What does James Bond have for breakfast? Kippers? Frosties? Lucky charms? A Russian dissident with a lousy shot? Pussy Galore?

The answer is: we'll never know. Nor will we ever find out what brand of muesli Moneypenny brunches on, how Q likes his eggs or if M ever sneaks through two bread rolls with his soup.

According to Compass-held caterers Everson Hewett, details of their contract in London's MI6 Building are, in a line KR assumes was lifted straight from The Rock, on a "need to know basis", and discussing it would be breaking the official secrets act.

Venue-Elior was introduced ahead of its launch later this month to a crowd of event bookers at Lloyds of London last week.

Headed by the unlikely sounding Scot, Raymond Santamaria, the service will offer 40 prestigious venues to event bookers to hire, such as Kempton Park, with catering provided by incumbent Elior UK.

But Kitchen Rat hears Santamaria, now UK marketing manager for Venue-Elior, has taken an even more unlikely career path to reach his current position than his unusual surname suggests.

Kitchen Rat was interested to see that the "Iron chancellor" Gordon Brown elected to kick off his challenge for the Labour Party leadership at the Imagination Gallery in London with the catchphrase "new ideas and vision". Nice.

Whether Gordon will successfully cater to the party faithful's needs only time will tell but the choice of venue was neat as the feeding duties are handled by contract caterer Vacherin whose director of business development Phil Roker is competing in this year's Frankfurt Iron Man on 1 July.

Although contract caterers could be forgiven for thinking their role is to serve good food at keen prices in attractive environments it appears in the spirit of "the client is always right" a certain operational flexibility is always useful.

Yes having puzzled over Atkins, endured the cabbage diet (pooey) and got our heads around GI, a new "revolutionary" diet aid has arrived in the City and could be on the menu at a firm near you soon.

ReSet is a weight loss programme that claims to do-what-it-says-on the-tin and reset the function of your pancreas, reducing acidity to a neutral PH to reprogramme appetite and reduce hunger and cravings with the use of an apparently patented technology called Viscofiber plus Whey Protein (yes, that's the science part).

Midlands contract caterer Olive Catering Services, which was set up by some former Catering Alliance bods and a PwC accountant three years ago, has grown the business to more than 50 contracts and £6m-plus of turnover off the back of a no-compromises commitment to excellent food, in the main locally sourced.

Although based on premises at a working farm in Ratcliffe Culey, Warwickshire, efforts to impress upon clients that Olive's focus on quality ingredients is a sincere one, at a time when everyman and his food-miles friendly hound seems to have hopped on the locally sourced bandwagon, must be hard work.

Last week contract caterer Elior UK leant its support to Across the Line, a sports themed event held at the home of cricket, Lord's in North-west London, to raise funds for development agency Plan.

Guest stars included rower Ed Coode, Badmington's Gail Emms, former England cricket star Alec Stewart and champion jockey Richard Dunwoody.

After dinner and a desperate attempt by the now slightly addled guests to complete a sports quiz, a charity auction commenced and the real fun began.

House wifes' favourite and former 400m Great Britain star Roger Black was on hand at last week's Association of Catering Excellence conference in London as a motivational speaker.

Kitchen Rat hears that the taller and leaner than you might think Mr Black, who has a couple of Olympic silver medals and a team relay gold from the 1991 World Championships, was there to deliver a pep-talk to delegates on achieving your full potential.

Kitchen Rat salutes Phil Roker the business development director at City caterer Vacherin.

If you think your day has been hard spare a thought for the insane Roker who completed - no mean feat in itself - the Frankfurt Ironman on the 1 July raising, to date, £2,000 for charities Hospitality Action and Debra.

Roker put himself through a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride and a what-the-hell-I-can-still-stand marathon (the full 26.2 miles).

It seems 2007 is turning out to be a very good year for contract caterer Aramark.

Kitchen Rat hears the caterer has pulled off a second major business and industry catering win following its estimated £15m a year BBC contract.

Aramark’s credit must be high as the caterer has taken over the complete running of banking giant HBOS’s catering, thought to be around 25 sites nationwide. A major coup!

The feeding duties were previously split between Aramark and Sodexho and although the value of the deal has not been officially confirmed industry sources believe it to be multi-million. Estimates run from £8m in annual turnover up, so that should keep the bank manager from the door.

Wembley, Wembley – er, keep it down please, you’ll upset the neighbours.

According to a piece in the Evening Standard (ES) fans are being too noisy at the nation’s recently opened football stadium centrepiece but they’re of the extractor variety rather than scarf wearing, lager quaffing sort.

Yes, it seems the much delayed stadium is unluckier than a visiting team at Old Trafford and following multiple delays in construction, a soaring bill that pretty much bankrupted construction firm Multiplex and trouble finding an executive chef, residents have now complained that the 500 fans used to expel air from the stadium’s impressive assortment of catering outlets sound like jet engines.

That’s the look, the look, the look of love sang ABC in the eighties but it seems few things change if you’re a contract caterer pitching for business.

Apparently one London caterer didn’t get past go and certainly didn’t collect £200 when they pitched up at the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, earlier this year for a tender without – dare we say it – ties!

Although that’s so media, darling, and increasingly acceptable in the business world generally it’s fair to say the academy, which was founded in 1660 overlooking the Mall and St James’ Park, prefers a certain gravitas to its affairs.

Dedicated to promoting excellence in science in the UK and commonwealth no less and the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, the Society has the likes of Professor Stephen Hawking as a fellow. Channel 4 it is not.

Apparently as soon as these open neck types arrived an immediate look passed between the clients and “that was it for them. They could have walked on water but it wouldn’t of mattered”. Quite.

Well if the face fits.

The advent of the web has been a wonderful thing.

It means you can stay up-to-date with the latest hospitality news courtesy of Caterersearch and do things like your banking and shopping at the sort of irregular hours that suit hardworking hospitality types.

Of course criminals have been quick to make the most of this new opportunity as well. An unprotected computer is easy prey for viruses and hackers so it makes sense to get the correct software to protect your personal details.

Although the mention of Apple in this context may suggest a certain Californian company that sells computers and expensive phones, it is in fact contract caterer Blue Apple Catering that is the focus of this hi-tech tale.

If you’re pitching for an ad. agency in central London, full no doubt of spiky-haired types in sharp suits, you’d better make sure your sell is up to scratch.

Although it’s true everyone has to eat, the likes of JWT, now part of WPP the largest agency of its type in the world and home to clients including Vodafone, Ford and HSBC, are always on the lookout for that extra certain something.

Boutique caterer Harbour & Jones obviously has just that ingredient having nicked the £1m annual deal off Compass Group’s “dinner lady” attired team from fine dining arm Restaurant Associates, Kitchen Rat hears.

The annual Christmas party can be a tedious affair especially when you’re holding it for clients.

