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WINE CHOICES - Sink or swim!
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More often than not, when I eat out, I am very disappointed with the quality and choice when it comes to wine. What makes matters worse is the lack of wine knowledge demonstrated by the majority of waiting staff, and managers also, in so many of the restaurants I visit. I am not alone in my sorrow.
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Time after time it is clearly visible that wine isn't taken seriously, and this can have a hugely negative impact on traffic and turnover.
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Restaurant owners and managers are not just lacking in wine knowledge, but they are failing to take on board that British culture and habits have caught up with our European cousins, and a love of good wines isn't something only our French, Italian and Mediterranean neighbours embrace.
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The first thing I do when I am looking for a restaurant is study the wine list. I do this before I look at the food; for me there is no point even thinking about the food because I already know I will be let down, based on the choice of wines. When I am intrigued by the wine list I already know the food will be good, because caring about wine choice is an indication the food is also very considered.
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Getting the balance right
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The key words in all this are 'quality' and 'balance'. Of course, as restaurant managers you have to look at many factors when choosing wines, but there is no point in serving up wines that are just 'affordable'. A bad wine experience will often mean losing a customer, and repeat business is what matters most if a restaurant is going to survive.
Having 4 to 6 quality wines is far more effective than offering double the choice when two thirds of that choice is not even worth opening.
The wine choice has to be built around the food menu. It's not enough nowadays to offer simply Pinot Grigio, Merlot and Sauvignon wines, just because they are well-known and safe. These kinds of wines are what people buy to drink at home - from the supermarket, at the best price possible. The customers who come to your restaurant expect something more.
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Respect
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When a customer enters your restaurant it's important to say to yourself "This person is coming to me because they have good taste ". If you teach yourself to think in this way you will build mutually respectful relationships with your customers. They will not just enjoy the food and wine you serve, they will feel respected and valued.
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In order to earn this respect you must equip yourself with the necessary knowledge that demonstrates to the customer that you have seriously considered every aspect of the dining experience.
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If you would like to learn more about how wine knowledge can help your business grow, please call 020 8099 3949 to arrange a visit from one of our wine experts who will be delighted to come to you and discuss your plans.
Written by: Jeff Harrison. 30.03.2026
PIZZA MASTERCLASS - Mar' 17-18 2025
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Our first Pizza Masterclass of 2025 took place at Napoli on the Road in Richmond, across 2 days; Monday 17th March and Tuesday 18th March.
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These masterclasses are our way of helping Prestige customers to assess their pizza-making process and pick the brains of one of the world's top pizzaiolo.
Written by: Jeff Harrison. 22.03.2026
Attendees go through the entire process; mixing and preparing the dough is the focus of the first day. The second day is the real fun part of designing and cooking the pizza.
The classes are aimed primarily at pizzaioli who make Neapolitan-style pizza.
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This is the pizza with a high, fluffy crust, which is very popular is southern Italy and it's popularity in the UK is spreading very quickly.
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The classes are absolutely free, and interested persons are advised to book their place as quickly as possible when a class is advertised.
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If you are interested in attending one of these priceless workshops then please give us a call and register your interest. Places are offered on a first-come-first-served basis.
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Call 020 8099 3949 or send an email to
Are the tables turning? - The Covid recovery
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I remember very well the time just after Covid; freedoms we once took for granted, and that had been taken from us, began to filter back into daily life.
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My wife and I celebrated by booking a weekend in Penzance. We had no trouble finding a nice place to stay, but when we arrived, things were not quite how we expected them to be.
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Many people had the same idea as us, so the area was very busy. It was so busy in fact, that booking a table in a restaurant, or even a small bistro or gastro-pub, was almost impossible. It took us until very late in the evening to find a place to eat; we sat outside, in October, on a corner, next to a busy road. Our fingers were so cold we could barely hold the cutlery.
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This situation came about because businesses in the area couldn’t afford to keep staff employed during the lockdown period, and when restrictions were lifted and there was a sudden, desperate need in people to start living ‘normally’ again, and eating out and so on, the restaurants and pubs didn’t have the staff they needed and couldn’t cope with demand. They had scaled down their operations in an attempt to survive but hadn’t prepared for what might happen when the tide began to turn,
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The Covid legacy
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To some extent we are still living with the Covid legacy. Added to this we have Brexit to contend with. It’s been a great blow for the hospitality industry as businesses struggle to find staff.
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The restrictions Covid placed on us forced us to find new ways of buying products and services, and also new ways of entertaining ourselves and trying to retain a sense of community and family.
