The Caterer Blog

Acclaim Food has the gig this year for the never dull NME awards, which are to be held on Thursday at London's Hammersmith Palais.

The theme this year to tantalise the great and the good of the music world is band gear. Tying into this Acclaim will be feeding the 600-odd rock royalty with some rather natty tour-style flight case replicas, which you can see in all it's glory here:

On the menu for starters will be noodles and Thai crab with spiced chicken for the main. very nice.

Well I've just about recovered from the whirlwind that is the Cateys. If you weren't there or simply face savouring the night again why not take a look at our splendid Caterersearch TV report on our website? It's an emotional rollercoaster for sure...

It appears the UK's obsession with programmes such as Pimp My Ride, a show where young oiks do daft things to cars such as put saunas in the back or cover them in cuddly fur basically 'cause they can, has leaked into the world of hospitality.

Chuffed with their Catey for Best Group Marketing Campaign, the team at London's Dorchester has decided to give Miss Catey, as she is now known, a splash of colour to make her more in keeping with these celeb. obsessed times.

So darlings, look out for Caterer Group's spin-off What Not To Wear Catey Special coming soon.

Caterersearch TV: The Catey winners in full>>

I've seen a lot of things in hospitality (but I haven't seen an elephant fly) but last week's digestive aid after dinner at the HCPTA annual awards night ticked the Salvador Dali box for sure.

Yes with the BBC Proms in full flow across town at the Royal Albert Hall, as was the wine at host hotel the Landmark in Marylebone, it was our turn to demonstrate our percussion talent or lack of.

Boom Whackers - not a type of experimental Australian jet engine - were the name of the game. Coming to a team building day near you soon, these coloured, hollow cylinders are banged together to make a pleasingly loud noise.

Remember Max from Brookside? No me neither. However the man who played him in the much missed Channel Four soap, Stephen Pinder, is part of a team of judges at the Chester Food & Drink Festival young chef competition this weekend.

Stephen will be rolling into Chester Racecourse on Easter Monday with Jane Casson from Made in Cheshire and Shaun Turner of recruitment firm Halcyon to put the contestants through their paces.

The former Max Farnham is pictured here at one of the qualifying rounds in West Cheshire College. Congratulations to Robert McDermot, 23, of the Red House in Boughton; Richard Lovell, 20, of Upstairs at The Grill in Watergate Street, Chester, and Artur Hebel, 25, of Pastarazzi, Grosvenor Street, Chester who are all competing in the final.

The young chef competition is part of the Chester Food & Drink Festival which runs from March 22 to March 24, Easter Weekend at The Racecourse.

Surely someone from Chester based soap Hollyoaks was available?

Contract caterer Blue Apple's team at Motorola have won the second Association of Catering Excellence Clean Kitchen Awards.

The awards, run in conjunction with kitchen hygiene company Two Services, are in their second year and prove cleanliness is next only to Godliness.

Blue Apple beat seventeen rivals to the title with final judging undertaken by Geoff Ward from HMS, part of the National Britannia Group.

For their troubles the team received a cheque for £1,500 and a stainless steel plaque to commemorate their success.

Second place was Accent Catering's Devonshire House with Elior's Baker McKenzie third. Second place received a cheque for £1,000 and third place £750.

Blue Apple recently landed a deal to feed EasyJet's staff at its new headquarters in Luton, Bedfordshire.

Vacherin is ACE pub quiz champion>>

Vacherin chefs are ACE Ready Steady Cook! Winners>>