We are delighted to announce Derek Maher as the new ceda Vice-Chair.

Industry insiders will know Derek as MD and founder of Crystaltech, the UK’s largest independent company specialising in the installation and servicing of all makes and models of commercial glasswashers and dishwashers.

At the ceda Board meeting in December, Derek was formally appointed to the position and will assume the Chair role at the AGM in April 2019.

Derek replaces Phil Howard of Catering Design Group who stood down due to a significant increase in business meaning he would be unable to give the Chair role the commitment he would have wanted to. Thankfully, Phil still is remaining on the Board.

Of his appointment, Derek commented, “With a background in Marine Engineering, Major Projects and Industrial Metallurgy my wife Maxine and I formed the basis of Crystaltech from our garage in 1980 with myself as the first (and only) engineer. From that perspective I am able to understand the challenges that face ceda Members of all sizes. I have been a very active member of the ceda Technical Steering Group for a number of years and see first-hand how that has helped to improve industry standard and our membership.

“In the role as ceda Vice-Chair, I hope to build on the links that I have with other associations and institutions to the benefit of our ceda membership and the industry as a whole.”

ceda Director General, Adam Mason commented, “Derek is very personable and incredibly giving of his time and vast knowledge for the betterment of the Association, fellow Members and the industry at large. I very much look forward to working closely with Derek during his tenure as Chair.”

Catering equipment industry trade body, ceda, are delighted to welcome a new judge for the Grand Prix Awards 2019.

Ron Neville will join long-standing ceda judge John Savage (now in his 7^th year of judging) to determine the winners of this year’s coveted awards.

Ron replaces outgoing judge Brian Booth, who retired from the position following last year’s awards, after six years in the role.

Ron himself received the ceda Industry Personality Award in 2016 on his retirement.

Of the appointment, Adam Mason, ceda Director General said, “With a huge knowledge and experience base, having worked in various roles across the industry during a long and distinguished career, Ron is perfect for the role.”

Ron himself said, “I am extremely happy to be invited to judge the ceda Grand Prix awards and I am looking forward to visiting the sites with John to view the great projects produced by ceda members in 2018.”

The deadline for entries was this Monday, 14^th January. Entries are up by 50% which “demonstrates the growth of the membership and ceda’s engagement with it, as well as the continued excellence of projects and service delivered by ceda Members”, says Mason.

Together, Ron and John will work through all the entries received and decide an initial shortlist. Following the submission of further, more detailed information and deliberation, a final shortlist is arrived at.

They will then visit each one in person to gauge a better understanding of the project put forward, and ultimately decide the winner of each category. The categories for this year’s Awards are; Small Project (up to £100k in value), Medium Project (between £100k and £300k), Large Project (over £300k), Outstanding Customer Service Award, Project Management, and the Rising Star Award.

The presentation of the Grand Prix Awards will take place at the gala dinner, on the final day of the annual ceda Conference. This year’s Conference takes place on 4^th & 5^th April at Heythrop Park, Oxfordshire.

The ceda Conference is the premier event of the catering equipment industry attracting distributors, manufacturers and representatives of other associations representing major end user groups.

Registration is now open for the Conference. ceda Members, Partners, Associates and any anyone else within the industry is invited to book their place at the event via the ceda website, ceda.co.uk/conference/.

The ceda Conference 2019 website is now live and you can begin to register for the event!

ceda Members, Partners, Associates and any anyone else within the industry is invited to book their place at the event via the website ceda.co.uk/conference/.

The ceda Conference is the premier event of the catering equipment industry attracting distributors, manufacturers and representatives of other associations representing major end user groups.

This year’s Conference takes place on 4^th & 5^th April at Heythrop Park, Oxfordshire.

We’ll be adding more details to the site over the coming weeks and months, including agendas and speaker line-ups, so please check back regularly for all the latest news.

In the last 18 months we have recruited 22 new Members. A combination of lapsed Members returning to the fold, having recognised the developments we have been making, and new companies who haven’t in the past been able to recognise the value and relevance of ceda.

The April Conference, Technical Conference, Regional Meetings, BIM training courses and Academy meetings have seen us physically engage with over 600 people from Members, Partners and invited guests in 2018. This shows growth and is really pleasing to see.

Our growth in terms of visibility and profile has been good, particularly the focus on video marketing which is proving incredibly positive in our engagement with end-users and operators.

ceda has continued to develop their service offering and the increased technical support and training have been particularly popular.

We are approaching the end of a busy, challenging but enjoyable year and I am most grateful for the work of Adam and the ceda office team, the expertise of our third-party service providers and the time, commitment and guidance of the Board in making all this possible.

