became unresponsive and distant after the death of a former girlfriend. ``We have a man of otherwise high achievement, a man of previous unblemished character, whose life has been touched by personal tragedy,'' Mr Regan said. Prosecutor Fran Dalziel said Stralow's crimes were aggravated by the fact that he was in a senior position and stole from a business with charitable links. She recommended a jail term of four to six years, with a non-parole period of three to five years. The matter was adjourned to May 23. The Advertiser (Adelaide), April 16.
For once, it's too few chefs spoiling the broth - and migrants saying 'sous me'
Walk through Alla Wolf-Tasker's Lake House restaurant in Daylesford as staff go about their daily service and you'll meet what the executive chef likes to call her "UN crew". In the past few years
cheap Formal dresses, kitchen staff have arrived from more than six countries including South Africa, Japan and France. They make Daylesford their home and offer Wolf-Tasker the culinary experience she's long been seeking to help get through the industry's exodus of skilled restaurant workers. Like many other eateries across the country, Lake House has been sponsoring staff to come to Australia. Today, more than 10 of her staff are either on or started with 457 visas, including chefs Kazuki Tsuya of Japan and Britain's Gemma Cooper and Amanda Bestwick, who all started on 457 visas but have become permanent residents. Others have been interviewed while they were abroad and recently sponsored by the Lake House, such as South African chef Chris Payne and his partner Kate Ryall, who works front of house. Payne studied at a culinary academy, then worked as a sous-chef in a string of high-end eateries and hotels before deciding to work in Australia because he had heard of its emerging food scene. "It's challenging being away from home, friends and family
cheap grad dresses," says Payne. "But from a professional point of view, it's fantastic because everyone wants to work as a team . . . and be the best they can be." In Victoria, chefs like Payne are desperately needed. Wolf-Tasker describes the industry's chef shortage as being "at its fiercest". She says in a time when the industry is expanding rapidly and Australia's unemployment is low, there are "simply not enough people to fill jobs". The Age (Melbourne, Australia), April 16.
Eat out for that taste of home
In corporate Milton, the local cafe clientele are booted and suited but they want to feel like they're sipping their long black at nanna's house. If 2010 was the year of the restaurant opening in Brisbane, this is the year of the cafe. Forget the slick global chains, the new cafe is all about home. ``We may be catering to a corporate crowd but they want to get out of the office and be taken to another place altogether,'' said Naomi Zavackas of Comfort at My Table Cafe in Cribb St. There are flying ducks on the wall, vases of flowers and the home-made food comes served on vintage plates. ``It's quite girly so I'm surprised that men have embraced it so enthusiastically,'' she said. ``But they say it reminds them of being at their mum's or grandma's.'' Southsiders, including flocks of weekend cyclists, sip coffee from brown stoneware cups in what was once a bird hospital, the small and eccentric Lady Marmalade cafe, owned by former My Kitchen Rules contestants Mal Gill and Bec Saul. The Courier Mail (Brisbane), April 16.
Pub sales set to raise the bar
Two pubs within kilometres of each other in the affluent eastern suburbs of Sydney are set to test the pubs and hotel market. In the past two years a rash of pubs around Australia have been put on the market as banks push owners such as Redcape Property Fund to ease their debt load. Redcape has sold more than a dozen pubs in the past year. In Sydney, the Royal Oak Hotel in Double Bay and the Woollahra Hotel are for sale. The Royal Oak at 3 Oak Ave has Woollahra Council development approval to build three luxury penthouse apartments above the pub. The five-year development approval ends this November. Owner John Lewis, who owns seven pubs under the Lewis Hotels name, is believed to be seeking more than $20 million for the pub and an adjoining residence. ``There is no financial pressure to sell,'' Lewis says. ``We are currently looking at other opportunities. ``This is not a typical pub sale as we have a residence thrown in at the back as part of the deal. ``We will assess our options when the expressions of interest close.'' John Musca, Jones Lang LaSalle national director of pub investment sales, says he has already knocked back offers of up to $18m for the Royal Oak Hotel. Weekend Australian, April 16.
