restaurant association the thymes - november 2012

No Shortage Of Managers

The plan to remove Café, Bar and Restaurant Managers from Immigration New Zealand’s essential skills in demand list is a move that will hurt the hospitality sector. BY MARISA BIDOIS

R ecruiting and retaining high calibre staff able to work as café, bar and restaurant managers has always been a challenge for the industry. Many of our workers consider a hospitality job

as a short stop on the way to a job somewhere else, rather than the legitimate career that it is.

Evidence from the industry indicates there continues to be a severe shortage of skilled staff available to fill these management roles and this situation has worsened over the past two years. An informal survey of members we conducted just last month found that 90% of respondents reported an unacceptable level of difficulty in recruiting for these positions.

While business owners are committed to developing, training and promoting from within as well as incentivising staff to stay by providing additional benefits, it has not been enough to stem the rising tide of shortages. We have also played a role; since 2006, the Restaurant Association has run professional development programmes for the industry ranging from induction workshops for front -of-house staff through to emerging and first time manager workshops. However, despite these efforts there is strong evidence of continuing difficulties in recruiting for these positions.

The shortfall in suitable management staff is impacting the sector overall, but most importantly it is impacting business owners. Many report working significantly longer hours because they have been unable to recruit a manager. This adds stress not only to the owner, but other workers too, and impacts the work environment. It also has the potential to impact customer service levels and therefore customers’ dining experiences and perceptions of the industry.

We can be justifiably proud of our hospitality sector, but at the same time we should be doing all we can to make sure it is as strong and as vibrant as it can possibly be. Removing this manager position from the Essential Skills in Demand List will do our industry and our country no favours.

planning for christmas For employers planning rosters, or closedowns, over the Christmas/New Year period, or those wanting clarity on paying staff for public holidays. We outline some of the key information to help you get through these busy weeks.

09

you’re not the only responsible host Getting your staff match ready for the busy summer season should involve a refresh of your host responsibility policies.

18

effective staff incentives 20

In NZ… apparently

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2

think your café is the best?

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don’t neglect the detail...

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Around 400 cafés are involved in the nationwide

competition and with more than 20,000 public votes, it is

Warkworth, Timaru, Te Kuiti, Napier, Greymouth and

Gore who host some of the country’s most popular small

eateries.

In its inaugural year, the NZ Café of the Year competition

pits cafés from the length and breadth of the country

against each other.

The top three café finalists in the five regions are:

Upper North Island: Chocolate Brown (Warkworth), Urban Soul (Botany, Auckland) and Paper Moon (Mairangi Bay, Auckland).

Central North Island: Bosco Café (Te Kuiti), Capers Café (Rotorua) and Corogate Café (Thames).

Lower North Island: Mega Café (Masterton), Café Ahuriri (Napier) and Macfarlanes Caffé (Inglewood)

Upper South Island: Maggies Kitchen (Greymouth), Artisan by Rangiora Bakery (Rangiora) and Luciano Espresso Bar (Christchurch).

Lower South Island: The Roost Cafe (Oamaru), Jagz of Village Green (Invercargill) and The Green Room Café (Gore).

Public voting determined the 15 regional finalists and now the cafés are being

judged on appearance, atmosphere, service, meals and overall experience by an

expert team of judges, organised by the Restaurant Association of NZ. The winning

café, announced on 12th November, claims the title of NZ Café of the Year 2012

and will feature on the popular primetime TV segment Food in a Minute.

Classic Kiwi Dishes Get Creative Spin For NZ Café of the Year

Home-grown hospitality and creative cuisine are the winners in the Cafe of the Year competition with the top 15 coming from regional New Zealand.

WHO IS INVOLVED? This competition is supported by iconic food brands KIWI BACON and WATTIE’S,

together with the RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION. For more information go to the

website www.nzcafeoftheyear.co.nz

Some rather creative bacon and bean dishes are among the finalists: Warkworth’s Chocolate Brown “Kiwi Special”.

It features Wattie’s Baked Beans, crispy Kiwi

Bacon, home-made potato rosti, soft poached

egg, fresh herb salsa verde and watercress.

Another clever creation comes from Café Ahuriri

in Napier with their classic dish with a twist.

A filo shell filled with Wattie’s Baked Beans with

an egg cracked over the top, finished with a

dusting of Grana Padano cheese. It is baked in

the oven until crisp and served on a bed of crispy

streaky Kiwi Bacon and topped with mascarpone

cheese and spring onion curls. The dish is

finished with a watercress pesto drizzle.

“We’re delighted with the calibre of the cuisine

we are seeing in this competition,” says Kristy

Blackman, Kiwi Bacon senior marketing manager.

“There are some truly classic dishes coming

through and one of them is set to be enshrined as

a Kiwi favourite.”

BELOW FROM LEFT: Chocolate Brown’s Kiwi Classic; Bosco

Café’s Bean to Bosco dish; and Mega Café in Masterton’s

Kiwi Breakfast

proudly brought to you by Outdoor Concepts

November 2011 09 ceo update

FROM THE CEO’s DESK

Immediate Skills Shortage List

One of the main concerns on my mind at the moment is

the possible removal of Café, Bar and Restaurant

Manager from the Immediate Skills Shortage List. Our

most recent survey addressing this matter turned up that

90% of you are struggling to fill these positions. This is an

increase from a similar survey that was sent out in 2010,

pre Rugby World Cup.

With this kind of information in its hands I fail to see how

a government department can make a decision to remove

these positions from the list. The government is on a

strategic mission to employ New Zealanders and I am all

for that, but the reality of the situation is that many of our

own are not interested in taking up these positions or they

are being enticed overseas by the prospect of higher

wages.

A letter from the department in response to our

submission read as follows:

“Before we finalise our advice we want to let you know

that our recommendations will be to remove Café/

Restaurant Manager from the Immediate Skill Shortage List

on the basis that this occupation has been on the list for

several years and industry has had time to train and

develop New Zealanders into these roles. As you might

remember we reviewed this occupation in 2010 and

retained the occupation on the Immediate Skill Shortage

List in order to meet the extra hospitality demands

associated with the Rugby World Cup.”

The Association will do all we can to ensure that these

positions remain on the Immediate Skills Shortage List and

will keep you posted on our activities. If you would like to

be involved please contact the Association or your local

branch president. Be sure to keep an eye on the website

and Facebook for updates and share your stories with us

about your recruitment troubles.

The last two months have been all go here at the Association. BY MARISA BIDOIS

THE THYMES November 2012 03

ceo’s update

Café of the Year

The Association is a supporter of NZ Café of the Year

(along with principal sponsors Watties and Kiwi Bacon)

and the fifteen finalists have been announced.

I would like to send special congratulations to our

members that have made the finalist list: Bosco Café in

Te Kuiti, Capers Café in Rotorua and Macfarlanes Caffe

in New Plymouth. Well done! The Association has been

involved in organising the judges for the final leg of the

competition. We have selected a panel of experienced

professionals to select the overall winner of the

competition. With some 20,000 public votes this has

been a very successful first year for the competition.

A few changes on the home base...

There have been a few changes to our team here at the

Association. We welcome back Kirsten Lethbridge who

has returned from parental leave to look after

membership and the employment helpline. We farewell

Blair Fergus who was covering Kirsten’s role while she

was away. Margaret Main has been providing

employment advice in Kirsten’s absence and will stay on,

on an ‘as and when needed’ basis.

Christmas madness

Over the Christmas New Year period the Association’s

offices will be closed on the public holidays and also

Christmas and New Year’s Eve. However, we are still

contactable on our after hours

helpline (027 559 7777), so we’re

never far away if you need advice.

I hope this time of year will be

profitable for you all. Thank you

for your continued support of the

Association and I look forward to

working with you more in the New

Year. We have a great year

planned for 2013.

Marisa Bidois

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Source: www.fohboh.com

international update 16 THE THYMES September 2012

DO: Make the customer feel special Greet the guests promptly. Some restaurants even

establish a time limit, usually fewer than 2 minutes, by

which a patron must be acknowledged. This is the first

impression guests get of your restaurant, and at this point

they are very much free to walk down the street to the

next place if it seems like you can't be bothered to notice

them. Be warm and friendly, but discreet. It's your job to

provide excellent service, not be their new friend.

Know the menu

You should know every part of the menu inside and out,

no exceptions. When you are knowledgeable about the

product you set the customer at ease—this is your time to

shine as a server. Not only is it part of great service, but

allergens are no joke—if a customer tells you they're

allergic, you'd better know the ingredients of everything

that will touch their plate, and what dishes are likely to be

prepared alongside theirs.

Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate

The hallmark of truly excellent service is taking care of

needs without the guest having to ask. Note this is very

different from hovering. Drink refills, child seats, knowing

where each dish is going before it gets to the

table. If one order is holding up the rest

significantly, address it – different

establishments will have different policies.

Combine tasks

Anywhere you are moving and whatever

your task, always be thinking, “What else

could I be doing?” From clearing

plates, going around the floor with

water refills, or helping another

server carry their order out, there

should rarely be any reason for

you to be empty-handed. There is

never downtime in a restaurant.

DON’T: Be pushy, interrupt It's true what your grandma told you— patience is a virtue.

Wait for pauses in conversation before checking in on a

table or reciting specials. While it's good to be attentive,

don't obsessively refill drinks or clear plates when other

guests are still eating. It's good to be available, but more

important to be discreetly helpful than annoyingly hovering.

Be hard to reach

The other side of this coin is to make yourself available to

your table at all times, even when you are completely

slammed. When you're moving, your eyes should be

constantly scanning. You can't be everywhere at once, but

simply making eye contact with a patron and

acknowledging that you will help them soon goes a long

way toward alleviating the tension a guest feels when they

need you and you're nowhere to be found— or worse still,

they can see you and you're ignoring them.

Get defensive

Dealing with criticism is part and parcel of the job, and it's

important to take complaints with grace, even (especially)

the outrageous ones. A well-run restaurant empowers staff

to take customer problems and make them right. You will

never make any situation better by blaming the customer.

RESTAURANT DO’S DON’TS &

ADVERTISEMENT

Photo Mania Your friends should know better than

to start eating before you've

Instagrammed it. And you've lost all

shame for setting off your flash at a

crowded restaurant.

Fancy Condiment Fanaticism Regular ketchup and mustard just don't cut it anymore as food

nerds reach for sriracha. Bingo - nerdiness confirmed as they

slather this spicy sweet Thai sauce on pretty much everything.

Proper Gear In their kitchen you have to look for tricked-out gear that you

think seems like it would rarely have the occasion for use.

The more expensive, the more devoted you are to geekery.

An at-home sous-vide machine is the perfect example - shiny,

not that functional and expensive.

You Have a Restaurant Bucket List Hitting every new restaurant that's worth going to is pretty

much impossible, but that doesn't mean you can't try. Food

nerds are passionate about going out, and they are always

looking for new place to hit. Once a new hole-in-the-wall

Thai joint or crazy-expensive fine-dining establishment is

found, it goes on the list.

The selection of potential restaurants is always getting

updated, and by its ever-expanding nature it's impossible

to hit every one. When looking for a

place to go on a random night, they

will consult the list (and new friends

with similar tastes will compare lists to

make plans).

You are a Food Truck

Follower Another piece of evidence that

your love of eating on the go

may bring you into the geek

category is your social

feeds. If you use Twitter to

stay on top of the trucks,

and will up and run from

wherever you are when you

find out one is close to you, you might as well hashtag

#FoodNerd when you at-reply them to say you're coming.