Determined to make their client event memorable, one London caterer put on their creative elf hats recently and decided an evening of burlesque would fit the bill.

With the theme set the managing and business development directors found a suitable venue, which promised no less than the Welsh Dita Von Tesse (or Samantha as she turned out to be known) in a pantomime based on Cinderella.

It is at this point it’s worth recommending that if you are taking out a group of VIPs that are essentially paying your wages it is wise to check out the performance beforehand.

The eighties. A decade of excess, of Thatcher and the sort of conspicuous consumption only Russian oligarchs and US R&B stars truly go in for these days.

One managing director of a small but perfectly formed catering company was recently reminiscing about those halcyon days that taste forgot.

At the time he was overseeing the catering and hospitality at Barings, the oldest merchant bank in London until its collapse in 1995 thanks to Nick Leeson.

He had a good relationship with the client at the bank and always made sure he did the very best he could to deliver top service, holding regular meetings with him to discuss how the hospitality operation was running.

Ahead of one such briefing the caterer took it on himself to examine how the contract was running.

After a thorough investigation he identified several areas where a number of cost savings could be made through simple efficiencies, thinking the bank’s masters would be delighted.

On the face of it Aramark had a darn good 2007 with a number of high profile contract wins including the BBC and HBOS.

It also opened a fancy new innovation centre at the London Underwriting Centre, getting Gordon Ramsay, no less, along on launch night to endorse it.

Aramark’s Innovation Centre is a collection of its "high street" offerings, technology and a demonstration kitchen, put in place to showcase the range of options it has to offer customers.

So it was probably with a few choice oaths that the news Aramark has been replaced to cater for underwriter Catlin, one of the LUC's larger tenants, was received at its headquarters at Millbank Tower, London.

There may be trouble ahead (for the economy), but skipping the music and dance bit, being thrifty is always nifty if you’re a caterer.

Yes operating on wafer thin margins is tricky at the best of times and with rampant food inflation at the moment the business of feeding people isn’t getting any easier (or cheaper).

Still, a recently uncovered initiative by a multi-million pound contract caterer straight from the school of every-little-helps managed to raise an eye brow or two on Kitchen Rat.

A request for a mug shot to illustrate an appointment story – the not unusual news of a chef moving from one caterer to another – was declined. In itself this is not unusual, the Caterer journalist in question simply thinking it was to do with sensitivity or politics around the move. Not so.

“It’s a large file and they only send those out after seven pm as it’s cheaper,” an incredulous sounding contact at the smaller caterer reported back to the journalist.

Presumably for hard copies you now have to send in a self addressed envelope and it’s a case of bring your own ketchup in the staff canteen and share tea bags.

How much sugar's in your tea?

With small, privately owned caterers ten-a-penny these days and the industry frighteningly incestuous, rumours of imminent takeovers reach Kitchen Rat on an almost daily basis.

Ignoring the fact that Charlton House, according to industry gossips has been up for sale seemingly since Robyn Jones founded it, one slightly more credible whisper doing the rounds recently was that City caterer In House was being offered for sale.

The rumour seems to have grown out of the fact that joint managing director Andrew Merret has this month left to pursue other interests.

However, a bit of digging and a chat with a source close to the company reveals Merret wasn’t a shareholder and the story with In House is something different.

With a healthy conference and event business combined with executive dining services the company, which was launched in 1995 and has around 100 staff and 22 contracts turning over around £7m, is doing nicely enough for its three major investors.

So much so that chairman Gary Hall is apparently considering a move into the concessions market. It appears he is pursuing the recruitment of a bright young thing or things to have a shot at running it almost as their own business under the In House umbrella, keeping things very much in house.

Contract catering news round up>>

In House Catering>>

Contract catering's big five in push for healthier school meals>>

So Sodexho Alliance has become Sodexo.

At Kitchen Rat we’re all for simplicity and it’s hard to argue with this bit of American English style revisionism.

We’ll even accept the new company tagline, “making every day a better day”. It certainly shows ambition.

However, full disclosure of the thinking behind such a change as the company reinforces its image as a facilities management firm not just a caterer, isn’t always best.

For example, in its press release an earnest Sodexo explains the pesky h in its name has been dropped because “h is often associated with the hotel and foodservices business, particularly in Europe”. Really?

It’s also apparently easier to pronounce than, one supposes, something such as L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon or Leicester Square (if you’re American).

Still, people get paid a lot of money to come up with this sort of stuff, not least the bunch that justified the amalgamation of Sodexo’s five stars into one on the new corporate logo thus:

“The single star symbolizes the performance and energy of Sodexho teams directed toward a common objective. This star differs from other stars, just as Sodexo stands out from its competitors”. So now you know.

Sodexo wins major army contract>>

While the industry giants such as Compass and Sodexo have teams dedicated to marketing it's not so easy for the smaller contract caterers to make their voices heard.

Being the alternative is no alternative at all if no one knows who you are.

Luckily Nathan Jones, the other half of boutique caterer Harbour & Jones (H&J), isn’t too proud and has adapted guerrilla tactics in a low-tech approach to viral marketing.

Curious to know if Jones has passed through the airport or train station you’re at?

Well it’s easy enough to find out. Find the nearest public internet terminal and if you’re unexpectedly confronted with the H&J home page then you’ve had a visit from the firm’s marketing fairy in chief.

Does it work? Well H&J recently took a random, but charming, Californian foodie along on their regular client trips around London’s Borough market after she saw the site at an airport and couldn’t keep her curiosity in check.

No doubt it will snowball from here on in. Watch out Compass!

Harbour & Jones gets top Compass chef>>

It’s time to drop the H bomb>>

Vodka revolution wins Harbour & Jones new deal>>

Silver screen service>>

Contract caterers are generally an honourable bunch (aside from the occasional bout of well-humoured bitching about each other).

However, it’s also a given that caterers phone each other’s clients to keep in touch and “see how it’s going”.

Still, Kitchen Rat was mightily amused to hear that as one well known foodservice consultancy hammers out a code of conduct for the industry, which has popular support, one cheeky business is, shall we say, up to its old tricks of stretching the truth.

Misinformation may be a useful tactic but it’s not entirely professional.

Unsurprisingly, we hear Bartlett Mitchell (BM) co-founder Wendy Bartlett is on the warpath after it emerged that the contract caterer in question has had its sales team telling potential clients that BM is about to be sold.

Very naughty.

Apparently the very same contract caterer was last year putting a similar rumour out in the marketplace about Midlands based Catermasters.

Sometimes it's important to communicate your vision. On other occasions knowing when to keep it to the point is priceless.

Exciting things are happening at Birmingham’s NEC, not least £10m of investment in its catering, and what better way to illustrate this improvement than with food itself.

As part of this it was the turn of the group’s outside event catering arm Amadeus to take its turn in the spotlight last week.

