Independent trials conducted by Campden BRI have confirmed that the HyGenikx air and surface sanitisation system, from UK manufacturer Mechline Developments is effective at removing airborne Coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 which causes Covid-19. The results of the trials proved that HyGenikx removed up to 99.99% of an airborne Covid-19 surrogate in under 3 hours.*

These results back up the real-life experience of our customers including Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL, owner of Café Spice Namasté who said:

“HyGenikx has proven what it can do for us – keeping the air and surfaces clean, pure and fresh, controlling odours and providing extra reassurance for customers so they can relax and enjoy their meal knowing that we are leaving nothing to chance to make our restaurant Covid-secure.”

Nick Falco Product & Technical Director at Mechline explains how the trials at Campden BRI worked:

“Trials were conducted within the Campden BRI aerobiology laboratory to determine the efficacy of HyGenikx towards airborne Phi6 – a recognised SARS-CoV-2 Surrogate (the coronavirus that causes COVID-19). Phi6 was nebulised into an aerobiology test chamber to represent heavily contaminated air. Air samples were then taken every 20 minutes for a period of 3 hours, to determine levels of Phi6.”

As we move into the winter months it is essential to the whole economy that we keep the doors of business open. Unfortunately, physically keeping the doors and windows open is not so great when it comes to customer comfort and sustainability. Indoor air quality, however, is a primary driver when it comes to the transmission of the Coronavirus between people. 

As a tried and tested technology, HyGenikx has a huge role to play in controlling infections – in fact HyGenikx is the most rigorously tested unit of its type on the market. Affordable and easy to install, HyGenikx is a plug and play solution for a challenging world. 

HyGenikx units consume very little energy and operate quietly and efficiently 24/7 without the need for human intervention. The HyGenikx range has models to suit every business from restaurants to bars, hotels, care homes and offices – with specialised units available for food preparation areas, cold rooms, washrooms and refuse areas. 

Cyrus Todiwala, OBE DL added:

“I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend HyGenikx to other foodservice or hospitality businesses as it is the ideal complement to manual cleaning. It helps to protect customers and staff, whilst extending the shelf life of fresh produce.”

*For more information on the HyGenikx testing at Campden BRI visit: https://info.mechline.com/hygenikx-testing

BRITA Professional launches new sustainability insights magazine to help the hospitality industry define and meet their sustainability goals.

Recent research by BRITA Professional has found that despite 82% of hospitality businesses agreeing that sustainability is important to their customers, two in five (40%) don’t know how to calculate their carbon footprint.

A further 37% say they lack knowledge and confidence when it comes to operating in a more sustainable way, and 75% say that the pandemic has slowed their drive towards sustainability.

This research was conducted by leading global water filtration brand BRITA Professional, which has launched a new sustainability insights magazine to support businesses in the sector.

The magazine, entitled “Going Full Circle”, was launched ahead of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, and supports the Government’s global project to achieve a greener, carbon neutral society.

BRITA Professional has teamed up with a strong collective of sustainability experts to give organisations in the hospitality industry the knowledge they need to break down sustainability barriers, tackle the challenges of post-pandemic life, and achieve their environmental goals.

Steve Buckmaster, Director of Sales at BRITA Professional said, “This year has shone a light on several important issues, including the climate change crisis. However, as our research shows, many businesses in the hospitality sector are still struggling to operate in a sustainable way, despite it being of real importance to customers.

“We know that sustainability is an all-encompassing topic, and for many, that is a barrier for businesses in knowing where to begin. So, our aim with this magazine is to support organisations in the sector in recognising the challenges, tackling the big issues, answering the big questions and debunking myths.”

BRITA Professional is committed to relieving pressure by supporting customers with preventative maintenance of catering and beverage equipment via its BRITA Managed Services offer. Equipment that suffers from limescale build up uses more energy and has a shorter lifespan, meaning more machines going into landfill. Preventative maintenance not only has a positive impact on the circular economy, but helps operators keep their costs down.

The company has also made a series of commitments to reduce its own environmental impact, such as diverting 100% of its operational waste in the UK from landfill. BRITA has also been recycling filters since 1992 and is working closely with partners to align the entire supply chain to encourage all used filters to be recycled. Once collected, a bespoke process turns them into everything from resin to be used in new filters, to the plastic used to make parts for the automobile industry.