Cocktail Geekery Whether you're making basil gimlets at your home bar on a

Monday evening or debating Campari vs. Aperol at a

high-end lounge with a mustachioed bartender, a fine

appreciation of cocktail culture is pretty much a sure sign of

food nerd-ness.

Discretionary Income, and Then Some If you're still doubting your food-nerd status, look at your bank

account. If you've paid rent a few days late because you

wanted to splurge on that impossible-to-get reservation or if

you've racked up the bills paying for ingredients like starfruit

and saffron, chances are that you're laying out the dough to

satisfy your inner geek.

If you go to a restaurant and you think it's no big deal to

spend $4 extra for them to put fresh

ramps on your salad, chances are

your wallet will be bare, but your

cupboards anything but. Food

geekery is expensive - cha-ching!

PRESIDENT’S VIEWPOINT I ENJOYED AN ARTICLE BY JAMES MULCAHY WHICH FEATURED ON ZAGAT.COM RECENTLY AND I’VE HIGHLIGHTED THE BEST BITS BELOW... BY MIKE EGAN

YOU KNOW YOU’RE A FOOD NERD WHEN

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president’s viewpoint

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Things to do … DINE AT THE...

WHAT’S ON! What’s On ...NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

November2

-11 Food and Wine Classic, Hawkes Bay

www.fawc.co.nz

08

-10 Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair, Hong Kong

www.hktdc.com

10

-17 NZ Cup and Show Week, Christchurch

www.nzcupandshow.co.nz

12

Winner of NZ Café of the Year announced

www.nzcafeoftheyear.co.nz

13

Restaurant Association Front of House Induction Workshop @ taste, Mt

Eden. Auckland

www.restaurantnz.co.nz

15

-18 Taste of Auckland

www.tasteofauckland.co.nz

15

-18 Taste of Melbourne

www.tasteofmelbourne.com.au

16

Canterbury Anniversary Day

(regional public holiday)

18

Toast Martinborough, Martinborough

www.toastmartinborough.co.nz

20

Restaurant Association webinar series,

Employment Law FAQ’s, presented by Hesketh

Henry solicitors


24

Air New Zealand Wine Awards announced,

Wellington

www.airnzwineawards.com

30

Whitebait season closes

December3

Westland Anniversary Day (regional public

holiday)

15

Cherry and Raspberry

season begins!

14

School finishes (secondary schools)

20

School finishes (primary and intermediate schools)

25

Christmas Day (public holiday)

26

Boxing Day (public holiday)

31

New Years Eve

2013

January1

New Years Day (public holiday)

02

Day After New Years Day (public holiday)

07

-12 Heineken Open tennis tournament,

Auckland

www.heinekenopen.co.nz

14

Southland Anniversary Day (regional public

holiday)

21

Wellington Anniversary Day (regional public

holiday)

26

Auckland Seafood Festival, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland

www.seafoodfestival.co.nz

28

-31 Pinot Noir NZ 2013, Wellington

www.pinotnz.co.nz

28

Auckland Anniversary Day (regional public

holiday)

events—national & international 06 THE THYMES November 2012

November 2011 14 managing your business

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO SELL?...

After meeting with you a broker will be able to give you an indication of the value of your business and can also recommend

what you might be required to do in order to achieve the maximum value for your business. The other thing to remember, if

you are looking at valuing, or selling, your business, is to choose a firm that is passionate about and has experience in the

sale of food and beverage businesses.

The best time is when there are keen buyers in the market to purchase a business—and that is the case now. But if

you are thinking of selling, a broker will need to understand your business in order to appraise it and give you an

honest opinion on the current market value. So you’ll need to get some affairs in order. BY GLORIANNE CAMPBELL

What do you need to do?

Meet with the broker so they can learn the nuts and bolts of your business, the history and further potential of the

business.

Provide a copy of the lease which will outline the duration of the lease, other factors pertaining to the business’

use and the landlord requirements relating to the lease.

Provide GST returns and/or financial statements relating to the business. Looking at these will assist in ascertaining

the cost of sales, gross profit of the business, wages, rent and other expenses and the likely profit achievable from

the business. In the absence of financials the broker will need to sit with you and learn what your usual costs of

running the business are and also what your weekly sales are.

Staff roster – this indicates the level of staffing that is required in the business and how the owners of the business

work in the business. This is a very important component of the business to understand when looking to marry

prospective buyers of a business into different staffing roles.

Details about any leased or hired items of the business that you will require the buyer to take responsibility for from

settlement date.

ADVERTISEMENT

PLANNING FOR CHRISTMAS

For employers planning their rosters, or their closedowns, over the Christmas/New Year period, or those wanting clarity on paying staff over the public holidays. We outline some of the key information to help you get through these busy weeks.

W ith the busy season upon us

many employers are considering

their rosters over the Christmas and

New Year period and with this comes

the usual confusion over payment for

workers on the public holidays.

Thankfully this year these days fall

during the week, making the process

a little simpler than last year...

The public holidays over the

Christmas/New Year period in

2012/2013 are

Christmas Day ~ Tuesday 25 December

2012

Boxing Day ~ Wednesday 26 December

2012

New Year's Day ~ Tuesday 01 January

2013

Day after New Year’s Day ~ Wednesday

02 January 2013

Payment for working on a

public holiday

Anyone who works on a public holiday

is entitled to be paid at a rate of time

and a half. If the public holiday is a

day that they would normally work (for

instance the public holiday is on a

Tuesday and the employee usually

works on a Tuesday), and they do work

it, then they are also entitled to one

days full paid leave – an alternative

holiday - to take sometime in the

future. If the public holiday falls on a

day that is not a normal day of work

for the employee, and they do work it,

then they are entitled to be paid at time

and a half but they do not earn an

alternative holiday.

Payment if not working on

a public holiday

The Restaurant Association individual

employment agreement sets out that

employees will be required to work on

public holidays if requested by the

employer. However, if an employee

would normally be working on the day

that the public holiday falls, but it has

been agreed that they have the day off,

christmas game plan 10 THE THYMES November 2012

they are entitled to be paid the amount

of pay that they would have received

had they worked on that day (their

relevant daily pay). If the employee

does not work on a public holiday

because it is their normal rostered day

off, there is no obligation to pay the

employee for that day.

Closedowns

During a closedown an employer may

require employees to take all or some

of their annual leave during the period

of the closedown, even where this

requires employees to take leave for

which they are not fully reimbursed. As

an example, for employees in their first

year of employment, the level of

annual holiday pay for the period of

the closedown can be established by:

the employer paying the employee

8% of gross earnings to date, or

the employer and employee

agreeing to the employee taking

annual holidays in advance and

being paid even though there is not

yet an entitlement to take the

accrued leave.

If you are planning a closedown you

need to give your staff 14 days notice

of a closedown period (so now is the

time to notify your employees). And

don’t forget that a public holiday that

occurs during an employee's annual

holidays must be treated as a public

holiday and not as part of the

employee's annual holidays. The

employee is still entitled to be paid for

a public holiday if the holiday would

have otherwise been a working day for

the employee.

If you have queries

about

paying your

staff for

public

holidays or

closedown

periods, call

our HELP DESK

on

0800 737 827.

WAYS TO STAY MERRY!

Here is some tried and true advice to help you and your staff get through the season.

Remember to train your staff well on

your businesses protocol for large bookings,

i.e limits, numbers, set menus etc so that you

secure those bookings right away. First point

of contact to the customer is crucial.

Put incentives in place for staff to up-sell

bubbly over the festive season, make a

competition out of it and get your reps to

provide some bubbly as the prize. Over the

festive season this can be a great way to

boost takings.

Make sure there is some bubbles on ice for

you to toast the end of the year. Most

important!

Hayley Scott, Zinc Café. Hamilton

The thing that my team like best is

TIME OFF! So over the years I’ve gotten into

the tradition of being closed on Christmas

Eve night (as everyone really wants to be

home wrapping those last minute presents)

and Christmas and Boxing Day. We also

don’t open on New Year’s Eve. I find it’s for

revellers, not quiet diners. Whilst it may not

be the most profitable move closing at those

times, it does make me very popular with my

staff and that’s not such a bad thing.

Barbara Olsen-Henderson,

Bach on Breakwater, New Plymouth

Look after your staff and have fun. If

it’s not fun and they do not enjoy their work,

will your customers enjoy their experience? It

all comes down to selection in the first place,

choose people who care about others…they

are the ones who care about the team, care

about the customer and care about your

business.

Shelly Witchalls, Shelly’s Food for Friends,

Blenheim

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“ “

“

“

“

What is the best way of hiring temporary staff to help out over your busier times of year?

I f you are hiring seasonal staff for a few months over summer, it is advisable

that they are employed on a fixed term employment arrangement. Employing

someone for a fixed period of time to help out over a busy trading period is a

legitimate business arrangement but there are a few key points to remember:

Details of this arrangement should be clearly outlined in writing, in the

employee’s employment agreement, to avoid any confusion as to the nature

of the employment relationship.

With fixed term employment arrangements employment is not on-going and

comes to an end on a specific date or in response to the occurrence of a

particular event.

Once the employment comes to an end at the completion of the fixed term

this does not constitute a dismissal or a redundancy situation.

A fixed term agreement cannot be used in order to establish the suitability of

an employee for permanent employment. This is what trial period or

probationary period clauses are for.

Ensure you review fixed term arrangements as circumstances may change with

the possibility that the employee may become a permanent employee.

You may also find that you need to hire some casual employees to help you out

over particularly busy times. Casual employment can be defined as where an

employee is employed when and if needed, and where there is no particular

expectation of continuing employment. Some hospitality businesses do

legitimately have a selection of casual employees. They usually form part of a

group of employees upon whom the employer can call, when required, to help

out on a busy night, or to assist at a function, or to fill in for a sick employee.

As true casuals have no ordinary working days, and their employment is

not continuous, they typically have no entitlement to service-related

benefits such as sick leave, bereavement leave or parental leave, or to

any additional payment (day in lieu) for working on public holidays.

They will not become entitled to four weeks’ annual holiday, but the

employer is required to pay 8% of the employees gross earnings at the

completion of each work engagement in recognition of their

entitlement to annual leave. It is important that this amount is clearly

indicated as a separate payment on their pay slip.

Casual employment must be closely monitored. Where ‘casual’

employees are being used regularly each week, or on certain days

of the week, it is likely that their status has changed to permanent

part-time workers. This can cause payment and entitlement

problems, so we advise seeking advice.

new legislation update November 2011 08

EMPLOYING SEASONAL WORKERS

Employers have generally welcomed the

announcement of a new “starting-out

wage” which allows eligible 16 to 19-

year-olds to begin work at 80 per cent

of the minimum wage.

The Government’s focus, with the introduction

of this wage, is providing further opportunity to

help young people to get into work, earn

money and get the job experience they need.

The youth minimum wage was abolished in

2008 and replaced by a ‘new entrants wage’

which applies for the first three months or 200

cumulative hours (from all current and previous

jobs). Research indicates that the new entrants

wage is used by only 2 per cent of employers,

with businesses complaining that it’s too

complicated, impractical and fleeting to bother

with.

This new starting out wage will be available to

eligible employees for six months (doubling the

three months of the new entrants wage) and 16

& 17 year olds remain eligible for the starting

out wage with each new employer . The new

wage also extends the availability to 18 and 19

year olds coming off the benefit.

