One of Belfast’s leading restaurants has been transformed into an artisan food hall with a freshly cooked food-to-go range by bakery and catering entrepreneur Ashley French.

The recently opened French Village Food Hall on Belfast’s busy Lisburn Road is Ashley’s brainchild and is designed to build on the growing trend towards home cooking due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Ashley (35), managing director of French Village, has pivoted the popular restaurant into a spacious and well-stocked food hall which now stocks the best of locally produced food and drink from artisans and farms here with a wide variety of fresh foods such as lasagne, quiche, pies and sausage rolls and premium baked goods from his company.

“The decision to create the new food hall is the outcome of the lockdown which unfortunately halted our catering and restaurant businesses. It’s also a response to strong growth in home cooking which has produced a demand for quality ingredients for meals,” Ashley says. “Another important influence was the success of the call and collect and delivery services we introduced when our restaurants in the city were shuttered,” he adds.  The company successfully launched a fry-pan pizza kit during the lockdown for delivery or call and collect.

Ashley was also impressed by the “stunning growth” in artisan food production here, he continues “I’ve been watching the development of this important sector for a couple of years. There’s a vast variety of high quality food now being produced locally, products which deserve even greater support and recognition. It’s now an immensely exciting sector. Younger consumers, in particular, are increasingly buying artisan produce from local suppliersbecause of the quality, low carbon food print and traceability. The food is fresh, nutritious, wholesome and safe,” he explains.

In addition, he chose to transform the Lisburn Road premises from a restaurant into the food hall because of the age profile in shoppers in the area. “We’ve seen a high proportion of shoppers in the food hall in their late twenties and thirties. The food products include fresh vegetables and fruit along with the artisan produce. Shoppers can also purchase convenient meals prepared by our team of chefs on-site to enjoy at home. And there are hot snacks and pastries they can eat at a tables in the store or on the large patio outside. The food hall is proving very busy all the time now.”

Ashley intends to continue the delivery service of breads, cake and pastries launched during the lockdown for customers.

“The food hall is so successful that I can’t see a return to its previous role as a restaurant,” he says. “I fear it will be many months before the restaurant scene here fully recovers fromthe lockdown and social distancing requirements. There’s a big fear that further outbreaks of coronavirus and lockdowns could again impact the sector. There will always be a role, however, for quality and specialist food retailing,” he adds.

He’s also been encouraged by the enthusiastic response from local artisans to the food hall’s emphasis on and presentation of food and drink produced here. “I’ve met some really inspiring local companies with marvellously tasty and originalproducts. I look forward to working with them in marketing and selling their outstanding products,” he continues.

The DIY home pizza kit launched during the lockdown, he says, proved to be “an outstanding success” and the pizzas are still available for delivery and can now be purchased in the food hall.

Ashley, who had to postpone his marriage plans to next May because the lockdown, took over the family bakery, now based at Montgomery Road in east Belfast, from his father in 2005.

The company now employs almost 300 people as a result of his focus on smart ideas and his willingness to invest in innovation and the development of talented people.

Starting as a chef specialising in bread and patisserie, Ashley has vast experience in running a successful bakery. He’s never been afraid to move the business in different directions such as event catering and now specialist food retailing.

 

The food and drink industry is one of the hardest-hit by the Covid pandemic, but several Food NI/Taste of Ulster members have opened new businesses writes Barbara Collins. 

Olive Tree Bakery in Bangor, Co. Down opened just before lockdown in early March. Owned by Scott McDonald, they make had breads, biscuits and preserves all in small batches. They do all the purchasing, cooking, labelling and marketing themselves. Customers can order online and collect or get the products delivered in North Down and parts of Belfast.

“Olive Tree Bakes was born amid a pandemic, and we have never looked back” says Scott. Although we originally thought about opening up to trade at local markets, we quickly had to become adaptable. First, we offered a non-contact home delivery service, then a collection service in the lobby of our unit. Now, we supplying regularly to some of our local farm shops, a cafe and a restaurant, with a few more shops in our sights and now the hope of outdoor markets reopening would bring us to our original goal. 

“Luckily for us business has been steady, and I was blessed with having a ready made customer base from my long established catering franchise in Bangor Golf Club, our members kept us busy at the start as we got our name out there. Now we have a lot of new regular customers and still enjoying the learning curve and  being adaptable”.

Another new business is the Parson’s Pantry in Hillsborough. It is next door to the Parson’s Nose restaurant and is owned by Balloo Inns.

“We had been running a successful artisan food and wine Pantry at The Poacher’s Pocket in Lisbane for a few years, and had always felt that it was a concept that would replicate well in Hillsborough” says owner Jennie Sweeney

“We have converted the little front pub at Parson’s into the Pantry while pub drinking restrictions remain in place, with dining running as normal in the restaurant. 

“We already source the best local produce we can find for our restaurant kitchens, and so by creating a Pantry shop at The Parson’s Nose, our customers can now get their hands on this great produce to take home.”

