October was a very busy month for Artisanal Palate with a lot of work put into developing products, menus and doing demonstrations for Woodland Imports. With so much going on an idea was put on the back burner and after this weekend is back in my mind.
For a few months now we have been coming up with ideas of various parties and annual functions to be held. The problem still lies in a location but we are looking to land an affiliation that will help us in our goals. We are looking to hold the first annual New Years function for Artisanal Palate. This would be an intimate party of the excellent food and beverage we are becoming known to deliver.
We are thinking of a combined evening an intimate dinner for 16 guests and then a cocktail function with a DJ for about another 60 people for the rest of the New Years fun. There will be a lot of work done to settle some issues and we would be looking to release information coming next week. Advertising would be put together shortly thereafter. The pricing is also still up in the air but dinner would include the price of wine with each course and the cocktail would involve the price of 3 drinks, hors d’oeuves and antipasto.
We will be looking to update more often as well.
Until next time, keep the stumach and the glass full.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Up Coming Events....
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Hard Parts of Business
So far I have spent the entire weekend reworking budgets and financing. Yes it is about as exciting as it sounds especially when you have about 3000 entries to rework.
I find myself now in the same position as every other owner I have ever worked for and that's where to cut costs but keep my quality standards at their high level. I have had problems being able to keep my employee the 5 days a week at the school when we are only pulling in about $1000 a week. Things are going well there but with now 4 co-op students I think to keep them busy even only for the two hours that they are there is to start making our own breads and bagels. Should cut a bit of cost and at least I get to work on my doughs and they get to learn a new skill.
The photos done by Nichala Cutts are almost finished and she has proven to be a very talented young photographer. Those photos will soon be up and a profile of Nichala will be available on the web page.
Artisanal Palate will be doing demos at Pusateri's for Woodland Imports October 14-18th, swing on by Avenue rd in Toronto. It is the best gourmet store in Canada and a great spot to come sample and see some good food being made. Currently working on a recipe section for the site and for stores I will keep you in touch with that and the many other projects on the go right now.
Until then keep the stomach and the glass full,
slainte
I find myself now in the same position as every other owner I have ever worked for and that's where to cut costs but keep my quality standards at their high level. I have had problems being able to keep my employee the 5 days a week at the school when we are only pulling in about $1000 a week. Things are going well there but with now 4 co-op students I think to keep them busy even only for the two hours that they are there is to start making our own breads and bagels. Should cut a bit of cost and at least I get to work on my doughs and they get to learn a new skill.
The photos done by Nichala Cutts are almost finished and she has proven to be a very talented young photographer. Those photos will soon be up and a profile of Nichala will be available on the web page.
Artisanal Palate will be doing demos at Pusateri's for Woodland Imports October 14-18th, swing on by Avenue rd in Toronto. It is the best gourmet store in Canada and a great spot to come sample and see some good food being made. Currently working on a recipe section for the site and for stores I will keep you in touch with that and the many other projects on the go right now.
Until then keep the stomach and the glass full,
slainte
Sunday, September 27, 2009
conception
When you are a young cook you look forward to at work is to learn something new and create. I used to receive what we called a "black box" basically an assortment of proteins and vegetables etc to create menu items. You would go write down your menus and start creating and the most important thing is to keep these over your career. I constantly go back to my old menus to see how I have evolved as a cook through the creation and presentation of the food. Last week was the first photo shoot for the company and though due to finances we didn’t get a chance to really get in depth with the concepts the food did look pretty good and felt that it did match up.
With the pictures about to hit the editing room I have had a chance now to really be critical of the items and their presentations to switch things up the next time. It is what keeps chefs ahead of the curve. You really have to do the development not only to keep your staff interested but to keep you wanting to go to work everyday.
Check out ArtisanalPalate.com as the company’s profile and website progress.
Slainte,
Shawn Murphy
With the pictures about to hit the editing room I have had a chance now to really be critical of the items and their presentations to switch things up the next time. It is what keeps chefs ahead of the curve. You really have to do the development not only to keep your staff interested but to keep you wanting to go to work everyday.
Check out ArtisanalPalate.com as the company’s profile and website progress.
Slainte,
Shawn Murphy
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
New Territory
The restaurants for many years have been my home and practically where I have slept. Working for various bars and catering companies it is very hard to recreate the romance of the kitchen. Its just beautifully chaotic and if your good it looks like a dance with just more yelling. Now two weeks into the new venture of running a high school cafeteria it is apparent that this is another animal and still far from the restaurant.
Trying to create healthier and better food options for students is not a nightmare but it definitely is a challenge. Artisanal Palate took over the contract September 1st and has been working on the way students eat. Jean Vanier L'Ecole Secondaire is an all french school located in Welland and from what I have learned so far they are much more of a challenge then if it were my old high school Governor Simcoe. The first few days were obviously full of cries of not having any deep fried foods. Slowly I am able to work in food that is healthier such as fajitas and stir fry's with items like fresh pizza and burgers that are of much better quality then what they would normally eat. The costing has been a challenge with few kids coming to the cafeteria at the time but we are optimistic that things will turn around shortly as more and more students try the food and we start companing for them to see what is going on. So far all the feed back from the students has been great except for the odd "what no fries!" comments.
