picture: Rob Duncan/The West Australian
Growing Pains for Perth Food Industry
Few could argue that these days, Perth’s food and beverage scene
is fast-tracking at a blistering pace.
There’s the recent re-branding of Burswood Entertainment Complex to
Crown Perth and its conga line of big names – Rockpool, Nobu, Guillaume – making
the pilgrimage West. Jamie Oliver is set
to land in the city early next year. On
the home-front, the CBD’s new Brookfield Plaza has brought with it a level of world-class
sophistication previously lacking locally, with The Trustee, Heritage and Print
Hall openings derailing any further talk of the city being dismissed as sleepy. Eclectic small bars are opening on a
seemingly weekly basis, and even our fast food is becoming more
gentrified. And that’s not to mention
all the bells and whistles that the ten hectares of Elizabeth Quay will bring
with it, including pop-up kiosks, restaurants and cafes. Phew.
While Perth is unlikely to ever rival larger, more
established food-centric cities such as New York, its hospitality industry nevertheless
seems to be going gangbusters. There’s a
wider selection of eateries for diners to choose from, an increase in job
creation and a shake-up in terms of food, service and venue quality. So how are our local chefs faring with all
this upheaval?
“With all the new places opening up, it’s certainly making
staffing tight for the industry at the moment,” says Clint Nolan, the hands-on
chef-owner of venues Harvest, La Cholita and Who’s Your Mumma.
“But I think that will subside in time, where there will be
a lot more professionally-trained staff available. Certainly for the short-term things are
tighter on the employment front. It
doesn’t affect trade for us though, as we’re pretty isolated in the styles and
venues that we have. They’ve each got
their own character and clientele, which is good.”
David Coomer, the owner of Pata Negra and new director of food
to Print Hall, tends to agree.
“Staffing has always been a pain,” he says.
“The people have to come from somewhere. But I think all the new openings will do
wonders for staff training. The more
quality operations are around, the better quality our trainees are going to be,
if you can find them to start with.”
The high cost of food, both for diners and for
restaurateurs, is nothing new to Perth. Factors
such as our geographical isolation, food freight costs, staff penalty rates and
high rents have all been cited as reasons to bump up the price of the average
meal. These days, many of not most main
meals crack the $40 mark, while similar dishes in the Eastern states continue
to languish in the thirties. But with
all this change, can we expect prices to tumble any time soon?
“We will always have the tyranny of distance,” says David.
“At Pata Negra, we’re passionate about buying locally. But unfortunately a lot of stuff we need has
to come from the Eastern states too, so we have those big freight cost issues.”
Although according to Matt Stone, executive chef to Greenhouse
Perth, Melbourne’s Silo and an assortment of pop-ups, high food costs can often
be due to one-part acquisitiveness, one-part complacency.
“I’m lucky enough
that I’ve been kicking around between Melbourne, Sydney and overseas a fair bit
lately,” he says.
“And when I come back to Perth, I feel some restaurants are
taking the piss a little bit with the prices they charge. Of course some food in Perth is going to cost
more, but I don’t think that’s always the case.
Because we’ve been limited with the restaurants we’ve had here for so
long, there are mediocre places that are charging a lot more for food than they
probably should, and those prices have stayed.
I mean, you can go to an average pub and pay $45 for a steak, chips and
salad, and the chips have come from a bag. But Perth people have been paying
these prices for a long time, so a lot of restaurants continue to charge high.
“I really love that in Melbourne there’s a great variety of
mid-range restaurants that are serving beautiful food at a really affordable
price. I’d like to think Greenhouse fits
into that category, but there aren’t many other mid-range restaurants in Perth.
And with all these big restaurants
coming over, I hope that food prices drop due to producers growing everything
in larger quantities and getting better yields.
But I don’t know if that will happen.”
But it’s not all bad news.
In fact, according to some, the future for the industry looks positively
Day-Glo.
“With Perth growing up and creating its own hospitality
culture, sure it might be tight in the short-term. But in the long-term, it may stop our young final-year
apprentices or anyone with any real professionalism moving to either Melbourne,
London or New York to obtain that experience,” says Clint.
“They’re going to want to stay in Perth, because Perth will
have the diversity and something to offer.
That’s what I’m looking forward to.
I mean, industry professionals are moving over here because of what we
have to offer. We’ve got the weather,
we’ve got the beaches. It won’t be long. That’s when we’ve made it. That’s when Perth will have really grown up.”
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