Inside Tourism Business Fáilte Ireland

How can technology help you streamline your operations and run your business more efficiently? What should you consider before investing in new technology? And how can tech help you to adhere to social distancing guidelines without losing the personal touch? 
Professor Peter Jones of the eHotelier Academy and Bryan Davern of the Press Up Hospitality Group, answer all these questions and more when they share their insights with host Ruth Hegarty in the seventh and final episode of the Inside Food series. 
A full transcript of this discussion is available on failteireland.ie/podcasts. 
  
Panellists: 
Ruth Hegarty (egg&chicken consulting) is a consultant and facilitator focused on food, farming and sustainability in business and policy. 
Professor Peter Jones is a Director of Wentworth Jones, an international hospitality consultancy, and a Dean of the eHotelier Academy.  
Bryan Davern is Head of Hotels for the Press Up Hospitality Group, which includes seven hotels in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Westmeath. 
  
Listen to a particular topic: 
04:00 – The accelerated role of technology in the pandemic 
07:40 – Integrating technology systems 
16:54 – Improving efficiency through technology 
27:48 – How to use tech to adhere to social distancing guidelines but still maintain human interaction 
38:11 – What to consider before investing in new technology 

Data – how to gather it, how to interpret it, and how to use it to inform your business strategy – is the hot topic in the penultimate episode of Inside Food. Host Ruth Hegarty makes sense of the numbers with Karl Purdy of Coffeeangel in Dublin and Louise Palmer-Masterton of Stem & Glory in Cambridge and London.  


Resources: 
You can find a range of tools to help you analyse your data in Fáilte Ireland’s new Breakfast Innovation Toolkit.  
A full transcript of this discussion is available on failteireland.ie/podcasts. 
  
Panellists: 
Ruth Hegarty (egg&chicken consulting) is a consultant and facilitator focused on food, farming and sustainability in business and policy. 
Karl Purdy is Founder and Managing Director of Coffeeangel, which spans five locations across Dublin city centre and a thriving online business. 
Louise Palmer-Masterton is Founder of Stem & Glory, a vegan restaurant group with premises in Cambridge and London. 


Listen to a particular topic: 
01:10 – What is data? 
04:18 – How to gather data 
07:02 – Understanding data systems 
11:11 – How data informs strategy 
17:49 – Gaining customer insights 
26:10 – Utilising marketing tools 
31:19 – The importance of customer interaction 

In episode 5 of Inside Food, host Ruth Hegarty is joined by Phillip O’Neill of Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport and Cariona Neary of Neary Marketing to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted operations and investigate how businesses can upskill staff and increase sales in an era of social distancing.  
  
Resources: 
You can find a range of tools to help you streamline operations and train staff in Fáilte Ireland’s new Breakfast Innovation Toolkit. The Service to Sales programme will launch soon, stay tuned to Fáilte Ireland’s COVID-19 Support Hub for more details.  
A full transcript of this discussion is available on failteireland.ie/podcasts. 
  
Panellists: 
Ruth Hegarty (egg&chicken consulting) is a consultant and facilitator focused on food, farming and sustainability in business and policy. 
Phillip O’Neill is General Manager of the Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport which features 608 bedrooms, a conference centre with 17 meeting rooms, public bar, two restaurants and café. 
Cariona Neary of Neary Marketing & Communications is a trainer, writer, lecturer, and Fáilte Ireland mentor, specialising in marketing and customer service strategies.  
  
Listen to a particular topic: 
01:32 – How COVID-19 has impacted food and beverage operations 
06:30 – Training and upskilling staff in preparation for reopening 
14:34 – Online learning and briefings 
19:00 – How technology can streamline operations and improve the customer journey 
22:19 – Upselling opportunities and the Service to Sales programme 

An estimated 150,000 tonnes of food is wasted in the Irish food service sector every year while globally approximately one-third of all food produced goes to waste.*  Not only is this hugely damaging to the environment, it also has a very real impact on businesses’ profitability. 
In the fourth episode of Inside Food chefs Niall Hill and Maurice McGeehan chat to host Ruth Hegarty about food waste in all its forms and discuss how to not only reduce it, but to avoid it entirely. 
* Source: EPA 
 
Resources: 
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Waste Charter includes information and guidance on how to reduce food waste. A full transcript of this discussion is available on failteireland.ie/podcasts. 
 
Panellists: 
Ruth Hegarty (egg&chicken consulting) is a consultant and facilitator focused on food, farming and sustainability in business and policy. 
Niall Hill of Niall Hill Foods is a chef and food consultant serving clients in foodservice and food production. 
Maurice McGeehan, also known as ‘the No Waste Chef', is the Performance Chef for the IRFU. 
 
Listen to a particular topic: 
01:22 – The impact of food waste 
05:10 – Creative use of trimmings and by-product cooking 
12:47 – Avoiding waste through every step of the process 
18:36 – Analysing and incentivising waste reduction 
19:41 – Food waste technology 
21:54 – Labour management and operational efficiencies 

With food costs accounting for up to a third of the cost of sales, it is crucial that businesses understand the fundamentals of food cost management. Chefs Niall Hill and Mark Anderson join host Ruth Hegarty for this fast-paced discussion on controlling food costs and share their advice on: 
Smart purchasing Menu development and innovation Margin erosion Yield analysis   
Resources: 
You will find practical tools to help you control your food costs in Fáilte Ireland’s Breakfast Innovation Toolkit on the COVID-19 Support Hub. A full transcript of this discussion is available on failteireland.ie/podcasts. 
 
Panellists: 
Ruth Hegarty (egg&chicken consulting) is a consultant and facilitator focused on food, farming and sustainability in business and policy. 
Niall Hill of Niall Hill Foods is a chef and food consultant serving clients in foodservice and food production. 
Mark Anderson is Culinary Director in Ireland for workplace catering company Gather & Gather. 


Listen to a particular topic: 
02:27 – Smart purchasing 
04:59 – Working with the seasons 
09:00 – Engineering menus 
12:11 – Margin erosion 
15:49 – Yield analysis 

Inside Food host Ruth Hegarty delves into the science of menu engineering in this fascinating discussion with chef Niall Hill and Managing Director of The Twelve Hotel, Fergus O’Halloran. Listen now to learn how to design your menus to increase sales of high-margin dishes and in turn boost profits. 
Niall and Fergus share their insights on: 
The science of menu engineering The importance of menu design Cross-functional dishes to increase efficiencies Developing outdoor dining menus Re-engineering breakfast Core-based recipes that can evolve through the seasons  
Resources: 
You will find practical tools to help you engineer your menus in Fáilte Ireland’s Breakfast Innovation Toolkit on the COVID-19 Support Hub. A full transcript of this discussion is available on failteireland.ie/podcasts. 
 
Panellists: 
Ruth Hegarty (egg&chicken consulting) is a consultant and facilitator focused on food, farming and sustainability in business and policy. 
Niall Hill of Niall Hill Foods is a chef and food consultant serving clients in foodservice and food production. 
Fergus O’Halloran is Managing Director of The Twelve, an award-winning hotel in Galway. 
 
Chapters: listen to a particular topic
1:50 – What is menu engineering? 5:19 – The importance of menu design 09:55 – Driving efficiency in the kitchen 14:30 – Developing outdoor dining menus 16:30 – Re-engineering breakfast 19:45 – Continuously evolving recipes