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Family restaurants boost
FAMILY RESTAURANTS ARE BENEFITTING FROM AN UNEXPECTED COVID SIDE-EFFECT, FINDS FOOD WRITER CATE DEVINE
RESTAURANT chains come and go in normal times but the effects of Covid-19 have been devastating for hospitality. Some of the best-known restaurant groups are feeling the pinch or facing closures. As more people worked from home in a bid to contain the spread of the virus and many offices, galleries, libraries, cinemas, theatres and concert halls remained empty or operated at vastly reduced capacity, city centre chains suffered from lack of footfall – while local or neighbourhood independents appear to have a better chance of thriving now lockdown restrictions are easing.
From Monday, pubs and restaurants in all areas apart from Moray will be allowed to serve alcohol indoors until 10.30pm.
Even before the pandemic, the big chains were set to be outpaced by independent restaurants: before Covid their growth rate was predicted to be 3%, compared with 5% for independents.
There’s evidence to suggest that established family-run restaurants’ time has come.
The recent opening – in the height of the pandemic – of Luccio’s, the first restaurant of celebrity chef Marco Pierre White’s son Luccio, marked the start of another restaurant dynasty alongside those of the Roux and Rick Stein families.
In Scotland, too, younger family members are taking up the reins of businesses established by their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, suggesting that the sector may be able to effect a renaissance resilient enough to see it through the pandemic and beyond.
For many, lockdown has been an opportunity to plan for longevity.
Mary and Philip Contini of Valvona &
Crolla in Edinburgh – Scotland’s oldest delicatessen and restaurant – had long been thinking of how to ensure its future into the fourth generation. The couple took over the running of the business founded in 1934 by Alfonso Crolla, Philip’s grandfather, 34 years ago.
Mary is also a cook, writer, author and Herald Magazine chef. They have always resisted expansion of V&C into other cities. “We can only maintain the standards of quality in an area that’s controllable by one of the members of the family,” Philip says. “We like that relationship between the small producer and the customer.”
They say they are “delighted” that their daughter Francesca, who has a pharmacy degree, took over as managing director from Philip on the company’s 85th birthday in 2019.
After steering it through the first lockdown in March last year – an experience she describes as a “baptism of fire” – followed by the second, she is now ready to look to the future.
Before being forced to close, she undertook the refurbishment of the original premises – a massive undertaking that’s already proved to be prescient: the new fridge counters in the shop make more space for customers to circulate while observing social distancing regulations.
She moved trade online and personally did home deliveries of products, speaking to customers and hearing their stories of social isolation and frontline working.
“We became embroiled in people’s troubles and that period really was a distillation of what it means to be human,” she says. “Everybody got stuck in together and a real sense of shared humanity emerged.
“Doctors and nurses were calling us after doing 12-hour shifts asking for food. When I saw their faces, I thought, ‘My God, what are you going through?’ They were numb with hardship. Others were crying down the phone asking us to send food to their parents because they couldn’t visit them.
“It became clear to me that it was important for people to experience the smells and tastes of fresh ingredients, as if they had a heightened sensation of being able to enjoy that again.
“They just wanted good ingredients to cook for themselves. We saw that in younger customers too.”
Through this experience she gained a renewed conviction that conviviality – social contact and good food – is essential to human health, both physical and mental. This is the ethos on which Valvona & Crolla has operated for more than eight decades.
With her reduced staff now off furlough, Francesca has introduced an on-trend environmental management policy: even the bubble wrap is made in the shop from recycled plastic delivered in flat rolls and inflated on site to reduce transport costs. The new fridges are the same design as the originals from the 1950s, but with energyefficient external pumped compressors. “We’re already seeing energy savings,” Francesca says.
Her mother says: “Francesca’s scientific training has proved invaluable and she is way ahead of me.” Mary remains the non-executive chef in the Caffe Bar and is writing her eighth book, entitled Oh Florence! in which she addresses Francesca’s young daughter.
“She has a well trained palate and sound business instinct for what our customers want.”
Food miles are a key part of the environment-friendly ethos. How does this fit with the vast majority of V&C’s offer being sourced from Italy?
“Food miles won’t change, but we buy from small farms and artisan producers in Italy where high-welfare, low-pesticide, low-fertiliser methods are used – something that can’t be guaranteed at some UK supermarkets and restaurants who source from producers where bad and unsustainable farming practices are rife,” replies Francesca, a mother of two.
“I feel it’s important to keep on supporting the small Italian farmers and producers we’ve been trading with for decades, and who were devastated by
Covid before it arrived here – in addition to our network of small European and Scottish producers.”
