Jodie McLean 0:04
Hey, I'm Jodie Event Manager, business owner, educator and podcast host. I'm an introverted homebody want to be wine master. And I truly believe in the power of events to inspire delight and ignite human potential. Every week, I take you backstage into the wonderful world of business events, and give you the insider scoop on how to take your events to the next level. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and listen. Let's get into it. Welcome to Episode 15 of the events Insider PodCast. It's good to be with you today. Now, we have covered a lot of ground on this podcast. We've covered a lot of topics. But as we all know, one of the biggest expenses when it comes to events is the food and beverage. It's such a big part of an event and such a big part of our budget that we want to make sure we get it right. So I thought it was about time that we talk about food and beverage on the podcast and give you guys some industry insights and some expert tips. So I'm very excited to be joined today by Angelica Nomura. Now, I met Angelica a couple of years ago as part of a business group that I was running events for. And she is just so passionate and authentic when it comes to all things food, beverage hospitality. She started her career in 2007 when she started importing Prosecco into Australia. And she'll tell you a bit more about that. She knew nothing about the wine industry, but just decided to give it a go. And that was the beginning of star beverages, which is a wholesale import company, which then also became an online store called direct wine cellars. So if you ever need to stock up on wine, you can head there. And then a few years ago, she turned this passion for wine and produce into a small restaurant in Surry Hills in Sydney that focuses 100% on New South Wales produce and wine to make up for all the years of importing international ones. So she definitely has this amazing broad range of experience when it comes to food, beverage and hospitality. And she shares so many good insights and tips with us today. So I'm very excited for you to hear this chat with Angelica. Well, Angelica, welcome to the events Insider PodCast.
Angelica Nohra 2:26
Thanks for having me.
Jodie McLean 2:27
I'm so excited to have this chat. I feel like when I reached out to you, you're kind of like, yeah, what are we gonna chat about? And I was like, There's literally so many things we can talk about, like food, wine, hospitality, restaurants, private dining, sustainability, catering, like there's literally so many areas that you have so much experience in that crossover to events. So I'm excited to have you on the podcast,
Angelica Nohra 2:50
or how long do we have?
Jodie McLean 2:51
I know, I know. I tried to keep it short. So we'll see how I love it. Yeah. Awesome. So for people listening, can you share a little bit about your kind of career journey and how you ended up importing wine and then owning a restaurant?
Angelica Nohra 3:07
I haven't really weird career journey, actually. Because I started my I guess, career when I was about 16. And I lived in the USA, and I was singing and acting in the US. Yeah, I know. A lot of people don't know this. And as I was there, I noticed a lot of people were drinking like Pinot Grigio and Prosecco. And I was like, What is this stuff? And obviously, I wasn't allowed to drink it. But you know, just I just kept seeing this trend. And this one wave. I realised I was never going to make it as a musician. And I didn't really want to be living away from my family. So I left that industry came home. And my mom was like, Well, what now? What do we do? And I was like, well, that's drinking Prosecco. And I've got 20 at this point. Everyone's drinking Prosecco. should import Prosecco. Mom's like what's personal. I was like, I have no idea. But everyone's drinking it. Let's find someone. And as the universe would have it, we got basically handed a guy who was looking for an Australian distributor, or Australian importer of his Italian wine. And I was like, Oh, do you do Prosecco? He's like, No, but we can. I was like, alright, he goes find some Prosecco. I start importing Prosecco and failed forward, didn't know what wet tax was or any of those things. But we failed forward. And now we're one of the biggest importers of Prosecco on the market. That's wild. We got our little if you've ever seen those gold bottles that got them into coals and we sell a lot of Prosecco to the market. And I guess that's kind of how my journey started. So we did about eight years of just importing Italian wine. And then as my knowledge in wine started growing, I started doing, you know, champagne and South African and Argentinian and Chilean, and just wines from unknown regions that I was finding really interesting. So yeah, just did that. And then it was 20. You know, everyone's life changed, I guess in 2020. But I met Dylan, and I don't know I was just feeling a little bit disheartened by the wine industry. I was feeling a little bit like my Energy wasn't being used to the best of its ability. I don't know. It was a weird time as everyone, remember. And dill was like, Hey, I'm thinking of starting this restaurant, a small restaurant that only uses local produce and local wine. And you know, what do you think? And I was like, You know what? I've never met a chef who can cook like you can. I've never tasted flavours like I've tasted from the food you do? Let's do it. So we started a restaurant. So my all my knowledge in wine, obviously used to, you know, create the wine list, which we kept 100%. Local, which didn't help my business at all other business at all. And yeah, we just now I kind of swing between the two, I have reps on the road, running star beverages, and obviously the online store direct wine sellers. And I spend a lot of time here in the blue door. Yeah, awesome.