The three groups of employees eligible (unless

they are training or supervising others) are:

16 and 17-year-olds in their first six months

of work with a new employer;

18 and 19-year-olds entering the workforce

after more than six months on a benefit;

16 to 19-year-old workers in a recognised

industry training course involving at least 40

credits a year.

The changes are planned to come into effect

from 1 April 2013.

$tarting Out Wage Gains Support Of Employers


DON’T NEGLECT DETAIL IN DISCIPLINARY PROCESS

Several determinations by the Employment Relations Authority recently which have found against the employer emphasize the importance of following correct process in employment matters. We look at two cases involving hospitality businesses...

Dismissed!

employment matters

EMPLOYER PAYS $10,000 FOR UNJUSTIFIED DISMISSAL Owners of Auckland cafe ordered to pay staff member $10,000 after firing him for allegedly stealing money.

I n this case, an employee began work at a café in

Auckland in October 2011. At the end of his shift on

14 January 2012 the owner of the café asked the em-

ployee to sit down with her at a table, in the middle of the

busy café, in full view of patrons and other staff. When

the employee joined her at the table the owner immedi-

ately alleged that two of his colleagues had seen him

take money out of the till and put it in his pocket during

his shift one week prior, on 07 January 2012.

When the employee could not readily offer an

explanation for what his colleagues had allegedly seen

(07 January was one of the café’s busiest days with

customers lined up outside the café’s door for most of the

day) he was dismissed with immediate effect. The meeting

took less than ten minutes.

The employee then spent the next few days going over

and over in his mind what incident the café’s owner could

have been referring to and wrote to her on 17 January

denying stealing from the café and expressing

embarrassment at the way he had been dealt with. The

employee asked his former employer to reconsider his

employment but she did not respond to his letter.

On 18 January the employee then recalled that on 07

January he had served a family who had been billed $85

which the father paid for with a $100 note. When he

processed the payment he forgot to give the customer

their $15 change so he apologised to the customer when

he returned to the table and said he would bring their

change over. He said the customer told him to ‘keep the

change’, so he returned to the till and removed $15 cash

which he put in his pocket as the tip he had been given.

He says he did not recall this earlier because when he

was questioned on 14 January he was blindsided and

therefore too shocked to be able to recall anything

specific about 07 January.

The employee said he believed he was entitled to keep

the tip because it was given to him personally and

because that had been the usual practice with other

hospitality jobs he had held.

In their determination the Authority assessed whether the

employer’s actions, and how the employer acted, were

what a fair and reasonable employer could have done in

all the circumstances at the time the dismissal occurred.

Because the café had not checked or retained till receipts

for 07 January, it could not corroborate or disprove the

employee’s explanation about the personal tip. The cafe

also failed to investigate the day's total takings against

the till receipts, and was actually $11 up on January 7.

Furthermore, the cafe failed to obtain written statements

from the witnesses or to consider that the employee made

no attempt to conceal his actions when he took the $15.

An employer also has statutory good faith obligations to

give an employee whose ongoing employment may be in

jeopardy access to information relevant to the

continuation of their employment and an opportunity to

comment on that before a final decision is made. The

Authority found that the café did not act fairly or properly

when it raised its concerns with the employee. He had no

advance notice of the meeting held on 14 January and

had no idea it was to be a disciplinary meeting. He had

no idea his ongoing employment was in jeopardy or why,

and, other than being accused of theft, he was not given

relevant information during the meeting.

The café’s actions deprived the employee of any

opportunity to:

a. Access or respond to the information upon which they

based the decision about his ongoing employment;

b. Take advice;

c. Arrange for a support person or representative to

accompany him at the disciplinary meeting;

d. Prepare his response to the theft allegation.

THE OUTCOME: As the Authority found that the employer’s actions were

not what a fair and reasonable

employer could have done in all the

circumstances at the time the

employee was dismissed, it was

therefore unable to justify his

dismissal. The café was ordered to

pay the employee $4,662.50 in lost

remuneration and $5,400.00 for

distress compensation.


employment update

employment matters

A nother Authority case involved a prominent catering

company who dismissed an employee for being

intoxicated off duty, which was contrary to the business’

company policy. In this case, while it was found that there

was justification to dismiss the employee a slip up with

the process in conducting the dismissal procedure

resulted in the employee successfully arguing a claim for

unjustified dismissal.

The employee worked as an operations manager at the

Cloud, the Rugby World Cup venue in Auckland, where

the catering company had a contract. In October 2011

the employee turned up to the Cloud on her day off in an

intoxicated state and began to act inappropriately. As

there was concern that an incident may develop the

human resources manager for the catering company was

called and she arrived with the sales director to

investigate the incident. The employee had left at that

point but several employees were interviewed about the

events of the evening and on that basis it was decided

that further investigation would be required.

The following day four other employees were interviewed

and when the employee arrived for her scheduled shift

she was told that she was suspended on full pay until the

investigation was complete.

The employee indicated that while she had been

informed that the suspension was connected to an

investigation that she had been drunk whilst on duty and

to allegations of abuse, the suspension had not been

confirmed in writing despite her requesting this in three

emails, nor had she been given any indication of how

long the suspension was to last.

After a disciplinary meeting the following week the

employee was dismissed with immediate effect on the

grounds of serious misconduct. ‘Being intoxicated on site

whilst off duty’ constituted serious misconduct as set out

in the business’ house rules.

The Authority considered that the catering company had

fully investigated this allegation and that they had

reasonable grounds for concluding that the employee

had been intoxicated whilst off duty at the Cloud on the

evening in question. They had justification for dismissing

the employee on this basis. The Authority held however

that the dismissal was procedurally unfair.

The employee was suspended the day following the

incident and informed that the allegations against her

were that she had been drunk on duty and abusive. The

law is clear that the employee should have been provided

with access to pertinent information about the decision to

suspend her, and the opportunity to comment on this

information prior to the decision to suspend her being

made. However this did not occur despite requests for

this information.

These initial allegations were expanded on in a telephone

conversation with the employee’s lawyer, prior to the

disciplinary meeting, to include allegations of being

intoxicated on the premises; however two other

allegations (of opening an unauthorised bar account and

inappropriate use of a radio) were not mentioned. Again,

details of the allegations were not confirmed in writing

despite a request for them to be.

The Authority found that a fair and reasonable employer

would have provided the employee with full information

concerning the allegations against her, both at the time

of her suspension and prior to the disciplinary meeting

being held. As a result of the employers failure to do this

the Authority found that the employee was unjustifiably

dismissed.

The Authority awarded compensation of $3,000 to the

employee however this was reduced by 90% due to the

contributing actions of the employee, resulting in a

reduction to $300.

DISMISSAL OF INTOXICATED WORKER JUSTIFIED BUT PROCESS FLAWED

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THESE TWO CASES?

Don’t rush to any conclusions without fully investigating the

alleged incident.

Arrange a time to meet the employee privately, away from

customers and staff.

Ensure you inform the employee of their right to bring a support

person or representative to the meeting.

Ensure that the invitation to a disciplinary meeting is in writing

and outlines the reasons for the meeting.

Provide the employee with all the information that you have

concerning the allegations against them and any decisions you

make using this information.

14 THE THYMES November 2012 employment update

ON THE HORIZON regulations & legislation in review

One of the Restaurant Association’s aims is to ensure that our

members are kept abreast of possible regulatory changes that may

impact our businesses and so we’d like to let you know of some

recent developments…

Waitangi Day & ANZAC Day

The Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment

Bill seeks to “Monday-ise” Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day if they fall on the

weekend.

Much like the current status of the Christmas and New Year public holidays

when they fall on the weekend, this Bill, if passed, will mean that employees

who normally work on the weekend day that they fall will still observe the

public holiday on that day. But for everyone else the public holiday will be

observed on the Monday.

The Bill passed its first reading and is currently with Select Committee, which is

due to report back to Parliament in January 2013. It is a Private Member's Bill

and as such there is no certainty that it will become law.

Parental Leave

In the news of late due to some rather contentious comments by BusinessNZ

during the submission process is the Parental Leave and Employment

Protection (six months’ paid leave) Amendment Bill. This is a Private Member’s

Bill which proposes to extend paid parental leave from the current 14 weeks

to 26 weeks, over a three-year period.

The aim of the Bill is to support families and also create jobs across the

economy as employers engage staff to replace those on paid parental leave.

However, Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson says extending paid parental

leave would cost the Government an extra $150 million a year. The

Government has stated it will exercise its right to veto the Bill (should it

progress any further) due to this financial impact.

The Bill passed its first reading in July and is currently with Select Committee,

which is due to report back to Parliament in January 2013.

Health and Safety

An independent taskforce has been appointed to undertake the first

wide-ranging strategic review of the workplace health and safety system in

20 years.

It will review whether the overall workplace health and safety system –

including legislation, regulation, incentives and enforcement – is working

effectively to reduce workplace injury and death. The taskforce will also

recommend a package of practical measures that could result in at least a 25

per cent reduction in the rate of workplace fatalities and serious injuries by

2020.

RESTAURANT FINED AFTER EMPLOYEE SERIOUSLY INJURED

A recent Court case in Tauranga is a

reminder that members need to

vigilant in managing the safety of their

staff.

A Tauranga restaurant has recently been

ordered to pay a fine of $20,000 and

reparation of $6,000 after an employee

sustained serious injuries after trapping his

arm in a pasta maker.

The Tauranga District Court heard that on

10 January this year an employee of the

restaurant was preparing fresh pasta in an

industrial-sized pasta mixer where the raw

ingredients were combined and then

extruded into the required pasta shapes.

As he opened the lid to check the

consistency of the pasta dough the

employee’s arm became caught around the

mixing rod in the hopper. Before he could

stop the machine he had received multiple

fractures, soft tissue damage and tendon

and nerve damage to his left arm.

The Court heard that the interlock switch on

the pasta machine was broken, meaning

that the mixing arm inside the pasta

machine did not automatically stop when

the lid was open. The machine should have

been taken out of operation until the

interlock switch was fixed.

Members should be reminded that it is the

duty of the employer to ensure that all

hazards are identified and managed to

ensure the safety of staff. Businesses should

have a hazard register and written safe

operating procedures.


employment update

If Only They Could Train

Themselves...

These (allegedly true) short stories provide

amusing examples of lateral thinking and

initiative, and staff training (or lack of) at the

workplace. It is better to train people properly

rather than assume that new starters have the

necessary initiative to work out for themselves

what they should be doing...

the new bus driver story

While transporting some

unfortunate mental patients

from one secure place to

another, the newly

appointed bus driver

stopped at a roadside

restaurant for a natural

break. On his return to the

bus, all twenty patients were gone. Being a resourceful

fellow and fearing the consequences of his negligence, he

drove to the next bus stop, where he claimed to be a

replacement for the usual service. Allowing twenty people

aboard, the driver made straight for his destination, where

he warned staff at the gates that the 'patients' were

deluded and extremely volatile. The angry 'patients' were

duly removed, sedated and incarcerated, and remained in

detention for three days, until staff were able to check the

records and confirm their true identities. The actual

patients were never found.

the new elevator cleaner story A new hotel employee was asked to

clean the elevators and report back to

the supervisor when the task was

completed. When the employee failed to

appear at the end of the day the

supervisor assumed that like many others

he had simply not liked the job and left.

