We speak to co-founder of the Gannet on its changing services.
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00:00 You've worked hard to establish The Gannett, you've gone through that fashionable stage and now establishment in Glasgow.
00:10 What is it it takes to keep people coming back to a restaurant like yours?
00:16 The funny thing about The Gannett, it's changed, it's the same name, it's had the same name now for going on 11 years.
00:24 But the offering keeps evolving, where we tune in, we tune in to the small producers.
00:33 There's always somebody new, there's always something exciting happening, you've got the Denhead asparagus at the moment,
00:40 the foraging community has grown exponentially since we began.
00:44 Gary Goldie was the only forager that I knew and he used to bring me out and show me this and that.
00:50 Over the years, with education and other people like Max coming on the scene and Monica Wilde teaching people,
00:58 that whole scene has blown up massive and you'll see bits of foraging throughout most of the restaurant menus in this city.
01:05 I think that's really exciting because you don't get that in every city.
01:08 That's been a nucleus that we saw grow from nothing into huge.
01:14 You see it all over the world, but I think in Glasgow you've got something really special because you've got these great people at your fingertips,
01:20 they're on your doorstep.
01:23 For The Gannett, like I say, we keep moving, we keep changing and a lot of that's to do with my taste.
01:31 My taste doesn't stay the same.
01:34 Way before COVID we decided to go taste the menu only.
01:39 I don't think there was a taste the menu only restaurant in the city, but that's what I wanted to do at the time.
01:46 I had these producers that were doing wonderful things at certain times of the year.
01:51 I wanted to tell that story of what's Scotland like in August, what's Scotland like in November.
01:58 But I think we've told that story.
02:01 At the moment, what I like to do, I like to cook what I like to eat.
02:06 I want to eat the best of this and I want to eat the best of that.
02:09 I want to eat within the seasons, but I don't want to have to dictate anymore.
02:15 With a taste of menu, you're not just thinking of that one course in the middle of a seven course menu.
02:20 You're thinking of the course before it, you're thinking of the course after it,
02:23 you're thinking about how it all plays together as one evening or one lunch.
02:28 It all has to work symbiotically.
02:31 I want to be able to put specials back on the menu.
02:34 I miss that. I miss when my seafood supplier goes, "Pete, I've got this."
02:38 There's not 50 portions of it, there's four portions of it.
02:42 I want to be able to say, "Yes, I'll have that again."
02:45 The Gannett's going to change, there's going to be more flexibility.
02:49 I don't want to be a birthday celebration.
02:56 It's a neighbourhood restaurant, right?
02:58 Yeah, the special events in your life, you come to the Gannett.
03:01 I think you should come to the Gannett anyway.
03:03 You want to be accessible.
03:05 You want a plate of food, you don't have to pay through the nose for it.
03:10 You come to the Gannett, we'll look after you.
03:12 We've got a beautiful restaurant, I want everybody to see it,
03:14 I want everybody to walk through it.
03:16 I don't want people to sit down and enjoy themselves, have a beer, have a glass of wine,
03:20 whatever you like.
03:22 Let Kevin look after you, the wonderful team that we have there look after you,
03:26 and let us look after you in the kitchen.