James Kendal

This topic is somewhat off track. What about solutions? Perhaps restaurants that take a 1-2 points for the house should reconsider and divert to the kitchen brigade. That would easily inflate wages by an additional 1-2$ perhour. Although, in defense of service staff the service is an experience which is produced by human capital. You can't have one with out the other. Good food and chef's egos only go so far in sustaining a business.

I would look for these wines: 2004 Black Hills Nota Bene 2004 Sumac Ridge "White Pinnacle" (this is awesome if you are a Caymus Conundrum Fan) 2004 Ken Winchester Pinot Noir and or the Cab/Sauv 2003 Alderlea Pinot Noir (decent value at $22) 2004 Venturi-Schulze Milli Fiori 2004 Gray Monk "Odyssey" Pinot Gris JOIE has a very unique unoaked Chardonnay Musque with a small amount of botrisyzed (sic) pinot blanc.

This is the next generation. I just finished paying off our Property Management system and POS. This is next. I think once you calculate the labour and management cost of updating a paper based system this would pay for itself.

Thats funny! Me thinks the bubble is building and the nebulous powers that be will begin to cool off the growth.

Your issue may be with your sales rep. However, they are all meeting in Tofino for a week long annual sales meeting and you should just call the order desk.

Here are some good links that help with placements in Western Canada http://www.hcareers.ca/ http://www.mcinnishutchison.ca http://www.go2hr.ca http://www.lecourswolfson.com/ http://www.globalhospitality.com/

My thoughts: New hotels and additional restaurants have opened on the island as well as Tofino and the mid island which has created more competition from employees and wage inflation. The interior and okanagan is becoming more of a destination and is also migrating workers away from the coast. It is also difficult to compete with properties that have very high union wages for front of house positions. The economy is so seasonal that we have a reliance on a semi transient workforce to fill our summer needs. A solution is to search for a recipricol work force or network with winter destinations. The gov't needs to look at easing the restrictions for foreign workers and improving and assisting in increased exchange programs from the areas such as New Zealand, Australia and the UK. I receive numerous resumes from Europe but it is difficult to arrange the visa and is not a expedicious process. Restauranters and Hotels also need to go after the coop students. Anyway, I am sympathetic to this thread and I have a tough Spring for recruiting but have found some solutions. Although I have had to look further and farther abroad to fill senior positions at the hotel.

Thanks Marc, Also, the 2003 Chateaux Pey de Tour is awesome for $17.

Cowichan Bay Farm has amazing Duck: Whole Duck, fresh or frozen 4-6 pounds $4.50/lb. Damn, Should have noticed Matt's Post

Well I have an amazing new wine selection that I picked up at Fort St. (Although, the Robert Parker notes and 93 point score nudged me to grab 6 bottles). Keep your eye out for: 2003 Juan Gil Jumilla, Spain 100% Monastrell (Mouvedre / Mataro). I could give a dissertation on this wine but lets just say for the $24 it is absolutely amazing. These are the details from the BCLDB: JUMILLA - HIJOS DE JUAN GIL 2003 SKU #195859 Price: $24.99 Alcohol: 14.8 % Region Quantity Available Coast and Mountains 140 Lower Mainland 519 Lower Vancouver Island 42 Okanagan 74 The Islands 7

Hi, I have spent quiet a bit of time in Napa. For lodging that is affordabe check out Calistoga Inn If you want to splurge go to the Auberge du Soleil For hidden Gems Clark Claudon Winery Wineries of note: Araujo Estate Wines/Eisele Vineyard tel. +1 707.942.6061 2155 Pickett Road Calistoga, CA 94515 Patz & Hall Wine Company tel. +1 707.265.7700 P.O. Box 5479 Napa, CA 94581 Robert Sinskey Vineyards tel. +1 707.944.9090 6320 Silverado Trail Yountville, CA 94599 Spottswoode Winery tel. +1 707.963.0134 1902 Madrona Avenue St. Helena, CA 94574 Shafer Vineyards tel. +1 707.944.2877 6154 Silverado Trail Napa, CA 94558 Storybook Mountain Winery tel. +1 707.942.5310 3835 Hwy 128 Calistoga, CA 94515

Thank you Russel et al. The alternate thread you posted gave me some good ideas.

