Russell has carried this commitment through to the Prendiville Group, which includes restaurants such as Lontara at Samphire Rottnest and Sandalford Restaurant in the Swan Valley, and where he has been Director of Food for the past four years. In fact, it’s at the core of the hospitality group’s food strategy.
“Where possible, we buy local,” Russell says. “The first thing is to buy regional, second Western Australian, third Australian and fourth imported.”
This love for local led the award-winning chef to Meet the Buyer™, the largest and most diverse showcase of WA food and beverage businesses, for the first time last year. Buoyed by the experience, he is encouraging other chefs and hospitality leaders to attend the trade show when it returns to Crown Perth on Tuesday 21 October.
With the exhibition floor selling out in record time, there is plenty for chefs and sommeliers, as well as retail buyers, educators and importers, to see and taste once more.
“Chefs should go because they’ll see products they might not catch through their day-to-day work,” Russell says. “A lot of these people are quite small producers, and they can’t get to you – they don’t have the means, the social media reach or context. And it’s a one-stop shop; it’s a seriously good opportunity to get around and see what’s happening in food in WA.”
Meeting passionate people
Always interested in what is new, Russell’s only expectation for his first foray to Meet the Buyer™ was that he would meet “a bunch of really good people”. That was more than fulfilled.
“There’s something about people who grow stuff and make stuff – they are very connected to their product,” he says. “You are in a room full of passion, and there’s nothing better than talking to the person who grew, baked, made, produced, milked or created that product you’re putting on the table or tasting. It’s the quintessential authentic experience when it cuts through to hospitality.”
While many suppliers were familiar to him, Russell was delighted to try new products and took samples back for chefs in the Prendiville Group. With venues from Rottnest to Broome (and into Darwin), and a new Asian eatery due to open at Cottesloe Beach Hotel by the end of the year, the chefs are always looking for something new.
“I didn’t get traction with them but not because it wasn’t a good product; it just wasn’t a fit for their businesses,” he says.
“But I think they appreciate the feedback and interaction, particularly those producers who are at the start of their journey. They want to know what chefs want and are open to suggestions. Helping them to understand what they need to service, deliver and distribute their product is important.”
“There’s an energy in the room that is quite invigorating.”
He talks about a grower whose product was beautiful at the farmgate but the way it was packaged meant it arrived at his restaurant much worse for the journey. If he hadn’t told them what was happening, they would have continued with the same packaging and lost customers.
The generosity at Meet the Buyer™ is another selling point. “There’s an energy in the room that is quite invigorating,” Russell says. “I see people I know, and they’ll say, ‘hey, you’ve got to come over and meet this guy because he’s producing this’, and that is just the generous nature of these people – they want everyone to share in the success.”
This time around, Russell will again be looking at what suppliers can bring to the table to make the life of a busy chef easier, from relishes and pickles to sauces and canapé options.
“We are doing so much, we have function food menus, finger food menus, a la carte menus … if we can find really good quality food that is equal to or better than we can make ourselves, and it fits a menu niche, then great,” he says.
“As labour costs become more prohibitive, the more value-added items we can find that take some of the pressure off in the kitchen without compromising the quality, the better.”
Meet the Buyer™ is at Crown Perth on Tuesday 21 October 2025. The exhibition floor is sold out, but chefs (and other buyers) still have time to snap up tickets to all things tasty and terrific – and local!
Please note: Meet the Buyer™ is a trade and industry event only but you can support local by visiting the restaurants mentioned and looking out for local produce wherever you shop.