January 2009 Archives

As you can see, Product Junkie couldn't wait until 5.30 to test out the exciting new WineWeaver. Well, it is Friday after all.

See below for WineWeaver in action and the previous WineWeaver posting for further details.

For many offices Fridays are considered to be the wind down day of the working week; the "dress down" day; the go out for a team lunch day or a quick pint; the finish off any important jobs day. You get my point.

So you can imagine Product Junkie's joy when a neat package arrived this morning containing a bottle of wine and a funky red wine gadget known as the WineWeaver.

Not that we've downed the bottle and are now spouting rubbish into a blog. We can do that without any alcohol...no, the bottle remains intact and will do so at least until the end of the day. The point is that it is Friday and great timing to receive it.

The WineWeaver looks like a space-age wine glass but it is actually a handy gadget that sits comfortably over a wine glass or decanter to deliver aerated wine direct from the bottle.

You can't open a newspaper without reading about obesity in the UK and yet, according to uniform company NKD Clothing, bar and restaurant workers are actually shrinking.

That's right, it appears the hospitality industry is largely exempt from the problem of weight gain with increasing numbers of female employees demanding tiny size 0 uniforms.

Men too are requesting smaller chest measurements, with chest size 34 demanded most often, the company reports.

Managing director Gill Eastgate, said: "There has been a massive slim-down of staff in the hospitality sector over the past few years.

When it comes to sex, us Brits have a reputation for being a little on the prudish side but curiosity won over last week when Aslotel managing director Murray Roberts delivered his Sex! seminar to a crowd of visitors at last week's Hospitality show in the NEC.

It was quite amusing to sit amongst an audience of suited and booted clientele, refusing to make eye contact with each other, heads facing ahead, hands clasped in laps - others standing on the sidelines peering in like timid birds. At least I had the excuse of a pen and notepad to keep me distracted!

But on to the seminar itself. We're all a bunch of prudes, apparently, and we could learn a lot from our European love god cousins. For those not in the know, Aslotel supplies a wide range of equipment and accessories for hotels, including a selection of intimate cosmetics - created by a Frenchman.

Welcome to Product Junkie, Caterer's new dedicated products blog in which we'll talk all things product- and gadget-related, from the food items that sometimes make their delicious way to our desks (which we obviously feel obliged to eat, especially those of the cake variety) to the weird and wonderful toys-with-buttons-to-press that serve to make life in hospitality that much easier.

Of course, we recently had the Hospitality show at Birmingham's NEC where we always discover something we've never seen before. Product Junkie was rather taken with a nifty bit of kit we came across on one of the exhibitor stands.

The Lillo Due pasta machine is gorgeous and shiny and will provide hours of good clean fun besides taking all the hard work out of making fresh pasta that will spirit your customers' taste buds to Italy for an authentic taste like Mamma used to make.

The machine is ACS Food Equipment's bestseller although the company also supplies larger pasta machines as used by Jamie Oliver at his Jamie's Italian restaurants.

The baby machine can easily fulfil the requirement for 30-60 portions a day and won't take up much room in the kitchen. It's built from stainless steel and bronze throughout and equipped with traditional bronze extruding dies which give a rough surface to the pasta.

We bet you'll polish it lovingly every day.