Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 31135

Exotic breads take slice of the action

THE British public's increasingly sophisticated taste for bread has been recognised by West London supplier Panificio which provides exotic breads to 160 London hotels as well as major retailers.

A subsidiary of Northern Foods, Panificio supplies 1,800 catering customers within Greater Londonwith a wide range of Mediterranean-styled breads such as ciabatta and the Spanish gallego - which contains a mix of four seeds and is rolled in a rye basket before being baked.

Clive Tucker, sales and marketing manager at Panificio, said the trendin bread products wouldbe towards more flavoured breads and rolls so that hotel guests could havethe opportunity to taste breads unavailable in supermarkets.

Doubt cast on paper damage

IT IS wrong to view paper or board catering products as damaging to the environment, according to Polarcup marketing manager Simon Scrivens.

He said people needed to assess the impact of everything they did in a catering situation not just how much paper they used.

"We should assess the energy used in washing up, and the environmental impact of using water. The impact of disposing china on landfill sites must be compared with the degradability of paper," he explained.

Polarcup is a subsidiary of a Finnish company and sources all of its paper from that country. Around 75% of Finland is forest and each year the Fins plant 14 million cubic metres more of woodland than is felled.