The competition was fierce with many entries in every category, but there could only be one winner in each category. Jackie Mitchell, who was one of the judges, gives the lowdown on the winners and shortlisted companies:
Award winner - Food & Drink
Jian's Dumplings scooped the New Product Award for the Food & Drink category of the Awards. Judges' comments included: "They are so versatile, as they can be placed in many different areas"; "They are the Chinese equivalent of potato skins and sour cream"; "Jian has stuck to her principles of an authentic family recipe from North China".
The dumplings are crescent moon-shaped cases of dough with a choice of seven fillings - pork, chicken, vegetable, beef and onion, beef and celery, pork and chives and pork and celery. They can be served on their own or with a variety of sauces such as sweet chilli, chilli garlic sauce, soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce. All ingredients are natural and contain no preservatives.
The cost is about 9p per piece and as a starter, four pieces can be sold at £2.99.
To save time, the dumplings can be prepared in advance by boiling and then refrigerated. They only need to be deep fried in shallow or deep oil so can be served from fridge to table or bar in a few minutes. The refrigerated dumplings will keep for 48 hours even after boiling.
They can be served as a side dish, a bar snack with dipping sauces or as finger food. Available in 1 kilo packs.
Jian's Dumplings
Short-listed products were - The Original Pretzel Company, 701, supplies frozen pretzels in four different varieties - cinnamon, raisin, almond and lemon. All you do is defrost and serve or reheat from frozen. Jacob Nir from the company explained that the taste is different from American pretzels as a sweet dough is used. He said the dough was an authentic Swiss family recipe, while the glazing is a German recipe.
The products can be defrosted for 20 minutes and served or they can be reheated in a warm oven. The pretzels can be served on their own, with smoked salmon and cheese or with sweet dips like chocolate, caramel, strawberry and lemon. The price is 35p to 40p per pretzel and they can be sold at about £1.25 each.
The company currently supplies Coffee Republic and Pret A Manger.
The products are packaged 40 to a carton, with four bags of 10 to a carton.
Frozen desserts from Coppenrath & Wiese under the Profi-Line label, 702. The Profi-Line range includes an extensive array of frozen desserts including Traybakes, consisting of a tray of 24 portions already cut into generous portions. There are six varieties such as Plum Crumble, Honey and Almond and Poppyseed Quark Traybake. The trade price is 20p per slice.
Fricopan Bruschetta from Fricopan Back, 703, comprises bruschettas in four flavours - Cheese & Tomato, Tuna & Cheese, Spinach & Cheese and Green Pesto & Cheese. They can be either thawed and served, or reheated in the oven from frozen. Unfortunately the products were not available for the judges to taste.
Award winner - Premises & Facilities
Call-Systems Technology (CST), won the Award in this category for its ServiceCall System, which speeds up service by enabling customers to discreetly summon staff from the comfort of their own table.
Judges' comments included: "A lot of potential in certain markets"; "It can be used in any application from hospitals to conference centres. It stops the frustration of customers waiting for service... The technology does have a place to play in service but we wouldn't like to see it detract from staff being interactive with customers and having the opportunity to upsell".
According to CST, a ServiceCall unit installed on a table in a restaurant can increase service per head on drinks and desserts by up to 20 per cent. When the customer presses the button on the table, either for the bill or service, this activates a pager, which either beeps or vibrates, alerting the staff. The device can also be used for a particular zone of an outlet and for conference centres. To install the system in a 50 table restaurant (200 seats) costs £3000 to £3500 depending on the number of pagers required.
CST
Premises & Facilities Management
The C500 Can Crusher from Tony Team, 705, has been designed to deal with drink cans up to 500ml in volume. The company claims this is the first can crusher which separates aluminium and steel cans automatically.
It can hold up to 750 aluminium and 500 steel crushed cans and can crush up to 12 cans a minute. The machine costs £1500.
European Bottle Crushers, 706, has developed a machine which crushes any bottles - even if they have liquid inside them. The operator must undergo training and is given a four digit security code. It is capable of crushing 35 to 40 bottles a minute and will hold 450 kilos in weight.
There is a facility at the bottom of the machine to drain off liquid. The double bin machine costs £5995 and the single bin machine is £4995. To lease the machine costs £30 a week for the double bin model and £24 a week for the single bin model.
Award winner - Equipment
The new Salsa mobile catering wagon from Jiffy Trucks scooped first prize as the show's best new item of equipment. A feature particularly liked by the five-strong panel of judges chaired by Catering Update editor Kathy Bowry is a heat exchanger which draws in cool fresh air from outside the vehicle and raises it by up to 15°C over ambient. It achieves this by using "free" heat from the engine compartment, channelling this inside to maintain the food warming section of the vehicle's capacious food display.
