Jess Murphy honoured in
New York city
1 Start spreadin’ the news: Galway chef Jess Murphy was honoured with the Parabere Care Award at the 2025 Parabere Forum, which was held from 3-4 March in New York city.
Galway chef Jess Murphy was honoured with the Parabere Care Award at the 2025 Parabere Forum, which was held from 3-4 March in New York City.
The award recognises best practice within the hospitality industry in terms of ethics, sustainability and community involvement.
Jess was honoured for her human rights activism, particularly, her work at home and abroad with the United Nations Refugee Agency. She owns and operates Kai Restaurant with her husband, David, and they currently hold the only Michelin Green Star (for sustainability) in Ireland.
Her menus are built around what local farmers, growers, producers and fishers can supply.
2025 is shaping up to be a good year for our Jess: aside from this win, her second book, The Kai Cookbook, will be published on 25 September through Nine Bean Rows Books.
ninebeanrowsbooks.com
Retail with big benefits
2 Lidl Ireland recently announced an €8m investment in pay increases (which took effect on 1 March) for existing workers within the Republic of Ireland and a further £1.1m for its operations in Northern Ireland. If you’re wondering where all the hospitality workers have gone, this might be the answer.
This increase comes after an overall investment in pay rises for employees of more than €47m since 2022 – that equates to an average of €8,000 of extra take-home-pay per employee. There are currently around 6,000 Lidl employees in Ireland. This means its minimum wage has increased to €15.10 per hour, while the living wage rate for 2025 is set at €14.75.
I see the retailer has also eliminated a mandatory retirement age from their contracts – great news for us hospitality old-timers with no pension.
Time to update the Curriculum Vitae, methinks.
Less Brexit, more Brie
3 Ireland always does well at the annual British Cheese Awards (sure Cashel Blue took home second place in 2024), so it was lovely to hear that this year, the awards officially changed its name to the British & Irish Cheese Awards. In a truly ironic twist, however, no Irish cheeses made it to the awards (held on 21 March), so there are no Irish winners to announce. Why, you might ask?
Because the Irish cheeses sent for judging were held up in customs, thanks to our good friend Brexit, and never made it to the judges’ table. Something similar happened last year, when Canadian and British cheeses were held up and couldn’t make it to the World Cheese Awards in Portugal.
According to one Irish cheese producer (who, unlike their cheese, was in attendance), the lack of Irish cheeses at the inaugural British & Irish Cheese Awards was extremely disappointing to everyone, including the organisers. “This will put off producers from entering international awards in future,” the cheesemaker says. According to chief judge and vice-chair, Tim Rowcliffe, not a single Irish cheese made it to the event. “It’s a tragedy; largely thanks to Brexit,” he says. Just add it to the list we can thank Brexit for.
DropChef’s Chef Drop
DropChef recently launched a new meal kit series called “Chef Drop”, in collaboration with chef Caomhán de Brí of The Salt Project.
4 I’ve never been one for those meal prep kits but I can definitely see the appeal. Just place an order and a box gets delivered to your door, with all the ingredients and a straightforward recipe to follow. Sure even my better half could pull these recipes off – and that, my friends, is saying something.
There are several companies out there supplying these meal boxes, but only one is Irish-owned – DropChef. Recently, the company launched a new meal kit series called ‘Chef Drop’, in collaboration with chef Caomhán de Brí of The Salt Project.
Caomhán’s recipes feature seasonal Irish produce and showcase some of the country’s top artisan food producers. The ‘Chef Drop’ collaboration will be available until 29 April and can be ordered online for nationwide delivery.
Meal kits are not usually my cupàn tae, but I did try one of Caomhán’s in the spirit of food exploration. Not only was the meal delicious; it was nice to have someone else do my mise en place for once.
See dropchef.com
The dark side of the hospitality sector
5 You know I love the hospitality industry, but I could never say it doesn’t have its dark side. I’ve had some great experiences in restaurants, and I’ve also witnessed a lot of abuse and bad behaviour.
At times, I was the one being mistreated. On other occasions, I saw staff being sexually harassed or berated by those in positions of power. I’ve worked in restaurants where the culture was great, but I’ve also worked in restaurants which were completely toxic; full to the brim of abuse and misogyny.
A few weeks ago, women in the industry were highlighted in honour of International Women’s Day, and this is important. However, this can feel tokenistic sometimes. Let’s face it, lads: we still aren’t great at calling out the bad behaviour in the industry, of which women are usually on the receiving end. We still have a long way to go.
Staff shortages are a big problem right now, so to offset that, let’s focus on ensuring our kitchens and dining rooms are positive environments for everyone. After all, no one wants to give up weekends and holidays for a job where they are consistently mistreated.
