about birch …
Birch offers an encompassing dining experience stamped with innovation and personality that can be experienced at the restaurant, in the store, from a box, in your home, sent to someone or purveyed online.
Birch seeks alignment with region, passion, community, characters and relevance. It is this alignment that motivates menus, products, collaborations, events and its people.
Birch is located in two historical properties in the regional village of Moss Vale, in the heart of the Southern Highlands, NSW. Within 2 hours of Sydney and Canberra, it has become an award-winning restaurant and retail experience highlighting creative, local, feature and the highest quality produce.
the birch crew …
Created by a designer and a nurse initially as a passion project, the establishment, and more recently its transition, has now resulted in Birch Restaurant and Birch Store becoming award-winning dining and retail outlets.
Owners, Glenn and Renée Wallace, are a dynamic duo. Renee has driven the establishment of Birch for the past four years and with her experience in hospitality, design, management, marketing, art direction, styling, social media, promotion and branding enabling Birch to constantly evolve and focus on creating products and services that are relevant and supported [no mean feat across the past 18 months and impacts of pandemics]. This extensive skill-set has earnt her the title of ‘lead trombone’ and is at the core of all development and implementation in all aspects of Birch.
Glenn has extensive management experience and prides himself on his process-driven approach to all operations. Settling into a full-time role within Birch in the last 9 months has enabled Glenn to sink his toes into many projects while maintaining the day-to-day operations … the ultimate ‘doer’ in the crew.
Ben Bamford joined Birch in 2018 as Head Chef and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team. Driven by passion, diligence and attention to detail, creating a menu that is reflective of the seasons, highlights local produce and above all puts the most emphasis on food that tastes exceptional. Ben has been critical in the development of Birch over the past 18 months in ensuring all ways in which Birch-made products are available are of the same quality, taste and creativity as what they are when delivered in the restuarant.
Over the past 18 months, Birch has evolved and now offers a specifically designed pre-order takeaway menu … with the restaurant now booking out 6-8 weeks in advance, this is certainly the next best way to experience Birch. This includes an at-home dinner party menu that provides three restaurant-quality dishes for you to finish off at home and create your own Birch meal in the comfort of your own home, shared with friends, perfect for celebrating and ideal for those visiting the region and wanting to utilise some of the exquisite kitchens in holiday accommodate venues throughout the region.
birch store …
Birch Store opened in 2020 and is an outlet for Birch made products including a ready-made meal selection, collaborations with local producers, fresh produce, locally made condiments, sauces, honey, treats and more. Along with a homewares selection covering everything you might need to curate a meal and setting at home, the store is fast established itself as a foodies delight in the Highlands. And if you aren’t local or visiting the area you can jump online and purchase a selection from their online store.
So currently there are a number of ways in which you can choose to enjoy Birch, whether with us at the restaurant, at home, on your travels and ship some Birch-love to you.
[Image // from left, Renee Wallace, Glenn Wallace and Ben Bamford … ©Birch Restaurant / Abbie Melle 2021]
A new and specialised consultive service has been established – Birch Consulting. It is aimed at assisting start-up cafes and restaurants to develop their menu, operational processes and design – to get off the ground or reinvigorate existing hospitality businesses.
Using a collaborative approach, Ben (Head Chef) and Renée (Owner) bring their extensive industry experience, spanning more than 20 years each, to all aspects of of menu development, design services and implementation of operational processes.
They personally work with every client to understand their business objectives, assess site facilities and staff experience, current and potential operational requirements, identify competitors and establish points of difference that enables them to design and develop menus, associated products and processes suited to each clients requirements, budgets, and most importantly, aligned with their objectives.
This can include, but is not limited to:
kitchen staff training
menu planning
costing of products
efficient ordering
supplier recommendations
marketing and branding
graphic design services
social media strategy
layout/flow of the cafe vs efficiency
Birch Consulting services their local Southern Highlands area, throughout NSW and Australia as well as international locations.
For more infromation on how Birch Consulting could assist your hospitality business please email enquiries@birchrestaurant.com.au