Clients and associates were invited to a swanky dinner at picturesque Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire.

Keen no doubt to tuck in and enjoy the perfectly matched wines courtesy of wine merchant Bibendum, NEC Group executive Paul Thandi cut to the chase in his pre-dinner welcome.

“18 months ago we set ourselves a strategy for the company, which was to be the market leader in catering. As part of this we today relaunch Amadeus. Some will tell you it’s all about sweating group assets but I believe it’s simply about bloody, good food.”

[Which it was].

Holroyd Howe is dead! Long live Holroyd Howe! Actually despite the December takeover by BaxterStorey Kitchen Rat hears talk in the industry that the demise of the Holroyd Howe name is premature and it's set to live on.

Word is Holroyd Howe is going to become a brand catering exclusively for independent schools leaving the state sector to the group's CaterLink run by Tony McKenna.

Cater Link wins Islington school meals contract>>

No honour amongst thieves?

Kitchen Rat has learnt that contract caterer Aramark has won a deal to cater for business information publisher Bloomberg at its Finsbury Square offices in London from next month.

The multi-million pound contract, previously run by Elior's Avenance, is operated with a heavy subsidy from the employer with staff able to help themselves to free refreshments and food.

It's a huge boon for the caterer, which last July won a mammoth £15m a year deal to cater for the BBC in London.

Aramark to cater at all HBOS sites>>

They really are dancing for joy at contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell (BM).

Having won Caterer’s Best Places to Work in Hospitality title in their sector last week, the team at BM have also landed the Royal Thames Yacht Club in salubrious Knightsbridge as a client.

Reputed to be the oldest club of its type in the UK, the London base has two bars, reading rooms, a restaurant called the Coffee Room and “cabins” for those needing a place to weather any storm (or simply sleep).

This recent tide of success has had such a profound effect on BM creative director David James – a past UK champion Irish dancer no less – that he hasn’t been able to still his dancing feet since.

Kitchen Rat hears that the “King of the Step” even took part in an Irish Cahlie at a recent BM bash, showing his talents lie not just within catering but in Michael Flattery’s arena.

No confirmation as yet whether the routine will become part of all future tenders by the caterer, although it certainly sounds more fun then sitting through yet another PowerPoint presentation.

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin scoops two Best Places to Work awards>>

Wendy Bartlett, director, Bartlett Mitchell: My life in hospitality>>

Bartlett Mitchell scoops £2.5m City contract>>

Bartlett Mitchell website>>

Sodexo has finally given the beleaguered populace of Newcastle something to smile about, helping take Geordies’ minds off Kevin Keegan and the hostile takeover of local brewer Scottish & Newcastle.

The caterer and facilities management company has started a £250,000 initial one-year deal to feed Newcastle Building Society staff at Cobalt Business Park.

The deal also includes cleaning and gym services (!). Sodexo will initially be feeding 150 building society staff but the number is set to rise to 500 later this year as more are moved into the recently built site.

However, there could be considerably more mouths than even this to feed as Personnel Today reports that disenfranchised workers at the now nationalised Northern Rock are looking to work at rival Newcastle Building Society.

So smiles all round then, just don’t mention the Magpies or the fact that Madonna has bought a Scottish & Newcastle pub (she hasn’t).

Sodexho Alliance renamed Sodexo>>

Sodexho: It’s time to drop the H bomb>>

Scottish & Newcastle takeover deadline extended>>

So, plans to get contract caterers to sign up to a code of conduct to stop school-yard shenanigans between them at handover time have taken another step closer to realisation.

A meeting of the great and good in the sector has been arranged for next month in London’s Canary Wharf business district to hammer out the details.

Apparently it's not unheard of for out going caterers to delete records of bookings, sabotage equipment and bad mouth the incoming party.

But wait.

Although news that the ex-HR director at Gate Gourmet during the horror show that was the Heathrow staff dispute of 2005 is dishing out advice to Acas – itself a conciliation service – is certainly delicious, Kitchen Rat can go one better in regards to the code of conduct.

With the Formula 1 season upon us and questions as to whether Lewis Hamilton can win it, BaxterStorey has beaten the pack to win Honda.

The contract caterer is providing services to the Honda racing team, which with Jenson Button had a season to forget in 2007, at its base of operations near the Silverstone race circuit in Brackley, Northamptonshire.

The BaxterStorey boys are feeding up to 700 staff and already cater for Honda rival the Red Bull Racing team.

As both BaxterStorey chief executive Alastair Storey and deputy chief executive William Baxter are self-confessed petrol heads it’s no doubt a bit of additional business and pleasure.

Nice to see after last year's takeover of Holroyd Howe that BaxterStorey hasn't taken its foot of the gas.

Official Formual 1 website>>

Joy to the World: Honda F1 ditches globe livery>>

BaxterStorey swoops for caterer Holroyd Howe>>

William Baxter and Alastair Storey on the making of a marvellous merger>>

Having won Ready Steady Cook! last year contract caterer Vacherin has got one up on it’s rivals again with victory in the annual Ace pub quiz.

The Caterer Adopted Business took top honours at Imperial College last night beating double winner Bartlett Mitchell to the title.

However, considering Ace is the Association of Catering Excellence and its membership consists heavily of contract caterers, it was worrying to hear that one of the rounds that tripped contestants up was the one on food.

There are plum City contracts for contract caterers and then there are the likes of investment bank Goldman Sachs, run by Compass Group.

Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s oldest investment banks and was founded in 1869 long before the expression credit crunch came into vogue.

However Kitchen Rat hears the re-tendering exercise currently being conducted at the firm isn’t going as smoothly as perhaps envisioned.

Are you being served? by Graysons Restaurants the contract caterer backed by ex Compass chairman Sir Francis Mackay.

Well staff at chemical and forensic analysis firm LGC in South London now are in what is Graysons first contract-catering deal.

As mentioned Sir Francis is backing the new contract caterer but the Compass Group link doesn’t stop there.

The problem with doing the right thing is that everyone thinks it’s a marvellous idea until they realise it might actually apply to them.

Tired of “school boy” style pranks at handover time the Stern Consultancy and a number of contract caterers have got the ball rolling on a voluntary code of conduct for handover to a new supplier.

As ever time has flown by and the meeting is set for next week at McGraw Hill at Canary Wharf , which was won last year by Bartlett Mitchell one of the early supporters of the charter.

There’s always been a question of authenticity attached to Disneyland Resort Paris (DRP) – a suspicion that American and French culture weren’t obvious bedfellows.

Still, for their part, it seems the former top brass at the resort – then Euro Disney - really did live and breathe life in the Enchanted Kingdom and were happy to lead by example.

Back when Sir Francis Mackay, now at Graysons, was chief executive of Compass Group, the firm landed the staff feeding deal at the Paris resort.