However, after four days the supervisor

bumped into the new employee. He was

cleaning in one of the elevators. "You

surely haven't been cleaning these

elevators for four days, have you?"

asked the supervisor, accusingly. "Yes sir," said the

employee, "This is a big job and I've not finished yet - do

you realise there are over forty of them, two on each floor,

and sometimes they are not even there..."

NEW EMPLOYEE ...CHECK When an employee begins work at a new business there are a

myriad of documents, forms and procedures that need to be

sighted, signed, completed and actioned. And if you’ve got a

number of new staff all starting at the same time it’s easy to

loose track of what you have done, and what it still waiting to

be actioned.

To assist, the Restaurant Association has prepared the following

checklist—a document that can be used as a helpful prompt to ensure

that nothing is forgotten through this process. This template includes

key requirements with regards to the initial employment process but

can easily be added to as required.

If you would like to receive a word document version of

this checklist contact us on 0800 737 827 or email:

[email protected].

tick as action

completed

Date actioned:

DO YOU AS THE EMPLOYER HAVE THE FOLLOWING?

Application Form

Copy of employee’s CV

Signed Letter of Offer

Signed Employment Agreement

Signed House Rules

Separate signed Copy of the Computer and Internet Policy (if required)

IR330 Tax Form

Kiwi Saver Information (Opt In or Opt Out)

Personnel Form Completed (Bank account details etc)

Employee has read and signed the Health and Safety Manual

Copy of Food Safety Certificate (Kitchen Staff)

Copy of General Managers Certificate (Managers)

Copy of Passport and Visa Details if required

Training and Induction Checklist

HAS THE EMPLOYEE BEEN

PROVIDED WITH THE FOLLOWING?

Copy of the Employment Agreement if requested

Copy of the Job Description

Copy of the Menu and Beverage Lists as required

Training Manual

Uniform

Contact details for the venue and management

Car Parking Details

Keys if required

Computer Password and Email address if required

16 THE THYMES November 2012 employment update

YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY RESPONSIBLE HOST

Getting your staff match ready for the busy summer season should involve a refresh of your host responsibility policies.

need help? call us on 0800 737 827 November 2011 10

employment matters THE THYMES August 2012 09

B efore we lead into the busiest time

of the year for the industry over

the next few months it is advisable that

businesses take the time to review their

Host Responsibility policies.

The extra volume, and larger groups,

of customers over this time of year

warrants a refresher for all staff. Ensure

that they are knowledgeable and well

trained in their responsibilities in

dealing with the responsible service of

alcohol on your premises. It is likely

you will also have a number of

newcomers who have come on board

for the season and these staff will

require clear instructions on identifying

and proactively dealing with potentially

intoxicated persons. Some new staff will

be unfamiliar with identifying the early

signs of intoxication and will need

guidance as to when intervention is

required. During this busy time, you will

be relying heavily on your staff to

ensure that your premises are

compliant and you need to ensure that

no slip up in protocol occurs.

.

Your policy provides documentation of

your premise’s commitment to host

responsibile practices and should

therefore be written specifically for your

premises, in the format that best suits

your business, and ideally with staff

input.

Remember that the policy should be

clearly visible to customers and staff

and should address some key points,

including the following:

1 Minors

The premises should have clear

and obvious notices displayed

about the laws regarding serving

to minors.

Indicate the acceptable forms of identification.

host responsibility

Staff should be instructed on how to identify and proactively deal with minors.

2 Responsible service of alcohol

Premises should have clear and

obvious notices displayed about

the laws regarding serving

intoxicated persons.

Indicate that staff are trained to

recognise and understand

intoxication and practical

interventions. They are instructed

not to continue serving alcohol to

any customer who appears to be

getting intoxicated, either directly

or through friends.

Food should be available at all times alcohol is being sold. (ensure menus are clearly visible in bar areas.)

Various food promotions and specials could be available cheaply and quickly and make customers aware that there will be no promotions which encourage intoxication.

Staff should actively encourage safe drinking and driving levels.

The premises should have clear

signage about the size of spirits

served - doubles or singles.

3 Non and low alcoholic beverage

options

Non and low-alcoholic drinks

should be promoted and readily

available (encourage a positive

staff attitude towards these drinks)

Tea, coffee and iced water are

available at the bars.

4 Transportation

Make customers aware that the

premises support a designated

driver scheme.

A telephone should be readily

available so customers can call

a taxi.

NEED HELP? The Restaurant Association can assist with developing or refreshing

your host responsibility policy and has a free guideline, along with sample policy,

that is ready to be tailored to your needs. Order a copy of the guideline and policy

by emailing [email protected] or phoning 0800 737 827.

TOP TIPS: TRAINING NEW & YOUNG STAFF AROUND ALCOHOL

Ensure your staff are informed about the legal

implications of alcohol service – ie the fines

involved for serving minors and intoxicated patrons.

Make sure you support your young staff – back

them up if they feel a customer has had too much

to drink – don’t go “over their head” and continue

service.

Do regular role plays with “real life” examples that

have happened in your establishment – discuss the

best ways to deal with different situations.

Make sure they know what support is available –

who they can get assistance from if they are unsure

about such things as whether a patron has had too

much to drink.

Give them clear guidelines of what to look for in

intoxicated patrons – discuss and give examples of

the four main indicators of intoxication: Speech,

Coordination, Appearance, Behaviour.

If they are uncomfortable about asking for ID from

people who are their peers then let them know they

can use the “big brother” line – “I’m sorry but my

manager has told me I cannot serve you any

alcohol unless you have the correct ID”. This

removes them from being “the baddie”!

Ensure consistency within the team – are they all

following the same steps and correct procedures?

Are these written down somewhere in clear and

simple language in an area where all staff can

read them?

Train them in early intervention – easier to deal

with problems sooner rather than later – teach

them the steps to slow down service.

Get staff to think about both their language (be

non confrontational) and their body language

(don’t be defensive) when dealing with intoxicated

patrons.

Make sure all of the team are aware about which

staff members are underage – the same rules apply

to them as to the public – ensure that no-one

serves them alcohol. Discourage “after work”

drinks with younger team members.

EFFECTIVE INCENTIVES

Staff incentive programmes are a great way to praise a job well done and can generate some enthusiasm amongst the team – with the added opportunity of increasing sales and improving service. BY MARGARET MAIN, TURNING TABLES

“If yo

u want

to be

bigger

than

everyo

ne

else,

you’ve

got t

o

be bet

ter th

an

everyo

ne els

e”

S taff turnover in the hospitality industry is high and in

these challenging economic times it is worthwhile

thinking outside the square for ways to motivate and

boost employee morale and thereby encourage your staff

to stick around. Here are some suggestions for

implementing an effective staff incentive programme...

When planning an incentive programme, keep these tips in mind:

What's your goal? It might be to make sure servers

mention the new drink specials or to encourage them

to raise their sales averages.

How long can the staff's enthusiasm be maintained?

Most consultants suggest 30 to 45 days tops for a

single incentive programme.

How can you make sure that everyone gets excited?

The more prizes, the better. Make sure each server

who improves gets rewarded for the effort.

What are cheap but truly rewarding incentives? Get

creative. Develop your own in-house rewards-no

clean-up duties for one night, for example. Trade

with neighboring businesses. And if you're not sure

what will get your staff motivated, ask them.

FIRST STEP Focus first on teaching your staff how to sell:

How to read the customer

Conversation openers

Make sure they have plenty of product knowledge

Know how to ask the right questions of the customer

Getting the timing right – when to ask

SECOND STEP Be clear about what to want your sales incentive to

accomplish. For instance the purpose might be to

increase sales of one item, to increase total food and

beverage sales or it might be to simply increase customer

awareness of new items on the menu or get a better

“spread” of items being sold.

THIRD STEP You have to engage the people who can impact sales.

You need to know who the right people are, what

motivates them and how do you make sure they know

what the purpose of the programme is.

Here are some suggestions for prizes:

Gift vouchers – swop with other businesses; petrol

vouchers; movie tickets – Gold Class could be a treat;

spa treatments; gift cards; activities – eg bungy, sailing,

kayaking, canyoning; professional house cleaning; car

wash/valet; alcohol; iPods; wine trail; high tea; time off

or early finishes (but they still get paid for full hours).

November 2011 27 international update

Examples of incentives you could use:

1 Bingo card – 12 to 16 squares with a different item

in each square – this encourages sales of a wide

range of items. Employees may need to complete in a

shift or if harder items over a week with a prize for each

person who completes their card within the time frame.

2 ’The Perfect Bill’ – what is your perfect bill – it could

be breads, entrees, mains, side dish, a dessert to

share and a bottle of wine? Whatever it is make sure your

staff are aware of it and reward each person who

achieves a perfect bill on a shift. This again encourages

selling right through the process.

3 Raffle ticket – buy some books of raffle tickets and

each time a staff member sells a particular item (may

be the special or promotion item or something that is a

challenge to move) they get a raffle ticket. At the end of

a shift or a week you draw the raffle and the winner gets

a prize. Obviously the more they have sold the better

chance they have of winning.

4 Increase in Average Spend – could be based over a

week or on the previous weeks takings and either

based on individual staff or team effort. You may use

their personal best and aim to increase it by 5 or 10%. A

prize for the staff members that reach the target.

5 The Fishing Line – good for driving efficiency in the

kitchen. Set a time limit for getting particular dishes

out. Hang up a fishing line and attach monopoly money

to the line. Each time they send the meals out later than

the target one of the notes gets removed from the line. At

the end of the shift whatever is left on the line they get to

share out amongst themselves (or alternatively get that

value in staff drinks).

6 Most improved – assessed by the manager. This

could be based on sales, reduced breakages,

reduced mistakes etc – can be used in both the kitchen

and front of house.

7 Best team player – again judged by the management

team and can you also get input from peers. Judged

over a month, the prize could be a paid day off or no

clean up duties for a week.

8 Staff Favourite – Nominate a product that is this

week’s staff favourite. It could be a menu item but

this also works really well with products on the back bar.

Make sure everyone is familiar with the product and

reward the person who sells the most. You could do this

incentive in teams – ie pair up staff from kitchen and

restaurant or bar and restaurant.


business initiatives

HARNESSING THE POWER OF WORD OF MOUTH The restaurant and hospitality industry has always been reliant on word of mouth due to the largely

intangible nature of the business, and because personal experience forms the basis of consumer

assessment. Word of mouth is particularly important in building long-term relationships; loyal

customers have a role as ad hoc marketers in conveying their personal experience to their networks.

Customer satisfaction is therefore essential for positive message spread. BY JAN BIERMAN


C ustomers compare their actual dining experience

against their expectations. Industry research

indicates the most significant aspect is quality of food,

promptly followed by service, ambiance-atmosphere,

and value for money.

Word of mouth has always been important in marketing

and is set to play an escalating role in decision-making

for consumers. Family and friends have traditionally

influenced dining decisions, but in the Web 2.0

environment choices and communication channels are

exploding. Consumer empowerment is on the rise. So

more than ever restaurants should not underestimate the

power of a recommendation or bad review.

Whilst much of word of mouth marketing still occurs

offline, as social media becomes more pervasive its reach

will impact on most businesses. Social media and

discussions in the digital space are already driving a lot

of offline conversations.

The impact of social networking is already being felt by

the restaurant sector via diner feedback on online forums

and guides, and comments on personal social media

pages. The old adage of a person with a

complaint telling 8-10 people about their

problem is now more virulent.

A mishandled complaint will travel a lot further, thus

multiplying the potential damage to your reputation and

ultimately your bottom-line.

