Tips for hands that do dishes
Check out our comprehensive round up of ideas, equipment and new products to make sure your food offer is a money-spinning winner from concept to plate
Return of the Maggi
Nestlé Foodservices' brand Maggi has launched a Maggi Menu Solutions pack, including a free set of menu ideas and recipe cards to help chefs create interesting options for customers throughout the year. Each recipe card has nutritional information, hints and tips. The promotional pack also includes posters and tent cards suggesting menu ideas for Mother's Day and Easter. Recipes include Moroccan chicken jacket potato, crispy Chinese vegetable wrap, Asian beef soup and lamb shanks with redcurrant sauce.
Call 0800 742842 for more information
3663 - the mark of the feast
Foodservice distributor 3663 has launched a key trading day pack to help pubs boost
trade on special occasions.
Marketing controller Catherine Hinchcliff said: "There are a few days every year when people don't need much persuasion to eat out. Then there are the kind of events that call for celebration, but require encouragement - a reason to go out."
3663 has combined modern recipes with off-the-shelf products and hot beverage serving ideas. Chefs can either prepare a menu from scratch or order ready-made solutions. The pack also contains a CD offering professionally-designed menus, posters and table talkers - which caterers can customise on their own computers. There are also wall planners with key calendar events highlighted.
Call 0870 3663 100 for more information
Falcon flies to rescue
Falcon Foodservice has introduced Beat the Ban equipment prices for licensees who need to buy kitchen kit.
The company has introduced special prices on items like the six-burner Dominator range, Infinity fryer and Eloma Joker mini combi-oven. Ordering all three items together entitles the buyer to a free Menumaster commercial microwave.
Falcon Foodservice marketing manager Barry Hill said: "With the right kit, you can offer wider choice and better food quality. In Scotland, the average pub has served up to 100 extra meals a week since the ban and some pub food sales have doubled."
Call 0800 587 2362 or visit www.falconfoodservice.com for more information on the How to Beat the Ban package
Moy and Marston's search for a winner
Moy Park Foodservice and Marston's Pub Company catering development manager Ben Bartlett have teamed up to offer someone out there in the catering industry a menu makeover valued at £1,000 and a luxury spa weekend for two.
To enter the 'New Menu New You' competition, log onto the Moy Park Foodservice website at www.moyparkfoodservice.com/newmenunewyou and complete the short form with your contact details before explaining, in under 200 words, why you think you deserve the makeover.
Winners will receive a professional consultation from Ben, plus POS from Moy Park. The competition celebrates Moy Park's Menu Makers online service, launched in 2006 and the closing date for entries is 31 March 2007.
For menu tips, visit www.menumakers.co.uk (you can also enter the competition from there)
STAY AHEAD OF THE REST WITH the latest lowdown ON NEW PRODUCTS
Delifrance provides French polish
Delifrance has launched a vegetarian panini that's filled with mozzarella, chargrilled courgette, aubergine, and pepper. The panini comes pre-filled and pre-grilled and can be microwaved from frozen in three minutes.
Delifrance category manager Lucy Pickersgill said: "There is a growing demand for premium snacks that satisfy healthy eating trends while providing caterers with ready-made, quality food that can be prepared in even the smallest kitchen space."
The Delifrance microwavable Provençette range includes chicken, sweetcured bacon and mozzarella, ham and mozzarella, cheddar and onion, tuna melt, and Lincolnshire sausage with egg and bacon.
The products are available in small cases for easy storage and come with branded bags.
Call 0116 257 1871 for more information
Aviko chips in
Chilled chips and potato manufacturer Aviko has launched steam and fresh wedges in skin. The wedges were developed as part of Aviko's "feel-good foods" range of healthier products and Aviko says they are both convenient and nutritious, suitable for kids' menus and combo platters, while being a healthy alternative to deep-fried potato products.
Aviko brand manager Benine Janssen said: "Steam and fresh chunky wedges are the perfect solution to encourage children and young adults to choose more nutritionally-balanced carbohydrates - counting towards one of their five portions of fruit and veg a day."
The pre-cut and pre-steamed wedges can be cooked from frozen in minutes, by steaming in a combi-steamer with a little seasoning and oil.
Menu suggestion: try roasted strips of Cajun chicken breast on a bed of fresh, seasonal salad with chunky wedges, served with low-fat mayonnaise.
Call (00) 31 55 458 200 or visit www.aviko.com for more information
All aboard Butt's bread boat
Butt Foods has created edible bread boats that caterers can fill with hot and cold snacks. The boats come in four flavours; white, naan, herb and wholemeal. They are baked hollow so they retain their shape and texture, and the bread bowls can be filled with moisture-rich toppings and dressings. The product can be eaten hot or cold.
Menu ideas include using the boats for curries, chillies, hot dogs with onions, kebabs, and barbecue treats.
You could also create a Mediterranean herb boat, offering sliced chicken served on a bed of watercress and rocket with pesto dressing, or a cheese boat - a layer of pickle topped with generous amounts of cheese. Alternatively, the naan boat could be utilised for sliced chicken tikka served on a bed of spinach with a mango chutney drizzle.
Call 0115 985 0009 or visit www.buttfoods.co.uk for more information
Heinz on the sauce
Heinz Foodservice has launched a BBQ Sauce for the foodservice market. The versatile sauce offers four applications: dipping, marinating, basting and grilling.
Barbecues have become somewhat of a British obsession, with the UK overtaking Germany as Europe's keenest
Barbecuers. Now the foodservice industry is starting to cash in on this developing trend, with more and more pubs cooking al fresco fare.
Claire Vaughan of Heinz Foodservice said: "Although the new sauce has four main applications, it can also provide bespoke solutions, for example as a pizza base sauce or as a burger relish."
The BBQ sauce comes in a 2.68kg plastic container.
For more information
on the sauce visit
www.heinzfoodservice.com