Read more
Spilling the tea with Maitre D'
Spilling the tea with Maitre D'
Jess Murphy honoured in
New York city
1 Start spreadin’ the news: Galway chef Jess Murphy was honoured with the Parabere Care Award at the 2025 Parabere Forum, which was held from 3-4 March in New York city.
Galway chef Jess Murphy was honoured with the Parabere Care Award at the 2025 Parabere Forum, which was held from 3-4 March in New York City.
The award recognises best practice within the hospitality industry in terms of ethics, sustainability and community involvement.
Jess was honoured for her human rights activism, particularly, her work at home and abroad with the United Nations Refugee Agency. She owns and operates Kai Restaurant with her husband, David, and they currently hold the only Michelin Green Star (for sustainability) in Ireland.
Her menus are built around what local farmers, growers, producers and fishers can supply.
2025 is shaping up to be a good year for our Jess: aside from this win, her second book, The Kai Cookbook, will be published on 25 September through Nine Bean Rows Books.
ninebeanrowsbooks.com
Retail with big benefits
2 Lidl Ireland recently announced an €8m investment in pay increases (which took effect on 1 March) for existing workers within the Republic of Ireland and a further £1.1m for its operations in Northern Ireland. If you’re wondering where all the hospitality workers have gone, this might be the answer.
This increase comes after an overall investment in pay rises for employees of more than €47m since 2022 – that equates to an average of €8,000 of extra take-home-pay per employee. There are currently around 6,000 Lidl employees in Ireland. This means its minimum wage has increased to €15.10 per hour, while the living wage rate for 2025 is set at €14.75.
I see the retailer has also eliminated a mandatory retirement age from their contracts – great news for us hospitality old-timers with no pension.
Time to update the Curriculum Vitae, methinks.
Less Brexit, more Brie
3 Ireland always does well at the annual British Cheese Awards (sure Cashel Blue took home second place in 2024), so it was lovely to hear that this year, the awards officially changed its name to the British & Irish Cheese Awards. In a truly ironic twist, however, no Irish cheeses made it to the awards (held on 21 March), so there are no Irish winners to announce. Why, you might ask?
Because the Irish cheeses sent for judging were held up in customs, thanks to our good friend Brexit, and never made it to the judges’ table. Something similar happened last year, when Canadian and British cheeses were held up and couldn’t make it to the World Cheese Awards in Portugal.
According to one Irish cheese producer (who, unlike their cheese, was in attendance), the lack of Irish cheeses at the inaugural British & Irish Cheese Awards was extremely disappointing to everyone, including the organisers. “This will put off producers from entering international awards in future,” the cheesemaker says. According to chief judge and vice-chair, Tim Rowcliffe, not a single Irish cheese made it to the event. “It’s a tragedy; largely thanks to Brexit,” he says. Just add it to the list we can thank Brexit for.
DropChef’s Chef Drop
DropChef recently launched a new meal kit series called “Chef Drop”, in collaboration with chef Caomhán de Brí of The Salt Project.
4 I’ve never been one for those meal prep kits but I can definitely see the appeal. Just place an order and a box gets delivered to your door, with all the ingredients and a straightforward recipe to follow. Sure even my better half could pull these recipes off – and that, my friends, is saying something.
There are several companies out there supplying these meal boxes, but only one is Irish-owned – DropChef. Recently, the company launched a new meal kit series called ‘Chef Drop’, in collaboration with chef Caomhán de Brí of The Salt Project.
Caomhán’s recipes feature seasonal Irish produce and showcase some of the country’s top artisan food producers. The ‘Chef Drop’ collaboration will be available until 29 April and can be ordered online for nationwide delivery.
Meal kits are not usually my cupàn tae, but I did try one of Caomhán’s in the spirit of food exploration. Not only was the meal delicious; it was nice to have someone else do my mise en place for once.
See dropchef.com
The dark side of the hospitality sector
5 You know I love the hospitality industry, but I could never say it doesn’t have its dark side. I’ve had some great experiences in restaurants, and I’ve also witnessed a lot of abuse and bad behaviour.
At times, I was the one being mistreated. On other occasions, I saw staff being sexually harassed or berated by those in positions of power. I’ve worked in restaurants where the culture was great, but I’ve also worked in restaurants which were completely toxic; full to the brim of abuse and misogyny.
A few weeks ago, women in the industry were highlighted in honour of International Women’s Day, and this is important. However, this can feel tokenistic sometimes. Let’s face it, lads: we still aren’t great at calling out the bad behaviour in the industry, of which women are usually on the receiving end. We still have a long way to go.
Staff shortages are a big problem right now, so to offset that, let’s focus on ensuring our kitchens and dining rooms are positive environments for everyone. After all, no one wants to give up weekends and holidays for a job where they are consistently mistreated.
Read more
Spilling the tea with Maitre D'
Spilling the tea with Maitre D'
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