Mackay was invited over to France to officially sign the deal behind closed doors with the then DRP boss Gilles Pélisson, now head of hotel company Accor.

After a dinner at American diner Walt’s, the executives retired to sign the papers. At this point, none other than Mickey Mouse himself appeared and kept proffering the document to a taken aback Mackay.

Puzzlement became stunned disbelief as the French execs present happily chatted to the six-foot mouse as if he was indeed Mickey and this was a completely ordinary day-to-day occurrence.

However Mackay was not to be fooled, confiding that he became suspicious of Mickey’s authenticity as he refused to speak a single high-pitched word throughout the meeting.

Graysons Ltd brings in more Compass talent>>

Graysons lands first contract at chemical labs>>

Being one of Caterer's Adopted Businesses is an honour not bestowed lightly.

It's better to be talked about than not at all, after all and there's a lot of associated credit to go with a regular feature in the hospitality magazine.

Although Caterer's reach is well established with a number of ex-pats. on the subscription list, one tale from current Adopted Business Vacherin still managed to surprise.

With all publicity being good publicity, it appears Caterer's coverage of City caterer Vacherin has permeated the world wide web and has been picked up as far away as Africa.

Pol Roger is one of the few remaining family-owned champagne houses in France.

Although not as large and therefore well known a producer as the likes of Moet & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot (who have between them almost half the market), the house, which was founded in 1849, is highly regarded within the wine trade.

Suitably bespoke city caterer Vacherin called in recently at Pol Roger's Epernay base, which is situated in a splendid manor house, with a mix of directors, managers and clients on an educational trip organised via Laytons wine merchants.

Pol Roger's Hubert de Billy, director of sales and marketing for France, was on hand to give an extremely entertaining tour of the adjacent production facility and cellars.

It seems with demand for the fizzy stuff being fuelled by emerging markets such as China and India, Champagne is already struggling to meet this unquenchable global demand and finding enough grapes for production is much more difficult than finding customers.

It seems Raffles the gentleman thief may be on the prowl again if a break-in at top-end caterer Vacherin is anything to go by.

The directors, back from their trip to Champagne and after the long bank holiday weekend, returned to their Bedford Row offices in London to find them ransacked.

Although entry (a kicked down door) wasn't very elegant that's probably simply the fact that Vacherin's office doesn't have a tempting skylight to lower one's self through.

The Caterer Adopted Business's computers were untouched and although some cash was taken ("for expenses and sundries") it seemed at first that an old laptop and a projector were the only other casualties.

However, on closer inspection the true nature of the crime became apparent.

It seems Cater Link has impressed the good people at Camden Council in London as it's set for an an extention to its initial three-year school meals contract.

The caterer, which is part of the same stable that owns business and industry caterer BaxterStorey, was appointed in 2006 after parent protests forced out Compass Group's Scolarest from the £2.5m a year contract.

With the new nutritional  standards coming into force at primary schools this summer and plenty of challenges remaining at secondary level, hospitality magazine Caterer is running a School Meals Survey to tie in with its Education Month in July. So if you're a caterer with views on school meals share them.

Camden drops Scolarest for school meals>>

Food inflation hits school caterers>>

Sodexo chef named School Chef of the Year 2008>

100% School meals uptake shocker (Caterer Blog)>>

London caterers rejoice. It appears greed has been the downfall of Raffles the gentleman thief.

If you remember, last month Kitchen Rat brought you the breaking news that a gentleman thief had broken into contract caterer Vacherin's London office at Bedford Row.

The gentleman thief ignored the techy stuff like computers and instead stole four suits, 12 laundered shirts (leaving the one that had been worn), two pairs of shoes and a quantity of ties instead (director of business development Phil Roker is a keen cyclist).

However the scoundrel's taste for the finer things in life was apparently unquenched and he made a decision that will haunt him to the end of his days: Namely, to return to the scene of the crime.

Yes weeks after the original misdeed Roker had the indignity of losing ten recently replaced shirts (still in their packets), some more shoes, further booze (to celebrate another successful job) and some rather splendid cufflinks.

Raffles also swiped Vacherin managing director Mark Philpott's fine pen.

It seems Mark Philpott, managing director of City caterer Vacherin, was by necessity a bit of a jammy dodger in his youth.

Although he's now running a high-end caterer feeding hedge fund, PR and marketing types in the capital it wasn't always this way.

Arriving as a fresh faced 21 year old in the big smoke, Philpott saw an advert for work in the south of France and jumped at the opportunity: Namely selling ice-creams on the beaches of Saint-Tropez and Cannes based at the prestigious Carlton hotel.

Full of dreams of becoming a film-star Philpott arrived in a gloriously hot south of France only to find out that he'd be camping in a field near the hotel and selling doughnuts!

Needless to say demand for doughnuts in the sweltering heat wasn't high and Philpott encountered rival gangs on the beeches that - no doubt on a sugar fuelled high - chased him from their patch. 

Yes, it was either a hasty retreat or the risk of getting Krispy Kremed.

Catering is hard graft but some catering bosses really dig it and find the boardroom simply doesn't provide the thrills of the staff restaurant.

Word reaches Kitchen Rat that one such individual is Ian Mitchell, co-founder of Bartlett Mitchell.

Such was Ian's enthusiasm to "get back to the floor" he recently took a week off to help out friend Lena Björck, managing director at high-end event caterer Inn or Out.

The event caterer was providing corporate hospitality at the recent Farnborough International Airshow and Ian rolled up his finely tailored sleeves to help out, returning a week later to Bartlett Mitchell exhausted by sated.

While Ian enjoyed the dynamism of being back on the shop floor, sources have confirmed that Wendy Bartlett, the other half of Bartlett Mitchell, will be maintaining a strictly strategic role within the industry.

 Bartlett Mitchell wins first private members' club deal>>

Bartlett Mitchell scoops £2.5m City contract>>

Where would we be without the BBC? Well a few years ago a lot better off as licence-fee payers.

Kitchen Rat hears from a former manager that when he took on his role around the start of the decade staff at the Beeb were spending an eye watering £300,000 a year on biscuits at meetings through their corporate hospitality budget.

Although new rules on Hob-Nobbing were introduced to address this, no doubt much to the disappointment of then caterer Eurest, veteran broadcaster John Humphrys hit the nail on the head for most large organisations when he retorted "it's not the biscuits we should ban but the meetings".

Blanc's The Restaurant winners quit after seven months>>

Hotel operator sought for former BBC Scotland site>>

Aramark takes £15m a year deal off Compass>>

The BBC these days probably conjures up the image of a giant bureaucratic entity smothered in health & safety rules. Despite this, its catering policy used to be somewhat more "relaxed".

Although the BBC had an onsite caterer for staff - currently Aramark and before this Compass - there was and has always been a need to cater for outside events such as programme launches.