Jodie McLean 5:47
So for people that don't know your restaurant is called the blue door. And it's yeah, sorry, hills in Sydney. Can you tell us a little bit about, I guess, the restaurant itself?
Angelica Nohra 5:57
Oh, yeah. The Buddha has a really unique concept. It's, it's all about connecting people back to their food. How can we do that by visiting every farmer personally, and then we just share the farmers stories as we go through the devastation that we do. The tasting menu changes every week, just based on whatever the farmers have sent us. So it's that true farm to table experience. And it's super small, it's only 18. If we're doing a private event, for instance, there'll be about 26 seats. But yeah, everyone who comes in gets an idea of what sustainability means to us what local dining means to us what farm to table means. Yeah, and we just have fun. We're just having a lot of fun, to be honest.
Jodie McLean 6:35
Yeah, that's so good. And I can attest that it is an amazing restaurants, everyone definitely needs to go.
Angelica Nohra 6:39
You just like the snack attack.
Jodie McLean 6:41
I love the snacks that are so good. But I think a lot of people that work in events, you know, have a bit of a passion for food and beverage as well. There's such an alignment, and food and beverage does play such an important role in a lot of events. What's your kind of, I guess, philosophy on food and beverage, but I guess more broadly on hospitality.
Angelica Nohra 7:03
This might sound controversial, but I always think people think bigger is better. And unfortunately, when you're feeding 100 people, the food is always a little bit lacklustre, because everything's in a water bath ready to be served out. You're working with, you know, I'm speaking quite broadly, but you're working with staff who just do hospitality as a second job or third job. And they're not as passionate about it, they don't have the know the innate career hospitality skills at that level, right. So for me, I always think you can really impress customers and clients and stuff by doing something intimate and doing it more often than just doing this one big lavish event. And to me, if you're gonna do the one big lavish event, make it a grazing style, like, you know, big tables full of grazing platters and stuff that doesn't have to be single. So on a light, because it's just always that thing to me that whenever I've been to big events, always a thing that you remember, you're like, Oh, my food was a great average. But if you're doing like the grazing tables, you know, you go over to the sushi bar, and you go to the oyster bar, and you go, I don't know, it just feels a little more interactive, a bit more fun. People get to eat what they want, rather than having to eat these massive chunk of short rib or something that they just don't want to have as no texture because me seeing in a water bath, five hours. Anyway. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? Yeah. And then, like, for me, it's just like, get the better beverage package, like, don't serve me like, I'm sorry, but like, don't serve the Murray reverse, sparkling, like, just don't go. You know what I mean? Like, it's the thing that people are gonna remember. And, you know, you can dazzle and Razzle as much as possible and have this amazing event like that you've created and then it's just so let down by the beverages, and particularly the beverage features, but you know, the food as well. So I just think, how do you get creative with food? If you're going to do it at that large scale? And how do you just make sure that the wine they're serving is not, you know, a sparkling wine from the hottest region of Australia, you know, doesn't make any sense. It just I love this. I love this. It's true. I
Jodie McLean 9:12
want to get to wine. I do want to get to wine. But I think you touched on a really good point around intimate and smaller private events, because I do genuinely believe they are really powerful, particularly for companies and clients looking after staff, that kind of thing. What are some of those kinds of events that you guys have posted at the blue door?