To download a copy of the BRITA Professional Sustainability Magazine, visit ⁣Going Full Circle | BRITA

As we enter ceda Conference month, the trade organisation is pleased to announce the shortlist for the ceda Grand Prix Awards 2021!

The highly anticipated awards are recognised across the industry and highlight the best of the best projects carried out by ceda Members in 2020. Members that have excelled in project management and customer service are also celebrated with their own specific categories.

Successful companies have been informed and it is our pleasure to now announce the ceda Grand Prix Awards Finalists 2021.

Design Projects: Under £50k

Court Catering Equipment Limited – Harrods Beauty Bar, Lakeside

Court Catering Equipment Limited – Copthorne Hotel, Chelsea Football Club

Vision Commercial Kitchens Limited – The Compasses Inn

Design Projects: £50k – £200k

CNG Foodservice Equipment Limited – Bike & Boot

Sprint Group Limited – Coppa Club

Court Catering Equipment Limited – Soho House Farmhouse

GS Group Limited – Birmingham Symphony Hall

Design Projects: £200k – £500k

CNG Foodservice Equipment Limited – Gilpin Lodge

Instock Ltd – Unalome

Vision Commercial Kitchens Limited – Wentworth Garden Centre

Vision Commercial Kitchens Limited – RHS Gardens Bridgewater

Design Projects: Over £500k

Advantage Catering Equipment Limited – Unita Quattro

Space Catering UK Limited – Battersea Cats and Dogs Home

Outstanding Customer Service

GS Group Limited – Somerset Care

Vision Commercial Kitchens Limited – Ego Restaurants

Vision Commercial Kitchens Limited – HMS Host, Manchester T2

Project Management

Sprint Group Limited – Tortilla

Advantage Catering Equipment Limited – Elwick Place

The Awards judges, John Savage and Ron Neville are in the process of carrying out site visits to talk to operators and assess the quality of the work carried out.

The winners will be announced during the ceda Conference Gala Dinner, on Thursday 25th November at The Majestic Hotel in Harrogate. From the six category winners, an overall victor will also be revealed. They will take home the coveted Sir Donald Thompson Cup. The winner of the ceda Rising Star Award 2021 will also be crowned.

The ceda Legacy Awards will be announced at the ceda Conference Dinner on Wednesday 24th November, at the same location.

Adam Mason, ceda Director General, commented, “Despite the pandemic, the Grand Prix Awards have been very well supported by the membership. Our judges, John and Ron, have once again given their time generously to work through each and every application and make some difficult decisions. I really look forward to discovering this year’s winners, and celebrating not only them but this fantastic industry as a whole and how we have all worked so hard, together and apart due to COVID-19, over the last year.”

Registrations for the ceda Conference 2021 are now open for both Members and non-members. Those who would like to attend are asked to submit their details here: https://ceda.co.uk/conference2021/registration/

Further details of the shortlisted entries can be found at: https://ceda.co.uk/conference2021/grand-prix-awards-2021/

The ceda Conference 2021 sponsors are First Choice Group, Hobart, Hupfer, Instanta Ltd /Zip Water UK, Maidaid Halcyon, MCS Technical Products, Mechline Ltd and Welbilt.

Registration for ceda Conference 2021 is now open!

The Conference is the premier event of the Catering Equipment Industry calendar, attracting design houses, project houses, distributors, service and installation companies, suppliers, manufacturers and representatives of other associations representing major end user groups.

This year’s event, held in association with Cedabond, will take place on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th November at The Majestic Hotel, in the heart of beautiful Harrogate. The Conference 2021 is a Wednesday/Thursday affair, as opposed to the usual Thursday/Friday, however the format across the two days will be familiar.

The Conference will begin on Wednesday with a networking lunch, followed by a series of meetings in the afternoon – the ceda AGM, a ceda Academy meeting and ceda Technical meeting, and Cedabond will be hosting Members and Suppliers meetings.

This will be followed by the ceda Legacy Awards Dinner on Wednesday evening.

Thursday will be the return of the highly anticipated ceda Conference Business Day, which is open to all! A brilliant programme of expert industry speakers for us to listen to and learn from as the industry rises from the challenges of the last 18 months is currently being worked on. The roster of speakers will be revealed very soon! ceda Partners and Associates will also be exhibiting at the Business Day, highlighting their exceptional products and services.