But most importantly, you the Members who continue to collaborate, support and engage with each other and your Association.

Our plans for 2019 are quite incredible and we look forward to sharing them with you in the New Year.

May I wish you, your staff and your families a happy and peaceful Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in 2019.

Jack Sharkey, ceda Chairman

We are ceda. And our members keep the foodservice and catering industry on track.

They repair and replace equipment. They maintain and service. They train, inform and advise the industry.

The improve efficiency, reliability. And profitability. And when things go wrong. They react.

From education to hospitality. From healthcare to fine dining. Every sector. Every situation. Every eventuality. They keep your business running.

Connect. With a ceda specialist.

It’s no over-exaggeration to say service engineers are an integral part of any commercial kitchen operation. If equipment breaks down it has the potential to halt service or even temporarily close a kitchen. In a hospital or school environment, where for vulnerable patients and students, and staff, this is their only food resource, this simply isn’t an option.

Investment in equipment maintenance and breakdown contracts is therefore essential.

In an attempt to show how ceda Members keep the foodservice and catering industry on track, the trade organisation have put together a short video that it hopes will provide an understanding of the benefits and advantages of dealing with a ceda Member.

Many ceda Member organisations have dozens, in some cases 100s, of service engineers on the road every day looking after every element of equipment found in a commercial kitchen. From John o’Groats to Lands End they cover the breadth of the country repairing, replacing, maintaining and servicing equipment in educational, hospitality, healthcare and fine dining establishments. It’s estimated there are nearly 1000 ceda engineers!

“Our service engineers really are the unsung heroes of the foodservice and catering industries.” says Adam Mason, Director General of ceda. “Without them businesses and organisations from the local cafe to the Michelin starred restaurant and every other facility with commercial catering equipment would suffer. This Christmas period we urge business owners and Facilities Mangers, particularly those in the hospitality sector who will be gearing up for the their busiest period, to contact their equipment suppliers and book a maintenance service.”

Please click through to the ceda YouTube channel and subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss future videos from ceda..

The annual ceda Regional Meetings took place earlier this month (Southern Meeting on 14th November, Northern Meeting on 21st November), with 37 Member organisations attending overall, and record attendance at the Southern meeting!

It was pleasing to see, not only established Members amongst the delegates, but many of our newer Members too. Berkeley Projects, KCCJ, Scobie McIntosh and Sprint all sent representatives and threw themselves into the discussions and networking opportunities the meetings provided.

Both meetings began with an Open Forum for Members to discuss issues with their peers. This was an opportunity for Members to share best practice with one another and offer help and advice where possible, as well as a chance to raise concerns with us, that we can investigate on behalf of our Members. It gives us insight into what issues are affecting our Members and how they do business, and how we can support them going forward. Industry and supplier issues were brought to our attention which we will now look into further and provide feedback on when we have it.

Adam Mason gave a short presentation proving updates on Being ceda & Sustainability Pledge, the ceda Academy, Marketing and Social, ceda videos, BIM Training, ceda Safe (safety schemes in procurement for the catering equipment industry), the 2019 ceda Conference and Grand Prix Awards.

Three short supplier presentations followed. At the Southern Meeting we heard from Welbilt UK, Hoshizaki UK and First Choice Catering Spares Ltd. In the North, Hobart UK, Mechline Developments Ltd and Electrolux Professional presented.

The morning sessions concluded with a technical update from Peter Kay. He spoke of the Technical Support available from ceda covering:

Guidance on Best Practice including Guidance Documents and Standard Documents, all of which can be found in the Members Area of the ceda website;

Help with Problems including specific, individual help – often from other Members, common problems – customers who ignore ‘At Risk’ notices, engineer training – shortage of good engineers;

Information which covered the Technical Conference 2018, key priorities including recruitment from the military, and the development of a new apprenticeship standard for a Catering Equipment Technician.

After a networking lunch, the afternoon sessions were made up of presentations from Caterquotes, Tim Knowles and RAMCO.

Paul Shaw from Caterquotes spoke of Technology Solutions for the Catering Industry and new initiatives currently in development.

Tim Knowles talked about safety provisions including asbestos, fire consideration in construction, and creating and maintaining safety cultures.

RAMCO gave an insightful presentation on solutions to dispose of surplus catering equipment.

The meetings closed with some final words from Adam Mason on the ceda Membership – recruitment, rentention and size, ceda Conference 2019 – venue, dates and business day programme, and an e-learning update.