In spite of all the hype many of you will still think social

media is only a fad, and it is good old-fashioned word of

mouth that is driving customers and repeat customers.

Others of you will claim that referrals by word of mouth

reduces the need for a website. US research is indicating

89% of diners check out your menu online before they

dine, so that in itself should be reason enough to ensure

a consistent online presence. MYOB’s latest survey

reports that only about half of the businesses in the

hospitality sector have websites. The strategic message

here is - if you do not define your own message in the

digital space someone else will.

In harnessing word of mouth, whether it is personal or

digital, there are some key take-outs:

Understand that people will talk about you (or not

talk about you) because of how their experience with

you has made them feel. People exposed to an

emotional event feel urgency to affiliate; also called

the “social sharing of emotion”. This phenomenon

occurs when individuals communicate frankly with

others about their feelings in circumstances that they

perceive to be an emotion-eliciting event.

Generating positive word of mouth

requires a unique selling point. People always

remember something different, and if they

enjoy it they will spread the message.

Excellence will go so far, so help people

remember you as a place that has something

special, like a specific dish that you feature,

introducing a surprise such as giving customers

something free (unexpected for most customers),

or creating an atmosphere that stimulates the senses.

CONTINUED ON

FOLLOWING PAGE

industry sales report FROM PREVIOUS PAGE, Harness ing The Power Of Word Of Mouth

Listen, respond and

engage with your

customers. If you

ask for

feedback

accept the

comments

with good

grace and

use it to improve.

Acknowledge

complaints – always

thank people for being a

customer and for sharing their

thoughts (even if you don't

agree with them). If you're

going to build a business

around word of mouth it is

better not to have these things

working against you. It is all

about attitude, customer rela-

tionships and the dialogue

you want to have with your

consumers.

Trust lies at the core of every

strong personal relationship –

the same goes for

relationships stakeholders

have with brands. You

consistently need to deliver on

your brand promise. The

driving force behind

consumers’ desire to share

positive stories about you is

the trust they have in the

quality of your product and

service.

THE THYMES September 2012 11 business initiatives

One of the ways I have found best to

encourage staff to ‘SELL’ more is to tell

them to stop thinking of selling and think

about SERVICE. BY JOE DEEGAN

A s a young waiter on cruise ships I was

serving a table of 12. The ship had just

stopped in Alaska and we had a special of

Sockeye salmon on the menu. I recommended

the fish as the best option on the menu that night

and when I took the order the first 11 guests all

ordered salmon. The last gentleman also decided

to have the salmon although he seemed hesitant.

As he handed me the menu he said ”Well done

Joe, you are a good salesman…”

My reply was possibly a little too cheeky but I

informed the guest that I did not consider myself

a salesman as “I will still be here at the end of

your meal as well”, suggesting that a salesman

would have made the sale and that would be

the end of the relationship.

Increasing revenue must be something that your

staff see as their job. Not a favour or something

else that needs to be added on. Get staff to think

what they would order if dining in your restaurant.

They will always struggle to sell something they

would not enjoy themselves.

I am happy to visit the premises of any Taranaki

branch member to speak to staff on this subject.

Contact [email protected] / 021758915.

SERVICE NOT SELLING

Trust is not built overnight; it

must be nurtured over time.

The ability for stories to scale

beyond traditional channels

to become viral is a

challenge. You need to

understand the growing role

of technology and its ability to

aggregate, amplify and

distribute individual voices. As

quickly as positive stories get

exposed, negative word of

mouth travels even faster in

the social media space.

Sometimes word of mouth just doesn’t

happen. You are doing everything

right, but it's not remarkable, at least

not in the sense of being worth making

a remark about. It is better to be

talked about, than not talked about,

but it is how you leverage that fine line

to ensure a positive message.

Word of mouth is free marketing and

the most effective advertising you can

have. Its power is in drawing attention

and getting your customers to tell your

story forward. So make every

relationship and experience

memorable and give your customers a

reason to talk about you with gusto!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jan Bierman is a director

of branding agency Rare HQ Ltd – rarehq.com.

Rare HQ can help you develop your word of

mouth strategy to improve your brand’s

performance. Contact: [email protected]

ADVERTISEMENT

I’ve noticed two major mistakes made by many well-intentioned folk:

1 They’re available too much of the time to their staff.

2 When passing a task over, they give lots of unnecessary detail to competent staff.

Being available for staff isn’t necessarily always an issue in hospitality businesses, but let’s

discuss it. Do you have a lot of interruptions? Do you find that staff with queries, phone calls,

drop-in visitors and emails regularly break your focus?

If you’ve said ‘yes’ to staff interruptions, consider this. We’ve come out of the dark ages where

bosses communicated as little as possible to their underlings. People were expected to take

instructions and just get on with the job. Over the last few decades there has been a change in

management styles. We’re now encouraged to communicate openly with our staff, to

‘empower’ them. However, there’s a downside. Many business owners feel they have to

constantly ‘be there’ for their people.

So where does delegation fit in here? Being ‘there for your staff’ 100% of the time is not good

management. In fact, it causes bottlenecks, frustration and low morale, and blocks your staff

from learning and developing their own skills.

If competent people keep interrupting you with questions they should be able to handle, ask

them to come with two solutions every time they come with a question. Pretty soon you’ll reduce

the questions. If they’ve had to work out the answers before they come, they’ll soon realise they

don’t need to interrupt you for what amounts to a ‘rubber-stamp job’. If you’re too quick to

supply the answer you encourage laziness and dependency. Beware of good old human nature

– the tendency to take the easy road. For many people, if they can get someone else to do their

thinking, why wouldn’t they ask!

And a solution for Point 2? If a staff member is competent, don’t force your details on them.

Instead, give them the big picture of what you want to achieve and see what they come up with.

Of course you’re willing to guide, coach and review, but beware of unnecessary detail. Often a

good staff member will have a better way.

Robyn Pearce CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is the Time Queen. She mastered her own time challenges and now helps people around the world overcome theirs. She can show you how to transform your time challenges into high productivity and the life balance you desire.

November 2011 27 international update

DELEGATION MISTAKES AND HOW TO FIX THEM Delegation or the lack of it can make or break any business. I work with both large

and small companies in a very wide range of industries around the world and I

constantly hear that many owners and managers struggle with delegation.

BY ROBYN PEARCE

THE THYMES September 2012 15


Holiday & Leave Record Pads Under the Holidays Act 2003 there is a requirement to maintain a holiday and leave record containing very specific information about each employees employment, including:

the name of the employee and the date employment commenced

the days on which an employee works, if the information is relevant to entitlement or payment under the Holidays Act

the date the employee last became entitled to annual holidays

the employee's current entitlement to sick leave and annual holidays

the dates any annual holiday, sick or bereavement leave was taken

the amount of payment for any annual holidays, sick leave and bereavement leave taken

the dates of and payment for any public holiday worked

the number of hours worked on any public holiday

the date on which the employee became entitled to any alternative holiday

the dates and payment of any public holiday or alternative holiday on which the employee did not work, but for which the employee had an entitlement to payment

the cash value of board and lodgings provided

the cash value of any alternative holidays that the employee has surrendered for payment

the date of termination and the amount of pay for holidays on termination

ORDER NOW… The Restaurant Association’s

Holiday & Leave Record and

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satisfy all these requirements &

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shareholders’ agreements

GETTING IT RIGHT FROM THE GET GO

I n New Zealand, by far the most common structure for

the operation of a business is a company. In the

restaurant industry, often there are a small number of

shareholders, who generally also work closely with the

business. If a dispute arises between these shareholders,

this can have wide-reaching negative effects on the

business and can result in costly, time-consuming

litigation that can undermine the value of the investment.

In particular, if the company is owned equally by two

shareholders, no major decisions can be made without

unanimous approval. If two shareholders disagree, a

deadlock situation can occur, which can turn nasty.

This is where a shareholders agreement can help.

What is a shareholders’ agreement?

A shareholders’ agreement is a written contract between

shareholders, regulating the operation of the company in

which they have invested. The agreement sets out the

ground rules for how the business will operate and what

rights and obligations the shareholders will have towards

each other. The shareholders’ agreement can also be

useful in dealing with major change events, such as the

introduction of new investors, the exit or death of a

shareholder or the sale of all or a substantial part of the

company’s assets.

A shareholders’ agreement can be entered into at any

time, however the shareholders will benefit most from the

agreement if it is entered into at the beginning of a

business relationship.

A shareholders’ agreement is not a constitution. If a

company chooses to adopt a constitution, this document

must be filed with the Companies Office, and is therefore

a matter of public record. The benefit of a shareholders’

agreement is that it is a private document that governs

the operation of the company internally. Companies

often choose to have a constitution and a shareholders’

agreement, and the documents may cross reference each

other.

When starting up any business, it is important to consider how the relationships between the

various parties involved will be governed going forward. This is particularly relevant in the

restaurant industry, where there are often a number of financial contributors assisting in starting

up a restaurant, and the on-going relationships between the various parties may not be fully

contemplated at the outset. BY SARAH GIBBS & LYDIA WALLIS, Solicitors, Hesketh Henry Commercial Team.

business initiatives legal viewpoint

Shareholders’ agreements should be drafted with the individual business

in mind, and should be established with a view to increasing the efficiency

and consistency of the operation of the company.

If you have any questions relating to shareholders’ agreements, or would like any other

corporate or commercial advice, please contact Sarah Gibbs ([email protected])

or Lydia Wallis ([email protected]) from Hesketh Henry’s Corporate and

Commercial team or call 09 375 8700 to discuss how we may assist you and your business.

What matters are addressed in a shareholders’ agreement?

Appointment of directors: Under the Companies Act 1993 (“Act”),

directors can be appointed with the approval of the majority of

shareholders. To protect a minority shareholder’s interests,

provision in the shareholders’ agreement can be made for a

minority shareholder to be entitled to appoint a director. Such a

provision would also be recommended where the company has a

50/50 share split, as neither shareholder holds the majority

required to appoint a director under the Act.

Pre-emptive rights: If a shareholders’ agreement includes

pre-emptive rights, a shareholder wanting to exit the company must

first offer their shares at fair value to the remaining shareholders. A

mechanism for calculating fair value should be provided for. If the

remaining shareholders choose not to purchase the shares, the

exiting shareholder can offer the shares to a third party. It should

be a condition of any transfer of shares to a third party that the new

shareholder signs up to the shareholders’ agreement.

Drag and tag provisions: Tag along rights enable a minority

shareholder to force an exiting majority shareholder to secure the

same “exit deal” for the minority shareholder. Drag along rights

allow a majority shareholder selling its shares to require a minority

shareholder to also sell its shares to the purchaser, if the purchaser

wishes to purchase 100% of the shares in the company.

Dispute resolution: In order to save on lengthy delays and extensive

legal fees, it is recommended that a dispute resolution provision

sets out the procedure for resolving disputes between shareholders.

The provision should set out clear time frames by which parties

must act, in order for the process to be completed quickly and

effectively.

Non-competition provisions: These provisions prevent an exiting

shareholder from being involved in a competing business in a

particular geographical region for a prescribed period of time after

selling shares in the company. This clause would no doubt be

highly relevant in the competitive restaurant market.

member benefits

BANKING SERVICES TAILORED JUST FOR YOU...