However, a former manager tells us that it was more Only Fools and Horses than The Restaurant when they joined in the not too distant past.

Seems it was standard practice to recommend your mates for catering gigs, or at least a local restaurant that you'd once peered through the door into, to feed dignitaries and the various other VIPS in attendance.

So casual was this arrangement that our source informs us that two of the restaurants used by one section of the Beeb for event catering had actually appeared in a BBC TV programme. Alas, this was a show exposing filthy eateries.

In another particulary risky case, food was apparently prepared in a domestic kitchen before being driven across London in a car and delivered to a party attended by a South-east Asia ambassador.

Unsurprisingly this risky business was nipped in the bud and an assessment procedure established to draw up a list of approved caterers, which in this case sounds like commonsense rather than bureaucratic nonsense.

Aramark takes £15m-a-year BBC deal off Compass>>

Blanc's The Restaurant winners quit after seven months>>

Contract catering round-up>>

Fresh from a spot of back-tracking over the London Living Wage, Kitchen Rat can reveal London mayor Boris Johnson has thrown himself into his work ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Admirably a recent evening visit to City Hall, where caterer Jill Bartlett is installed, revealed no Boris supping wine or wolfing down finger food while hobnobbing, which let's be fair is more than can be said for many a freeloading politician.

Although sartorial excellence might not be the major's strongest suit, it appears he is at least hardworking, so much so that he rarely has time for more than an expresso or a Diet Coke in City Hall's staff restaurant.

Of course everyone deserves a break and Boris's weekly, and it sounds well deserved escape from the pressure of official office, comes once a Thursday when he sits down to a Jill Bartlett prepared curry.

Although not as fiery as his mayoral predecessor Ken Livingstone, Kitchen Rat is assured that when it comes to spice in his curry, Boris can hold his own.

Reassuring as for some his appointment as mayor was hard to swallow.

Jill Bartlett extends deal with Shearman & Sterling>>

Visit London reveals global adds campaign ahead of Olympic handover>>

Crown Group's Kudos Hospitality has wrestled away the deal to run hospitality and banqueting services at the City's Honourable Artillery Company, Kitchen Rat has learnt.

Kudos takes over from longterm incumbent Chester Boyd from January.

Interestingly Kudos parent company Crown appointed a new commercial director in March, none other than David Morris who was managing director of Chester Boyd. Coincidence no doubt.

It's also been said that that Kudos managing director John Wright has left the company, although, alas, Kitchen Rat doubts the two caterers are doing the equvialent of a student exchange, which would be fun.

Anyone know John's whereabouts?

Crown Group sets up own Dragons' Den>>

Chester Boyd wins deal to run public cafe at Buckingham Place>> 

Given that we're all bankers now thanks to the Government's bail out of UK lenders to the tune of £400b, an investment bank related catering story seemed timely.

Last week the Association of Catering Excellence held its annual Ready Steady Cook Team challenge, a popular and fiercely contested competition amongst the contract catering industry.

Ultimate honours went to Charlton House who beat fourteen of their peers to the coverted title.

I say fourteen teams but there were actually fifteen on the billing.

Alas at the eleventh hour industry heavy-weight Aramark called to say that they simply couldn't spare the required two-strong team of chefs as they were mobilising their £10m Goldman Sachs contract.

Well fair play Aramark. It's rare that you hear about such a literal 'all-hands-to-the-pumps' approach to launching a new contract, and rarer still at a caterer with an annual turnover of £400m and more than 12,000 employees in the UK.

I'm sure Goldman Sachs will be very happy and it's a case of credit where it's due rather than credit crunch for Aramark.

Lehman Brothers collapse bad news for Compass>>

Aramark wins BBC catering deal>>

Aramark to cater at all HBOS sites>>

Goldman Sachs says goodbye to catering manager during retender>>

Although the skills shortage is the much spoken about thorn in the hospitality industry's side it seems for event caterers a shortage of beautiful people can be just as crippling.

There's no point after all in putting together a fabulous party with the cutest canapes and most darling design aesthetic, if Doris the 20-year employee with the weird eye from the staff restaurant is the one offering up the grub on the night.

A recent meeting with an event caterer confirmed Kitchen Rat's suspicions that at most fancy events there are a disproportionate amount of good looking girls and boys waiting on clients than is entirely plausible. Random chance it is not.

Suede's "Oh, hear they come, the beautiful ones, the beautiful ones", could have been playing in the background as the caterer in question conceded sourcing fine looking young things from recruiters was almost as important as sourcing great grub.

Although hospitality's sector skills council is called People 1st, we're not certain this was the thinking behind the name, but it seems for some in the events market the face really does have to fit. 

Contract caterer Charlton House has won the deal to feed staff at London law firm Mayer Brown.

Under a three-year deal the caterer will manage hospitality services, previously run by Elior's Avenance, at Mayer Brown's Pilgrim Street office until February 2009.

After this time the law firm is relocating to a new site in the Broadgate development in the City at 201 Bishopsgate.

Services at the new site will include a staff restaurant for the first time, as well as hospitality, fine-dining, vending and a coffee shop for the firm's 750 staff and partners.

Kitchen Rat hears Charlton House pipped rivals BaxterStorey, Lexington and Harbour & Jones to the gig.

Charlton House regains 'Ready Steady Cook' crown>>

Charlton House wins Allianz Insurance deal>>

FSA reports on healthier workplace meal drive>>

Crown Group's Kudos wins Honourable Artillery Company deal>>

Contract catering round-up>>

Tory leader David Cameron may have urged us to "hug a hoodie", but it seems that this touchy-feely approach could in fact be the missing piece in the school-dinner uptake puzzle.

While Jamie Oliver has been making headlines once again, slamming the Government for a lack of investment in the school meals system, and caterers themselves are still kicking up a fuss about the new nutrition-based standards, the bods at Surrey school meals may have a simpler, more cost-effective solution to the problem.

A recent pilot at ten schools in Surrey saw new starters at primary level offered free school meals for a week to entice more children to use the service.

But, put simply the uplift from this initative was disappointing.

However, before schools minister Ed Balls thinks he's found the perfect reason to dismiss the Food for Life Partnership's calls for free school meals for all, an insider at Surrey has a quite different take on why the caterers literally couldn't give the stuff away.

It's because the children are missing their mummies. Aaaahhhhhh!

"My own daughter was the same when she went to school, which was of course the first time she'd been away from home. She found it all so traumatic at first that she simply wouldn't eat very much at all for the first few weeks."

So, a hug as well as healthy grub to boost school dinner uptake. Bet Jamie Oliver never envisioned that one.

School meals round-up>>

Contract caterer Artizian has been quietly adding high profile clients to its books in recent months.

