The Phoenix Restaurant launches its Social Media Platform

The management at the Phoenix Restaurant have launched their Web 2.0 applications which will greatly enhance their marketing and communications relationship with the staff and students at NUI Maynooth.

Students can now access the Phoenix’s Facebook Page by clicking  on the Facebook logo opposite. Students and staff are invited to upload photos and comments and to have fun generally interacting  with the site. So click on the logo and let’s become friends. Also check-in on the site each day as menus and specials are updated. Don’t forget to check-in while you are at the restaurant – who knows? – you may win a special voucher if your number comes up.

The Twitter logo at the top of the page brings you to our Twitter profile, so why not click on that link and let’s follow each other. The Phoenix Restaurant will be tweeting special offers and discounts from time to time to its friends and followers so don’t miss out.

For a more comprehensive view of who we are, and what we are about why not join us over on WordPress? New articles and guest publications from students and staff will be published on a regular basis, so why not contact us when you are feeling creative and would like to share your experiences? Our WordPress site can be accessed by clicking on the WordPress link here. Why not drop one of your articles (250 words) into us and let’s see if we can  make you famous!

Eating at Phoenix Restaurant – a Chinese perspective

Phoenix Restaurant provides very different food from where I come from in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.  First they have a global kitchen which has a fast-food style menu. They serve fresh roast chicken and spicy chicken burger; spicy bean burger with hot spicy chicken wings, which I found to be very nice indeed. I did not have to spend much money to buy this food which will help me with my expenses. The average price for these food types are 2 to 3 euro.

If you like pizza you can have that as well. You can also have very tasty side food to match your main dish. These side foods include buttered corn on the cob and spicy wedges, coleslaw and spicy mayo and so on. These side orders are not expensive and for a spend of just 1-2 euro you can have one to add to your lunch.

Some people might not like fast food. They might want a more substantial meal and so Phoenix Restaurant can also satisfy their request. Firstly, they offer very nutritious soup, tomato and basil soup and healthy vegetable herb soup. You can also have chilli con carne or sundried tomato and basil pasta bake for your main dish. It will just cost you 5 euro. They also provide a “special of the day” such as baked potato; baked beans and chilli beef.  If you buy some rice and spend an extra 50 cents you can have some curry as well.

Phoenix Restaurant provides very different food from my home college but it does cater for majority of students needs. They might wish to include more Asian food in future, which would make me very happy. To be a Chinese student in Maynooth is a great experience for me and I am enjoying this change in diet thanks to the Phoenix Restaurant.

The Management at Phoenix Restaurant

Linda Brophy - General Manager at the Phoenix Restaurant

Linda Brophy is the General Manager at the Phoenix Restaurant. Linda started her career in the catering industry as a Chef, attending DIT, Cathal Brugha Street to study Professional Cookery for 3 years.

After qualifying she worked in various restaurants around the country which involved “long hours, split shifts and no life” before settling into industrial catering. Linda started working for Compass Catering in 1999 as a Chef and soon fell into a Supervisor’s role. It was from here that she became interested in Management and slowly moved up the ladder to her current position as General Manager.

Linda has now been working with Compass Group Ireland for 13 years; 12 years in the corporate giant, Microsoft and the past year here at NUI Maynooth. She has thoroughly enjoyed the working experience on-campus and the following statement sums it up in her own words:

“Life in Maynooth has been great, very different to the corporate world that I have been involved with for so long, but so much fun. The students are young, energetic and full of life. We are adapting everyday here to make sure we can give them the best food and service at competitive prices. Our first year on campus has gone well, but we still have lots to give. Watch out for next year’s new additions to the Phoenix. It will only get better!”

Anna Szyszkowska is Linda’s “right hand woman” at Phoenix in the role of Assistant Manager. Anna moved from Poland to Ireland in September 2004 at the age of 18 and “from day one” she was working in the catering industry. As she recalls, she tried “every angle” in the business including cheffing, waitressing and bar work. In January 2006 she started working with Compass Group as a Supervisor, also at their Microsoft operation in Sandyford and subsequently got promoted to Assistant Manager under Linda who was the General Manager there at the time.

Anna Szyszkowska - Assistant Manager at the Phoenix Restaurant

In 2005, Anna enrolled at DIT, Cathal Brugha Street street on a 3 year part-time BA in Hotel and Restaurant Management. She graduated in 2008 with a distinction and a student excellence award.

Anna left Compass Group just after graduating college and worked as an Assistant Manager in Tenors Grill Room in Donnybrook (now closed). She remained there until January 2011 but then decided to go back to industrial catering because (in her own words) “the long hours and weekends in the restaurant were starting to bother” [her].