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We all built a kind of ‘virtual’ life for ourselves, where just about everything we did was via the internet, and we did it all from our armchairs at home. We became hermits to a degree, and, in my opinion, we became less human.
Getting out there
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There is evidence that people want to return to the way life was before Covid. We are beginning to put it behind us. People are going out and they want to have fun and enjoy the fruits of their labours. People want to go to the high street and interact with each other, and go to the shops and stores where they can touch and feel what they want to buy, and have people - not robots - they can turn to for on-the-spot assistance.
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Be brave
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The most damaging aspect of the Covid legacy is the fear it infected us with; not the fear of being infected and becoming ill, but the fear to ‘take a chance’. We have all been suffering from a kind of PTSD brought about by the sudden and huge impact Covid had on our lives.
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It is behind us now, and the tables are turning, and I believe we are on the verge of an upward turn in the hospitality industry. It has been happening slowly, but now it is accelerating.
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People are ready to live again at full throttle. The future is looking bright, and now is the time to be business brave again.
Written by: Jeff Harrison. 16.04.2026
What happened to pizza?
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A slice of pizza history
A lot has been written about the origins and evolution of pizza, from its roots in ancient times, through to the pizza we enjoy today which is based on simple, flatbread dishes that were part of popular culture in Naples between the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
During this time, pizza was known as a dish of the poor, in particular a type of street food, and was not thought of as a recipe for the kitchen until much later.
Pizza as it is known nowadays began its development when the Spanish brought the tomato from the Americas, in the late 1700's.
Most people within the pizza-making industry are familiar with the story of Raffaele Esposito who supposedly created the 'Pizza Margherita', garnished in such a way that it represented the colours of the Italian flag.
The first pizzerias opened in Naples in the early 1800's. Before then, pizza was considered a type of food to be eaten whilst walking along.
Pizza appeared in the USA in the late 19th century with the arrival of immigrants from Italy, but it didn't reach the UK until the 1950's, and it was the American style pizza that dominated the scene.
The Neapolitan-style pizza that is becoming ever more popular in the UK today is considered by most to be the true Italian pizza, and the methods of production; preparation and cooking are tightly controlled in order to preserve this authentic method.
The evolution and elevation of modern pizza
Every high street in the UK has at least one pizza outlet; a takeaway or a pizzeria, or an Italian restaurant that has pizza on the menu, all claiming to serve up authentic Italian pizza.
The choice of toppings seems to be almost infinite, once the mandatory tomato sauce has been added to the base. Pizza 'purists' will argue many of these new combinations are not acceptable and the product that ends up on the plate or in the box is not 'real' pizza. I guess this is an argument that will go on until Mount Vesuvio starts spouting cold water.
For my part, and I am an Englishman, I only ever eat Marinara or Margherita pizza; in my humble opinion, only these offer the true pizza taste, and are the benchmark, for me, of any pizzeria.
Supply is fuelled by demand, and not everyone is a purist and not everyone wants the same things, and so there is now a seemingly constant demand for new pizza-topping varieties. This demand has not only led to an entirely new 'breed' of pizza, but it has inspired some pizzaioli to try to elevate pizza to a new level within the world of fast food; to move it above that status in fact.
We now have what is known as 'Artisan' pizza, and there are even advocates of pizza as 'fine dining', and these new pizzas are categorised and even paired with specific wines.
The essential ingredient
Most European countries are quite scathing when it comes to their appraisal of English food ( I deliberately don't use the word 'cuisine' ), which, unfortunately, is largely based on ignorance. We eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, fish and chips for tea, and roast beef on Sunday.
I think it is true to say that fish and chips is to the English what pizza is to the Italians; they both have their merits, and they are both misunderstood.
The thing that has happened to pizza has also happened to fish and chips; they have both become almost unrecognisable owing to the fact they have been modified so they can be sold to a wider market at a higher profit.
The beauty of fish and chips lies in its simplicity, and the only way it should be eaten is from a package made from newspaper, and the only garnish it needs is salt 'n' vinegar. No cutlery! Eat it with your hands and use the paper wrapping to wipe away the grease. If possible, eat it whilst watching a seaside sunset. This is the true fish and chips experience.
The beauty of pizza lies in an almost identical blend of simple ingredients and no-fuss method of consumption.
As with fish and chips, the attempted elevation of pizza into some kind of fine dining experience, has made it into something it was never designed to be; a delicacy that can only be enjoyed by a select few.
Perhaps it's time to look at the way we market and sell pizza, and ask ourselves why we have chosen to forget what is at the heart of one of the world's most treasured foods, and look at ways of bringing it back down to earth; to the place and people where, and to whom, it belongs.