If you had to pair wines with Chinese food what would you consider for the following menu? Deep Fried Crispy Bean Cake/Deep Fried Minced Shrimp Ball Stir Fried Prawm. Cuttlefish and Chicken in X.O. Sauce Assorted Dried Seafood with Shark Fin Soup Live Lobster and Crab in Black Bean Sauce Chef's Special Free Range Chicken Sweet and Sour Rock Cod Chef's Special Stuffed Duck (Boneless) Selected Vegetable Braised with Bai-Ling Mushroom Minced Beef and Green Onion Fried Rice

I was recently in Toronto and found mark ups similiar in downtown restaurants which kept me from buying wine and I drank beer. I think smart consumers know what is fair for mark ups and make a determinaton on what they are ordering relevant to their budget. 300% mark up is a bit much on higher end wines but if you have a going concern like Bearfoot then you are going to capture as much profit as possible. Especially when the majority of your customers are using exchanged currencies and have combined family incomes in excess of the majority of the population. There must be the odd hole in the list.

perhaps there is an opportunity to open your own joint

We are going big this year: Réveillon December 31st, 2005 — Wild Salmon “Unilateral” Quebec Foie Gras & Forest Mushroom Terrine Red Wine Cherry Compote N/V Blue Mountain Rosé, Okanagan, B.C. — Ginger, Beet & Black Tea Consommé Sea Urchin Sushi, Dried Seaweed Stack 2003 Hugel Gewurztraminer, Alsace, France — Cobble Hill Partridge Civet East Coast Lobster Ravioli, Braising Jus 2003 Walter Hansell Chardonnay, Sonoma, California — Walchester Farm Venison Loin & Potato “En Croûte” Bolete Provencale Croquette , Poivrade Sauce 1998 Joseph Phelps Insignia, Napa Valley, California — David Woods Goat Cheeses & Figs Hot, Cold & Frozen 2003 Venturi-Schulze #3, Vancouver Island — Poire Belle Hélène 1999 Hester Creek Pinot Blanc Ice Wine, Okanagan, B.C Executive Chef Christophe Letard

Not to digress, but Trotter pays his servers a yearly salary. No day to day vagaries with tips. THis is concept I would like to see at the professional end of the spectrum for career waiters... but that is a big can of worms and eventually Revenue Canada will force this upon us (management / owners).

Albertans like to party (speaking from experience and having grown up in Edmonton). University students are weened on Big Rock Beer. There is a bar and liquor store on just about every corner in Calgary and Edmonton. The Calgary Stampede helps booze sales and, overall, its damn cold so what else do you do in the winter?

You will surprised in the US as a lot of top tables have an auto grat of 18-20%; which is annoying. Same thing in big hotels with Room Service, they charge a delivery fee and then leave the tip line open on the bill. From my experience which seems to be the norm on the Thread: Americans=20% Western Canadians= 15-20% Eastern Canadians= 10-15% (I always like to see what Ontarions tip and it's usually lower than the West.) As well you find some generational differences in tipping.

I use open table when I travel. If you drill down through through the restaurants in the U.S. most of the top tables are on this system which leads me to believe that this will become the google of the online reservation systems. I looked at using it for the hotel but the cost (2004) was prohibitive as there was no rep in Vancouver at the time and I wasn't thrilled about the set up cost which included travel from Toronto. It is, however the best, on line reservation system I have come across and if you are a reservation based restaurant, usually full, and can afford the cost (which is a business expense) then I would go with the system. I didn't go with open table (yet) as I have a property management system for the hotel and I would need too many open table terminals.

Bird flu could be as bad for B.C. as SARS was for Toronto if the PR machine doesn't manage the message properly. American media picks up these stories as a tie in with pandemic hysteria. I also find the reporting is very slow to qualify the strain of the virus and 80% of the message impacts the viewer. The fact that the strain is not the deadly one only seems like a non sequiter. Does anyone actually think that China reports the true stats when they had sars or bird flue outbreaks?

We have a generator that transfers power in seconds. Wind storms on the Island get pretty intense.

Extra fluffy and melt in your mouth Gnocchi with Truffles at Blue Hour Restaurant in Portland. Best wine of the year 2003 Amon Ra Shiraz from Ben Glaetzer (I consider wine to be food so I threw this in as well).

New York is a great city except for the smell of human waste coming from the sewers and subway in the heat of summer.

Well, From my point of view, EAT magazine has really come a long way. To not have it in the LDB is a major loss as a distribution center for the magazine but I am sure that it will make its way to many other stores. Which, leads me to my next point. If the BCLDB, which is funded by tax payers and, gouges tax payers, is not going to support a legitmate publication then why should we support the BCLDB. Buy your wine from the private stores or directly from your favorite B.C. wineries. (not that I am trying to change the theme of this thread but I am sure those that know me have come to expect my rant against this ridiculous monopoly). P.S. If Gary, Shelora, Jane or Treve are reading this post perhaps you could consider starting an editorial about the privitization movement, seeing how you have nothing to lose, and to focus on the ridiculous amount of profits the BCLDB is extracting from the private sector and from consumers. I'll be the first one in line to give you my point of view, as would many others from the restaurant sector.