Angelica Nohra 9:32
We've kind of fall into this sustainable category, right? So anyone that has a sustainable message that they're passing through their businesses, they will find us and they'll say we want to go to the blue door because it's it's in line with the message were telling but or whatever we're doing at this event. So we've had, say, the green Council of Australia, they'll host events with CEOs of large building companies here to explain like how you can do like circular resources. In right like, yeah, that kind of thing we've had mental health experts come in with political that like state dignitaries and try and get funding, like use our space as a nice dining experience. But they're actually out searching for funding from state government and stuff like that. We've done winemaker dinners, of course, like a winemaker wants to reward their top 20 loyal customers, and they'll come in here, they'll do a full whole, you know, pair an entire menu to their wine. So yeah, they're the kind of things that we tend to fall into. And then obviously, you know, we'll have venture capitalists with a small team that just want to come in and have a good time, drink whatever they want to drink. We'll let them byo if they have better wine than us, we always say, yeah, so those kinds of things, but it's anyone that kind of falls into that. We're doing sustainable packaging, we're doing sustainable carpets, we're doing all that kind of thing. They're the kind of people who find us to do a tasting menu or private dinner with or lunch, of course.
Jodie McLean 11:02
Yeah. And that is such a big kind of movement in events as well is trying to be more sustainable in so many different areas. And I know that's such a big part of what you guys do. In an area, I guess, thinking about events. That is traditionally there's a lot of wastage, normally, how do you think we can be more sustainable?
Angelica Nohra 11:21
Oh, it's a big one is? That's a huge question, isn't it? Obviously, it comes to what are they using, making sure that there's no plastic and everything being used in the in the experience that you guys are having or the events having, but also again, asking about the food because you know, when you're having a 62 degree salmon Phillips, or some short rib that's been cooking for seven hours, there's a lot of Suvi plastic that goes into that. So you don't need to eat like how can we have things that are a little bit more fresher? You know, it doesn't have to be this big rich meal that we're eating. How can we eat, you know, something that's fresher? That's probably the best way so that we're not using a lot of that plastic. I know that sounds crazy. But yeah, that's a ask the kitchen like, what do you what would be the most sustainable menu we can create anything with a su V is not going to be sustainable just for the record. Also, for me, it's about where's the produce coming from? So asking the questions like, don't eat while I mean, don't eat farmed salmon from Tasmania for I'd like we have local fish that we can source. You know, that's more sustainable, it's mind court costs the same like people think it costs more to be to eat sustainably, it doesn't have to, if you know the right people to buy your produce from. So yeah, asking like making sure that it's local, and we flying things in because I think we think about all the plastic and all that kind of stuff, but we forget to think about air miles. And that's why I'm a massive fan of drinking local, like I'm the biggest champagne snob, I import wine. And I get it. But when I go to events, I love drinking local, because that's just not you know, that doesn't have the kind of food miles or wine miles of eating, eating or drinking anything that's International. So that's probably a big thing for me in terms of sustainability. And I know, it's like a bad thing to say, but time. How do we like be more sustainable with time? So I mean, God, you're an incredible event manager. But as a lot of times, people who message us and like, hey, like we want to do this, but they actually have no kind of clear vision on what things are going to look like. So it's just this back and forward, back and forth. Like just get clear on what you want, what your message is going to be. Stop wasting so much time because I think that has there's a there's a there's a sustainability piece in the in our time.
Jodie McLean 13:37
So understand it's an absolutely a good point. And I think when it comes to like, obviously restaurants, we're so blessed in Sydney with so many restaurants. But I think sometimes the challenge can be when we need to find external caterers like if we're holding an event in a venue that, you know, isn't a traditional venue, it doesn't come with a caterer. I know one of the biggest struggles can be finding a caterer at a good caterer because like there's so many options out there. I mean, for catering companies down to just kind of like a solo chef and that kind of thing, like, but it's really hard to pick one, pick a good one know that they're going to be good. Like do you have any recommendations, I guess around what to look for, or even ask?
