Bidfood Australia

Mediterranean pasta salad

Bidfood Marketing — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 23:42:17 +0000

Take your guests to the sun-kissed coastlines of Greece with this zesty pasta salad. Each portion bursts with fresh, vibrant flavors that mingle perfectly in individual cups. Crunchy cucumber, sweet tomatoes, briny olives, and creamy feta come together with our secret touches – marinated capsicum and silky artichokes. Finished with a classic lemon, olive oil & herb dressing, this dish is bright and irresistibly satisfying.

Ingredients

Pasta

500g San Remo Large Pasta Spirals No. 53 (19242)
1 tablespoon salt

Salad

440g Casa De Mare Gluten Free Chargrilled Capsicum, cut into 3cm strips (171633)
4 x cucumbers, sliced into rounds, then quartered
600g cherry tomatoes, quartered
260g kalamata olives, sliced
400g artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
200g feta, crumbled (plus extra for serving)

Dressing

⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp honey
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. To cook the pasta

To cook the pasta, bring a large sized saucepan of water and salt to the boil. Cook pasta for 10 minutes, or until just tender, but cooked through. It’s important not to overcook the pasta so it holds it’s shape in the salad. Once cooked, drain, and place in a large mixing bowl. Toss through a little olive oil and set aside to cool.

2. For the dressing

For the dressing, add all ingredients to a small bowl and whisk until combined. Alternatively, you can place the ingredients into a jar and shake!

3. To assemble

To assemble, add all of the salad ingredients to the pasta bowl and toss gently. Pour over the dressing and toss until coated.

4. To serve

To serve, spoon the salad into individual serving cups/bowls and crumble over a little extra feta.

Maximise menu appeal: why onion rings are your secret weapon

Bidfood Marketing — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:00:00 +0000

In today’s competitive foodservice landscape, standing out is essential. Whether you’re running a bustling pub kitchen, a local club bistro, or a high-volume takeaway outlet, your menu is your frontline for attracting and retaining customers. One simple way to elevate your offering? Add a crowd pleaser like Edgell® Hand-Cut Battered Onion Rings your secret weapon for taste, versatility, and margin.

Know your crowd – deliver what they love

Understanding your customer base is key. Are they after classic comfort food, quick bites or shareable snacks? Edgell® Hand-Cut Battered Onion Rings tick all the boxes. With their light, fluffy tempura-style batter and crisp onion sweetness, they’re a familiar favourite that feels premium. Perfect for pubs, sports bars, fish & chip shops, and cafés – anywhere there’s a deep fryer, onion rings belong.

Menu engineering – profit meets popularity

Not all dishes are created equal. Menu engineering helps you identify high-margin items and promote them effectively. Edgell® Hand-Cut Battered Onion Rings in a tempura-style batter offers great plate coverage and a premium feel, making it ideal for boosting profitability. Highlight them as a snack, a side, or even a game-day special the opportunities are endless.

Operational efficiency – quick, easy, crowd-pleasing

Streamlining back-of-house operations is just as important as front-of-house appeal. Edgell® Hand-Cut Battered Onion Rings are designed for performance:

Quick: Low prep and a 90-second fry make them an easy win.
Menu versatile: Works as a snack, side, or function menu item.
Crowd pleaser: A fried, fun, vegetarian option that’s as easy to add to group orders as a bowl of hot chips.

Your menu is more than a list it’s a strategic tool. By aligning it with customer preferences, profitability goals, and operational realities, you can drive growth and loyalty across your venue.

Ready to refresh your menu strategy? Add Edgell® Hand-Cut Battered Onion Rings to your line-up and discover why they’re your secret weapon.

Featured product.

Shop Edgell® Hand-Cut Battered Onion Rings and the entire Edgell range on myBidfood.

Share the lamb – Naturalaz

Bidfood Marketing — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 05:17:29 +0000

Summer is the time to add lamb to your specials board.

Not just because the weather is perfect for smoky, chargrilled meats paired with crunchy, vibrant, tangy salads.

Not just because spring lamb is at its peak across the market.

Summer is the time to add lamb to your menu because it’s the Australian thing to do – quite literally.

Every January right across the country, consumers are primed to purchase lamb. And it’s both a smart menu and business move to capitalise on that awareness. By getting on board with Meat and Livestock Australia’s Share the Lamb campaign, you’re not only leveraging the reach of a nationwide marketing push, you’re also giving your customers a chance to feel part of something bigger, something joyful, beyond just the pleasure of great food.

And for venues looking to tap into the national mood, Naturalaz sous vide lamb racks make a particularly smart choice.

The summer spike in lamb – customers have been primed

For more than two decades, the Share the Lamb campaign has delivered an annual advert that’s become a truly iconic part of the Aussie summer.

Last year’s instalment alone generated millions of views across TV, digital and social media.

All that attention creates one of the strongest periods of the year for lamb on menus. Customers are more likely to choose something they’ve seen repeatedly, especially when it’s reinforced by a trusted organisation and familiar faces.