Thursday night will be the Gala Dinner featuring the Grand Prix and Rising Star Awards.

The Awards and Gala Dinner host, across the two evenings, is Chris Brazier, the charismatic Event Director of Diversified Communications. The Business Day host is, once again, the affable Peter Martin of CM & Co.

ceda’s Adam Mason is looking forward to getting back to an in-person Conference. He said, “Our last physical Conference was back in April 2019. Whilst we have connected on webinars, Teams and Zoom, as well as our superb Digital Event & Awards in March of this year, there’s nothing quite like a face-to-face industry event.

“The ceda Conference 2021 will be a return to the format we all know and love with live, in-person presentations from leading industry figures covering the most important issues facing our industry. And let’s not forget the ceda Legacy Awards and Grand Prix and Rising Star Awards Gala Dinner!

“Despite the pandemic, the Awards have been very well supported by the membership and are currently going through the judging process.

“There will be extra networking time factored in across the two days as we appreciate that reconnecting will be so hugely important for everyone attending.

“We can’t wait to see you all, in-person, again in November and we are looking forward to welcoming you to the ceda Conference 2021!”

For more information about the ceda Conference 2021 and to Register for the event, please visit ceda.co.uk/conference2021/. More details and speakers are being added regularly, so please check back for updates.

This is a great opportunity to come and see the UK team from CHARVET (Friday and Saturday), to finally meet up in person, to touch and feel these wonderful heavy duty cooking suites.

Ask us about the evolution of our workhorse PRO 800 cooking ranges.

Hall 5P – Stand R17 S20

Same heavy-duty quality, but now with innovative additions: –

• Pro 800 Multizone Induction – replicating the traditional solid top – launching with a GN2/1 oven under.
• Pro 800 Six Burner Range with a choice of large oven, open base, or bridge unit.
• Pro 800 660 mm X 580 mm Smooth Griddles and Smooth and Chrome Plancha in gas and electric.
• Charvet has also launched new Pro 800 110 litre gas and electric boiling pans in direct heated and water jacketed versions.

Charvet’s Premium Finish – a palette of ready-made colours – is also included, to show chefs how they can economically and tastefully colour their range to suit the decor or logo.

Commercial Catering Spares have launched their brand new Ancillaries Catalogue, featuring their extensive range of pre-rinse units, taps, basins, water hoses, pumps, gas interlocks, gas hoses, grease management and fly killers.

All Ancillary products are available to view in their state-of-the-art web shop: www.ccspares.co.uk/en/webshop/login

Their catalogue is available to view online: www.ccspares.co.uk/en/catalogues_ccs

SpaceCombi Magic Team combi steamer wins Innovation Award

As the Commercial Kitchen Show in London closed its doors on 24 September 2021, the MKN UK team left not only with a smile on their faces having enjoyed that long missed trade show feeling but also went home as gold winners. Trade show visitors and the Innovation Challenge’s renowned expert panel had jointly decided to award gold to MKN’s SpaceCombi Magic Team combi steamer.

The award recognises innovative products and technology that enhance today’s professional kitchens and increase efficiency. This sums up the SpaceCombi Magic Team perfectly. Equipped with two separate cooking chambers and having a width of only 55 cm, the appliance offers sufficient flexibility to cater for any market trend. The integrated MagicHood for extracting odours lets it operate self-sufficiently and it is not dependent on any ventilation system. You can just cook without limits wherever you are. The innovative appliance features and endless possibilities offered, fully convinced the expert panel of the Commercial Kitchen Challenge. According to Katie Tyler, Commercial Kitchen’s event manager, MKN’s compact combi steamer was also praised as being energy efficient and space saving.

While proudly accepting the award, Wayne Bennett, MKN Regional Vice President, UK & Ireland explained why he is especially thrilled to receive this particular prize: “It’s a great honour to receive this award as the showcased products are not only scrutinized thoroughly by an expert panel but also by show visitors. We couldn’t ask for better market feedback”.