Known in the marketplace for its commitment to good health through good food, Artizian has demonstrated that it's far from a one-trick pony by winning business at two prestigious London clients.

The company, set up in 1997 by Alison Frith, now counts law firm DLA Piper (staff restaurant) and investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort as clients.

Both contracts were previously run by Restaurant Associates, which is part of industry giant Compass Group.

Most recently Artizian has snapped up camera-to-printer-manufacturer Canon and is providing services at its UK headquarters in Surrey and at a training facility in Sussex.

The previous incumbent here was Sodexo, so another notable scalp for the independent, which is now just shy of the 20 contract mark.

Contract catering news page>>

Heathrow's Terminal 5 may at last be running like the finely tuned machine always intended but it seems likely that behind the scenes there's still the occasional bit of turbulence.

Kitchen Rat caught up with several former Sutcliffe caterers recently and got to chatting about what a balls-up the launch of the new terminal had been this summer.

However what goes on front of house is, according to those that used to work there in the distant past, only the half of it.

Jamie Oliver has criticised local authorities for the fact that only 5,000 out of the 125,000 dinner ladies had been trained in healthier eating. Oliver said that it was a "bloody disgrace" that more attention had not been given to these those serving food to children in schools. 

Speaking in front of a select committee group of MPs, Oliver also said that more support needed to be given to the School Food Trust. He praised their work, but said that "as they are a government quango they can't always tell the truth. They can't be as outspoken as I can be".

However, Oliver added that there were flaws in the government's plans to teach primary school children to cook. He demanded that the government invest £6.5 billion over the next ten years into the overall meals and teaching provision.

Oliver also called for someone to direct policy for the coming decade. "Why isn't there a minister of food?" he asked the panel. "Why isn't there someone from the private sector all over this like a rash?" he asked. "Why haven't we got one person driving this for the next ten years?"

Former Aramark UK chief executive Bill Toner has been uncharacteristically quiet since leaving the caterer in 2005.

Although there was tell that he had shaved off his strident quiff a while back and talk of him joining Jerry Brand's Host, which came to nothing in the end, the man that helped build Aramark into a major force in UK contract catering has been flying under the radar for some time now.

However, Kitchen Rat hears tell that Toner has sold his London pad, donated his expensive business suits to charity and moved to Scotland (admittedly to enjoy the odd round of golf) where he plans to devote himself to good causes (no, not the golf)...

Proof that real life can be stranger than fiction?

Marcus Wareing enters into partnership with caterer Aramark>>

Bill Toner to leave Aramark>>

"Golden brown texture like sun, Lays me down with my mind she runs, Throughout the night, No need to fight, Never a frown with golden brown" was inspiration enough for one new firm.

Stuck for a name that didn't consist of the two founders' surnames, Simon Elliot, who last month launched Gold & Brown with partner Andrea Walwyn at the Academy Health Club in Harrogate, Yorkshire, heard the above Stranglers hit on his car radio and the rest, as they say, is history.

The company, which also has an online ordering business offering a range of locally sourced and ethical British goodies including products from Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, has dubbed its cafe/delicatessen hybrid at the academy as a Caffètessen and plans two more outlets before Christmas.

Gold & Brown's website certainly impressed judges at Caterersearch's Web Awards last week who named it as their inaugural Foodservice Website winner.

So perhaps Queen's Don't Stop Me Now , Yazz's The Only Way Is Up or even the Sweet Smell Of Sucess by the Stranglers might be more appropriate for 2009.

Formula 1 is a glamorous circus with a British world champion in Lewis Hamilton and no shortage of razzmatazz and oversized Champagne bottles.

Certainly it's a fast paced, occasionally tedious, sort of do, so you'd expect catering for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to be an exciting, no-time-to-catch-your breath, sort of affair.

And you'd be right. And then some, if caterer Aspire Hospitality's experiences are anything to go by.

Having won the deal to cater at the circuit in 2007, and another at Towcester race course last month, the relationship so far has been a rewarding one that has, naturally enough, involved a steep learning curve for the newly formed group, which consists of independent caterers.

While you might think that running the British Grand Prix at Silverstone each summer would naturally involve a week or so of preparation ahead of the race weekend itself, the truth is somewhat different.

In fact five-and-a-half weeks ahead of the grand prix in June this year the race engineers turned up to test tyres, smoke and listen to heavy metal (one presumes), in one of those heart-stopping moments that all caterers face at some point in their career.

With the January transfer window fast approaching the football rumour-mill is in full flow, but this year it seems a member of the catering premier league is included as well.

Word reaches Kitchen Rat that the UK's largest contract caterer Compass Group has won a £4m annual turnover catering deal at Championship team Cardiff City FC.

Cardiff, managed by Dave Jones and beaten FA Cup finalists earlier this year, move into a new state-of-the-art stadium next August, which is when the Compass contract will likely start.

Compass already provides catering services at Chelsea and Southampton football clubs under its FMC brand, so should be well versed in meeting football fans' expectations.

Compass Group retains contract with Wellcome Trust>>

Sodexo nets £38m catering deal with Newcastle United>>

News reaches Kitchen Rat that former Everson Hewett boss Stuart Everson has returned to the world of contract catering after a break by accepting the role of chairman at Jill Bartlett.

His arrival is timely as Jill Bartlett is mobilising one of its most prestigious contracts yet, the feeding of staff at the Guardian News and Media's new headquarters at King's Place in London's King's Cross.

Everson Hewett, created by former Compass employees Stuart Everson and Jon Hewett, was, rather neatly, bought by Compass Group in Febraury 2004 as part of its fine dining operation.

Everson went on to run Compass's Baxter & Platts business before leaving Compass last year.

Everson Hewett as a brand, like Baxter & Platts, have subsequently been phased out by Compass, which unified its fine dinning activities under its Restaurant Associates brand. 

Stuart's input will no doubt be useful in a year that has seen Jill Bartlett step up a gear with deals to cater at magazine publisher Emap on top of an extention at law firm Shearman & Sterling.

Boris Johnson: hardworking mayor of London>>

Contract caterers feeling the pinch>>

Take a peek at this new design for a conference centre in Utrecht. Wall-to-wall carpets, fake brass fittings and mock oak panelling it is not.

The look is from architecture and design consultancy 123DV, and is part of the Jaarbeurs complex in Holland, with eight meeting rooms, plus a main congress hall that holds 800 people. The roof there is transparent, so it feels like you're meeting under the wide open sky. Oh, the romance of it all as you scribble notes on management change strategy.

Principal Hotels rebrands after Hayley Conference Centres buy >>

Compass Group retains contract with the Wellcome Trust >>

It seems Compass Group has had a bit of seasonal cheer of its own, with rumours abound that the catering giant has sewn-up a seven-year deal at Goodwood in East Sussex.