Although many members currently enjoy the preferential credit card

processing rates available through Westpac. However, we’d like to

remind you that Westpac's range of personal and business banking

benefits for members means you could save on almost every aspect

of your personal banking needs. Other member benefits you can

access include:

everyday business banking discounts (including free cash handling, and discounts

on cheque clearance and electronic transactional fees)

a BusinessPlus Gold MasterCard with hotpoints® rewards membership included

discounted Equipment Finance for purchasing assets like vehicles or equipment

savings on personal or home loans and the best interest rates

a free business risk consultation and discounted business risk insurances

INTERESTED? For more information call the Westpac association member helpline on 0800 177 677 or email [email protected]

MEMBERINITIATIVES

...don’t forget to support the people who support your Restaurant Association key partners... associate+ partners...

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26 THE THYMES November 2012 member benefits

http://www.novaenergy.co.nz/


WHAT DIFFERENCE CAN A LOYALTY CLUB MAKE? THE NUMBERS...

T hose who have been fortunate enough to visit

AmiGos know what a special place it is. From offering

Bhut Jolokia chilli dishes (400x hotter than Tabasco) for

chilli fans with ironclad constitutions, to banoffi pie for

those with a more delicate palette, AmiGos has built up

such a following that they’re moving from their current 40

seat restaurant to a custom built 120 seat venue.

Clearly they’re doing many things right so it is natural to

ask if they need a loyalty system at all? However, accord-

ing to Waz it is an important part of Amigos success:

“AmiGos has been operating a guest loyalty program for 4

years, using direct mail, email, Facebook & Twitter and our

own website. While the benefits to the business grew with

the membership size, so did the administration time

required to keep the list up to date. Using our POS 'loyalty'

module helped keep track of members details and spend,

but proved very limited in the way value was added to the

guests. 'Points' are boring, and we've found they become

less attractive over time... then along came EFTPlus...

Now we offer rewards for any number of criteria; on

joining, on visiting a certain number of times, amount

spent, birthdays, anniversaries... the choice is limitless, and

the system literally takes care of itself. Zero maintenance

on our part after (maybe) an hour of setup.

We wouldn't be without this system. AmiGos is about to

take on a 120 seat venue, having well and truly outgrown

the current 40 seats, and EFTPlus have played a large part

in our continuing success in a small town with a lot of big

players!”

To find out exactly how valuable we asked Waz to share

some real figures. At first glance measuring the

effectiveness of a loyalty club would seem relatively easy.

Do loyalty club members spend more than non-members?

But when you think about it for a moment you realise that

this is probably the wrong question to ask. The people

who join your loyalty club are more likely to be regular

customers anyway. This means they’re more likely to

spend more over time so the answer to the question is

probably “Yes”, whether you have a club in place or not.

Comparing average transaction size between members

and non-members can also be of limited value. If your

members are coming back because they have a reward to

use, which provides a discount or free product, their

transaction amount is naturally a bit lower.

Here’s the proof ~ Waz from AmiGo’s Mexican Bar and Grill in Wanaka gives us a glimpse into business outcomes

by sharing some real numbers from his EFTPlus driven ‘Guestlist’ loyalty club. BY TJ WASHINGTON, EFTPLUS

Better measures are to look at whether customer behaviour

changes after joining the loyalty club and whether more is

spent overall. For this reason ask the following questions:

Do loyalty club members spend more after they join?

Do they visit more often after they join?

This is what it looks like for Amigos:

So the answer to these two questions is yes. We cannot

say for sure how much the loyalty club itself is responsible

for these figures. However, we can say is that we see

similar statistics across most EFTPlus loyalty clubs. Which

means, at the increased value after they join, it doesn’t

take many active members to return the cost of having a

loyalty club. And every member above that represents

increased revenue. On these figures adding 100 members

should add at least $2000 per month in revenue, taking

into account the cost of the service and providing rewards.

For Waz there are other benefits too:

“There's the ability to segment our database in any way we

want; by gender, age bracket, best customers, customers

we've not seen in a while, or any combination of criteria, eg

females 18 - 30 who are in our top 50 best guests! We can

then email or txt special offers to that group straight from a

smartphone, anywhere... it really is that good!

Our guests love the EFTPlus system, joining is as easy as

sending a short txt, the ability to link a payment card to

their membership makes it very easy to collect the rewards,

and the rewards themselves are presented in a voucher

system that can be displayed from a phone or printed as a

voucher to bring in. The online validator means a 5 second

bit of data entry while settling the bill, and bingo, reward

accepted and crossed off the list of outstanding vouchers.”

So the next time you’re in Wanaka drop by AmiGo’s,

enjoy the dining, join the guest list and don’t say we

didn’t warn you about the Bhut Jolokia.

Want to know more about the loyalty program implemented by Amigo’s? Contact Eftplus: 0800 338 758

GROUP Members before join

Members after join

Average spend (per visit) $17.28 $56.08 Average visits (per month) 0.29 0.61

Value per month (av spend X av visits)

$5.01 $34.21


member initiatives


INSURANCE FOR MEMBERS WHAT IS GOING ON?

I nsurers are dependent on offshore reinsurance (the

insurance for the insurer). Before the earthquakes,

Global Reinsurers paid less attention to the NZ market

and so the cost of reinsurance was cheaper. Following

the quakes their focus is clearer. For the first time they’ve

realised how risky we are and as a result their reinsurance

prices have increased over 400%. One well-known local

insurer’s reinsurance costs have increased from $38m to

$250m – and that is not including their EQ claim costs.

All insurers want their portfolio of business to be as

attractive as possible for a reinsurer so they can keep

those costs down. To achieve that they’re looking closely

at the business they write and reviewing everything. So

look out for higher natural disaster (ND) premiums, higher

ND deductibles and expect more questions from insurers

to assist them to understand exactly what your risk is.

Older Buildings

By definition older buildings (pre-1940) were built before

modern EQ standards were established. Now those

buildings are ‘unattractive’ risks for reinsurers and

therefore also for insurers. The result is inevitable – much

higher premiums; insistence of EQ code compliance and

in most cases, insurers simply will not take on any more

older buildings for natural disaster cover.

Wellington and Christchurch

Insurers have limited capacity in these high risk areas.

Natural Disaster reinsurance for these regions is so costly

that smaller insurers have decided not to trade in these

markets. Larger insurers support their customers by

staying in these markets and absorbing the extra costs

involved but they have little capacity to take in new

customers. Again the result is inevitable and these areas

become closed or captive markets.

The Solution

The good news is that we can still get cover for Natural

Disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, etc)

for older buildings and businesses inside them and for any

business or building in Wellington and Christchurch. But

building owners and businesses will pay more premium

than they ever have before. Because it is so hard to place

this business in the NZ market, here’s what to do if you

own or tenant an older building or own/tenant a building

in Wellington or Christchurch:

Insurance in NZ is more costly following the earthquakes and it doesn’t matter where you are situated

because the whole country is now seen as riskier by insurers and global reinsurers. And it’s not just

earthquakes; think tornados, floods, snowstorms, landslips... BY CROMBIE LOCKWOOD

If you are a customer of ours already, we have your

insurance well placed at the moment. Your premium

will be higher, terms will change, but you have cover.

If you are not a customer of ours, you still can be and

receive the service and support we’re renowned for.

We will review your insurance and either, place it with

the insurer for Restaurant Association, place it else-

where or keep it with your current insurer – whichever

is the best arrangement for you and your business.

Earthquake Prone buildings

The other emerging issue for older buildings and some

not so old, is that they are deemed to be “earthquake

prone”. Buildings will be classified ‘earthquake prone’

under the Building Act 2004 if it would:

fail in a moderate earthquake, which, broadly

speaking, means a building that would not meet 33%

of the current building code requirements if the

building was re-built today; and

be likely to collapse in a moderate earthquake

causing injury or death to people in or around the

building or damage to other property.

Each Council identifies these buildings differently – some

are proactively advising owners, others haven’t quite got

there yet. Councils must adopt a policy detailing how they

will exercise their powers and responsibilities under the

Act. These policies may address local circumstances, eg

the level of seismic activity in their region and local

building types. Each policy will set out the level to which

strengthening work must be undertaken and the timeframe

for that work, which generally depends on the level of risk,

the building's use and no. of people using it.

From an insurance point of view, if you own or are

tenanting an EQ prone building, your insurance cover is

likely to become restricted. You may only be covered for

the depreciated value of your assets, as opposed to the

replacement value. Your sums insured may reduce,

particularly your business interruption sum. You will need

to tell us if you are in an EQ prone building. You can find

this out by talking to your Landlord or local Council.

To be sure of where you stand call your nearest Crombie

Lockwood office - visit www.crombielockwood.co.nz for

contact details from Invercargill to Kaitaia or email

[email protected].

28 THE THYMES November 2012 member initiatives

we would like to welcome the following new members of the restaurant association who have recently joined us:

you have joined the only organisation that exclusively assists you to safeguard the viability of your café or restaurant. We will help guide you through the regulatory minefield that exists in today’s business environment. You have joined 1600 of New Zealand’s most dynamic and profitable hospitality businesses.

Banana Leaf Limited, Porirua

Burger Fuel – Pukekohe, Auckland

Burger Fuel – Silverdale, Auckland

Cafe 547, Hamilton East

Cafe Concepts, Auckland

Cafe Tarawera, Napier

Charlotte Steakhouse and Grill, Wellington

Church Hill Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Stewart Island

Cock & Bull – Botany, Auckland

Cock & Bull – Ellerslie, Auckland

Cock & Bull - Hamilton

Cock & Bull – Lynfield, Auckland

Cock & Bull – Newmarket, Auckland

Columbus Coffee, Ashburton

Daddy O's, Wellington

Europac Restaurant, Wanaka

Fresco Foods Ltd, Auckland

Habitual Fix Albany, Auckland

Hansan Vietnamese Restaurant, Auckland

Kassaba, New Plymouth

Kwang Chow Restaurant, Mt Maunganui

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS...

congratulations...

November 2011 19 new members

Roland & Lucienne Enterprises, Taupo

Pan de Muerto, Wellington

Pita Pit Burnham, Christchurch

Ponsonby Central, Auckland

Roselands Restaurant, Waitomo caves

Thai Classic Restaurant & Bar, Auckland

The Coffee Club Westfield Riccarton, Christchurch

The Fridge Café, Auckland

The Gables Restaurant, Russell

The Nose, Cromwell

Toru, Auckland

Wang Thong Thai Fusion, Auckland

Wholly Bagels & Pizza Cuba, Wellington

Wholly Bagels & Pizza Hutt - Lower Hutt

AND these supplier members supporting

the industry... (go to www.restaurantnz.co.nz and click on ‘partners’ & ’industry guide’ for contact information on a range of industry suppliers of goods and services)

Cottonsoft Limited, Auckland

www.cottonsoft.co.nz

adve

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REGIONAL UPDATES

K ia ora from Rotorua.

Firstly I would like to thank

those of our members who

nominated me back in as Branch

President and also John Knight as Vice

President at our recent Branch AGM

held at Triple one Five. Mericia

Waqanimaravu has offered to stay on

as Branch Secretary and will be sharing

that role with Leandra Bowen

(Gilmour’s).

Labour Weekend was bursting at

the seams and most businesses did

very well. On the Saturday evening of

Labour Weekend we had a mini

reunion on my husband Rogers’s side

and dined at my first ever training

Hotel (THC) now the Holiday Inn. The

food was great and it was also fantastic

to see three of my students working

there. The customer service was good.

