JAN/FEB COUNTRY RANGE MAGAZINE FOR CATERERS 2011 WIN A FANTASTIC COFFEE QUEEN THERMOS WORTH £265 ON THE RANGE WITH CHEF NIGEL SMITH CATEGORY MY SIGNATURE TAKE A DISH BY BUTCHERS FOCUS DANCING ON ICE JUDGE at SLow HOT BEVERAGES KAREN BARBER COOKING ROBINSONS and the ROBINSONS ARCH device are registered trade marks of Robinsons Soft Drinks Limited. P8553 Robinsons Double Concentrate Teaser Trade Ad ARTWORK.indd 1 23/11/2010 14:53 JAN/FEB Editor’s COUNTRY RANGE MAGAZINE FOR CATERERS 2011 WIN A FANTASTIC COFFEE QUEEN THERMOS WORTH £265 Letter Welcome to your new and improved Stir it up! ON THE RANGE As we welcome in the New Year, we thought it was WITH CHEF NIGEL SMITH time that we gave your favourite catering magazine CATEGORY MY SIGNATURE TAKE A DISH BY BUTCHERS a fresh new look. FOCUS DANCING ON ICE JUDGE at SLow HOT BEVERAGES KAREN BARBER COOKING We’ve also introduced some new regular features, STIRITUP CONTACTS which we hope you will find, not only interesting, EDITOR Janine Nelson but useful to your business too. [email protected] Meet our new Country Range development chef Telephone: 01282 611677 WRITER Sarah Rigg Nigel Smith on page 23. Each issue he’s going to Telephone: 01282 611677 be cooking up some fabulous recipes in our new We’d love to know what you think of the new-look DESIGNER Richard Smith On the Range feature. magazine and would very much appreciate it if Telephone: 01282 611677 Our reader survey last year also highlighted your you could send us a quick letter or email to share PUBLISHER Practical Publishing Telephone: 01282 611677 increasing thirst for more product information and your thoughts. ADVERTISING Mags Walker so, in response, we have created Category Focus, Wishing you a happy and prosperous 2011! [email protected] where, each issue, we will give you the lowdown on Telephone: 01282 611677 SUBSCRIPTIONS Olivia Blunn a specific food or drink category. We’re launching [email protected] with Hot Beverages and you can find out all you Telephone: 0845 519 6181 need to know on page 25. 09 25 43 contents Food features Favourites 09 RECIPE 06 NEW YEAR FEATURE 05 COOkS CALEndAR • TAKE A BUTCHERS AT SLOW COOKING • FOOD TRENDS 2011 05 ROgER RAnT 19 Country range 11 5 WAYS TO USE... 16 COUnTRY CLUb • COUNTRY RANGE SWEET CHILLI SAUCE Customer profile • THE MERRY HARRIERS 13 celebRITY 21 BAUMAnn’S bLOg signATURE dISh 25 Category focus • HOT BEVERAGES 21 GARY SAYS • BY DANCING ON ICE JUDGE KAREN BARBER 35 FOOd & IndUSTRY nEWS 43 LEAdIng LIghTS 14 NEW PROdUCTS In • MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS ThE MARkET place 37 HEALTh & WELFARE WINNER CLAIRE LARA • CATERING FOR OLDER VEGETARIANS 23 On ThE RAngE • WITH NIGEL SMITH 38 EdUCATIOn • RISE IN SCHOOL MEALS TAKE UP FOR THE fIRST TIME SINCE 1970S 39 HOSPITALITY • “DARLING DON’T FORGET TO FACEBOOK US A TABLE FOR TWo” 40 AdVICE FROM ThE EXPERTS • FROM COOKING GOOD TO LOOKING GOOD Cert no. TT-COC-2143 January/February 2011 Stiritup 03 Make sure you stock our Best Sellers • Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar is now Fairtrade. • Twirl is the No.1 chocolate bar in the UK, worth over £30 Million.* • Wispa is the No.2 chocolate bar in the UK, worth over £27 Million.* Not everyone knows that since October 2009 the Cadbury hot chocolate range has been Fairtrade certified in the UK and Ireland. *AC Nielsen Total Coverage MAT W/E 27.03.10 FAVOURITES OURITES V The FA Soapbox JAnUARY FEbRUARY by Roger Rant 1st NEW YEar’S DAY 3rd CHINESE NEW YEAR (Year of the rabbit) 24th - 26th HOSPITALITY 2011 Birmingham NEC 14th ST VALENTIne’S DAY www.hospitalityshow.co.uk 21st - 27th NATIONAL CHIP WEEK 24th - 26th ESSENTIAL CUISINE CHEFS www.lovechips.co.uk TEAM COMPETITION Birmingham NEC 28th - 13th FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT www.essentialcuisine.com March TAX 24th - 30th FARMHOUSE BREAKFAST WEEK MARCh www.farmhousebreakfast.com FREEdOM? 25th BURNS NIGHT 8th SHROVE TUESDAY www.burnsnight.net/burns-night/2009 The last time I heard about 9th Ash WEDNESDAY 25th - 29th GOOD FOOD SHOW 13th - 16th IFE - THE INTERNATIONAL Birmingham NEC Tax Freedom Day - when FOOD & DRINK EvENT www.bbcgoodfoodshow.com/home Britons begin working for ExCel, London themselves rather than the www.ife.co.uk 13th - 16th PRO2PAC taxman - it was at the end ExCeL of May (don’t ask what it Royal Victoria Dock, London is now). www.pro2pac.co.uk 17th ST PATRICk’S DAY Meanwhile, whilst Brits are working off the debt, coping with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), recovering from Christmas expense Letters etc. etc. we have to attract these people to eat Hello, I think you may find these anecdotes a wee her partner and ordered a burger, chips and baked out of home. It can’t be easy, can it? But! bit amusing for your