Compass, which in 2007 signed a one-year extention at the estate, is believed to have landed the £7m-a-year turnover hospitality contract at the site, which features a racecourse and Goodwood House, under a deal that will see it invest £1m in the facilities there.

Compass has been invovled with Goodwood, which is home of motor-racing events the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, since 1987 and has been running its exisiting contract under its Payne & Gunter brand.

Both Compass and Goodwood declined to comment.

Mike Stapleton to leave Compass after nearly a decade>>

Compass signed up at Cardiff City FC?>>

Belt tightening puts squeeze on contractors>>

However, it's not quite as black and white for caterers, as although clients' collective belt-tightening is putting a squeeze on them, outsourcing to manage costs has never been so popular.

Contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell seems to be one such beneficiary as it's picked up £2m of new business and seven new clients in the last four months alone (and is on the cusp of signing it's 100th contract).

And Wendy Bartlett, managing director of Bartlett Mitchell, is certainly glass half-full about the year ahead.

"The year ahead is going to be challenging for every company but proactivity in budget control, and food innovation that keeps customers coming in pays off with contract gains and business retention," Bartlett told Kitchen Rat.

So here's to a tough but potentially rewarding 2009.

Bartlett Mitchell recruits new operations director>>

Orchid closes 14 pubs and cuts 150 jobs ahead of Christmas>>

Half of Folio's head office staff made redundant>>

Start-up caterer-cum-retailer Gold & Brown has started the year with reason for cheer (sorry), netting new business worth more than £1.5m.

Having revealed the inspiration for the company name to Kitchen Rat in November, the caterer is to launch at three new sites in 2009, taking its locations to a grand total of five since being established by Simon Elliot and Andrea Walwyn in April 2008. Not bad going given all the doom and gloom abound at the moment.

Gold & Brown is being somewhat coy about where the new sites are but did reveal that one of them is at an arts centre in the North-east, the 2nd is at a Horticultural venue on the south side of Harrogate (!) and the 3rd is a business and industry site in Rutland.

Taking on these new sites and the company's exisiting oulets at The Academy Health Club and Spa in Harrogate and Holden Wood in Lancashire is Helen Tesseyman.

Tesseyman joins as executive business manager from the Michelin-starred Devonshire Arms hotel at Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire.

Gold & Brown one of the winners at Caterersearch web awards>>

Gold & Brown online store>>

Contract catering round-up>>

Lunch on the 31st floor of the Canary Wharf Barclay's Bank building, with a snow-covered scene spread out via London docks, the winding path of the Thames, and the hills of Kent in the distance. Drink: 2002 premier cru St Emilion, with a fillet of rare breed beef, and surrounded by £8 million-worth of art.

The image of contract catering can for some be one of hospital slops and turkey twizlers, but that's not the reality in every single one of the foodservice sites.

Baxter Storey, for example, has this Barclays bank contract - and yes there are still employees there after the recent culls. And they can offer their employees the chance to work in the outstanding directors' rooms on the 31st floor, or at the Benugo outlet part-way up the tower.

The company also operates at Slaughter & May, the lawyers, where a team of ex-restaurant chefs work in the kitchen, serving up home-made pies and Scotch eggs, along with a range of modern British dishes for partners

Cooking for foodservice has more of a 9-5 lifestyle, few split shifts - and even some glamour.

Baxter Storey's Mike Smith to step down from managing director role >>

Baxter Storey loses senior Holroyd Howe director >>

The school dinners journey instigated by Jamie Oliver may be far from over, but Kitchen Rat hears that the end is nigh for school catering brand Scolarest.

Having received a very public kicking at the height of the school dinners story in 2005 - Turkey Twizzlers becoming a catch-all phrase for all that was wrong with the system - "new Compass", as it essentially is now under Roy Gardner and Richard Cousins, has decided to make a break with the past and phase out the Scolarest brand.

So, before term is out, the sector's biggest private caterer will be trading as Chartwells, a brand that is active in the USA and until now had been reserved for the independent school market in the UK.

It would seem, Jamie Oliver casts a long shadow...

Sodexo's Jane Bristow on a mixed future for school catering>> 

Graysons appoints ex-Compass education man to head schools business>>

Compass wins £4.5m school dinner contract>>

Kitchen Rat fears contract caterer Harbour & Jones may be making the most of an unfair, other-worldly, advantage over rivals when it comes to picking up new business.

A recent visit to London landmark St Paul's Cathedral to meet some of the new Harbour & Jones team, suggested something more than a strong offer and charisma might have come into play when the caterer was competing for the contract.

Apparently when H&J was invited to pitch for the deal last year they arrived at St Paul's only to be told that one of their rivals was running late.

The knock-on effect was that the caterer was asked to present in a chamber away from the main dining area of the Crypt.

This, H&J co-founder Patrick Harbour conceded, suited his team down to the ground as they had a "Best of British" selection of produce with them to showcase, which they were then able to arrange fetchingly on a stone shelf inside.

This was all good, but better still, as the cathedral's top brass walked in to hear the pitch, a shaft of golden sunlight, as if on demand, shone through from the window above, illuminating the produce and creating a bucolic harvest scene. Divine intervention?

It's hard to say, but H&J co-founder Nathan Jones was apparently sighted later in the cathedral lighting a candle, which one imagines was in reverence but could have been in gratitude.

Well, in these tough times it pays to keep the supreme being on side, after all.

Harbour & Jones wins £5m St Paul's Cathedral deal>> 

H&J scoops advertising agency deal>> 

Although Kitchen Rat can't attest for the validity of this one, rumour has it that an issue fought over vociferously on the departure of former Aramark chief executive Bill Toner was, wait for it, a £50,000 wine cellar at his London pad.

Mr Toner, who left Aramark in 2005, had quite legitimately amassed the collection of fine wines at his South Bank home for the purpose of corporate entertaining, as was the vogue in those halycon days of greed in the City.

However, on having his contract terminated Aramark's American owners demanded the wine back and Toner had to ultimately relinquish it. Surely not the best way to avoid sour grapes.

Still, given the pursuit of disgraced RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin and his £703,000 pension pot, perhaps losing some fermented grape juice isn't all that bad in the larger scheme of things.

Where are they now? Bill Toner>>

Marcus Wareing enters into partnership with Aramark>>

Recent coverage in Caterer about the renewed interest amongst contract caterers in providing facilities management services bought things full-circle for one reader.

While conceding there was certainly a demand for facilities management from some clients - and adding that the market had developed significantly since, with many professional managers now in the field - our source couldn't help but think back to a time when FM, in most people's minds, was simply a radio frequency.

"Some 24 years ago Compass challenged existing operations managers and their bosses to go out and 'sell' - cleaning & security contracts - with great kudos afforded to any that managed this feat.