She says that when lockdown happened, the chefs were quick to develop a Gastropub at Home range of restaurant quality dishes to reheat at home such as Fisherman’s Pie, Slow Cooked Beef Cheek Pappardelle and Smoked Haddock Rarebit with Greens and Baby Boiled Potatoes.  They also offer a supply of fresh fish, Hannan’s dry-aged steaks with their own sauces, and freshly baked breads, sausage rolls, scones and sweet treats. The fact that the Pantry is attached to the pub means that JN Wines are also for sale.

“If our customers support the Parson’s Pantry and tell us they want it to remain a permanent feature long term, we’ll find a way to make sure it stays!”

The Chocolate Manor is owned by Geri Martin. She makes luxury artisan chocolates but lockdown forced her to pivot her business.

“I had been planning to open Northern Ireland’s first chocolate workshop and visitor’s centre in Castlerock in April, but that obviously couldn’t happen so I decided to open a shop where I could sell the Chocolate Manor products as well as those from other artisan producers, especially fromTaste Causeway” says Geri.

The Main Street shop opens in the mornings Tuesday-Sunday 11am-4pm. The shelves are stocked with goodies such as Amazin’ Grazin’s bread mixes, Dundarave Estate products, Wee Mallows, Sea Sugar sweets, Taste Joy peanut butters, Irish Black Butter, Islander Kelp and the North Coast Smokehouse’s salt and pepper.

“We have only been open since July 1st but business is going very well. Our hampers are particularly popular. We also have two very special products designed by my children” says Geri.

“The 14 year old did drawings of Castlerock and I turned those into chocolate postcards. My ten year old has designed the children’s chocolate lollipops.”

Geri says the response from the local community has been “overwhelming”. She says people are travelling from as far away as Newry to visit the shop on a day out.

 

Good News tends to come in threes, or so I was told growing up. This week certainly brought two pieces of great news for food and drink industry here.

Firstly, Dale Farm, secured first place in the Virtual Cheese Awards Creamery Mature Cheddar category for Dromona. A huge achievement, but no surprise. Dale Farm beat off competition from all parts of the UK.

In my opinion, Dromona cheese is one of our food gems and is made locally with local milk.  The taste is amazing, and I hope that the team at Dale Farm are able to leverage recognition and advantage from winning that title.

The second piece of good news was the progress on plans to relax liquor licensing laws. This is potentially an important boost for the local hospitality industry and for local alcohol producers.

Many of our Food NI members are heavily dependent on the hospitality sector and are only just beginning to see rays of light flickering from the recent lifting of the lockdown.

It’s worth remembering that pre-lockdown the food industry generated £5 billion for the local economy and employed around 100,000 people across the extensive supply chain. And hospitality contributed over £1 billion for the economy and provided employment to around 60,000 people in various roles.

The proposed changes to licensing, if they are approved by the Northern Ireland Assembly, could also have a positive impact on the wider food industry especially smaller suppliers of dairy, meat, baked goods, vegetables, spirits, beers and cideries dependent upon hotels and restaurants including our Taste of Ulster members.

The proposed changes to licensing laws involve lateropening hours for pubs and Easter trading arrangements.Distilleries and breweries could also be enabled to sell spirits, ciders and beers from their own premises to the public in limited circumstances and certain major events will be able to sell alcohol produced locally. This would be a major benefit to our local alcohol producers.

We have supported the hospitality sector in the long running campaign for the changes agreed by the Executive. Our support is based on the conviction that the changes would be good for the industry, tourism and the economy. We would also like to see the lockdown lifted from pubs which don’t serve food.

It looks like hospitality and many food and drink companies will have to depend on support from local consumers certainly in the short-term. I’ve been encouraged, therefore, by the increasing innovation by specialist stores here and their dedication to local produce. It is encouraging to see many in the hospitality sector innovating, such as The Parsons nose in Hillsborough which has branched into retail with the wonderfully named Parsons Pantry, the French Village Food Store in Belfast and Granny Shaw’s Trading Post in Ballymena. I can’t wait to visit.

There are indications too that more consumers, especially those in their twenties and thirties are now opting for the quality, low carbon footprint and safe food and drink provided by such stores. Smaller producers and store owners like Indie Fude have also been quick to adapt to changing consumerdemands such as online deliveries and bespoke hampers.

These stores are also proving popular with the growing numbers of home cooks due to the lockdown. They are being regarded increasingly as the best source of quality ingredients and for advice on how to use the products in cooking. They have long been a tremendous source of experience and guidance on meal preparation. These locally owned delis andstores also deserve greater support from the community.

As a community, I believe we should give priority to the preservation and growth of local enterprises in food and drink and hospitality. Not only will it help safeguard these key industries and the overall economy to bounce back faster but I am confident we will all benefit from cooking local, quality food with low food miles.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has given the hospitality sector real encouragement by reducing VAT to five percent until January 2021. A reduction in VAT is something that we have wanted to see for years now, particularly since hospitality and tourism in the Republic of Ireland pay significantly lower rates of VAT. Taste of Ulster members have welcomed the new package of lower VAT which it is hoped will encourage diners to return, safely, to restaurants and to take short breaks at home. Our restaurants and hotels certainly need and deserve this long-awaited support.

