A shake-up in restaurateur Frank van Haandel’s world will see a big promotion for young Brisbane chef Richard Ousby.

The 32-year-old has been made executive chef of van Haandel’s Stokehouse trio, coinciding with the resignation of chef Ollie Gould last week as head chef of Stokehouse Melbourne. Former Van Haandel Group executive chef Anthony Musarra also is no longer involved with the Stokehouse brand and now manages the group’s Fatto restaurant at Melbourne’s Southbank. Stokehouse Q’s manager Peter McMahon, a familiar face on many restaurant floors through the years, becomes operations manager for all Stokehouses. The group faces a big year with the architecturally adventurous rebuild of Stokehouse St Kilda, a Melbourne landmark in its pre-fire days, starting soon, with a projected opening in October next year.

Ousby — something of a baby-faced assassin — has the task of appointing a head chef for Melbourne and ultimately replacing himself in Brisbane. He will move to Melbourne next year to run the ship from the south and cook at the new Stokehouse St Kilda for the first three months of its life, at least. Ousby, who grew up in Bathurst, Singapore and Brisbane, says: “It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind.” Stokehouse Q has gone ahead leaps and bounds under his culinary direction since he was appointed to the helm in May 2013. From an apprenticeship at red-sauce Italian Alberto’s, in Brisbane’s Paddington, to the Waterside Inn in Britain and nearly three years at Quay in Sydney, Ousby has enjoyed an impressive ascension. He won the coveted Electrolux Appetite for Excellence Young Chef award in 2011. “The Waterside was definitely the turning point of my career,” says Ousby, who sent a note up to chef-owner Michel Roux’s hotel room in Brisbane in 2006 that ultimately got him the job in Bray, outside London. “It’s where I was amazed by the effort required and the produce needed to excel.” As for Gould? “No news as yet. Sad to be leaving but looking forward to the unknown. I’ll take a little break. Mykonos or Santorini?”

Chef and restaurateur Jase Jones is killing his fun South Yarra (Melbourne) eatery B’Stilla in the hope of reinventing the idea of the permanent restaurant. Come October, B’Stilla will be replaced by Enquire Within, a new entity for Jones (who spends much of his time in Singapore) and new stakeholders Hugo Tremayne andAnita Basile. EW will be a restaurant that changes direction. “We will rebrand the restaurant concept annually. The one thing that will remain constant is that each concept will be easily understood, user friendly and delivered in a fun and inviting environment,” says Basile, fresh back from New York and who, before that, helped to launch the Romcaffe coffee brand. The aim is to “pique the interest of the public without intimidating anyone”. On the menu will be “traditional dishes tampered with by adventurous, freethinking chefs”. The grand experiment begins October 8.

Melbourne’s Dixon Hospitality Group — led by Michael Dixon, 30-year-old scion of Australian Securities Exchange-listed Spotless chief executive Bruce Dixon — continues its foray into the pub business. DHG has added solid food pubs the Newmarket and the Middle Park to a collection that includes Footscray’s the Station and South Melbourne’s the Wayside (purchased from chef Sean Donovan, now at Fitzroy’s the Town Hall) and Toorak’s the Hawksburn plus Albert Park’s the Vincent. Both the Newmarket and the Middle Park were part of the Melbourne Pub Group, led by Gerry Ryan, known for his Jayco caravan business and his winery, Mitchelton. MPG will concentrate on its redevelopment of the Prince of Wales complex, says chief executive Tom Walker.

Designer Adele Winteridge, of Foolscap, has nabbed the prize brief of the year. She’ll design Noma Australia for Lend Lease and Rene Redzepi at Barangaroo, Sydney. Winteridge has created some wonderful, whimsical interiors in the restaurant sector in recent years including Uncle (Melbourne) Gordon Street Garage (Perth), Swings Taphouse (Margaret River) and Sixpenny (Sydney).