And it works. According to a national YouGov survey in January 2024, almost a third of Australians who saw the lamb ad said they were more likely to purchase lamb as a result.

For venues, that wave of awareness does a lot of the work. Diners walk in warm, receptive and ready. You just need to give them a compelling lamb dish to land on.

Why Naturalaz sous vide lamb racks work so well for summer specials

They’re perfect for sharing. The Naturalaz sous vide lamb rack hits that sweet spot between premium appeal and practical flexibility. It feels fancy without being fussy, and it’s ideal for big-group dining and long lunches. Because it’s a forequarter cut, it’s made for sharing. Slice between the intercostals for a generous, shareable centrepiece or portion into smaller tapas servings – depending on your audience.

They also perfectly suited to summer flavours. Summer menus lend themselves to fresh charred veg, herbs, grains, citrus and yoghurt-based dressings. Lamb’s natural depth pairs beautifully with those elements – and the shoulder rack’s rich flavour and tenderness offer the ideal base for vibrant accompaniments.

Operationally smart. Summer is when you’re likely getting slammed. This is where Naturalaz sous vide lamb racks are a godsend time saver. Sous vide for 15 hours at 71°C, the racks come ready to finish and serve. There’s no trimming, no shrinkage and no guesswork. You get consistency, speed and confidence – even during peak service.

They work across kitchen types too – grill-ready for pubs and clubs, soft-textured and protein-rich for aged care, and fine-dining quality with no prep time for hotels and bistros. And with service-ready flexibility, chefs can hold them hot and plate fast, no combi ovens or hours of braising required.

How venues can make the most of the summer lamb moment

Make your own lamb ad. Savvy Gen Z operators are creating viral content with nothing more than a smartphone and a sharp idea. Why not join in? Reels are the perfect way to introduce your venue to new customers, and with lamb trending, a clever, scroll-stopping video could see your content sitting right alongside the official MLA campaign.
Engage your social audience. Short, bright, lamb-forward content performs especially well in January, because your audience is already primed for it. Carousel posts are working particularly well right now, so show off your dish from all angles and share a bit of behind-the-scenes prep.
Use campaign-aligned phrases in your captions – “Share the Lamb”, “summer lamb”, “Aussie lamb” – to help get picked up in the algorithm. This is your moment to jump into the conversation.
Share the campaign on your specials board. This is a simple, effective way to tap into the lamb buzz. Just writing “Share the Lamb” next to your featured dish instantly links it to the national campaign and helps customers feel like they’re part of it.
Use evocative language on your specials board. Your specials board is a prime opportunity to draw attention and lift perceived value. Use language that sparks the senses and highlights freshness, flavour and shareability. Dishes like:
- Charred lamb rack with mint yoghurt and burnt lemon
- Green harissa lamb rack with summer tomatoes and grains
- Shared lamb lollipops with pomegranate glaze and herbs

The bottom line

Summer primes Australians to crave lamb long before they walk into your venue. By aligning your menu with the national mood – and heroing a premium cut like lamb rack – you can tap into that demand and drive higher engagement, excitement and spend across the table.

When the whole country is talking lamb, make sure your menu is serving it.

Maximise margins – making the most of the summer season

Bidfood Marketing — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 04:23:22 +0000

While some city hospitality businesses wind down over the holidays, cafés, pubs and clubs in tourist towns are about to hit their busiest stretch of the year. When the hordes roll in, they’re hungry, impatient and ready to spend. But if your venue has the product ready to match that demand, you’ll win the trade. And even when you’re already at capacity, you don’t have to miss out on extra sales.

This is where smart menu engineering comes into play. Family share plates, toppers, bar snacks, festive desserts and grab and go items. We have constructed a list of items that can help improve the flow of service this summer while keeping your customers satisfied, maximising the most out of every customer who walks in your door, all whiles ticking the number one box deliciousness.

Family-sized share plate – taco platter

For pubs, clubs and venues that specialise in family trade, a DIY taco platter on your specials board is your ticket to keeping mum, dad and the kids happy while driving serious GP. It delivers value, flexibility, fun and margins all at once.

Build it to feed two hungry adults and one or two kids, with everything ready to heat and go.

Serve it on a big platter lined with greaseproof and lifted on a stand for theatre. This dish is the diplomatic platter. You are not just feeding people, you are keeping peace at the table. The non eater can not eat, happily. The fussy picker can choose what they want without feeling shamed. The over eater can vacuum up the stragglers. And you, quietly, win on GP.

Make sure you can add on to the dish: more meat, more guacamole, more prawns. Which brings us neatly to toppers.

Low-labour upsells – toppers & sides

Anything can be a topper. Or a side. If you need proof of this, just put garlic prawn steak topper on your menu and watch it walk out the door. And if you are not offering toppers this summer, you are leaving money on the pass.

