They came, they saw… but were they impressed?
Light relief
Director of Furlong Management, Robin Sheppard, wants to make the public areas of the 51-bedroom Hawkwell House hotel in Iffley near Oxford "more modern in a classical way". The hotel is one of four three-star hotels operated by the company, and he says the colours need to be more vibrant, giving a more up-to-date feel to these areas than the present neutral palette of fabrics.
The beech-framed Grand Tub Chair by Skopos Designs on the Craftwork stand would be ideal for the front hall, lounge, bar and the entrance to the restaurant, areas he wants to be defined with different fabrics and shapes. The Leeds-based company works with various designers to produce 40 different designs of chair.
For lighting ideas, Sheppard checked out the display on the Andy Thornton stand. While the company's main portfolio is traditional, it has edged towards the contemporary with some designs, such as a blue wave uplighter and a rather striking single wall bracket in satin nickel with an etched glass shade. To create the right ambience, Sheppard wants to create wells of light with lamps in the lounge.
Auto minibar
Find of the day for Anne Cannon, purchasing manager for DeVere Hotels and Village Hotels & Leisure Clubs, was the Auto Classic minibar from Automatic Minibar Systems. The drinks sit on sensors, and the system gives the guest 10-15 seconds to pick up, inspect and replace something before it's registered as sold. Billing is automatic. It comes in capacities of 40 and 60 litres, and also has ambient shelves for dry goods.
Dream machines
For John Page, operations manager at the 170-seat Bankside restaurant in the City of London, which he co-owns with Kelvin Macdonald, the mission was to find new pieces of labour-saving equipment.
Already the owner of a potato rumbler, Page originally wanted to find a machine he could tip potatoes into and they'd come out chipped. On the Robot Coupe stand he saw something that changed his mind - and would cost a lot less, too. It was a hand-operated device comprising a pusher and blade for cutting potatoes into wedges - perfect for Bankside's chunky chips.
On the Charvet stand Page found something he wanted to add to his existing Charvet cooking suite. Designed as a pasta cooker, its four baskets - each with a capacity of about two litres - sit in a well of boiling water through which fresh water is trickled to flush out the starch and to maintain a rolling boil. Planning to use it for vegetables as well as pasta, Page felt it could be kept going constantly throughout service.
With covers hitting an average of 130 at lunch, Page and Macdonald need an electronic point of sale (EPoS) system with more capabilities than the one they've got. What they're after is a system that will allow orders to be taken and relayed to the kitchen and bills to be printed with the minimum of fuss and delay. Which is exactly what they found in the PointOne and Nomad point of sale systems on the HIT Solutions stand. The Nomad is a wireless hand-held extension to the PointOne touch-screen EPoS terminal and can be used to take orders, send them to the kitchen and bar, and take payments. A mobile printer also links in for printing customers' bills.
Food for thought
A search for innovative and indulgent food and drink was what brought Terry Cook, purchasing consultant for Charlton House Catering Services, to Hospitality Week. He found what he was looking for - and even some things he wasn't.
First stop was Cirio Foodservice, where he was amazed to see a range of tomato products, including chopped tomatoes and passata, developed for the food service industry in an alternative packaging to cans. For Charlton House's 85 contracts, mainly across London and the South-east, these would mean much easier handling of a staple product the company buys in huge quantities.
With lots of interest in speciality breads at Charlton House's sites, Cook is always looking for additions. A sweet pretzel from the Original Pretzel Company caught his attention as a potentially popular grab-and-go treat, perhaps as an alternative to a sticky bun with a coffee. An interesting shape and something a bit different, was the verdict.
Increasing amounts of hospitality and buffet work inevitably means more canapés. But they are labour-intensive and not all the sites have the time or resources to prepare them. Currently, the only option is to buy in frozen canapés. So Cook was happy to find the Canapeum stand displaying what he described as "superb canapés".
There was a huge variety to choose from, including the luxury range using ingredients such as smoked salmon tartare and lobster and asparagus. Managing director David Hyde says he's prepared for his development chefs to liaise with David Cavalier - who works on food innovation for Charlton House - to produce a bespoke range of canapés for the company.
Coffee and a suite
With an emphasis on the food at his two Worcestershire pubs, the Bell & Cross in Clent and the Chequers in Cutnall Green, Roger Narbett found himself gravitating towards the Electrolux stand, which had on display a French-made Molteni cooking suite. He needs to maximise use of space in the kitchen at the Bell & Cross and wants a suite with a combination of burners and solid tops and a salamander that's hard-wearing, easy to clean and practical. He also wants to be able to add other bits of kit at a later stage. The Molteni suite has a stainless-steel top and has the option of a stainless-steel or enamel finish.
Serving quality coffee at both pubs is important to Narbett, and he found two fully automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines on the Tudor Tea & Coffee stand that would meet his needs for simplicity and easy cleaning. The Franke Ecopower has two grinders, a milk fridge, buttons for espresso, cappuccino, milk coffee, coffee and hot milk, and hot water for tea. The new Sinfonia model, which has three grinders and a steam facility, is faster, with a 70% increase in output and a wider range of drinks.
