Sam Gowing

 “I am concerned that we are losing the art of great restaurant service in Australia..."

Traveling business class, visiting luxurious resorts and eating good food have become a trend in Sam Gowing’s life, but beyond that lies an even greater purpose. Based in picturesque Byron Bay, Sam is a chef, clinical nutritionist and mentor with a Le Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomic Tourism degree. 

Beyond concentrating on cooking fine meals and introducing new flavors, she decided to use her passion and talent for food to better society. “My vision is to radiate global awareness through my mentoring, coaching and culinary programs. I'd like to empower others by cultivating their mindset so they may enjoy the power of positive energy as a vital healing force to reunite family, restore community and renew planetary health”, explained Sam.

An entrepreneur of many talents, what can’t she do? Sam teaches Food as Medicine in her cooking classes, events and conferences. The Australian spa cuisine chef and mentor also designs menus and kitchen systems that fit the global wellness tourism marketplace and arena of luxury retreats, clean eating restaurants, health spas and beach resorts. She’s a mentor for businesses and is a product developer of unique recipes and nutrition products.
 
“The biggest challenge my mentees face is gaining clarity over their product and their offer. Also, you simply cannot be all things to all people and you must create a niche that is an inch wide and a mile deep.”
 
And even better, here are wellness business tips for all the food and health entrepreneurs - and yes from the wellness entrepreneur herself.  Here’s to a more sustainable and successful business.

  1. Future hunt trends before they arrive
Adopt an entrepreneur’s mentality. The future is meaningful, real cultures of health at work, tackling everything from physical, to emotional, to financial wellness: fair pay, healthy workspaces, inclusion of families and virtual workers, and tackling fast disappearing work/life balance, like mandating vacations and that workers unplug from always-on, wired work.
  1. Protect and defend your Intellectual Property
Trademark what you can. In the online world of clean eating and Instagram image and recipe ‘borrowing’ is rife. Always credit your source! In academia you’d be booted out of an institute for not referencing diligently – and plagiarism. Always declare your influence. Start with something like, ‘the work of Nigella Lawson has always inspired me’.
  1. Develop Product
In order to get traction, you need to become very good at selling yourself and your products with grace, peace and ease. If you truly believe in yourself, your product and your offer, then you should not have to think twice about it as it will help your community.
Get your product in to as many hands as possible and ask friends to take a pic of them reading, eating or wearing it. Social proof sells products faster than the Myer May Sale! You must have a professional Facebook page, be LinkedIn and preferably feed an up to date website with social media interface. Get yourself some lovely photos taken that you can be proud of.

Before the Gowings Food Health Wealth days, in 1990 Sam was the licensee of the historic Grace Darling Hotel, on Smith Street in Collingwood where she was the Publican for eight years with her brother Chris joining her when her father died. They proudly created Gowings Grace Darling Hotel – an innovative and multi-award winning dining and entertainment emporium in the inner city of Melbourne.
 
Turning point? After years of being exposed to deadly foods, cooking oils beyond their unique flashpoints, menus full of highly processed, preserved foodstuffs and unhealthy cooking techniques, Sam decided on supporting a healthier trend.
She retrained as a clinical nutritionist at Endeavour College of Natural Health and qualified with a diploma of Health Science – Nutrition, always with the intention of teaching cooking classes.
 
Finally, Sam opened up to us about her concerns for the future of the hospitality industry.
 
“I am concerned that we are losing the art of great restaurant service in Australia as the food offering becomes more and more homogenized and standardized. The first 15 years of my career were spent learning the front of house and running restaurant floors, so I am still very customer service focused. I believe that people return to a restaurant for great service and good food, but they will rarely return for great food if the service is poor. In addition, the glorification of ‘superfoods’ that now appear on non-health focused menus is a trend that needs to pass. Nutrition claims on menu ingredients by law in Australia, must be based on evidence as of earlier this year, a service my business provides to industry.”
 
For more information about Gowings Food Health Wealth, visit http://www.foodhealthwealth.com/
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