What this important package promises is a cut of VAT on food, accommodation and attractions from 20 percent to just five percent, for 6 months. This is a significant reduction and Taste of Ulster has actively supported Hospitality Ulster in pressing the Treasury for a VAT cut to enable Northern Ireland to compete with the Republic of Ireland.

Tourism, of course, has been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak and this year I would urge people to holiday at home.

There is also a new ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme for the month of August. This entitles diners to a 50 percent discount of up to £10 per head on their meal between Monday and Wednesday. I hope that people here will grasp the opportunity and in greater numbers enjoy the creative, delicious dishes from talented chefs in our network of excellent restaurants. They need our support now more than ever now.

Many have also invested heavily to meet social distancing requirements so we can dine safely. I’ve loved being able to eat out again with friends. It’s something I’ve missed enormously over the past three months.

These schemes offer unprecedented support for a key sector, over 80 percent of which was forced to cease trading in March as a result of Covid-19, resulting in the closure of several businesses and over two million workers in the sector on furlough.

I urge readers to respond positively and thereby help re-inspire a sector which employs thousands of people here and ensure as many companies in the sector are in a position to benefit when confidence and tourism eventually return.

We have a globally rated hospitality sector. As has been shown from regular research, holiday decisions are influenced strongly by the reputation of a potential destination for excellent food and drink. And around a third of a tourist’s holiday budget has typically been spent on food and drink.

The chancellor’s package will also benefit our food and drink suppliers to the hospitality sector. Many have been badly hit during the lockdown and have adapted imaginatively to the challenges that resulted. Food NI fervently hopes these measures will lead to a significant boost in demand for manufacturers here who supply into hospitality and thereby safeguard businesses and protect employment. They will also hope to see a recovery in hospitality.

Much of course will depend on consumers recovering confidence and being willing to eat out again and return to our wonderful visitor attractions. I for one think if we are vigilant and follow sensible precautions as advised by the Good to Go scheme that we can do good by supporting our local restaurant sector.

Q: How often do you get to ask your burning grocery retail questions to an experienced expert?

A: Now you can, every month!

Grocery Retail Expert, Malachy O’Connor is launching a new monthly 1-hour ‘Ask Me Anything’ webinar on Friday 17th July at 09:30. To compliment his regular posts and articles, now you have a chance to delve deeper or spark debate on Irish grocery market trends.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/eVQNs9j

Please PM Malachy via LinkedIn or email: Malachy@foodfirstconsulting.ie with your questions in advance of the webinar.

These insights are really valuable, but instead of paying a fee,  you to make a charity donation. Malachy will chose a different cause each month. This month they’re supporting Self Help Africa whose mission is to help African farmers better feed their families. Self Help Africa are currently working with Glenisk organic yogurts to plant a million trees in both Ireland and Africa.

Here’s the #justgiving link:
https://lnkd.in/enHBsKV

Staff at Titanic Hotel Belfast had plenty to smile about as the doors reopened last Friday, with the news that the hotel had won three 2020 Irish Hotel Awards. The hat trick of awards recognise the quality of the hotel and its outstanding restaurant.

Named overall Irish Hotel Restaurant of the Year and Ulster Hotel Restaurant of the Year, the Wolff Grill was judged on the standard of food and service it has become renowned for since opening two years ago.

With 119 luxury rooms overlooking the world famous Titanic Slipways and Harland & Wolff cranes, the hotel won the Great Place to Stay Quality Award, a huge boost in confidence for the management and staff as they started welcoming guests back into the hotel for the first time since lockdown.

Adrian McNally, General Manager, Titanic Hotel Belfast, said: “We were buzzing to reopen our doors after being closed for so long during such an uncertain time for the industry. We were just so eager to be able to get back to giving guests a warm Titanic Hotel Belfast welcome while adhering to government guidelines but receiving the news of winning these three awards was the icing on the cake for us on reopening.

“The combination of winning the regional award for Hotel Restaurant of the Year in Ulster as well as the overall Irish award for Hotel Restaurant of the Year in Ireland is really special for the hotel as I’m only too aware of our competition in hotels throughout Ireland. It is testament to the dedication of our executive chef Nigel Mannion and his team who lovingly prepare the finest of food for our diners.

“We appreciate the uniqueness of being able to dine in the Titanic Drawing Offices and to sleep in a room overlooking reminders of Belfast’s shipbuilding heritage but to be recognised for our individuality with the Great Place to Stay Quality Award underpins the everyday emphasis we place on quality, service and cleanliness, factors which were never more important than they are today.

“I am truly thrilled that Titanic Hotel Belfast has won these awards for quality and food at a time when guests are taking a tentative step into supporting the hospitality industry again.”

Titanic Hotel Belfast opened in 2018 and its stylish and innovative interior boasts an Art Deco nautical theme.