Angelica Nohra 14:19
I think asking like where they worked before making sure that the person you're using has actually got experience in the larger, I guess in the larger spaces. Because, you know, we've had, we've seen things before, like before we had the blue drawer, we were doing private catering, and you know, people would turn up and start making bread at someone's house. It's like, Come on, man. Like you got to get more organised, like people who understand the scale of what they're doing will come completely prepped, and they don't need to waste time making bread before an event like and you see them in the weeds and they're running around. It's like dude, a good caterer is someone who turns up, they turn everything on. They pull all their meals out. Like all the me's like all the prep back out, and they're ready to go. And you're like, Oh, can I get you anything? Like, No, we're good. And once you find that caterer, you hold on to that caterer, like we did an event at a palm house, in the middle of what was it called the middle of the Botanic Gardens and the gardens. Yeah, there was no lights, there was no kitchen, there was no water, there was nothing. And I was like, Oh, my God, how are we going to do this? We asked the event planner to buy a barbecue. And it was like, we'll make it happen. And we brought all their own plates, we made sure the menu had less cooked dishes on it. So everything was like cold dishes and stuff like that. So yeah, it's asking them like how many events these kinds of things have you done? How, where have you worked in the past? You know, what's your style of cooking? And yeah, I think once you latch on to a caterer, it turns up, and they're just prepped and ready. Oh, my God, do not, do not let them go. But the ones you want 100%. And sometimes these veteran chefs who just do this private stuff now for fun, they're great, because they've worked in 300 seat cover restaurants, and they're just having fun. Now they're happy to do your 50. And they're very prepared. They know what they're doing. So don't let age scare you either.
Jodie McLean 16:11
Good tip. Good tip. Okay, let's talk wine. So I know we're both very excited to talk about wine. Yeah. I think you know, from my experience, if I think back kind of 510 years ago, when I knew nothing about wine, hardly drink this stuff. And I was planning events and you get sent a whole long list and it's super overwhelming. You have no idea what to pick. And I guess depending on the audience, you know, you might go and get help from someone else if it was really important, but for those of us that are planning an event where you know, it needs to be good, we do want to impress people, but we've got no idea. What are some tips, what should we be picking?
Angelica Nohra 16:51
What again, controversial, stay local, for your first one. Stick to local because you can always trust that a Yarra Valley Chardonnay and a Hunter Valley Shiraz is going to be delicious. They're going to be easy drinking tasty. The other thing I know this sounds crazy, but asked for alcohol content. Right? So before you've even made your decision, say to the outside to the venue. Hi, can you just let me know what the alcohol content of you know this Pinot Chardonnay this Cabernet and Shiraz is and this reason? Just just let me know. Because the lower alcohol I know this sounds wild, but bear with me. The lower the alcohol, the less 100 chance of like craziness happening during the night to know if someone's drinking 11% Riesling all night compared to a 15% Shiraz or night, you're gonna see less people being a bit wild. And we know we don't want wild people at events these days because it's too dangerous. So yes, that's something always stick local and just have your favourites so I always say like, as a caterer as an as an event planner, you should be someone who does who does drink right? You should know what you like. So know that Pinot Noir and a grown Ash will be light and a Shiraz and Cabernet are going to be heavy or like you know, a grace a Shiraz and Cabernet are going to be heavy. Know that a Chardonnay could be buttery. And you want to Riesling to kind of counteract that. So trying to choose your favourites so that whenever you get that list, you can go you know what I'm just going to stick to what I know until I no more remember that while you know more, most of the people going do not know anything. So you stick to your reasoning, your Chardonnay Pinot Noir use your as very easy. That will impress everyone, if that makes sense. Yeah, always ask for alcohol level just to try and tone down the energy of the room. Let's put it that way.