She returned to Compass as a supervisor of a small cafe situated at the Four Courts in Central Dublin, the Friary Cafe. In September 2011, she found an internal vacancy advertisement for a position at the Phoenix and decided to go for it because it was an opportunity to work with Linda again.

Anna is “very happy with the job” because she is “learning an awful lot”. She thinks that “every client base is different, the courts were very interesting” [but] “the college is completely different again so it keeps my job entertaining”.

Anna Szyszkowska busy working on the tills at Phoenix Restaurant

Aside from Linda and Anna there are no other management staff on-site at Phoenix.

The other staff include:

• Head Chef – Andrew Fitzgerald.
• Second Chef – Alan Kelleher.
• Other Chefs – Anton, Ryan & Denise (and they also serve the food at lunch time).

In Linda’s words “These guys prepare all the food and treats on offer from the Phoenix”.

At Phoenix we can also find on duty:

• Jana – the beautiful Coffee Barrista in the Costa Cafe.
• Anne Marie and Catherine – the till operators who greet customers every day.
• Joan, Adelaide & Donal – the servers who, according to Linda, “might give you an extra scoop of chips if you are nice to them”.
• Daire & John – who keep the kitchen clean and the plates stocked up. They are not seen but are “crucial to the operation”.

In summary there are a total of 13 staff employed at Phoenix, expertly managed by Linda and Anna, providing an excellent array of services to the restaurant’s patrons.

Compass Group PLC

The Phoenix Restaurant @ NUI Maynooth is owned and operated by Compass Group PLC – one of the largest contract food service companies in the world.

Headquartered in the UK, Compass has operations in more than 50 countries worldwide and employs some 470,000 people as of 2012. With an impressive 90 of the Fortune 100 companies listed as their clients, Compass has established itself as a world-class provider of quality breakfasts, lunches and dinners to a diverse array of customers, including office workers, college students, senior living communities, sports enthusiasts and even employees of remote mining camps and offshore facilities.

Compass’ operations are not simply limited to the provision of tasty and affordable meals; their ultimate goal is to meet the dietary requirements of their customers on a case-by-case basis. For example, their corporate based services are aimed at “refreshing tired minds and refueling the productivity of people at work” while their educational based services are aimed at “helping boost the concentration of young minds at school and college”. It is this unique emphasis on meeting the specific nutritional needs of their diverse customer base that has helped distinguish Compass from it closest competitors.

While Compass may serve approximately 4 billion customers per annum, the wide variety of food offerings available in the Phoenix Restaurant (ranging from a full Irish breakfast to Italian style pizzas) are emblematic of the company’s desire to provide students with as much choice as possible. With tailor-made menus created by award-winning chefs and ingredients sourced directly from suppliers, it is little wonder that more and more organizations are choosing to outsource their food services to Compass.

Given Compass’ proven record of meeting the highest health, safety and environmental standards, it also comes as little surprise that more and more organizations are now depending on the company to provide a range of support services such as cleaning, logistics and transport, security and building maintenance.

Despite the global economic downturn, Compass Group’s long-term objective of delivering value for its shareholders and customers looks certain to continue through the growth-focused development of their existing expertise within the food industry and the expansion of their international support service capabilities.

Phoenix Risen From The Ashes

It was Benjamin Franklin who once said that “out of adversity comes opportunity” and this was certainly true at NUI Maynooth. In the case of the University this adversity took place on the 28^th of November 2008, when extensive damage was caused by a fire in the students restaurant of its North Campus (see picture below).

The fire service was alerted at 11.27am on that morning and four units from Leixlip and Maynooth fire services were sent to the scene. There were several thousand secondary school students on the campus at that time for an open day and they stood with staff and under-graduates in shock and disbelief,as the restaurant was destroyed.

The easy option for the management at Maynooth would have been to rebuild/restore the original building to its former glory; life would return to normal, status quo would be restored. To their credit the management decided to take this opportunity and transform the existing site. They decided that the new restaurant, which would be named the “Phoenix”, would rise just like the mythical creature, from its own ashes and live on for years to come.

The Phoenix Restaurant, as pictured above, was the finished product delivered after two years of hard work. The building is a wonderful example of modern architecture, with its state of the art facilities, which has won the approval of all the students and staff at the university. As for the prospective students who were there on the day of the fire, well, they returned in large numbers to attend the university.

Maynooth had the largest number of college applications for 2012 which is a vote of approval for a management team, who, when faced with adversity used the opportunity to instigate change and became all the stronger for doing so.