SUPPORTING PARTNER
Industry Award - Front of the House: Brent Hayman Brent began his career in the hospitality industry in Vancouver in the early 1980's, working for prestigious hotels such as the Hyatt Regency, Four Seasons and the Wedgewood Hotel. His formal training as a Bartender led him to an early appreciation of the Grape. Wanting to expand on his newfound love of wine, Brent left the Hotel industry and joined the Cannery Seafood Restaurant, already well known for its impressive wine program. During his 5 years at the Cannery, Brent traveled extensively to the newly emerging wine regions of California, Oregon and Washington. This travel was augmented by tastings, wine courses and seminars offered by the industry. After leaving the Cannery, Brent joined the team at Seasons in the Park and earned numerous awards and accolades for the Wine Program there. It was during his tenure at Seasons that Brent became aware of the potential that British Columbia wine held. During the early 90's Brent was among the first to include British Columbia wines alongside international offerings on his wine list. One of his early sojourns to B.C. wine country led to his discovery of Blue Mountain Vineyards. He did much to champion their wines as well as other notable upstarts such as Tinhorn Creek Vineyards. Under Brent's direction, Seasons became a strong proponent of the British Columbia Wine industry supporting many of the early marketing initiatives of the fledgling "British Columbia Wine Institute". Brent also became very active promoting wine and education by organizing numerous "buying" trips to Washington and California attended by other industry professionals and by volunteering his time on both the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival Trade Day Committee and the Pacific Northwest Bacchanalia Wine Festival organizing committee. For the past 11 years, Brent has been General Manager and Sommelier at Vancouver's Raincity Grill. Here, Hayman continues to pioneer the efforts of British Columbia's burgeoning Wine Industry, with local wines accounting for over 85% of wine sales. Brent continues his education and travel constantly forging new relationships and discovering new wines and wineries. In the Spring of 2002 the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association and the Vancouver Wine Academy recognized Brent as British Columbia's 'Top Sommelier' of 2001. In the Spring of 2004 Brent was once again named British Columbia's Sommelier of the year for 2003 by Vancouver Magazine. Over the past 11 years Brent has garnered countless awards from the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival for "Best Wine by the Glass", "Best V.Q.A. Selection", "Best Small Restaurant" and "Best American List". In addition, the Raincity Grill has captured Wine Spectator's "Best of Award of Excellence" for the past 9 consecutive years and Wine Press Northwest's "Outstanding Pacific Northwest" and "Best Pacific Northwest" list for the past 4 years. And in 2001 SantŽ Magazine awarded Raincity Grill top honours as "Best Bistro" on the West Coast of North America. More recently Brent has been asked to apply his talents to the judging arena with invites to the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival in 2003, 04 and 2005 and the Grand harvest Awards in Sonoma in 2005, 06, & 07 and an invitation to the Northwest Wine Summit in Oregon in 2005 And the Vancouver Magazine Wine Awards in 2006. Interview with Brent HaymanWhat was your first job in the industry? I guess my first job would have been bussing at the Corkscrew Restaurant in Richmond. I was driving so I guess I would have been 16. What is the most memorable moment of your career? Aside from being inducted into the Hall of Fame, it would probably be doing the Summit Dinner with President Clinton and President Yeltsin 15 years ago at Seasons in the Park. What advice do you have for people just starting out in the industry? I think in this business, you really have to love what you’re doing. You have to be patient and you have to love what you’re doing. With the hours and sometimes lack of pay and a lot of the things you have to put up with, it has to be something you love. Be passionate. What do you think is the biggest issue facing restaurateurs today? I think the labour shortage, the lack of skilled people. And the consumer doesn’t want to pay the real cost of food; they don’t want to pay a good, experienced cook or chef. Some of the lesser-known restaurants that don’t necessarily rely on trained, experienced personnel to run the line are the ones that are packing them in just because they’ve got lower price points. What’s the next step for raising the bar in the B.C. foodservice industry? I think it’s mentorship and training of the staff. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have owners who’ve been supportive. I was just talking to a wine rep the other day and they were saying that it’s rare that anybody ever gets any training or ever has an opportunity to taste wines on the list in the majority of the restaurants they deal with. I just think that is so shortsighted, but I do understand it. I think there’s a lot of smaller operations where there’s not the expertise that we should have. So, more training for everybody in the industry from management on down to the line staff, and more of a commitment to education and training. Interview by Jessica Scharien Click on the images below to start videos Introduction movie shown during the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame Gala, April 2008. Interview and award acceptance speech recorded during the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame Gala, April 2008. |