Work with what is already on your menu. This way, you have already done the prep. Work smarter and get more out of every customer because the easiest customer to sell to is the one already sitting at the table. Some topper ideas:

Mac and cheese
Fried calamari
Kilpatrick oysters
Haloumi
Onion rings
Garlic prawns
Cajun prawns
Battered fish
Pork belly bites
Chicken wings
Pulled pork
Anything else on your menu

For a quick and easy mac and cheese, stir a packet each of Jeffersons American and Cheddar Cheese Sauce through cooked macaroni, then top with grated cheese and bake.

Make sure you’re upselling garlic bread every service this summer. Use table talkers, screens and QR prompts. Cheese and bacon should be standard add-ons – and make sure toppers are enabled too. Because you know that one day someone will order garlic bread with cheese and bacon topped with creamy garlic prawns. If they can build it, they will!

Another great ‘add-on’ is grilled chicken. Some people want protein with whatever they order. So upsell where you can!

Profitable bar snacks – low cost, high return

We both know that prep time is sacred during the holidays. But if you can, run an all day menu. Punters eat at unusual times during holidays. And the reality is there are big discrepancies between common eating times across the states. So often when the Melbournians arrive in Queensland for a summer holiday and find out lunch finished at 2:00, they will be wandering down the road to eat at the competition. And often a decent collection of snacks is enough to keep them in the building.

The trick with bar snacks is turning low cost ingredients into high return items with a bit of smart prep. Trick up more economical foodservice ingredients. And if your pizza chef or kitchen hand can knock these out between services, you keep revenue rolling without slowing the kitchen:

Warm olives with rosemary, chilli flakes and vinegar
Dips tzatziki, hummus, pesto, semi dried tomato, tapenade
House focaccia or pizza bread through the deck ovens
Pinsa Sorriso with pepperoni, tomato, rocket and pesto
Spring rolls with fresh mint, lettuce and house nuoc cham
Even the humble dim sim makes a great snack

Festive desserts – Christmas tiramisu

Some chefs see dessert as effort, while others embrace them for their potential. But smart desserts look great, sell fast and lift your per head with minimal effort. And at Christmas, people are willing to let their calorific guard down.

Do not reinvent the wheel. Nothing is more proven right now than tiramisu. Familiar, loved and incredibly easy to execute.

Minimal prep at service
Easy to batch
Individual portions ready in the café fridge

Ready-to-serve cakes and desserts are also a summer win. Higher cost but zero labour. No prep. No baking. Just open, slice and serve.

Grab-and-go café items – #ReadyToEat

If you spend two minutes on Instagram, you will see grab-and-go is booming. And while some city venues wind down over the holidays, cafés in tourist towns hit their busiest stretch of the year. When the hordes roll in, they are hungry, impatient and ready to spend. And even when you are already at capacity, you do not have to miss out on extra sales.

Ready to eat does not need to be a compromise. It just needs to move fast:

Burrito bowls rice, beans, protein, veg, sauce
Poke bowls and sushi rolls tuna, prawns, salmon, tofu
Bagels cream cheese, honey, jam, smashed avocado
Breakfast wraps and sandwiches eggs, bacon, veg, plant based
Protein and side combos chicken, tofu or fish with quinoa, veg or sweet potato

The key is making sure everything is easy to prepare, easy to package and easy to sell.

Dry brining

Bidfood Marketing — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 01:24:48 +0000

Dry brining is a technique used to pre-season and marinate meats without the potential issues faced with wet marinades and liquid brines. It’s a particularly excellent solution for steaks and roasts, deeply seasoning the meat, drawing moisture to the centre while drying out the surface, in real terms this equals, more flavourful, juicier meat, and a better Maillard reaction i.e. better crust/crisper skin. It’s an infinitely flexible, really simple and accessible, yet powerful flavour boosting tool.

Ingredients

For the spice base

¼ cup smoked paprika
2-3 tablespoons freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds, ground
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoons Aleppo pepper
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

For the salt

Use the ratio mentioned in chef’s notes, adding the spice base to taste.

Method

Mix together, store in an airtight container.

Makes approx. 2 ½ cups

Chef's notes

Dry brining works by the process of osmosis/diffusion – salt on the surface of the meat initially draws out moisture, the moisture then mixes with the salt and other seasoning/flavours in the dry brine, over time this liquid is reabsorbed back into the meat, distributing the seasoning throughout the muscle fibres. The salt also helps to dry out the surface which will create a better caramelised crust. The brine mix should be rubbed onto the surface of the meat, sat on a wire rack set over a tray and refrigerated.
There are two cornerstone elements to dry brining – salt and time.
SALT- Use coarse cooking salt or Kosher salt- the general ratio of salt to protein is 1.5% so roughly 7.5 grams of salt per 500g meat.
TIME- this is going to depend on what the cut of meat is however the general consensus is a minimum of 4 hours up to 3 days, with the sweet spot being 24/36 hours.
Freshness is key, dry brines benefit from being made in batches from the freshest spices. The pinnacle being the use of whole spices toasted and ground fresh.
With the exception of the salt, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to dry brines; while salt is the main feature, they do benefit across the board from the addition of garlic and onion powder- oregano and paprika are also repeat performers, a little dried citrus zest works well (especially when cooking lamb and chicken) and a small amount of sugar which will further enhance the caramelisation of the crust/skin.
If using whole spices e.g. black peppercorns, cumin seeds, cinnamon quills etc, grind to desired consistency before mixing with your other ingredients.

