Selected projects
Recent work Brian McCune has led or worked on, for hotel groups, wine estates and restaurants.
Clients are described by type and region only. Full details and references are in our projects brochure.
Restaurant turnaround
Both restaurants on the estate were losing money. Over two months the menus were revitalised, operating procedures revised and senior staff coached, then the operation was held to daily reporting until the numbers moved. Food cost of sales fell from 54% on appointment to the 38% budget target.
- Menu development and concept review
- Review and rebuild of every standard recipe
- Menu engineering appraisal
- Daily purchasing log control and daily sales analysis
- On-site training and revised purchasing procedures
Full F&B repositioning
The brief was a measurable impact across every food and beverage outlet in the hotel within twelve months, working alongside the existing teams. Six outlets were tackled in priority order, so the bar, the waterfront restaurant and the dining room each became a genuinely different experience.
- Seven-day public venue positioning for the waterfront restaurant
- High-end bar concept and signature cocktail programme
- Fine dining concept and sizing
- Lounge, high teas and function offering
- In-room dining and pool bar menus
- Uniforms, music, atmosphere and marketing input
Market research and concept creation
The hotel group needed to know what food and beverage concept would work in a newly acquired city property with an outdated all-day dining room. The work was a market immersion rather than a menu exercise, ending in a concept vision the design team could carry forward. The report was signed off by the client.
- Gap analysis of the regional market
- Local and international tourism market profiling
- Local food and beverage trend mapping
- Competitive analysis and best-in-class benchmarking
- Concept proposal and food and beverage vision
Food and beverage audit and menu concept
A complete audit of all food and beverage operations, with solutions identified and put in place. The new menu was built around seasonality, local produce and artisan producers, written up with the culinary team as standard recipes with photography and service specs, then priced across the card.
- Full F&B operations audit
- Menu concept and standard recipes
- Dish photography and service specifications
- Pricing to final points across the menu
- Senior staff sourced and placed with management
- Culinary and service team training
Two restaurants rebuilt from scratch
Two restaurants were closed and rebuilt: one as fine dining, the other as a family-style restaurant, each with its own concept, menu and team.
- Concept development for both restaurants
- Menus and standard recipes
- Key appointments
- Training
- Ongoing quality audits
Kitchen design
Appointed as kitchen design consultants for a new hotel brand aimed at younger travellers. The work weighed health and safety, commercial efficiency and energy saving across every food and beverage area, with full drawings, equipment specifications and costs delivered in CAD.
- Main kitchen, prep kitchens and pantries
- Bars, events rooms and staff canteen
- Back-of-house delivery and storage
- Pool deck and braai area
- Cold rooms and dry store
- Equipment specifications and cost information
Festival pop-up restaurant
A pop-up restaurant at one of South Africa's largest food and music festivals: three sittings of 100 VIP guests, with mise en place produced off site and the full service designed from scratch.
- Menu design for three sittings
- Off-site production of mise en place
- Full service design
- On-site kitchen and service management