CHOICE STOCK ILLUMINATES

With the economic climate ebbing and flowing as the nation adjusts to the recession, it’s tempting to cut corners to ensure margins remain as high as possible. Costs of operating and employing staff continue to go up and staying afloat is no longer a sure thing, so why not? Choice Hotels Group, which owns five retreats across Blackpool and the Lake District, knows why, when it comes to stocks and sauces, scrimping is nonsensical…

Tough choices well made
Grown organically, Choice Hotels Group first entered the scene in 1957 when The Claremont on Blackpool’s seafront caught the eye of local budding entrepreneur, Elsie Nelder.

In 1971, the hotel next door came up for sale and her first project became more impressive. Over 20 years, the portfolio grew even bigger with the purchase of The Cliffs and The Viking.

With a new generation of family members on board, the small but perfectly formed hotel empire branched out into the Lake District, buying The Patterdale in 2001 and The Keswick a year later. Passed from ‘Nanny Nelder’ to her four children and then onto five of their offspring, Choice Hotels Group today possesses something quite unique for a hotel chain; a first class, global reputation combined with all the personality of a family firm.

With the onslaught of the recession, however, anyone with purchasing power in hospitality has been forced to look at ways to bring the cost of dishes down. Choice Hotels Group, which serves around 1,100 covers every day across the portfolio, is no different. “Without question, we have suffered like the rest of the industry,” said director Julian Kollard, one of the troupe at the helm.

“I saw the dip coming and, over the last year or so, we have had to tweak food costs. However, the changes have been subtle and nothing the customer would notice.”

As a meal complement, sauces can find themselves on the brunt of cost cutting, with chefs willing to hedge their bets, on the off chance customers won’t notice if a sauce poured over their meal smells artificial, is congealed, salty or the taste lingers longer than is warranted.

This is something Choice Hotels Group is not prepared to compromise on. “If our guests were surveyed, we’re pretty confident 90 percent would say food is one of the top reasons they come back and, while we are value for money, particularly in Blackpool, the food is extremely good for what people pay. If we want to rely on being somewhere between 80 and 90 percent full all year round, we must ensure guests do not feel cheated.

“The quality of our sauces and what goes into them is something we keep static out of principle as whatever you put into food should taste good at the other end. Stocks, for example, are an integral part of a sauce and should improve the flavour.”

Heart and soul
The difference between a great sauce and a substandard one does chiefly comes down to the stock you use, according to Nigel Crane, Dorchester-trained chef and the man behind Essential Cuisine, creator of the hotel company’s choice of pre-prepared stocks.

“Stocks, often mistakenly called bouillons, are one of the cornerstones of a good kitchen. They are a key ingredient in your recipe, the heart and soul, if you like, delivering depth and balance of flavour in the final dish,” he said.

“Using a good, bought-in stock really is the most cost effective way to deliver great taste in cooking, with the stock component cost of an average dish under five pence. You can buy in cheap stock, but is it worth risking the meal for a couple of pence? It is a false economy.”

Finding foodservice stocks, jus, glace and gravy that chefs can work into a useable sauce is no mean feat, a conundrum Nigel endeavoured to solve when he set up Essential Cuisine in 1996, believing there was no reason why chefs should not have access to readymade products that are as close to kitchen made as possible and as profitable.

An even greater boon is there is no steadfast rule. Each individual chef at Choice Hotels Group has their own way of using the products on their own menus. “Some guys make their own stocks but use Essential Cuisine’s products to enhance the flavour, or if they don’t have the time or resources, use the products as a stand alone, they are that good, said Julian.

“We have done sampling and tasting sessions with Nigel at The Claremont, using their stocks against recognised competitors, and in my opinion, and I am not a chef, you can tell the difference immediately. One thing I particularly noticed is that their stocks are not overly salty. You have to have salt in stock but it shouldn’t be overbearing. These are good value for money and when you compare with cheaper brands, it is worth paying a little extra.

Being that bit more high end, The Patterdale and The Keswick also use Essential’s Premier Veal Jus. “They work fantastically here but wouldn’t necessarily work in Blackpool, where our residents have a simpler palate,” he said. “They also pay a bit less than in the Lakes.”

Kenny covets quality
From the horse’s mouth, great sauces are crucial to restaurant success. Head Chef at The Patterdale Kenny McDonald, who has worked for the company for 18 years, prepares a daily table d’hôte menu using, where possible, seasonal Cumbrian produce with the emphasis on simple yet flavoursome home made dishes.

These include Cumbrian grill of lamb steak, pork fillet, black pudding, Cumberland sausage, tomato and field mushroom with wholegrain mustard mayonnaise, oven baked salami and herb filled chicken pillow with tomato sauce, and halibut, prawn, crab and parsnip stew.

“In an ideal world, you would make stocks from your own stockpot, but time pressures, health and safety guidelines saying you can’t leave it unattended and restrictions on bones you can get off the butcher have become an issue,” he said. “It’s genuinely more cost effective to buy in stock these days. But it has to be good to complement the sauces you make.”

Kenny was introduced to Essential Cuisine eight years ago and now swears by its Chicken and Vegetable Stocks daily and Beef, Lamb, Ham and Mushroom Stocks on an ad-hoc basis. “I had used other stocks before but they were just not good enough for us,” he said. “We pride ourselves on knowing each and every ingredient present in our dishes and everything has be right. Our customers come to us because we’re in the middle of the countryside with heart stopping scenery, but if the food suffers, people will show it with their feet.

“Essentially, you must take pride in your sauces, serving up roast beef with the best gravy you can muster to pork with the most exquisite Madeira sauce. Scrimping is madness.”

11/02/2010|