Featured in Summer 25/26

Savoury desserts

Bidfood Marketing — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 01:24:07 +0000

Miso, maple and sweet potato cookies.

These cookies are a perfect exploration of sweet and savoury, the umami-ness of the miso and earthiness of the sweet potato adding a unique and unexpected contrast.

Ingredients

For the cookie

225g butter
200g caster sugar
150g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
¾ teaspoon all spice (adjust to taste)
300g plain flour whisked together with 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt
125g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

For the sweet potato topping

1 tablespoon white miso
2-3 tablespoons dry mashed sweet potato puree
2 tablespoons rich caramel

Method

Brown the butter, and (depending on desired texture – see notes) cool until it is solid but workable (i.e. the consistency of room temp butter), then cream the mixture with the sugars for about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the eggs, vanilla and spice/s. Add the flour, mixing lightly, and as soon as a dough forms, stop mixing and fold through the chocolate. Chill for at least 30 minutes but longer is better.

For the miso topping, mash the miso, sweet potato and caramel together to form a paste. Chill.

Form the dough into balls, roughly 80g each. At this point they can either be baked, returned to the fridge for further chilling or frozen. To bake the cookies, set the dough balls on a lined baking sheet, press down on them to flatten a little or a lot (the thinner the cookie dough the larger and crispier the cookie). Spread a couple of teaspoons of the miso mix on top. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180°C (or adjust as per kitchen notes). Cool and serve. Best baked in batches and eaten fresh.

Chef's notes

Chill or once portioned freeze the dough, this develops flavour, improves texture and prevents over spreading.
Don’t over cream the butter and sugar (this potentially adds air to the dough which can lead to collapse when cooking)
Bake on a silicone mat or baking paper on a cool tray (i.e. don’t grease the tray or add a second batch of cookies to a hot tray).
While an exponentially large batch of dough can be made and chilled or portioned and frozen. Cookies are best batch baked and eaten on the same day.
Crisp versus chewy a number of factors affect this:
- sugar – the higher the ratio of white sugar to brown the crispier the cookie and inversely the higher the ratio of brown sugar the chewier; play with the sugar ratios to achieve your desired texture.
- creamed versus melted butter- sugar mixed into melted butter creates a denser chewier texture
- moisture – the higher the moisture content the chewier the cookie.
- for crisp cookies – oven temperature and time – standard cook time 140°C for 11 minutes to achieve a crispier texture through the cookie reduce oven to 140°C and cook for longer- up to 30 minutes.
Spices- adjust to taste- additionally or instead of the all spice, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and to further lean into the savoury notes experiment with black pepper.
Sweet potato puree- made from oven roasted sweet potatoes is best, fluffy, dry sweet potato is the goal.
For the rich caramel component of the miso topping- make a traditional dark caramel with the same sugar to butter ratios, but the cream to half- once cooled the consistency should be very thick.
Chocolate- the darker the chocolate the deeper the flavour. Alternatively, to enhance the savoury elements, the chocolate could be swapped out for nuts (pistachios or walnuts would both compliment the flavours).
Yields approx. 14 x 12cm cookies

Basque inspired basil cheesecake

Crazy delicious, unexpected and really unusual, the addition of basil to a cheesecake filling is a curiously interesting interpretation of the savoury-sweet trend guaranteed to surprise and delight diners.

Ingredients

For the base

160g digestive biscuits, blitzed
100g melted butter
½ teaspoon salt

For the filling

150g caster sugar
30g basil leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
675g cream cheese
5 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
25g flour
¾ teaspoon salt
375ml thickened cream

Method

Combine the biscuits, butter and salt. Push the crumb firmly into the base of an 18-20cm x 10cm tin lined with baking paper (basque style). Bake for 10 mins at 200°C.

Increase oven temp to 210-220°C. Process sugar, basil and lemon. Add the cream cheese, process until smooth. Now add the eggs one at a time, processing in between. Make a pourable slurry with the vanilla, flour, salt and a little cream, add to the mixture, process to combine. Finally pour in the remaining cream with the machine running processing until smooth. Pour the mixture over the base. Bake for 35-40 mins, until the centre has some jiggle and the top has developed the burnished brown finish characteristic of Basque cheesecake. Cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

Chef's notes

This can be baked as a traditional Basque cheesecake, sans base.
Play around with the base components – sub out some of the digestives for pretzels, and or add in some ground nuts (hazelnut, almond or pistachio)
A food processor or immersion blender is the best equipment to use to achieve a smooth texture without adding air bubbles to the filling.
Experiment with some other sweet savoury pairings and serve with extra virgin olive oil or parmesan ice cream and black pepper roasted strawberries.