The weather turned ugly on Sunday but

improved on Monday when my current

students and I worked at the New

Zealand Maori Rugby League

Tournament. That was certainly ‘full

on’.

There are some exciting developments

with Eat Streat (Lake end

Tutanekai Street) where a lot of our

local members have their businesses.

September 2011 23 R

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kia ora from

rotorua The design that has been chosen for

the development includes an opaque

roof, retractable awnings and

underground heating that features

underground geothermal-heated pads

which could be heated to up to 30C to

keep diners warm. Individual

retractable awnings would cover the

dining areas. This should be completed

by next summer.

It was great to have Lynley Martin and

Gemma Wild (Skyline Rotorua)

dine at Waiariki’s restaurant last

Friday. Skyline is one of the big

employers of our students. Thanks also

to Bruce (GM at Skyline Rotoura) for

supporting our top Diploma in

Hospitality student (Kristal Heta) Year 2

this year. She certainly has deserved it.

I have to share a little story about my

grandchildren, Noah 8 and Saraya 7.

One afternoon we were in the lounge

and both of them came down with pen

and paper, a tea towel folded over one

arm, ready to take orders. The menu

was ham sandwiches with, or without,

crusts (options). They took the orders

and I could hear them in the kitchen

asking each other what we would like

to drink. I heard “poppy will have

ginger beer”, “mummy/aunty will have

a diet coke”, and “nana will probably

have a wine”. Out of the mouths of

babes I say.

Naku noa na

Sharon Wallace

Rotorua Branch President

Waiariki Institute of Technology

e: [email protected]

m: (027) 233 4146

THE THYMES September 2012 31

regional round up

what’s on

waikato

T he last half of the year seems to have

flown by at alarming pace and for

many the lead up to Christmas is now

in full swing. The vibe out there seems

more positive than the past few years so here’s

hoping for a cracker Christmas for everyone.

Congratulations to Matt Maclean and his team

at Palate for taking out honours in the 2012

Cuisine Restaurant Awards, walking away with

the title of ‘Best Regional Restaurant’.

Congratulations also to the team at Pumice

for making the finals of the Awards for

Excellence and local Café ‘Mavis and

Co’ who were announced runners up in the

2012 NZ Best Café Awards’-Café Magazine.

They are about to open a new venture ‘Clarence-Wine & Tapas by

Mavis’at their Grey Street site. Watch this

space.

Another local—Victoria Street

Bistro were voted ‘People’s Choice

Finalist’ in the 2012 Monteiths Wild Food

Challenge and travelled to Auckland to

compete in the final cook-off for the second

year in a row.

October has seen the opening of Hamilton’s

first boutique brewery- ‘Good George-

Brewery and Dining Hall’in

Frankton and while it is a first for the region it

is certainly not the first foray into hospo for its

founder Jason Macklow and the prolific

Phoenix Group.

All in all the region has had a busy and

successful 2012 and here’s hoping for a great

couple of months to finish off the year for all.

Have a safe and happy holidays,

Hayley Scott

President Waikato Branch

Zinc Cafe


p: 029 226 2375

November 2011 24 regional updates

T hings have been trucking

along in the Manawatu

area lately.

On Sunday 4 November the Manawatu Hospitality

awards were held. The venue was

the Regent Theatre again and our

association was proud to sponsor

the restaurant of the year again. The

finalists were Aberdeen on

Broadway, Bellas Café, Rendezvous

Restaurant and Bar, Bethanys

Restaurant and Café and Neros

Café and Bar.

All fitting finalists and again showing

our region has very high standards

of restaurants.

We have had a few changes with a

new member opening an excellent

new café on state Highway 1, 2km

south of Sanson, where the historic

Maze / Woodlands Lodge was prior

to being gutted by fire about 3 years

ago.

Alan Parker and Frances have done

a great job of producing the

Woolshed Cafe, purpose built on

this site in a woolshed format, and is

fast establishing itself as an excellent

venue with a great menu and great

staff.

The Fork and Spoon café has

recently opened in Marton in the

historic Granery site. The

Manawatu Golf Club has

been rebranded from the original

Sandtrap café to the Hokowhitu

Café, and a new on-licence allows

non club members to enjoy the

excellent facilities.

Hester Guy Catering is

rumoured to be taking over the café,

restaurant and functions centre at

the Palmerston North RSA, which

will add value to a very good facility.

Joes Garage has opened in

Princes St, where till recently a short

lived Thai restaurant was located,

and the fit out is excellent and we

wish them well.

George St however, has certainly

cemented its spot in town as our

“Restaurant Row” with Tomato

at one end and Cafe Cuba at the

other, with a string of quality outlets

in between. When you look at the

collection of awards received by this

street’s occupants, it has to be a NZ

record.

Mother Goose in Bulls has been

successful for Tracy in engaging a

chef into our excellent apprentice-

ship scheme.

Interestingly, I found at a Sunday

market, a copy of Bob Sells

autobiography ($1). Bob was one of

the original presidents of our

Association, and it’s a great read

about our industry, especially in

Auckland in the 60s and 70s. If

anyone wants to borrow mine I am

happy to share it.

Lindsay McKinney

Manawatu/ Wanganui Branch

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from the capital:

manawatu

32 THE THYMES November 2012

Rumours, happenings and

events

The former Pan de Meurte Mexican

restaurant which was located in the

Sandwiches music venue is now a

restaurant called Pickle.

A new 200 seat dumpling restaurant is to

open on Tennyson St.

Big Bad Wolf, a new charcuterie café has

opened on Wakefield St

Jeff Kennedy, the former owner of Caffe

L’affare, is to open a new café and coffee

roasting venue in Jesse St called Acme.

Port Café, located on the waterfront in the

Herd St Apartment building has closed.

The hospitality company that operates 3 bars in

Featherston St is opening a new bar on the

corner of Cuba St and Vivian St.

Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School has

opened as well as the relocated Weltec

cooking school, located in the same complex.

WOW (World of Wearable Arts) provided a

fantastic lift for the hospitality sector with over

45, 000 attending the 2 week event. Many

visitors came from out of town and filled the

regions hotels and motels as well as eating and

shopping whilst here.

Kind regards

Mike Egan,

Wellington Branch President &

Restaurant Association National President


m: 021 966 667

regional round up

from the capital: hot plate coming through

T he last few weeks of activity

here on the coast always

signal the beginning of our

silly season. The heat from the

sun starts intensifying and those lucky

enough to get outside regularly begin

their tanning process.

We start with our annual Agricultural and Pastoral

show (11th to the 13th of October this

year) where a lot of our industry related

suppliers and chefs participate. There is

always a keen interest in the Beef and

Lamb New Zealand sites which include

judging and competitions across the

board—from breeding and rearing the

livestock to how they finally taste on the

plate. Attending numbers were slightly

down on last year but as it co-incided

with the school holidays this time

around it was still a positive turnout

from the organisers behalf.

And fortunately for my own involvement

this year the food I had to taste and

judge was the best I have tested in four

years! After some of the celebrity male

farmers efforts last year (tongue in

cheek) that I had the displeasure of

putting in my mouth I was very grateful

for the plates provided by a fully

female panel of contestants this year.

Over the Labour weekend we had the

re-branded festival “Feast” which

used to be called The Gisborne Wine

and Food Festival. Entertainment from

kiwi bands Dragon and Hello Sailor

and more drew a crowd of around

3500. Numbers were also down for

this event compared to last year but it

was hailed as a success from all who

participated as vendor numbers were

considerably lower also.

September 2011 23

It has been a pretty lack-lustre off

season for most of hospitality,

continuing with the trend world-wide of

financial slowdown. Our tourism

industry is more than likely going to

continue with this decline over summer

as flight numbers to our region have

been cut recently and the costs have

increased (due to higher airport

charges). Our connecting roads

through the gorge have also got a bad

reputation after this year’s washouts,

our local council have doubled the

price of parking in the city and Kiwi rail

have mothballed our pretty much

unused railway line.

Thank goodness for the fantastic

sunshine that has started early for us

here. It always chases away any blues

and the town springs into action in

preparation for Christmas and

Rhythm and Vines which is

thankfully bucking the trend and

aiming for 35,000 tickets this year.

The only changes I’m aware of

amongst the local operators is that we

are expecting a new café to open in

time for summer (just across the road

from our police station on the main

street) and a new Turkish restaurant is

nearing completion to provide

upmarket food of that genre. Yum! I’m

looking forward to a new place to

dine!

Best of luck for the summer everyone,

Grant Bailey

Poverty Bay Branch President

The Fettuccine Brothers 2007


m: (021) 0546 691

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update on

poverty bay

34 THE THYMES November 2012 regional round up

I am thankful that the Restaurant Association is

working to retain the café & restaurant

manager roles on the Immediate Skill

Shortage List as I am discovering right now

how essential it is for it to remain there.

Some 18 months after the earthquake which

destroyed our business, we are close to

reopening. Prior to the earthquake we had 32

staff, within 2 weeks of the quake all but 5

had left the city. None have returned.

We have been advertising for staff for the past

6 weeks and to put it mildly it is almost

impossible to find almost any staff with any

experience at all. It was the case, prior to the

earthquake, that a staff member with less

experience could be taken on and ‘nursed’ by

surrounding them with experienced staff. That

can no longer happen as there are no

experienced staff available.

Restaurant manager is one such position. They

certainly have a key position and act as the

conduit between ownership and staff. They are

responsible for such things as rosters,

ordering, dealing with bookings, complaints,

kitchen/front of house issues, staff issues

intoxicated patrons, the list is endless. They

must be confident and mature of nature,

understanding patient and business like.

Christchurch has lost a generation of

hospitality workers. They are not going to be

easy to replace and the effects are wide

ranging. In my business it means that we have

a shortage of staff trainers, we have a

shortage of duty managers and that has

meant a reduction in our opening hours. Our

case is not isolated however. It is a hospitality

spring in Christchurch at the moment, with a

number of operations due to reopen and

many operators are expressing the same

sentiments. This is a serious issue and a

solution must be found.

Michael Turner, Café Valentino

canterbury viewpoint

W hat perfect weather

Taranaki has been

having. And just for

once it’s timely as we’ve

just had the Powerco Garden

Spectacular, a garden and art

festival that goes on for 10 days. Sunny

weather was just what the gardeners

and festival-goers were hoping for.

We welcomed all the new clientele that

this festival generates, and it was lovely

being fully booked in the evenings at

this time of year. This year the visitors

seemed to be combining dining and

looking, even during the day, so for us

there was a nice increase in turnover.

The Halamoana Awards have been

and gone ~ check out the results right.

It was a colourful and enjoyable event

giving our local hospo operators a

chance to let their hair down together.

We’ve had a few comings and goings

of late. Okurukuru Restaurant has

been closed for a while and has a new

leasee, Sohnke Danger (affectionately

known as Danger). Danger has moved

from being head chef at the Garlic

Press restaurant and the new venture

is called ‘Danger at Okurukuru’.

He’ll be aiming for the family market

with a more relaxed feel.

The Montrose Winebar has closed

down and the building housing it has

been purchased by Mark Louis and a

business partner. They plan to reopen

half of the building as another cocktail

bar and will focus on supplying craft

beer, fine wine and a good, classic

cocktail list. Mark also co-owns Club

55 and Our Place, and was

previously co-owner of The Powder

Room, a cocktail bar that has also been

September 2011 23

closed for a while now. When a door

shuts, there’s always someone ready

and waiting to have a go at opening it

back up.

