What's NEW
Heavy duty cloth
A heavyweight polyester-cotton basecloth is the latest addition to join the Premier range by Enfield Polymers. Designed for heavy use - and aimed at the pub and bistro market - the company says the matt PVC coating makes the cloth highly resistant to staining and spillages. Laundry costs are also kept down as a wipe with normal washing-up liquid keeps material clean.
It comes in a wide selection of contemporary, classic or plain prints, or can be custom-printed with customers' own designs. The widths of the Premier range fall between 138cm and 140cm.
PRICE: £9 per linear metre. To cut them to size costs £1 per square or oblong, or £2.50 for circular
AVAILABLE FROM: Enfield Polymers
0181-803 4358
Oyster pearl
Ever had problems serving your customers oysters? Well, if you have, you can now use the electric oyster shucker invented by French restaurateur and architect Gabriel Guilloux and available through Fourneaux de France.
The machine drills through the muscle that clamps the oyster shell together, then inserts and twists a small hook so that the shell opens quickly and easily. No juices are lost and shells can be pre-prepared and put back into the refrigerator - for no more than two hours.
PRICE: £450 excluding VAT
AVAILABLE FROM: Fourneaux de France
01202 733011
Right way up
Frozen food specialist Tryton Foodservice has launched a pineapple upside-down pudding for caterers.
Part of the company's Aunt Bessie's range, Tryton describes the pudding as a light, fluffy sponge with a generous helping of pineapple sauce topped with a whole pineapple ring. It is microwaveable and comes in individual 150g portions packed in cases of 12.
PRICE: About 65p per 150g portion
AVAILABLE FROM: Tryton Foodservice
01482 212232
Baked-well
Farmhouse Potato Bakers has introduced three new products to its portfolio: Stuffed Jackets (pictured left), Buttery Minted Baby Bakers and Mediterranean Style Mini Roast Potatoes.
The Stuffed Jackets are baked potatoes, halved, deep-scooped and filled with four types of filling: Cheddar cheese, cheese and onion, cheese and ham, and cheese and broccoli. They can be microwaved or oven-cooked from frozen and each case contains six bags of eight 125g potatoes.
Buttery Minted Baby Bakers are small baked potatoes coated with a combination of butter and mint, which, again, can be microwaved or oven-baked from frozen. They are supplied individually, quick frozen in cases of four 2kg bags.
The Mediterranean Style Mini Roast Potatoes have the addition of roasted onions, roasted red peppers and a Mediterranean-style marinade and can be oven cooked from frozen.
PRICE: Stuffed Jackets - about £15.50 per case (32p per portion); Minted Baby Bakers - about £12 per case (15p per 100g serving); Mediterranean Style Mini Roast Potatoes - about £20 per case (25p per 100g serving)
AVAILABLE FROM: Farmhouse Potato Bakers
01262 605650
Sugar sweet
Multi-coloured sugar sticks are the latest addition to sugar sachet company Nutshell Packaging's existing sugar stick range.
The sticks can contain either brown or white sugar and the packaging features the primary colours of royal blue, canary yellow and pimento red overpainted in gold. They are available in boxes of 1,000 and each one contains 4.5g of sugar.
PRICE: About 1p per stick
AVAILABLE FROM: Nutshell Packaging
01722 321630
Hunt the dish
Dexam Housewares has launched the Chasseur range of porcelain oven-to-tableware which, it claims, is designed to be durable and highly resistant to chipping.
It is also microwave-proof, dishwasher- and freezer-safe and can be put in the oven straight from the freezer, which, Dexam says, makes it more hard-wearing than stoneware or earthenware.
Available in three colours - racing green, cobalt blue, and yellow - the range is available as 10 individual pieces consisting of square roasters, rectangular roasters, oval roasters, ramekins and a soufflé dish.
PRICES: From £2.95 for a ramekin to £12.95 for the large oval dish
AVAILABLE FROM: Chasseur
01428 658888
Coffee on tap
A family of bulk coffee brewers has been launched by Marco Beverage Systems. The range includes a twin-urn version of the QwikBrew filter brewer, along with a larger model, the MaxiBrew, available with both single and twin urns.
The fully automatic single-urn QwikBrew will make up to 50 cups of coffee per brew in full or half batches from a 12in-wide cabinet, while the twin version offers double the capacity, along with the option to serve from both sides simultaneously.
MaxiBrew, which makes up to 480 cups per urn each hour, is targeted at volume caterers. Standard on all models is a hot-water tap for tea-making and other purposes with up to eight pints available and an hourly output of up to 144 pints.
PRICES: QwikBrew single-urn model, £1,200
AVAILABLE FROM: Marco Beverage Systems
0151-708 7151