The company is now employing one part-timer and has two apprentices so hopefully business on all fronts will pick up and I can use the assets more. A student approached me today about the possibility of adding in some lessons for kids so starting September 30th there will be an after school culinary program starting that will involve not only how to cook but how to cook and purchase smart. This will teach kids that you can actually eat healthy and well for little money as I had to learn as well in college. I may turn this into another initiative in the future running a 3 week culinary course in august for kids about to go off to school.
There is a lot happening behind the scenes right now with many proposals being made up and the website is going through its last phases. It's almost time to start making some noise and bring the whole company profile to the public.
all the best and regular updates will be coming very shortly,
Slainte,
Shawn Murphy
Trying to create healthier and better food options for students is not a nightmare but it definitely is a challenge. Artisanal Palate took over the contract September 1st and has been working on the way students eat. Jean Vanier L'Ecole Secondaire is an all french school located in Welland and from what I have learned so far they are much more of a challenge then if it were my old high school Governor Simcoe. The first few days were obviously full of cries of not having any deep fried foods. Slowly I am able to work in food that is healthier such as fajitas and stir fry's with items like fresh pizza and burgers that are of much better quality then what they would normally eat. The costing has been a challenge with few kids coming to the cafeteria at the time but we are optimistic that things will turn around shortly as more and more students try the food and we start companing for them to see what is going on. So far all the feed back from the students has been great except for the odd "what no fries!" comments.
The company is now employing one part-timer and has two apprentices so hopefully business on all fronts will pick up and I can use the assets more. A student approached me today about the possibility of adding in some lessons for kids so starting September 30th there will be an after school culinary program starting that will involve not only how to cook but how to cook and purchase smart. This will teach kids that you can actually eat healthy and well for little money as I had to learn as well in college. I may turn this into another initiative in the future running a 3 week culinary course in august for kids about to go off to school.
There is a lot happening behind the scenes right now with many proposals being made up and the website is going through its last phases. It's almost time to start making some noise and bring the whole company profile to the public.
all the best and regular updates will be coming very shortly,
Slainte,
Shawn Murphy
Monday, August 24, 2009
Rule #1: Nothing is ever easy
Though I have attempted to write a few times since the start of the business on April 28th, I decided that it would be best to give myself some time to run through everything. The greatest challenge like every other business has been the financing and just when you think you have everything covered there are other things that come up.
Currently, the hard push of the past 4+ months has been paying off with just some minor things to take care of. Websites are always the hardest to get up and running. They take alot of time and cause alot of problems and right now I am still waiting on being able to get photography done of the food so that we may get a chance to finally start discussing some recipes and of course my mistakes.
Mistakes are one of the greatest things in a kitchen, they have lead to some of the greatest discoveries but I still dont recommend them in service...your life depends on that. So far my mistakes have cost me alot of money but nothing that would make it overly hard to bounce back from. Of course with every mistake you learn alot!
Finally the Personal Menu was released but of course wont be made public without a website and funds for proper advertising. The greatest challenge of a new business is making people know your out there making alot of noise and having people remember your name and think of you when they think of similar products by your competition. With 3 proposals on the table it wont be long before Niagara will start hearing the name of Artisanal Palate as we work to start making some noise. We are looking to get into our first of hopefully many schools and get our youth eating healthy and possibly even setting up breakfast programs where they will get hands on learning. Just one of the 3 proposals its the chance to work with kids and schools that makes me the happiest. I never had that chance as a kid and it scares me with the amount of kids that dont know the basics of food.
Check out ArtisanalPalate.com in the coming weeks as hopefully the whole website will be up shortly. For any Catering email shawn@artisanalpalate.com
until then keep the wine glasses full and eat well
Slainte,
Shawn Murphy
Currently, the hard push of the past 4+ months has been paying off with just some minor things to take care of. Websites are always the hardest to get up and running. They take alot of time and cause alot of problems and right now I am still waiting on being able to get photography done of the food so that we may get a chance to finally start discussing some recipes and of course my mistakes.
Mistakes are one of the greatest things in a kitchen, they have lead to some of the greatest discoveries but I still dont recommend them in service...your life depends on that. So far my mistakes have cost me alot of money but nothing that would make it overly hard to bounce back from. Of course with every mistake you learn alot!
Finally the Personal Menu was released but of course wont be made public without a website and funds for proper advertising. The greatest challenge of a new business is making people know your out there making alot of noise and having people remember your name and think of you when they think of similar products by your competition. With 3 proposals on the table it wont be long before Niagara will start hearing the name of Artisanal Palate as we work to start making some noise. We are looking to get into our first of hopefully many schools and get our youth eating healthy and possibly even setting up breakfast programs where they will get hands on learning. Just one of the 3 proposals its the chance to work with kids and schools that makes me the happiest. I never had that chance as a kid and it scares me with the amount of kids that dont know the basics of food.
Check out ArtisanalPalate.com in the coming weeks as hopefully the whole website will be up shortly. For any Catering email shawn@artisanalpalate.com
until then keep the wine glasses full and eat well
Slainte,
Shawn Murphy
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