Someone called Jeremy is involved with

opening an eatery called Federation

Café & Deli. How do I know this

you may ask? Well a would-be chef

applied for a position I was recently

offering and instead of writing a new

letter of application to me he used a

copy of the one he had previously

written to the Federation Café.

Here at Bach on Breakwater, I

have just started a new head chef for

my evening dining and what a relief! My

last new one lasted just 2 weeks before

walking out mid shift without saying a

word! He wasn’t coping very well, and

must have suddenly realised it. I had to

hurriedly put my apron on, sharpen my

knife and start doing the job, which was

a bit of a shock to the system as I’m not

a chef. However ‘girls can do anything’

and I’ve had some very full weeks over

the past month. Quite frankly I’m a bit

tired! My previous evening chef, after

leaving us a few weeks ago, has come

back and applied for a day chef job

that’s about to be vacated, so at least

I’m keeping the skills in the family so to

speak. And while I don’t enjoy all this

chopping and changing, after doing the

night chef job for a month, at least I

won’t be so nervous if the space is

suddenly vacated in the future; although

hopefully that will never happen again.

So now it’s time to gear up for

Christmas and the summer!

Barbara Olsen-Henderson

Bach on Breakwater


REG

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tales from

taranaki

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2012 WINNERS: Outstanding Hospitality Achievement Doc Van Praagh (KDJ) Outstanding Owner Operator Kerry Vosseler (Chaos) Outstanding Barista Louis Aiello (Joe's Garage) Outstanding Host/Hostess Rachel Deegan (Frederic's) Outstanding Bartender Layne Rapira (The Mayfair) (also Excellence Award Winner) Tom Carroll (Rosie O'Grady's Irish Pub) Outstanding Chef Lukasz Zielinski (Frederic's) Trainee Chef Dylan Wilson (Okurukuru) Outstanding Supplier Bidvest Outstanding Sales Representative Mike Schofield (Bidvest) (also Excellence Award Winner)

Outstanding Bar Our Place Outstanding Cafe Chaos (also Excellence Award Winner)

Outstanding Restaurant Table @ Nice Hotel Outstanding Take-Out Establishment Burger Fuel Outstanding Caterer Delistar Outstanding Waiter/Waitress Anne-Laure Bernollin (André's L'Escargot Restaurant) Outstanding Ethnic India Today Outstanding South Taranaki Personality Linda Morrison (Tairoa Lodge) Outstanding South Taranaki Establishment Marracbo Cafe

regional round up

http://www.halamoana.co.nz/winners-excellence-awards-2012.asp



taranaki halamoana awards 28 october, matinee, new plymouth

November 2011 24 regional updates

I t's been an interesting winter

season down here – early snow,

then very little snowfall during the

peak months, the warmest August

on record, then big snow dumps in

spring. In fact there’s a fresh blanket of

snow on the mountains as I write this

and a chill in the air that suggests

spring is still a bit reluctant to show up.

Queenstown is renowned as a

world-class winter destination and the

proof was certainly in the pudding this

year with many businesses reporting a

bumper winter. Visitor numbers for our

peak months of July and August were

great and while the mild winter affected

our ski conditions to a degree, it

actually gave visitors the opportunity to

spend more time enjoying our plethora

of off-mountain activities. However,

warmer temperatures in September

shortened our winter season somewhat

and we experienced a sharp

unwelcome dip.

As Queenstown grows, so too does its

restaurant offerings – Josh Emett and

Fleur Caulton's Rata Dining

opened in May to much acclaim;

Gasoline Alley was replaced by Ivy

and Lola's Kitchen at Steamer

Wharf and has been very well received;

and a funky ‘50s style diner Cranky

Franky's has replaced Rees St Deli.

In the coming months Kiwi Masterchef

Simon Gault will launch a steak-

house and oyster bar and the iconic

Dux de Lux will be transformed into

an upmarket Italian restaurant.

One key issue currently facing our

local operators is a substantial increase in the rental

charged by the council on outdoor

tables and chairs. Many operators

believe it is unfair given that the

increase is much higher than other

major centres especially because

outdoor seating can only be utilised for

about six months of the year. The

Restaurant Association has assisted

local operators with this issue by

engaging professional services to

present an independent valuation of

these rentals, but at this stage the

report has been rejected by council so

the dispute goes on.

Over-supply of liquor

licenses is also a hot topic at the

moment and it’s my understanding that

it’s an issue affecting other regions as

well. Many operators here believe we

should aim for ‘quality not quantity'

and that the current situation in

Queenstown has led to cost cutting

and drink specials which could

potentially cheapen the town’s image

and slice the pie smaller for businesses.

A committee of operators is lobbying

council to act on this but so far there’s

no progress to report.

The good news is summer is just

around the corner which is when

Queenstown really turns on her

charms. Let's hope the Aussies keep

filling the planes headed this way and

The Hobbit release re-ignites America's

interest in visiting New Zealand.

Kind regards

Cam Mitchell,

Southern Lakes Branch President

The Bunker


m: 021 441 205

REG

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AK

ES

greetings from the south

regional round up

The Restaurant Association have

developed a Model Job Descriptions

handbook for members. This provides a

valuable resource for creating

position descriptions to help

businesses hire the most qualified

applicants for their operation.

The Handbook includes Job Descriptions

for 24 positions.

Job descriptions are intended to help an

employer determine whether a person is

qualified to perform a job. This handbook

provides generic position descriptions,

which can be customised to reflect the

specific tasks and responsibilities of the

employees in an operation.

We have identified the attributes,

experience and competencies that could

be associated with the various positions.

ORDER NOW…

The Restaurant Association’s Model Job

Descriptions handbook is available for just

$12.27 (incl of GST and P&P) - order online

through www.restaurantnz.co.nz or call 0800

737 827.

The Restaurant Association appreciates that hospitality is a 24/7 industry and as a result employment issues can occur at a variety of times. A reminder that we have a HELP DESK, capably managed in-house by CEO, Marisa Bidois, which is contactable Monday to Friday 8.00am-6.00pm on

0800 737 827 and outside these hours on 027-559 7777. The service is for members with urgent employment problems.

Help is never far away!

Model Job Descriptions Handbook

FEATURED PRODUCT.. .

regional round up THE THYMES November 2012 37

mainly of interest to

auckland members...

November 2011 34

Waiheke Island's hottest new opening is the stylish

Oyster Inn (www.theoysterinn.co.nz), which

offers restaurant dining, bar, private room and even

three luxury boutique hotel rooms (where you’ll get

complimentary Havaianas in their trademark yellow

& white).

The restaurant is headed by Cristian Hossack

(formerly head chef at London's Providores), where

they will aim to serve honest, simple dishes made

with the very best local produce. The raw bar is

stocked with the island's Te Matuku oysters (as well

as others from the region).

Barworks are all set to open The Postman’s

Leg, on the site of the old Glenfield Tavern, which

has undergone a massive transformation (you’d

hope so!). The venue consists of a large open bar

area, indoor & outdoor function areas and one of

the largest, sunniest garden bars Auckland has ever

seen—and of course a huge carpark.

Also just opened further North is JAC’s

Trading Co (www.jacstrading.co.nz) in The Plaza

on the Whangaparoa Peninsula. JAC stands for

Jellicoe and Cradock, which are apparently the two

channels of water between the Whangaparaoa

peninsula and Little Barrier Island, and Little Barrier

and Great Barrier Islands, don’t you know.

The beautiful French café has also had some

changes with the development of the courtyard into

a flourishing edible garden and the launch of a new

dining space, The French Kitchen. This will be the

ultimate chefs table - private dining with an open

kitchen, where chef / owner Simon Wright can cook

for an intimate number of guests.

We hear that the Birdcage will soon reopen, with

a restaurant/gastro bar headed by Frith Griggs,

former restaurant manager at Parnell institution,

Iguacu.

White’s & Co., a soft-serve yoghurt store in a league

of its own, has opened down at Britomart. The

brainchild of good friends Angus Allan (co-founder

of The Collective) and Kirk Saunders, White’s & Co.

is dedicated to delivering the very best in quality

using all-natural yoghurt. They also have some kitted

-out wheels which can take them to various

locations / festivals over the summer.

2012

November

12 Winner of NZ Café of the Year announced

13 Restaurant Association Front of House induction workshop, taste, 45 Normanby Road, Mt Eden.


15-18 Taste of Auckland, Victoria Park www.tasteofauckland.co.nz

20 Restaurant Association webinar, Employment Law FAQ’s, presented by Hesketh Henry lawyers RSVP to [email protected]

25 Farmers Santa Parade

December

4 Restaurant Association Christmas Visiting Hour, taste, 45 Normanby Road. Mt Eden

8 Coca Cola Christmas in the Park, Auckland Domain

25 Christmas Day

26 Boxing Day

31-5Jan ASB Classic, womens tennis tournament, ASB Tennis Arena

2013

January

1 New Years Day

2 Day after New Years Day

7-12 Heineken Open, mens tennis tournament, ASB Tennis Arena

26 Auckland Seafood Festival, Wynyard Quarter www.seafoodfestival.co.nz

28 Auckland Anniversary Day (public holiday)

news. upcoming auckland events.

JAC’s Trading Co

auckland members 38 THE THYMES November2012

Wine Facts...Riesling

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Key Dates…

November

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ebra

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is invo

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more

info

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o to w

ww

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mer

ofrie

slin

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Hospo Thymes staff page

Indust

ry u

pdate

for

hosp

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sta

ff, bought to

you b

y th

e R

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aura

nt A

ssoci

ation o

f N

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rip it out and p

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notice

board

etc

...

Tips for surviving

the Christmas rush

1 If

you a

re d

oin

g a

split

shift

, m

ake

sure

you h

ave

at

least

10 m

inute

s aw

ay

from

the

work

pla

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an

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ours

elf a q

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to

work

to p

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you s

tart the

din

ner

shift

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feet

will

thank

you for

it!

3 Tr

y not to

drink

too m

any

ener

gy

drinks

or

coffee

s,

you w

ill o

nly

end u

p fee

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ors

e, o

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ble

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hen

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et h

om

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ake

sure

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at pro

per

ly.

Take

som

e fruit

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ork

w

ith y

ou for

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ice

hea

lthy

snack

. 5

Tryi

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et C

hrist

mas

shoppin

g d

one

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cuts

dow

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n the

pre

ssure

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RE

ST

AU

RA

NT

A

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W.R

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UR

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Z 0

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0 7

37

8

27

1-5

+ Y

RS

Boulcott St Bistro, Osteria Del Toro, Wellington)

Poverty Bay: Grant Bailey (Fettuccine Brothers, Gisborne)

)

Bart Littlejohn (Sails Restaurant, Auckland) Steve Logan (Logan Brown, Wellington)

Michael Turner

Howard Morris (Harry’s Bay, Nelson)

Joe Deegan (Pacific International Hotel Management School, New Plymouth)

Marcel Rood (Raupo Cafe, Blenheim)

s

Marisa Bidois

R

Andrew Targett (Elizabeth Café & Larder)

Cam Mitchell (The Bunker Restaurant & Bar, Queenstown)

Hayley Scott (Zinc Café, Hamilton)

Boulcott St Bistro, Osteria Del Toro, Wellington)

Sean Burns (Milk and Honey, Napier)

restaurant association the thymes - november 2012

Documents

restaurant managers

house staff

incentivising staff

suitable management

restaurant association

nz caf

auckland sidart restaurant

effective staff incentives