Food Business Supports
Managing cash flow, reducing costs, retaining staff and customers, and skills improvement - these are just some of the challenges facing tourism and hospitality enterprises. Fáilte Ireland offers practical solutions and support to ensure sustainability in the short-term and grow competitiveness for the future including, food tourism imagery, food tourism workshops, food tourism trends, and a register of food producers.
For information on a wider range of business supports offered by Fáilte Ireland, visit our Business Supports section.
Food Tourism Imagery
Fáilte Ireland has provided a number of low resolution images that effectively illustrate the food tourism sector. Download Fáilte Ireland's Food Tourism Imagery presentation (Ppt, 1.7MB). For further information, or to access the high resolution images from this presentation, please email derek.walshe@failteireland.ie.
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Food Tourism Workshops
As part of the National Food Tourism Implementation Framework launched in December 2010, Fáilte Ireland have created and tailored a number of business supports specifically for food service businesses. These workshops are intended to support and develop your foodservice business to improve their overall food offering which will ultimately enhance the consumer’s experience.
Essential Food & Hospitality – from Back to Front
Download Main Courses (Excel, 25MB)
Download F+B Culinary Calendar (Excel, 20kb)
Download Front Of House Tasting Sheet (Word, 926kb)
Download Front Of House Training Tool (Power Point, 7.28MB)
Download Blank Standardised Recipe (Excel 1.66MB)
Download Costings (Excel, 154kb)
Download SWOT Analysis Sample (Word 142kb)
Download Objectives Sample (Word 75kb)
Profitable Kitchen Management Workshops
This Chefs workshop was designed to give participants an overview of the essential elements of kitchen cost savings and menu design for profit. It is very much a re-focus on the fundamentals that all kitchens teams must practice.
Download details of the Wicklow Workshop (Word, 66kb)
Download details of the Kildare Workshop (Word, 66kb)
Creating Value from a Consumer Perspective
The aim of this workshop is to help food service businesses to deliver a memorable dining experience at a perceived value to their consumers. This workshop will help food service businesses to focus on the guest experience, and how to enhance the guest experience and to offer ideas on how to deliver a value experience to your customers.
Place on a Plate Workshop
The aim of this workshop is to provide individual operators that are interested in participating in Place-on-a-Plate with further details as to how they might implement this initiative in their operation.
A number of specific objectives have been defined for the workshop and include:
- To familiarise participants with the rationale and purpose of the Place-on-a-Plate initiative.
- To encourage participants to embrace the philosophy behind Place-on-a-Plate and to integrate its principles into their operation.
- To develop their skills in important areas such as menu design, description and presentation.
- To provide them with practical ideas as to how to develop the Place-on-a-Plate concept in their business.
How to Write your Menu to Increase Sales
In response to consumer trends and industry needs, Fáilte Ireland has developed this workshop which is designed to enhance menu appeal and drive sales. The menu is quite often an underutilised marketing tool and this workshop will help to make a menu work better for you.
This workshop is aimed at any food service business; food - hotels, restaurants, cafes and pubs etc. Chefs, front of house staff, managers and proprietors will all benefit.
Up-skilling Front of House Staff
This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of the importance and potential value of ‘going the extra mile’ in terms of customer care, customer service and customer engagement, and will take participants through steps to enhance the customer journey. Local and regional, history, and provenance of the food will be integrated into this workshop.
Food Tourism Trends
When it comes to food, worldwide food trends are constantly changing and evolving. Here are some of the of the latest worldwide food trends which are influencing food and restaurants and food service businesses in Ireland at the moment.
Global Food Trends 2012 and Beyond
The hospitality industry, faced with social and economic challenges, have recognised the importance of the 'experience' for consumers and are using the latest technologies and tools to renovate and innovate around the world. Download the Global Food Trends 2012 and Beyond report (PDF, 51MB), which provides insights into the growing worldwide trends for hotels, restaurants and bars across the world.
Local / Regional & Provenance of Food
Consumers are now looking for local / regional food and the provenance of the food that they eat. This is a growing worldwide trend and consumers want to buy and taste the local food that reflects the area that they are in enabling them to gain a sense of history and traditions of the area through the food that they eat. Consumers are willing to spend a little bit extra on local food once they know that it is a fresh, quality, product that reflects the local region and ensuring that the money they spend supports the local economy.
Story Telling
Consumers love a story around their dining experience. They want to know the story behind the local food producers and the history and traditions of the food in the region to gain a sense of the local area through the food that they eat. Restaurants are now using the menus to communicate this message to the consumer and front of house staff are telling the story associated with the food to diners.
Comfort Food Reinvented
There is a move away from gourmet / contemporary food towards comfort food such as the use of slow cooking, as chefs provide maximum flavour affordable. Ireland has a variety of well known traditional dishes which are making a comeback and are also renowned around the world. International visitors want to sample these authentic dishes in order to gain a sense of the traditions and culture of the area through these traditional dishes.
Pop up Restaurants
This is one of the latest global trends where restaurants open for business for a relatively short period of time serving specialist foods ranging in time from one day to a couple of months. They allow chefs to create new dishes and to experiment with new ideas allowing eager diners the chance to sample this growing trend.
Nose to Tail
This is a growing trend particularly since the recession has hit. Chefs are now looking to incorporate all cuts of meat into different dishes, making this a more sustainable and affordable method of cooking. Slow roasted pork belly is a popular example of a nose to tail dish.
Casual Dining at a Value Driven Price
Casual dining is becoming more popular. Diners are now looking for a more informal dining experience and are becoming more value aware / cost awareness. Food service outlets are targeting these consumers with dishes such as; early birds, fixed price menus, grazing plates, offering a drink / glass of wine with a main course at a competitive price. Middle size dishes are also becoming popular as well as the tapas style dining.
Producer Lists
A comprehensive food producer list will be available shortly, categorised by food type and county. Please check back regularly for updates. If you are a food producer and would like to get your company added to this list, please contact Yvonne Jackson.
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