Jodie McLean 18:39
And love that tip. That's such a great tip. Yeah, and I think
Angelica Nohra 18:42
sometimes look at these 15 and a half percent sure razzes that the people are putting on events and like what do you expect is gonna happen? Like, you know, people are gonna drink it and within two glasses, they're completely wasted. Like, let them sit on the 11% reasoning for a while, you know? So that's, that's kind of a thing, but always drink local, like look at go discover something new that we all know Penfolds and we all know we're aware of we all know these big brands like you know, try and find it or James Edward Chardonnay and, and Mersa Montepulciano or something just something I know something fun, but yeah, that's really my tip. So while you don't know anything stick to like you know Pinot Noir for Nash as your like bread, Shiraz, Cabernet do heavy reds. You know, Riesling Pinot Grigio is your light whites and then you Chardonnay as a heavy white. Always have a nice bubbles. If it's not champagne, then make sure it's a hell Tawny and Eris is something that's known for being a sparkling in Australia and not just Morgan's Bay, because if I see another Morgan Bay sparkling event, I will scream sorry, I know it's controversial. I don't know who's who's gonna hear this. But yeah, they're I don't know, we've got so many options. Like, Why drink cheap, just, I don't know. I just
Jodie McLean 19:58
I love that and if I can add to that is such great advice if I can add to that, if you are printing your own menus do not put champagne. If it's not the amount of times I'm saying that and I am not even you know that crazy about it, but yeah, that really frustrates me because then I don't get some champagne.
Angelica Nohra 20:18
I will lose it. I will literally lose it. I find out who wrote the menu. I haven't send a photo to the Bureau of champagne here in Australia and say these people are using the word. Yeah, no, I'm
Jodie McLean 20:29
definitely don't do that. A bit of
Angelica Nohra 20:30
time with the word champagne.
Jodie McLean 20:32
I'm curious with the varieties. What you think is kind of I know there's kind of Friends come and go with wine and what's popular. What are you seeing, I guess growing in popularity and what's kind of, I guess going out of fashion a little bit maybe
Angelica Nohra 20:46
like so hard because I'm one of those people that want to push the flag on it like bring back Cabernet. You know, Cabernet is kind of really not in fashion at the moment, I think because maybe our grandparents drink it or again, it's too heavy, but there's so many beautiful like delicate styles of Cabernet coming through right now. And I'm like, Yes Bring that Cabernet. Pinot Noir will always it's on the rise and we're gonna start seeing a lot more alternative varieties popping up now as well like Montepulciano send your Vaizey people I guess a seeker Pino they're looking for what else can they drink? So I think there's a real rise in that style. The alternative varieties, either from Australia or from Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Blanc is so out. And it's quite sad. I know. I know you love yourself. Don't you love you Lima glad
Jodie McLean 21:28
Pinot Noir is coming. Coming to the forefront but I'm very devastated. That Blanc is not cool.
Angelica Nohra 21:35
Look, Marlboro style surf. And look, as we look, I import it. So we're still seeing like pubs and everything just smashing through sad. But you know, in dining experiences, people just aren't drinking seven year old blanc as much. But then I'm loving seven year blanc because I love that or fermented skin contact, all that kind of stuff. So yeah, that's probably what's on the out. Chardonnay. Buttery Chardonnay is coming back in frustratingly, people want the bigger richer styles of Chardonnay. And something else the skins, so natural wine, I'm finding a lot more people walking in and asking for skin contact wine. I don't know if it's because it goes really well with food with the tannin structure in them. Or people just associate skin contact with natural and people are a lot more conservative or concerned about their health at the moment. So concerned about like drinking chemicals. So they want to drink more natural wine. So I think yeah, skin contact minimum intervention, that kind of thing. That's really on the rise at the moment. Yeah, awesome.