This fitment, according to Jiffy's Charles Cooper, avoids the need for any on-board LPG cylinders which contribute cost and weight to mobile operations. And it's no noisier than a hair dryer. The Salsa, kitted out in Jiffy's signature quilted steel exterior panels, was shown on a Citroen chassis and cab and costing just under £22,000.
www.jiffytrucks.co.uk
Jiffy Trucks
Equipment
Among the shortlisted products, a specially programmed palmtop computer with infra-red link can now be used to carry out a fast and comprehensive diagnosis of FV40.2 dish and glasswashers made by Meiko, 460. Users simply point the "Mike2" device at machines to establish where a fault lies in the event of a breakdown; it can also be used to confirm if the fault is within the machine or external (such as water supply). Information includes time and temperature analysis, detergent and rinse-aid usage and analysis of operator usage patterns.
Aga Foodservice Equipment 461 has recently launched the 'Snack in the Box' complete, point of sale catering system, as pictured on previous page, 32. The system, which customised to produce pasta, beverages, fast food, griddle or bakery products, occupies only 7.5 to 9m, requires only one electrical connection and has no water or waste connections, thanks to its integral water management system. One freshwater reservoir supplies the oven/bakery system and hand basin, while a tank collects all the waste. 'It would be great for fast food retailers, or a food court area where drainage is a problem,' said judges.
Two significant developments in cabinet washers was featured by Winterhalter, 462. The GS202 Bistro is a compact machine able to wash dishes, glasses and cutlery as quickly as one minute without the usual cross transfer problems. Its 460mm wide x 640mm deep cabinet takes 400 x 420mm racks and the four-stage filter system incorporates an alarm to guard against any water contamination. The company is also launching a Double Stacker system which allows the GS302 compact dishwasher to double its load per cycle.
The British-made Cutler Butler System 5000 introduced by Bright Equipment, 464 is designed to dry, sanitise and polish up to 8000 pieces of cutlery per hour with the help of a controlled oscillating action in conjunction with special granulate. Result: consistent cutlery cleaning while reducing costs, towel litter and the manual effort of hand-finishing. With 13 am plug, the unit is light enough for movement to a variety of locations. The existing PRO2 version will also be shown with new features.
Latest combi-steamer refinements demonstrated throughout the show by Rational, 465 include the AeroCat air filtering system and the related Ultravent system, both of which enable combi-steamers to be operated in front-of-house areas without any additional ventilation. A terrific boon.
Award winner - furniture, furnishings & tableware
The Front Cellar mobile bar won Astore Harrison the award for best new furniture product. Attractively clad in wood (with other materials available), the unit suits function service in various locations by coupling fully insulated two-metre long storage for up to three or four kegs with a two-metre back bar containing three bottle fridges. Matching side bars are also available. Aim is to minimise beer wastage by eliminating the need for flash cooling. The whole system can be set up by one member of staff. A basic 1.6m long bar costs from £4400 with a complete set-up including side-bars coming to around £10,400.
Astore Harrison
Furniture, furnishings & tableware
A stylish sphere-shaped teapot launched by Elia, 468 is made in heavy gauge 18/10 stainless steel with highly polished mirror finish. A novel feature is its accompanying teapot tray for extra style when served to table. The company is also showing Maypole cutlery, which features a handle taper with hand crafted raised ring detail, and several new contemporary shapes in fine bone china with a cream white glaze and fully vitrified body.
A novel knife format features in the Vista range of stainless steel cutlery by Robert Welch Tableware, 469. The knife is designed to sit blade down on the table, making for a distinctive setting and mirroring the upward sweep and soft flowing lines of the forks and spoons
Dudson's Elements range, 470 has been developed with presentation of signature dishes in mind. It is extremely tough, microwaveable and dishwasher safe This product is extremely attractive and versatile.
The judges were Stefan Breg, Food & Beverage Director, Hilton UK & Ireland; Peter Gordon, chef and restaurateur (The Providores); Jackie Mitchell, Food & Drink Contributor, Catering Update; Steve Munkley, executive chef, Royal Garden Hotel; Steven Poole, director, The Food Bureau; and Christopher Thompson, director, The Millennium Conference Centre.; David Nicholls,The Mandarin Oriental; Andrew Powis, Stirling Food Service Design; Claire Keene, The Grosvenor House Hotel; Bruce Whitehall, Freelance Writer; Neil Stratton, The Russell Partnership; Ian Neill, Wagamama; James Thomson, The Witchery by the Castle; Katharina Lehmann, The Landmark Hotel. Chairing the panel of judges, Amanda Afiya, Chef editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper and Kathy Bowry, editor of Catering Update.