"Lifelong caterers received an hour or so of 'training' to prepare us with resource to provide arms-length consultant expertise. The negative energy this created was something to behold. The result was loss of focus on the existing business and loss of key accounts and managers."

Still, with the recent win of National Grid and an extension to their Shell contract, as well as ComputaCentre, it's fair to say Compass's new FM strategy appears to be paying off this time.

Compass creates one-stop shop with Eurest Services>>

Caterers tune into FM for revenue growth>>

So you think keeping your customers happy is increasingly hard in this recessional times, do you?

Well how about the prospect of setting back the peace process in Northern Ireland a few years, over something as seemingly innocuous as your choice of flowers? Not grumbling now are you...

One shit,shit, shit! moment happened to Colin Prentice and team at the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont in the not too distant past.

Prentice and his team, professional to their core, provide a range of services as Eurest Services at the Parliment Buildings in east Belfast, including putting out the flowers.

However, on one occassion a garland of lilies was put up in the building as part of the day-to-day service. Very nice, you may think, but the lilly is of course a symbol for nationalists of the Easter Rising. Not so nice.

Luckily it was spotted and removed before politicans from either side of the political divide noticed, avoiding any rumptions, accusations of favouritism or broadsides from Ian Paisley.

Although people love their coffee, I doubt you get that sort of fallout if you added milk by mistake to a customer's Americano in Starbucks.

For more see A Minute on the Clock this week in Caterer.

Compass Group wins £500m racecourse deal>>

Catering giants tune into FM for revenue growth>>

Compass creates one-stop shop in Eurest Services>>

So the heads of state attending the high-profile G20 summit in London's Docklands are to get down to the not inconsiderable task of saving the world economy today.

Well good luck with that one. But it appears the G20 circus has been both feast and famine for the world leaders and those in the hospitality industry.

There was some trouble in the City yesterday affecting Compass Group and Lexington, while later the likes of Barack Obama enjoyed a slap up meal at Downing Street prepared by Jamie Oliver.

The Ritz hotel was one of many taking no chances, electing to board up and hucker down. And thanks to Vacherin for their snap from one of their contracts yesterday that you can see at the top of this entry.

At the Excel Centre at London's Docklands where the summit proper is taking place, it's good news for Compass Group, whose Leith's brand is looking after the feeding duties. However it's not so good for Creativevents who run a number of fixed sites, a stand and on-floor catering at the exhibtion centre on a standard day and have been, essentially, kicked out for the duration.

All around caterers have had to adapt, with Elior, which has many contracts within the City, ordering in extra stock and changing some menus to temporarily make more use of dry and frozen goods in case protests affect deliveries.

Still, with most City clients facing lockdown on the premises, Simon Titchner, managing director at ISS Eaton, candidly told Kitchen Rat: "Actually the protests helped us yesterday as takings were up across the business as all customers used their internal restaurant facilities as they could not go out."

Feast and famine. Feast and famine.

G20 Sumit website>>

World leaders start G20 summit>>

Vacherin appoints head chef for first public restaurant venture>>

Recession presents "great opportunity" for contract caterers to prove worth>>

Elior development chef Mark Crowe has admitted to having nightmares after seeing the contestants on The Apprentice attempt last week's catering challenge.

Certainly it turned into a bad dream for boys' team leader and hospitality worker Rocky Andrews owner of Fatso's Filling Station, who was fired as a result of his team's efforts.

Crowe told Kitchen Rat: "As a development chef for Avenance, we have many prestigious City companies as our clients and the challenges facing the The Apprentice contestants in last night's episode were very familiar.

"Our City clients demand and rightly expect the very best standards of food and service when entertaining their guests. Last week's programme highlighted just why this should be left to the professionals. I am still having nightmares about the second-rate canapés the teams served, and I certainly won't be using any of them on my new summer hospitality menus!"

Nor will Sir Alan Sugar, one suspects.

The Apprentice Catering challenge>>

Hospitality hopefulls escape the boardroom in the first Apprentice>>

If you're going to have a Lean & Green campaign, as in the case of caterer Harbour & Jones (H&J), it goes without saying that you have to walk-the-walk and not just talk (a lot).

To this end Kevin Harrison, H&J's ever so slightly scarily-named compliance director, has e-mailed all staff to inform them they will be receiving their very own pedometers.

H&J staff are being challenged to record each mode of transport they use in their working week, and to see if they can get anywhere near a recommended 10,000 steps a day, which should make them both healthier and "greener", albeit in quite a few steps.

Although there's a quarterly prize to be won, Kitchen Rat has not yet confirmed if it is indeed a night out with H&J co-founder Nathan Jones, or whether the runner-up gets two nights out with Jones for their troubles.

However, Harrison does warn in his e-mail that anyone caught cheating by shaking their pedometers, getting creative with cab reciepts or doctoring other people's scores, will, without doubt, win three nights out with Jones. Consider yourself warned.

Harbour & Jones adds to management team>>

Is God on Harbour and Jones's side?>>

Harbour & Jones scoops advertising agency deal>> 

Caterer Lexington held a gathering for a select few recently to celebrate its placing in the Sunday Times Best 100 Small Companies to Work For 2009 list.  

Held at law firm and client William Smith's stunning new offices in London's vertiginous Bishopsgate Tower in the City.

Lexington chief executive Mike Sunley gave a quick thank you speech where he'd picked out a few of the more unusual findings from the staff survey carried out as part of the Best Places process.

The finest, delivered with a chuckle by Sunley, has to be that "70% of staff thought they were helping to make the world a better place" working at Lexington.

You'll have to agree that that's not bad for a contract caterer.

Lexington trainee wins 2009 Olive Barnett Award>>

Contract caterers caught up in G20 protests>>

A Minute on the Clock - Mike Sunley>>

Finally, we have a winner for the Apprentice role - and she works in hospitality.

Restaurateur Yasmina Siadatan, owner of Mya Lacarte restaurant in Caversham, Reading, beat favourite Kate Walsh for the top job.

She strikes a blow for catering - despite the derogatory comments about the profession last week and the quality of her winning product.

In a final which asked the two contestants to produce a box of chocolates - because real life is like that - Yasmina triumphed with her cheaper, more mass market version.

Kate's were, everyone concurred, delicious and in fact, during filming for the promotion of Yasmina's chocolate brand, one of the models spat out a chocolate after a shoot.

It brings to mind one of the earliest tasks, when she was in charge of a contract catering task in which her food was likewise of very poor quality.

Strange for someone who runs a restaurant.

Sir Alan's other concern with Yasmina was that she'd find it hard moving from being self-employed to working for someone else - "two years in from running my own business I was set up for life," he said.

"Also will I be putting 20 people out of work?"

But Yasmina said that her brother was now taking over the running of the restaurant, and reiterated that she definitely wanted to work for him.

And, thanks to Sir Alan going on his "gut instinct", she will be now.