Bullish Woolies, cautious Coles still in hunt for pubs
A strategy designed to circumvent Queensland's rules on liquor retailing have made supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths the largest players in the highly lucrative pubs sector. But a push for tighter controls on the use of poker machines has highlighted how much of the pubs' earnings is generated from gambling, and therefore how vulnerable the otherwise reliably cash-generative retailers are to any change in regulation. Woolworths attributed partial blame for a 3 per cent decline in comparable revenue from its hotels division last year to changes in maximum bet limits and restrictions on the placement of ATMs in gaming venues. Nonetheless, it is a highly profitable business. Although its contribution to earnings before interest and tax was just $177 million, this was booked on sales of $1.1 billion, an EBIT-to-sales ratio of 16 per cent. This was more than twice the 6.5 per cent made by the supermarkets division and more than three times its discretionary stablemate Big W, which generated $200m in EBIT from $4.2bn in sales, a conversion rate of just 4.8 per cent. Weekend Australian, April 16.
Pan Pacific puts faith in Chinese tourism
Singapore-based Pan Pacific Hotels Group isn't relying on a decline in the Australian dollar to boost room occupancy rates, tipping tight supply conditions and increasing Chinese tourism to maintain demand. Pan Pacific, a subsidiary of the Singapore-listed property firm UOL Group, paid $110 million last month for the 276-room Hilton Melbourne Airport Hotel and is on the hunt for hotel management contracts in Australia. Despite the impact of the strong Australian dollar on inbound tourism, Pan Pacific chief executive Patrick Imbardelli said he was confident in the strength of underlying demand. ``The economy seems solid, so commercially the business will be strong . . . there's still interest from overseas visitors,'' he said, adding that the Australian business drew 25 per cent to 30 per cent of its customers from overseas. ``The Chinese market is increasing at a higher rate than all other markets, so there's something telling us that even if we slip in terms of other markets
long prom dresses, China will still be increasing, so the pie is getting bigger.'' The Australian, April 18.
Pubs say 3am lockout could cost millions
Pubs could lose at least $500 million in revenue and the NSW economy would shrink by as much as $156 million if late-night venues across the state were forced to introduce a 3am lockout
grad dresses 2011, a report says. The state government would forgo as much as $55 million in gaming tax and 8000 jobs could could be lost if there was a state-wide introduction of the policy, the report by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says. Newcastle has enforced a 3am lockout on 14 licensed venues in its central business district since 2008, which means people can stay inside pubs, clubs and bars after that time but others cannot be admitted. The report, which was commissioned by the NSW Australian Hotels Association, used the results of an earlier survey of the impact of the Newcastle restrictions to predict the effect a lockout would have on the state if extended to all venues. It also found that the trading revenue of hotels could decline by up to $657 million and about 290 venues would close. The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, has indicated that he does not support a statewide introduction of the policy. But he will come under pressure from the NSW Police Association, which is keen to have it expanded beyond Newcastle. Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), April 18.
Only way is up
When it comes to climbing the corporate ladder
cheap long prom dresses, you could be forgiven for thinking a university degree is the only way forward. That may be the case in many industries, but there are some where the next chief executive can be found in the mailroom. Mark Reddy, the business development executive at the Langham Hotel Melbourne, started his career as a porter six years ago. ``Having started as a porter, I was fortunate enough to interact daily with all areas of the hotel and get an understanding of the part they play in the operation,'' Reddy says. ``I very quickly made a decision on where I wanted to be in the hotel business and what rungs I needed to climb to get me there . . . and although I am still climbing (and have a way to go), my goal is the same as it was when I started.'' Careers expert Warren Frehse says retail and hospitality are two industries of major employment where you can still rise up through the ranks. ``These are fast-growing industries, so the opportunities are vast,'' Frehse says. Herald Sun (Melbourne)
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