DELAYS or price hikes on imported produce due to Brexit was the worry before Covid. But the family have managed to keep supplies coming from Italy and they are absorbing increased costs rather than passing them to customers. “Everybody on both sides wants to keep trading, so everybody is pulling out the stops,” she says.
“The millennials coming in to Valvona & Crolla are Scots as well as Italian-born
Scots and Scots-born Italians. They are much more knowledgeable about provenance, animal welfare and sustainability.
“Customers have always bought our Italian tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella, and nduja, Guanciale and Alfonso Crolla’s famous Fonteluna pork sausage. But now the younger ones are also interested in discussing precise details of the farms and the farmers that produce them. It’s like we’ve come full circle.”
She recently sourced a sixth generation family-run Umbrian grain supplier of stonemilled chickpea, rice and spelt flour for pasta, as an alternative to conventional wheat flour pasta.
She also sells “alternative” spices such as sumac and za’atar to meet demand created by the “Ottolenghi effect” – named after the London chef Yotam who popularised exotic Middle Eastern ingredients. All ingredients are used in the restaurant menu.
Francesca says: “I thought I should really try it. When I was younger I always felt a bit in Mum and Dad’s shadow. But now I feel I can be myself. I just felt like it was where I was supposed to be.”
Doctors and nurses were calling us after doing 12-hour shifts asking for food. When I saw their faces, I thought, ‘My God, what are you going through?’
Try the Valvona & Crolla taste at home. See Mary Contini’s recipe on page 21
‘My boys grew up in here. They live and breathe its ethos’
CAFÉ GANDOLFI
For Seumas MacInnes, having his 26-yearold twin sons Alasdair and Donald join the family business Café Gandolfi is about regenerating the Glasgow stalwart while retaining its unique feel. “They’ve grown up with this place and live and breathe its ethos,” he says.
Their presence is a double boost for the 41-year-old restaurant. Alasdair is sous-chef, working with head chef Jamie McDonald, while Donald is general manager and sommelier, working alongside familiar frontof-house faces Stuart Lamont and Annmarie McClymont, who have worked with MacInnes for more than 30 years (he refers to them fondly as his second family).
Both boys started helping out at age 14 and are lifelong foodies. “Alasdair is an intuitive and innovative chef whose mind is always on food, and Donald is very personable and organised,” says their father. “They’re bringing innovation and new ideas, while keeping our Hebridean vibe alive.”
Café Gandolfi was one of the first restaurants to open in the 18th-century Merchant City in 1983, when the area was run-down and neglected. Its original wood panelling and distinctive pine furniture by the late Glasgow School of Art graduate Tim Stead, together with beautiful stained glass plate windows depicting the fruits of the sea, remain unchanged and have helped create Café Gandolfi’s warm and convivial ambience. The charismatic owner himself has rarely been absent from the floor.
MacInnes’ Hebridean roots have influenced his steadfast belief that eating good, honest food together strengthens the bonds of family and friends.
His menus have long showcased classic Scottish ingredients such as Isle of Barra scallops and Stornoway black pudding. Some dishes have stayed on the menu throughout his 37-year tenure.
Having his sons on board to help steer the business through both Covid lockdowns saw the MacInnes clan use the time to focus on the main restaurant plus takeaway. Together they looked again at what Gandolfi means to regulars and how to attract new diners. Being a close-knit family allowed them to adapt faster than being a franchise of a large restaurant chain would have allowed.
“Sometimes being forced into a situation helps you to look to what’s ahead, we were able to do that relatively swiftly,” says MacInnes. “The boys are bringing fresh ideas to the table, so to speak. There is strength in change. The younger generation is so brave and so resilient.”
Contemporary additions to the streamlined main menu – including traditional on-trend techniques such as pickling and fermenting, and plant-based dishes – are in development, as is a Gandolfi At Home takeaway service.
A pop-up event with the Isle of Harris
Distillery, postponed during lockdown, will see the upstairs bar reopen for gin cocktails served with a selection of Alasdair’s small bites such as seabream ceviche with grapefruit and quince and beetroot and apple sushi with black garlic and sorrel glaze.
It’s about keeping the Hebridean vibe alive for a new generation, say the twins.
“I do think there’s a need for nostalgia and familiarity right now,” says their father. “People seem to be coming back to our original story and what it means – a sort of ‘Remember Me’ movement.
“They are coming back to relive moments they had here, and to remind themselves of how unique Gandolfi is in this everchanging world. For the younger generation who’ve never known us, we hope we fit the desire for reassurance.
“I do believe in my boys and that they can do this. I can take a step back while always being there for them.” He and his wife Donalda have moved from Glasgow to Alloway, and he will commute from there.
“At one point we will take over the business,” says Donald.
“We’re very fortunate to be in this position, to be part of something that’s so unique and important to Glasgow.”