Featured in Summer 25/26

The tasty road South: how Southern American cuisine found its way Down Under

Bidfood Marketing — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Us folk Down Under share a lot with our brethren in America’s Deep South. We’re both people with a natural, laidback sense of hospitality. We both love cooking and celebrating our produce from both the land and sea.

There is something unique about America’s southern states that Australians long for. We love the way they celebrate life with food down South – the air thick with the perfume of magnolia and the smoke from backyard barbecues, the heady scent of Cajun spice. Cayenne, paprika, thyme and garlic wafting from cast-iron pots. Meals stretch long into the evening, strangers become friends and laughter rolls like thunder across the porch.

Some clever Australian restaurateurs have captured that southern magic. Having driven the backroads and bayous of Louisiana and explored the streets and boulevards of New Orleans, they’ve returned from this hero’s journey with dishes that capture the essence of the South to feed a new audience hungry for southern fare – gumbo, po’ boys, beignets, fried chicken and jambalaya.

One dish in particular is really bubbling away on our southern stoves at the moment. A dish of crabs and prawns, sausage and vegetables, drenched in spiced butter and eaten by hand. The seafood boil is fast becoming one of the hottest trends on the dining scene, inspiring chefs and entrepreneurs alike to bring a taste of the South to Australian shores.

One of the biggest fans of the seafood boil is way up in the steamy Top End – some say our own Deep South. Darwin chef Courtney Hill has a dedicated fan base that follows her brightly painted food truck, Food Mafia. She embraces the humid climate and celebrates regularly throughout the year by cooking up a monster Louisiana-style seafood boil. Kilos of seafood cooked with sausage and vegetables and served in a rich butter broth seasoned with southern spices. The Food Mafia seafood boil bag is a tropical hit.

“It is beautiful,” says Courtney, originally a fine-dining chef in Tasmania. “We set up before sunset on the foreshore at Nightcliff overlooking the Arafura Sea,” she says. “Looking out you can see tables set with tablecloths topped with flickering lights.” She also sets Food Mafia up in a leafy park in the nearby community of Palmerston.

Customers order ahead online and meet her food truck at a set time to pick up an aluminium tray containing gloves and a double-layered five-litre ziplock bag. Into this goes cooked blue swimmer crab, lobster, prawns, mussels, sausage and vegetables, all soused with over a litre of rich, spiced butter broth. “People take it home or sit and watch the sunset, breaking open the crab and lobster, dipping it into the broth and sucking out the sweet flesh,” she says. “There’s something quite satisfying about eating all that rich food with your hands.”

Courtney, together with her partner Alexander Howard, runs an ever-changing menu shaped by social media trends. “Our food has to be fun and every dish has to wow!” says Courtney. But no matter what’s trending, the southern theme keeps returning. “The word ‘Southern’ just keeps coming up,” she says. “There’s something about that cuisine that captures the imagination of Australian eaters.” Although Food Mafia’s seafood boil bags are offered only a few times a year, Courtney and Alexander build anticipation until demand guarantees sell-out nights. “There’s a lot of preparation involved,” says Courtney. “We go through 60 kilograms of butter each session so they’re a big investment.” She grins. “But a whole lot of fun.”

Down south of Darwin, in the old Eastern Market quarter of Adelaide, sits a bustling bar called Nola. In Louisiana, the sultry city of New Orleans has a few nicknames. The Big Easy is one. And NOLA is another – short for New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Adelaide Nola sits in an old sandstone building, near the iron-lace balconies of Rundle Street and the sprawling trees of the parklands. Inside, it’s dark and moody. The staff have tattooed sleeves and wear denim dungarees. There are sixteen craft beers on tap, over four hundred whiskies and ryes – and a menu straight out of Bourbon Street. Nola hums with the spirit of the Deep South. The slow, smoky rhythm Australians seem instinctively drawn to.

Josh Talbot founded Nola with three mates ten years ago. They wanted a brewery and with no experience in hospitality ended up with a bar and a 60-seat dining room. “We loved beer but the brewery just didn’t stack up,” he says. “We loved whiskey and we wanted to find something that complemented both.” That year, Josh’s mate and co-owner OJ Brown went on a trip to New Orleans and came back with a massive smile and a fistful of recipes – gumbo, jambalaya and po’ boys. “No one else was serving up that style of cuisine in 2015,” says Josh.

Josh’s instinct that southern shared-plate service and this laid-back style of hospitality were exactly what Adelaide diners would respond to was spot on. “We had to capture that southern spirit and give everyone a bloody good time. We have to make someone’s day. The people we hire for front-of-house are real professionals. They have great banter and know how to turn it on. The secret for us is to hold on to those people who get that spirit. We look after them and that works – they stay with us, four years on average with some of our opening team from 2015 now taking on management roles in the other venues we’ve opened.”