readers. I run a country pub beans for him as well as something for herself. How better to easily cheer yourself up than (The Three Horseshoes in Barrow, Suffolk) and both After a couple of minutes, I asked them if with a nice cup of coffee, some comfort food happened on the same day. A female customer everything was alright. or a quality restaurant experience. Hold on, came in with her partner and ordered the drinks. “No, there is no mention of burger relish being what was that word? EXPERIENCE. That’s “Have you got a slimline lemonade please”. added to the burger on the menu, and my the X Factor in catering, the sum of the parts “Sorry, no” I replied. partner is diabetic, so can’t have sugar” that is more than just the food. “Well, what slimline drinks have you got then?” So I looked at that tiny dollop of burger relish, then “Just slimline tonic.” at the pile of baked beans in tomato sauce with all “O.k., I will have to have one of them” the sugar that contains, and gave a very polite apology. You can email your letters to “And what would you like to eat?” You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose [email protected] “The full English Breakfast please!” your customers! Save 20 calories, and then eat 700 calories! Bruce Burgeon, landlord of The Three That same evening, another customer came in with Horsehoes, Barrow, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk January/February 2011 Stiritup 05 FEATURES Jan-packed “Last year we had snow for two weeks - this Winter blues-buster 4: helped the fast food and home delivery market. Use cheaper ingredients and provide ‘sharing For example Domino’s sales went sky high. dishes’ on your menu. Tapas and Chinese sharing “However restaurants have to work much plates are particularly popular with customers. harder to entice people in using discounts, special menus and themed nights. Marketing Winter blues-buster 5: should be stepped up during January, This is a good time to give your menu an overhaul particularly aiming to get regular clients in.” and let your customers know about it with a chalk EAR Some restaurateurs - such as Stir it up columnist board on the forecourt or a sign in the window. W Y Mark Baumann - choose to close their businesses Check your local supplier for special cheap food for part of January. deals and base your new dishes on this. NE Says Mark: “We are all pretty tired from the Christmas season, so we take a couple of weeks off to rest and also give the restaurant a deep clean.” Peter Backman But while a January break suits some establishments, there are still many things you Tips for boosting business can do to survive the post Christmas lull. during caterers’ quietest Check out our tips . month of the year Winter blues-buster 1: The turkey bones have been boiled for stock; the A reported 79 per cent of Brits go on a diet in festive frills are back in the box and you’re toying January each year - so offer customers a ‘New with the idea of renaming your establishment, Year, New You’ menu, bursting with healthy ‘La Marie Celeste’. options, low fat sauces and puds. Don’t you just love January? Winter blues-buster 2: If this year’s figures are anything like 2010’s - your This is the month to come up with discounts sales could sink by up to 50 per cent at this time and theme nights. What about ‘discount divas’, of year. offering a free glass of wine for the ladies with Figures in a report by industry forecasters each meal ordered? Horizons reveal the snowstorms of 2010 caused a sudden sales slide - while conversely the Winter blues-buster 3: takeaway market boomed. Don’t over-staff. Work out the fairest way to cut Says report author Peter Backman: “While each hours throughout the month of January so you year differs, January is always a slow month. are keeping your workforce happy too. Functioning to Please Do you have a functional yoghurt drinks and breakfast cereals, which claim consumers claim to be buying more functional to help reduce cholesterol, boost the immune foods now compared to a year ago. breakfast menu to satisfy system to fend off infections or aid digestion, as “The healthy eating agenda has been a key issue your over-nighting guests? well as similarly spiced-up spreads, water, juices for the UK food industry with rising obesity levels and milks. in adults focusing the Government’s attention on Latest research from Mintel shows that just With the market for functional foods predicted the need to encourage consumers to maintain a over two-fifths of Britons now opt for foods to grow, to curry favour with your guests and balanced and healthy diet.” with added health and nutritional benefits encourage their return, should you be making such The functional foods market, according to the when doing their shopping.