Making hospitality sustainable
Bill Brogan, general manager at Market House, the dining and meeting space in central Cambridge, discusses the restaurant scene.
As we approach the festive season, we’re thinking about its sustainability - the Christmas cards, the wrapping paper and everything else that it entails.
We try to use as many local suppliers as possible and most of our vegetables and meat are local.
Some of these suppliers are having a tough time with issues beyond their control, such as Avian flu and transport costs. We are proud to support these suppliers in our quest to become as sustainable as possible.
We took part in Cambridge Sustainable Food’s Food for the Planet Campaign. The young chefs in the team came up with the two dishes that were featured, both in the main restaurant and in casual dining, including costing out the recipe. This really motivated them, and Chris, the young junior sous chef, came up with a wonderful venison recipe that was a special and sold out very quickly, while Maddie created her fabulous exam dish, Pork Fillet with Apple.
Our new lunch menu commenced on November 16, and our new restaurant menu starts on November 23, devised by Shaun and Chris. We have a list of events that we are holding at Market House.
Our oyster and Chablis tasting was a great success and we have added another date for Christmas wine tasting in early December, as the first event sold out.
The wine bar is now taking off and the staff are working on new ideas. We have mulled wine and Christmas cocktails, which also started on November 16.
Having just visited Germany to look at the food scene and also attend some wine tastings, I found they are having the same issues as us with staffing and supply chain problems.
In late November I have been invited to the Hospitality Showcase - Promoting the Sector in Parliament at the House of Commons, showing the challenges that hospitality is facing with other industry leaders and Parliamentarians. We hope to get our voice heard, and hopefully hospitality will get some support.
Until next time...