At the heart of Nola is the menu. “The best southern fried chicken in Adelaide,” Josh proudly boasts. “Brined for 24 hours, soaked in buttermilk, double-dipped in Nola’s special seasoned flour to soak up the buttermilk and deep-fried in neutral oil,” he says. Served with aioli or rolled through spicy garlic butter and accompanied by blue cheese sauce, it’s incredibly popular – as are the pulled-pork or smoky-brisket po’ boys. To finish, there’s a plate of square beignets, just like the ones at Café du Monde in New Orleans, fried to order and served with a generous pot of bourbon butterscotch sauce.

“Southern food is so popular that people now know what they want. It’s become part of our dining scene here,” says Josh. “In fact, we’re somewhat victims of our own success in that we struggle to change the menu without customer pushback.” Their latest dish is an ultra-boujee plate of six fried boneless chicken thighs topped with crème fraîche and caviar – an ode to the accessible luxury of old New Orleans.

Over in Sydney’s west, another operator has seen great success in bringing southern-style hospitality into a quick-service restaurant format. Ravi Singh is a globe-trotting businessman who, along with his business partner Sami Karras, risked it all on a New Orleans-style boil-up restaurant called Kickin’ Inn. While this national brand of restaurants offer dishes like boneless chicken wings, Cajun fries, shrimp martini, fish and chips and salt and pepper prawns, the core of their business is the Louisiana-style seafood boil, served New Orleans Creole-style in a no-frills plastic bag at the table. No crockery or cutlery, just a bib and a pair of gloves.

After years of planning, research and recipe development, Ravi and his business partner and good friend Sammi Karris opened their first Kickin’ Inn in Petersham in September 2015. “People loved it,” says Ravi. “They loved the fun, family feeling of eating together. They were reticent at first about eating in the casual, hands-on southern style but for three months we were busy.” Then something happened. The good vibes turned sour and diners took to social media – not in a good way. The posts were negative and the river of customers all but dried up. “I realised I needed to tell a powerful story to bring them back,” says Ravi.

Ravi rallied and worked tirelessly to tell the story of what he wanted to achieve and to build the concept of value in the customers’ minds. “There’s been great success in Australia with American dining formats and what we were bringing was something different – a new great taste, a new great experience, a life-changing experience,” he says. “People love seafood but they worry about the price. What we were offering gave them a great experience – loads of quality seafood at a good price.”

Ravi gave himself thirty days to build patronage back up. He walked the streets of Petersham and told his story – a story of hard work, passion and the quest to build a place where families could come together and dine in a really fun way, eating great seafood at a good price. People responded. The story got out. They came back. But then another problem. “We were fully booked and people couldn’t get a table,” says Ravi. So he and Sammi borrowed more money and opened another venue in Canley Heights with 84 seats. On the first weekend, 17,000 people rocked up. Emergency services were called to deal with the crowds.

“At the heart of the menu is our incredibly memorable experience – the Mixed Bag,” says Ravi. A spiced Cajun buttery feast of prawns, mussels, octopus, pippies and crab – plus corn and potatoes. “The sauce took us three years to perfect,” says Ravi. “We could cook seafood but we needed somehow to get that flavour of the South right. We’re talking about recipes passed down from grandparent to grandchild for hundreds of years in America’s South,” he says. “We had to work on a truly authentic taste. Our Cajun seasoning was the result of years of trial. We had to make a sauce that you’d want to lick off the back of a spoon. We did it – and people keep coming back.”

While Down Under it’s the scent of jasmine and the ticker-tape of falling wattle that frame our gatherings, our subtle differences are our strengths. Across Australia, smart operators and passionate cooks are crafting our own take on southern cuisine — where the waft of redgum smoke and Cajun-spiced meats melting low and slow in steel smokers has become part of the local landscape.

And just as the Louisianan coast is laced with bayous and estuaries that are teaming with life, Australia too is, not only, girt by sea – but surrounded by oceans teeming with some of the finest seafood on earth. So it’s little wonder we’ve taken so fondly to dishes like the seafood boil. Because, really, north or south, it all comes back to the same thing – celebrating great produce and serving it with care, letting the flavours speak for themselves.

As seen in summer 2025/26

Q&A: Lucy Baker – St. Albi Bar & Eatery

Bidfood Marketing — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:55:00 +0000

It was just over ten years ago when restaurateur Lucy Baker first laid eyes on a warehouse in the northern Hobart suburb of Moonah. It was a cold, empty shell with bare concrete panel walls and a steel roof, but Lucy saw potential in the gritty industrial site and took a risk, against all advice, to open a restaurant there. Back then, the Hobart dining scene was centred around the CBD, concentrated around Salamanca Place. No one ventured to eat in the city’s north. A decade on, St Albi is a leading light on the southernmost capital’s food scene. And business is booming.

How did you get into hospitality?