In a jam-packed three days at the end of September, First Choice Group, together with sponsors, MKN and Hobart, hosted a chef mentoring event for NHS staff. The event, which took place from Tuesday 28th – Thursday 30th September, saw healthcare chefs take part in cook-offs, benefit from dedicated mentoring sessions, and even engage in recipe inspiration demos from leading speakers.

Hosted by First Choice, at the company’s state-of-the-art conference and event facilities, just over 50 chefs of the National Health Service’s brightest chef talents converged on Cannock. With sustainability being a key topic in our industry, the theme for this year’s event was ‘The Future of Food’ and included a talk on ‘The Net Zero Kitchen’ from the NHS Greener Team, as well as a live cookery session from Meatless Farm titled ‘Enhancing menu choice for healthy, low carbon eating.’

“The NHS Mentoring Event was a great way for us to show our commitment to those who’ve given so much to our nation in recent times. From world-class mentors to an impressive line-up of speakers, the event delivered a fantastic agenda. We were also keen to raise awareness of the need to support the future of food, with many of the sessions and the live demos, hosted in the dedicated First Choice kitchens, centred around ongoing sustainability.”

Stuart Brereton, Business Development Manager at MKN.

Across the three days, the events saw guest speakers, including Nick Vadis, Culinary Director at Compass Group and the Chef Ambassador to NHS Supply Chain, Phil Shelley, Chair of NHS Food Review 2020, Emma Brookes, Head of Soft FM Strategy & Operations at NHS England and Dr Rupy Aujla, an NHS GP who started ‘The Doctor’s Kitchen’, deliver a raft of engaging sessions. The delegates were also introduced to key industry mentors, each able to support the chefs to serve a quality menu to patients and visitors in their care settings.

“We were delighted to welcome chefs from across our National Health Service to a dedicated mentoring event hosted by First Choice. At Hobart, we wanted to show our support to those in our industry who’ve worked tirelessly by providing an invaluable service to our nation. What better way to do this than to bring together a celebrated line-up of guest speakers and a group of well-respected mentors to give something back.”

Simon Gardiner CFSP, Regional Manager, Hobart UK Equipment Division

Using First Choice Groups purpose-built event facilities, which include conference space, break-out rooms and a fully functioning professional kitchen, the event culminated with a light-hearted Ready, Steady ‘Plant Based’ cookoff to pit the delegates against one another, all in the name of competitive fun.

“It was a real honour to host the NHS Mentoring Event, in association with MKN and Hobart at First Choice. With everything our great health service has put up with over the past 18-months, to be able to give something back by way of a dedicated mentoring event, including some fantastic speakers and a fun cook-off competition was just a small way of us saying our thanks.”

John Whitehouse, Managing Director at First Choice Group

To find out more about event sponsors and leading catering equipment manufacturers, MKN or Hobart, please visit www.mkn.com or www.hobartuk.com.

For more information on the genuine OEM spare parts, accessories and consumables from First Choice Group, please visit www.firstchoice-cs.co.uk.

Hobart Equipment Division has appointed Tracy Southwell as its new Sales & Marketing Director. Tracy, who has almost 25 years’ multi-channel experience in the food and beverage industry, replaces Tim Bender, an ‘industry stalwart’ who retired during the Summer after many years of service.

On her appointment, Tracy commented: “I’m absolutely delighted to join Hobart Equipment Division at this pivotal time in the company’s evolution. Our market-leading business has successfully and skilfully navigated its way through the pandemic and is now faced with a raft of new and exciting opportunities. Our dealer partners remain an integral part of our next level growth journey, as do all our customers, as we jointly sustain the success of our core brands: Hobart, Bonnet and Ecomax.

“A key priority will be ensuring our brands continue to be the primary signpost for reliability, professionalism and performance in the catering equipment industry.”

Commercial Catering Spares has reopened its training centre for the very first time since the global pandemic began. At the end of September several engineers attended the very first Rational Training Course of 2021 with tutor, Stuart, who has over 18 years’ experience working as a field service engineer for a Rational Service Partner. The announcement of the reopening was well received and had a great attendance.

Commercial Catering Spares continue to implement hygiene and safety measures to ensure all staff and customers remain protected. More dates for the Rational Training Courses will be released in the near future. If you are interested in booking on a course or hiring our training centre for your own use you will find more information at www.ccspares.co.uk/en/training_ccs. Alternatively email sales@ccspares.co.uk.