Jodie McLean 22:33
If we're overwhelmed when we're looking at a menu, do you think we can trust the venue for a recommendation? Like when
Angelica Nohra 22:40
asked the song? Yes. Ask the song. Who would have thought the song might know something? I actually get really frustrated when someone's like, oh, I don't know what to drink Grover. I was like, Oh, just tell me what you like. And I'll find something. Oh, no, I'm very specific. I was like, Okay, tell me what you like. Like, this is what our job is, you know, as civilians job is to find you something that you like to sell you a wine, ask the song. And honestly, I think it'd be fine. If you said to the song, at the venue Hi, like, this, this wine list. I've never heard of any of these. We're looking for a nice bright, salty white wine we're looking for, you know, soft Reg, or you know, the menu, can you give us some wine to go with it? Here's our budget, there's some would be like, Thank you, because there's nothing that breaks my heart more. And when someone walks in, they won't trust me with the wine. And they'll order a Cabernet to go with our beautiful first course of fish. And you're like, No, like, this is gonna kill the dish. But if they just listened to me, I would get them something could be a read, but a fungible read that goes with this dish. So yeah, feel free to ask the song. They should they should know what they're doing. And they want to be they want to work. They're not. They're not there just to, you know, stand around. Yeah. And
Jodie McLean 23:51
we obviously take into consideration what the food is, like you've just mentioned, how much should we think about who the guests are. I mean, one of the big things that I always talk about when you're planning an event is really drilling down on who's coming, who they are, what they like and plan the event for them. But I'm very aware when picking I guess food and beverages to not make assumptions. But at the same time, it's like, well, we sort of need to think about who the people are. So to think we can still sort of make assumptions based on who's coming as to what we should be selecting.
Angelica Nohra 24:23
That's a really good question. I think food wise you can. My biggest thing for this would be don't underestimate people. I think people go, or no one knows anything. Like, oh, this is a bunch of politicians. They don't know anything. Well, this is a bunch of ceremony thing. Don't ever underestimate the guests, because you don't know how well packed their salaries how much they eat out. You'd never underestimate them. So I think it'll be we'll go off no one cares about the wine just put whatever just because you don't care about it. Like I say to the guests, like the person who's organising it, just because you don't care about it doesn't mean that people that are coming where Don't care about it. And I always think that a lot of people and a lot of event planners as well, they'll actually plan events around what they like, rather than actually considering, like you said, who's coming and what did they want? You know, and I think that's a big thing if you can actually curate something where someone goes wow, like that just felt like that if it was just for me, they're gonna come back to you over and over again. They're going to remember you so yeah, I just think don't ever underestimate people. That's that would be my biggest thing. Yeah, so know who you're talking to. Don't ever underestimate them.
Jodie McLean 25:29
Yeah, I love that. And a personal question for you. What's your favourite line at the moment?
Angelica Nohra 25:35
Like asking who's my favourite child? Gosh, what's up everyone? I am loving send you a Vaizey saying Yes. Yep, send you both these my I don't know it's just a go to at the moment. And also ganache. Then I'm bringing back or Nash I'm enjoying like a so much of the New South Wales burnout, which, you know, any good thing about climate change is we can finally Greg Nash here in New South Wales. really loving it. And also like a white wine that it's I'm just loving at the moment is vignette. And like, going back to like really bright apricot driven vignette, but I'm studying my diploma at the moment. So wine is just, it's an evolution for me. If what my favourite is at the moment is definitely going to be completely different in two months time, I think.
Jodie McLean 26:18
Yeah. But that's the world of wine. I guess. It's a fun, fun world. If you could sum up all of your years, I guess in hospitality and around food and beverage into one piece of advice for people that plan events, what would it be?
Angelica Nohra 26:33
Just remember, it's hospitality. You know, this is for the people. We're doing it for the people. It's not about us. That would be my biggest piece of advice. Because the amount of times I'll see a wine list that's written, you know, for the song, I see a menu that is 100%. For the for the chef have nothing like they don't care about the customer's experience of eating it. That would be my biggest thing. Remember, it's hospitality. It's about people coming in and feeling like they're at home, in your venue and at your event. And yeah, just remember, it's about them, not about us.
Jodie McLean 27:04
I love that. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.
Angelica Nohra 27:09
Thank you, Jodie.
Jodie McLean 27:12
Thanks for listening to this episode of the events Insider PodCast. If you loved it, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, share with your friends, and I'll chat to you next week. Bye
