Kitchen capers: Convention centre serves up 50,000 meals

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) served up more than 50,000 meals at almost 100 events last month as the city remains a hot spot for business meetings.

BCEC executive chef Matthew Arnold launches new menu.

It has been a busy time in the kitchens of the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC). City Beat hears BCEC executive chef Matthew Arnold and his staff have served up meals to more than 50,000 patrons at 98 events during the month of June, underscoring the fact Brisbane remains a hot spot for business meeting and conventions.

The hectic period comes as the centre launches a new menu focused on fresh local produce. Arnold says BCEC has a long history of working closely with local farmers, fishers and producers, many of whom feature in the new menu. Last financial year, the centre invested $7.6m in direct local food and beverage purchases.

Arnold, who has more than 30 years’ experience as chef including 19 years at BCEC, likens to his role to conductor of an orchestra.

“The kitchens all have to work in tune together to deliver a great culinary experience for our clients and guests,” says Arnold.

Arnold says his favourite items on the new menu include coconut curried chicken canape with caramelised chilli mayonnaise, prawn toast with wasabi mayonnaise and finger lime and smoke infused beef fillet, salt baked root vegetables, davidson plum chutney and saltbush. Yum and yum.

BCEC executive chef Matthew Arnold has overseen busy period in the kitchens.

Noosa news

Both the beer and deals flowed at another Noosa Mining Investor Conference hosted by Phil Dickinson’s Equity Events last week.

More than 2,300 registrants, both in-person and online, helped ensure Noosa’s sunny winter streets were filled with miners and investors focused on the small cap resources sector. City Beat hears Noosa Surf Club was heaving on Thursday evening as mining entrepreneur Stephen Bizzell hosted the conference crowd, attendees keen to get the inside word on the next ASX success story. Among the Brisbane attendees were silica sand heavyweight Diatreme Resources and lithium favourite Lake Resources.

Phil Dickinson, organiser of the Noosa Mining Conference at Newstead.

‘Local deal maker’ James Canning-Ure bounced from booth to booth with his latest big idea, backed by the team from Fensom Advisory.

Austex analyst Rob Murdoch highlighted the recent gains for manganese, tin, silver and gold, noting that exploration expenditure remains above pre-Covid levels despite weaker sentiment. And with prospects of lower US interest rates on the horizon, there is plenty of optimism that the year ahead will see more gains for the ASX’s largest sector.

Kicking goals

Former Terrace old boy Doug Tynan and the team at GCQ Funds Management are kicking some big goals at the moment. The Sydney-based fund achieved returns of 25.1 per cent in the year to June, bringing the two year return to 73.9 per cent.

Tynan tells City Beat that the performance has been broad-based and not driven by an excessive exposure to a single stock or market “theme” such as Artificial Intelligence. One thing clients have found interesting is the move to reduce exposure to the largest US-based technology companies from 40 per cent to 26 per cent over the past year.

“We are continuing to lighten up,” says Tynan. “The big tech companies looked really cheap when we invested in them back in 2022, however we are now seeing better opportunities elsewhere as we position for a lower interest rate environment.” Tynan says the GCQ team is growing fast with a new hire in Melbourne. “Brisbane is definitely next,” he says.

Doug Tynan.