FOOD
05 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 2017
PHOTOGRAPHYNIKKI TOCLOCK WISE FROM LEFT
Dessert at Glass Brasserie;
Luke Mangan’s new restaurant
at Sydney Airport; Salt Grill; the
chef plates up in the kitchen.With a new restaurant
at Sydney Airport, Luke
Mangan looks back at
his journey through the
hospitality industry.
The
Chef ’s
Tale
I
grew up in regional
Melbourne. Being one
of seven boys, my family
didn’t have the luxury
of dining at hatted restaurants.
At home, my mum cooked in
bulk. She’d make everything
from scratch, so I guess I fell
into cooking from having it
around me all the time.
I began my apprenticeship
at Hermann Schneider’s Two
Faces in Melbourne when
I was 15. At first I hated it
— long hours standing up
peeling potatoes is not
glamorous. But I stuck it out
for two years. From there
I went to London to work at
Michel Roux’s Waterside Inn.
A typical shit was 7am to
1am, living of 100 quid a
week. In 1993 I came back
to Australia, working in a few
restaurants, many closing
because they went broke.
Several years later I met
John Hemmes, who gave me
a job at Hotel CBD, where
I worked for several years.
In 1999 I opened my first
restaurant, Salt, in Darlinghurst.
I was 29 and had borrowed
a million bucks and poured
pure blood, sweat and tears
into the place. For a time it was
the hottest new restaurant
in town, and in its first year it
had a turnover of $4 million–
$5 million. In 2000, I opened
Bistro Lulu and then, in 2003,
Moorish. My ego was all about
food and not much about
figures. In the early days
we just jumped in without a
proper business plan and made
a lot of mistakes. You can have
great turnover but not a great
profit. My first laundry bill at
Salt was $5000 for the month.
In 2005, all these new
restaurants started popping
up in Sydney and competition
was fierce. Rent went sky high
and Salt lost a chef’s hat, which
at the time was a huge blow.
I almost went broke. Ater six
years we closed Salt, but in
the last six months a Japanese
businessman approached us
to open a restaurant in Tokyo.
I sold 49 per cent of the Salt
brand to Port Japan Partners
and that was my first break into
the Asian market. That year
was also the opening of GlassBrasserie in the Hilton Hotel
Sydney — in our first year we
had a turnover of $10 million,
with more than 80 staf. Today
we have 20-plus restaurants
in Australia and Asia, as well
as on board P&O cruise ships.
We also oversee the Business
Class menu on Virgin Australia.
This year, we opened our
first organic chicken burger
store, Chicken Confidential
(www.chicken-confidential.
co), in Sydney’s Chifley Plaza.
Lots of chefs were openingburger stores, but we took a
diferent approach with organic
chicken. We’ve just launched
our second outlet at Sydney
Airport’s T1 International
Terminal, serving our signature
Gangnam Style and Yes Ma’am
burgers, chicken tenders, wraps
and salads. At peak times we
have eight to 10 staf on to
meet customer demand —
some in a hurry and some
with a little more time to sit
and dine, so we have to be
prepared for every situation.