It all began when I was young. My parents moved our family to Hobart where they purchased the historic Duke of Wellington Hotel. Although life eventually took me back to Melbourne with my mum, hospitality remained a constant thread through my dad’s career. And, in many ways, mine. During school holidays, I would visit my dad (former VFL player Gary Baker) and go to the nightclub within the Duke when it was closed. I would get behind the bar and put glasses through the glass washer and pretend I owned the place. Years later, in my late twenties, I returned again one summer. Dad had bought the popular Rockwall Bar and Grill. He was short-staffed at a function one night and asked me to help. I had no experience. It was nerve-wracking, chaotic, but I was hooked.

What made you open St Albi in Moonah?

I never set out to own my own restaurant but there was a sliding doors moment. Dad took me to a warehouse he owned in Moonah, between the CBD and MONA. It’s an area defined by good, hardworking people. A suburb with honest, industrial, gritty real-life character. Dad looked me in the eye and told me that I had a natural flair for hospitality and that I should have a crack at doing something on my own. Moonah then was not the natural place for a restaurant. When we first floated the idea, people thought we were crazy. “No one eats north of the flannelette curtain,” they said. But I’d seen the transformation of industrial precincts like Collingwood and Abbotsford in Melbourne. I knew that same sense of revival could happen here too.

What should we expect at St Albi?

A warehouse style space – big, open and buzzing with energy. Everything is on show. It’s welcoming with amber lighting, which offsets the industrial concrete walls. Black leather and timber seating, with timber tables and a huge long bar through the middle. It feels like the home you would love to design. Smooth, attentive service, that makes you feel wanted.

Tell us about the menu.

St Albi is contemporary dining at its finest. We serve modern Australian cuisine with a focus on the grill, offering exceptional food that’s approachable. Our menu has roots in the 1980s, when a Cajun rub on a steak served on a sizzling plate was all the rage – a nod to my mum’s influence at The Duke of Wellington. While we’ve moved away from that sizzling plate, our signature steak rubs remain. We celebrate the taste of Tasmania with seafood chowder, fresh fish of the day and other local produce, while also embracing Asian influences, like our Sichuan fried squid. We are a place where people come for everyday occasions and milestone celebrations.

You’re known for your hospitality.

St Albi is hospitality. When I train our staff, it’s all about feeling. How we make people feel, how we carry ourselves, our body language, how we communicate with guests and each other. I focus on values. I tell our team that when a customer walks in, we are all on 100 points. Every one of us is responsible for maintaining those points. If we don’t greet a guest immediately, that’s minus ten points. If they’re not seated or offered water promptly, that’s another ten. When points are lost, it’s our job to work hard to earn them back. Good service starts before anyone even walks through the door. The garden must be tidy, the footpaths swept. Our team is incredible. Many have been with us almost since St Albi opened 10 years ago. I can teach someone to clear a table or pour wine, but I can’t teach empathy or heart.

Favourite cuisine

I love modern Australian restaurants that tell a story — that have a real sense of identity, and where every detail has been thought through, from the bathroom to the cocktail list.

Favourite ingredient

I love fresh herbs. They have so much taste and flavour, come straight from the earth and can change a dish fundamentally.

Favourite beer

A crisp lager on a hot day — or any day, for that matter — is refreshing and brings people together.

Favourited wine

A beautiful cool-climate Tasmanian pinot noir — it goes with so many styles of food, or you can simply enjoy a glass on its own.

Favourite place in Tasmania

My favourite place in the world is Possum Bay. Mum and Dad bought a shack on the beach in 1987. I spent my childhood there playing beach cricket, jetty jumping and eating ice cream on hot days. I take my kids there now and look at the same rockpools I did.

As seen in summer 2025/26

Burnt Chef Project ambassador Cory Hyde on not burning out this summer

Bidfood Marketing — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:40:00 +0000

Cory Hyde is a chef at the top of his game, working as Executive Chef for Hamo Hospitality in Geelong, overseeing multiple venues and a staff of over 120. Now an ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project - a global mental health initiative focused on the hospitality industry, offering free therapy and education for workers and employers - Cory shares some advice on staying mentally healthy this summer as chefs and hospitality teams prepare for the busiest time of the year.

Lean on colleagues and leadership for support

Stressed staff get tired. Anxiety is the enemy of productivity and sleep. Sometimes as chefs, we worry and stress over things that are in our head. Sharing and talking about issues is a great start. Share challenges and concerns with colleagues or supervisors who are understanding and empathetic.

Make time for rest and recovery

Even short breaks during a busy shift can make a huge difference. Take moments to step outside, stretch, meditate or simply breathe. Regular rest helps reduce stress, refresh your mind and improves your ability to handle challenges calmly.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle

Mental health is closely linked to physical wellbeing. Ensure you get enough sleep, eat balanced meals and stay active. Even small routines like a morning walk or a few minutes of stretching can reduce stress and boost energy.

Watch alcohol intake

A knock off drink at the end of a busy shift is often a reward for hard work. It is a cultural thing here in Australia. But one drink can often lead to another. And more than moderate alcohol intake is not great for sleep. It also isn’t great for anxiety. So, keep an eye on drinking.

Give recognition

People thrive when they are told they are doing a great job. Small recognitions of skill and competence can mean a lot to other team members. The voice of appreciation can lead a team through the hardest of shifts. And when the kitchen and FOH pull off a great service, they love hearing they have done well.

Set boundaries and prioritise your needs

In the hectic summer months, it can be tempting to say yes to every extra shift or task. However, respecting your own limits is vital for long-term mental health. Staff should be allowed to let people know when they feel overwhelmed. Setting clear boundaries prevents burnout, helps maintain focus and ensures staff can consistently deliver their best work.

Practice mindfulness and stress-reduction techniques

Mindfulness exercises, such as focused breathing, meditation or journaling, can help you stay present and reduce mental clutter. Even spending five to ten minutes practising mindfulness daily can decrease stress and anxiety levels. This mental clarity allows you to make better decisions under pressure, respond calmly to challenges and maintain a balanced outlook.

It’s OK to ask for help

Sometimes work, especially when it’s consistently hard, can be overwhelming. A workplace where professional support is encouraged is a good culture. The Burnt Chef Project have a hotline which anyone in the industry can talk through their problems in a safe, confidential way and will be offered help and advice. There is no need to suffer in silence.

Call The Burnt Chef Project on 1800 730 931 or for workplace resources and more tips visit: theburntchefproject.com

As seen in summer 2025/26

The steak house: a temple to fire, flesh and the ritual of eating.

Bidfood Marketing — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:38:00 +0000

By Richard Cornish

Across the world, the steak house stands as a dining institution - modern yet timeless, refined yet relaxed. Whether it’s a heritage room lined with dark oak and the smell of charcoal, or a polished space where the lights bounce off glass and steel, the essence is the same.

The service is sharp. The ritual familiar. A glass of red in hand, the sound of searing meat, the confident hum of a room built around appetite. These are places where fire meets flesh. And where every cut is treated with reverence.

The steak house was born in the rough backstreets of London but came of age during New York’s Gilded Age. Back in the late 1600s, a chop house was an open kitchen with a fire on which cuts of meat were cooked with tables where the steaks and chops were served. The clientele was exclusively men.

Across the Atlantic, fuelled by the newfound oil and rail wealth of the 1860s, the chop house was given an upmarket makeover in America. Dining rooms were lined with tiled floors, brassframed mirrors, dark timber, leather banquettes and a new menu influenced by French bistros appeared. But it was in midcentury Manhattan that the steak house found its swagger.

America’s booming postwar confidence turned that humble bistro into a temple of flame and flesh, a shrine where slabs of prime beef sizzled under the broiler and martinis arrived cold enough to hurt your teeth. The 1950s and ’60s period set the standard. A darkened room where the scent of the sear sets the scene – a secular church devoted to animal protein and fine wine. This is a place where the primal and the polished coexist.

At its heart, the steak house is about the menu. Typically a large rectangular card with dishes grouped together and bounded by bold lines. Appetisers to the left, side dishes to the right, desserts at the bottom and, dead centre, a simple list of cuts of beef – rump, sirloin, fillet, ribeye. It’s not a place of choice anxiety. There are no confounding garnishes or unnecessary adjectives. Steaks are offered by weight and it’s expected you’ll order it the proper way. Medium-rare.

The seafood section is spare but confident. A prawn cocktail with its pink arc of nostalgia. There are oysters shucked to order, their provenance proudly listed. Perhaps there’s a slab of swordfish or a grilled lobster tail, basted in garlic butter. These dishes are not there to compete with the steak but to complement the ritual – an acknowledgment that surf and turf can share the same sacred space with dignity.

Sides are where the chef’s restraint and the diner’s greed meet halfway. The steak house side dish is as essential as the meat itself. Crisp, triple cooked chips that snap like kindling. Mac and cheese that’s as creamy in the centre as it is crunchy on top. Spring greens kissed by the grill. A baked potato the size of a fist, split open and steaming with sour cream, chives and the indulgence of bacon bits.

There’s no room for novelty when it comes to sauce – they’re all straight from Larousse. Peppercorn, béarnaise, mushroom and perhaps a signature beurre maître d’hôtel. Nothing fancy, nothing reimagined. The steak house, after all, is not a place of innovation. It’s a place of execution. What you’re tasting is not the chef’s ego but their control. Their ability to let the steak speak for itself, quietly assisted by the fire.

Dessert? Optional but inevitable. The steak house sweet menu is pure nostalgia. Chocolate fondant, a souffle, nougat parfait, crêpes Suzette. Each one heavy with cream, sugar and tradition – because dessert here is not a time for restraint.

What the steak house offers, in the end, is certainty. It’s not chasing trends, hashtags or seasonal whimsy. It’s about mastery, ritual and the comfort of repetition. You know what you’ll get and that’s precisely why you go.

As seen in summer 2025/26