According to the Monday morning grapevine, managing director Wendy Bartlett has sold the business to rival contract caterer ISS Eaton.

But this latest rumour appears to be unfounded.

Wendy laughed when she asked me who she was meant to have sold to this week.

Simon Titchener, managing director at the 'purchaser' ISS Eaton says the rumour probably arose because of a random seating plan that sat the pair together at the recent BHA Food & Service Management Forum dinner at the top of the Gherkin.

"I can only imagine someone put two and two together and made 120!" he added.

Bartlett says she was also reckoned to have sold to BaxterStorey just last week, after she was spotted chatting with William Baxter. Before that it was Compass Group.

Any takers on who she might 'sell' to next?

Chelsea and England football player Frank Lampard is heading for the high courts over a story in The Sun newspaper which alleged he "sabotaged" TV cookery show Marco Pierre White's Burnout.

The story claimed Lampard had behaved in a petty manner by pulling out of the show and persuading the whole Chelsea team to follow suit because his ex fiancée Elen Rivas was also due to make an appearance, according to the Press Gazette.

The 31-year-old has filed a claim in the High Court over the Sun story from 26 January, which was headlined "Visit El's kitchen? Er... no Franks!", and a web version headed "Lampard: It's Murder for Elern's Show. Exclusive."

Lampard argues that story injured his reputation, and caused him considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment. He is seeking an injunction banning the paper from repeating the allegations at the centre of his claim, in addition to damages and aggravated damages.

There have been rumours flying around for a few months as to the format this year and with the help of Caterer's forum, Table Talk we can start to reveal the line-up.

Competing chefs are first judged by a former winner, with one chef getting knocked out. The remaining two have the chance to cook for the judges, Oliver Peyton, Prue Leith and Matthew Fort.

The participating chefs have been allocated a National Trust House, and have to source their ingredients from the surrounding area.

So here it is: The Great British Menu 2010 line-up so far...

London region

• Tom Kerridge, The Hand & Flowers, Marlow
• Anthony Demetre, Arbutus, London
• Tristan Welch, Lauceston Place, London

Judge: Jason Atherton, Maze, London

Central region

• Daniel Clifford, Midsummer House, Cambridge
• Will Holland, La Becasse, Shropshire
• Richard Bramble, Morston Hall, Norfolk

Judge: Glynn Purnell, Purnell's, Birmingham

NE region

• Kenny Atkinson, Rockliffe Hall, Darlington
• Lee Bennett, Le Pont de la Tour, London
• Tim Bilton, Butchers Arms Hepworth, Yorkshire

Judge: Nigel Haworth, Northcote, Lancashire

Scotland 

• Alan Murchison, Paris House, Woburn
• Tony Singh, Oloroso, Edinburgh
• Michael Smith, The Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye

Judge: Jeremy Lee

Wales

• James Sommerin, The Crown at Whitebrook, Monmouthshire 
• Aled Williams, Plas Bodegroes, Gwynedd
• Richard Davies, Bybrook Restaurant, Manor House Hotel, Wiltshire

Judge: Stephen Terry, The Hardwick, Abergavenny

NW Region

• Aiden Byrne, The Church Green, Lymm
• Lisa Allen, Northcote, Lancashire
• Johnnie Mountain, Mosaica Restaurant at the Factory, London

Judge: Marcus Wareing, Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London 

SW region

• Nathan Outlaw, Nathan Outlaw Seafood and Grill at St Enodoc Hotel in Rock
• Chef 2: TBC
• Chef 3: TBC

Northern Ireland

Sorry, once again, no info on this as yet!

The Pacific Inn Motel, in Forks Washington (where the books are based) has dedicated these rooms to harden fans of the vampire novels and movies.

Sadly for the female fans, there is no sign of the hero himself.

Guests will have to settle for the gothic themed rooms with red and black walls, black curtains, red lampshades and framed Twilight posters on the walls.

The bedding is also black and red, with a floral pattern, and there are even pillows with some of the characters on! And if that wasn't enough, the bathroom has a black shower curtain and black towels with red Twilight logos embroidered on them.

Is it me, or are these rooms startint to sounds more like a teenage girl's bedroom, not a hotel room!

You can check out photos of the room by clicking here. Let us know what you think?

Despite the success of the event, eyebrows were raised at the pudding on offer to guests.

When you consider Blackberry's biggest market threat in recent years has been the hugely successful iPhone, it begs the question: who's idea was it to serve apple and blackberry crumble for dessert?

A catering faux-pas or a pastry chef with a sense of humour?

The classic pud is one of the few ocassions these two brand giants are ever likely to be bedfellows, if the following two videos are anything to go by.

The firm said the "negative slant and connotation" now associated with the title 'minister' prompted the change.

"Whereas in the past it was regarded as an esteemed position and one to look up to, due to our government this appears no longer to be the case," it added.

New job titles, taking into account the "need for greater clarity on the roles", have been announced.

• Pauline Vallance, previously minister of calm, is now senior manager - HR & team player insight
• Martin Dibben, previously minister of excellence, is now senior manager - food & procurement insight
• Kenny Tranquille, previously nutritional therapist, is now simply a nutritionist
• Judith Owen previously consultant minister of fun & development, is now training partner

This Kitchen Rat can't help thinking that Judith must have been disappointed by the change.

Who wouldn't want to be the minister of fun?

The Saturday Kitchen presenter, who is known for his love of fast sports car said in his Mail on Sunday column, "that he had intentionally forced them into a hedge as he turned a corner" and it was the best thing he had "ever seen in my rear-view mirror". He also spoke of his "hate" for cyclists in the article.

Not only have these comments sparked fury from cycling groups, but users of social networking tool Twitter have also been tweeting their thoughts on the issue.

Needless to say, tweets have not been that complimentary with comments such as:

"James Martin, what a total c**k - http://tinyurl.com/mfrn8g - over rated no hope z-list chef too no"

"Sorry, my arse! James Martin sorry for cycling 'terror' http://bit.ly/Romrl Another reason to hurl bricks at the TV on a Sat morning"

"See that the 'I hate James Martin' fbook group has been renamed 'why does James Martin hate cyclists"

"I'm thinking of blasting James Martin with a foghorn as he takes a massive hot dish from an oven. Be a laugh for any cyclists I reckon!"

To read more on what people are saying click here.

Hospital food has long had a less-than savoury reputation in the UK. 

It turns out it's a gripe shared by patients across the globe.

A scroll through Hospital Food reveals a broad selection nutrionally balanced dishes of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and fibre that have never looked so unappealing.

Tales and photos of hospital mealtime treats are invited by the blog owner Reno Dehareng, a social worker from Brussels.

Visual delights include a dish made almost entirely of soggy, boiled carrots; unidentifiable meat; and a bacon and canned spaghetti combo that looks like it's made a two-way journey through a patient's intestines.

 It's not all bad though. The bacon wrapped carrot batons and green beans served in Greece look top notch and a three course feast served in a Paris hospital is awarded five stars.

Top prize for appetising grub must surely go to the pancake breakfast on offer in Michigan, USA.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this when trudging the road to recovery? 

But part of a healthy, balanced diet? Well... perhaps not everyday.

Just as he lifted the cup to his lips, a large piece of raw chicken landed on the top of his hand.

"It was horrible," he said. "It seemed to come out of the sky and landed straight on my hand. I could smell an unmistakable whiff of raw chicken and instinctively flipped it off."

On closer inspection, my friend realised that the chicken had been propelled over a partition that separated the kitchen from the customer seating area.

"I made sure the staff knew about it and they were very apologetic but to be honest the damage had already been done," he said.

According to the Daily Mirror, the "Mysterious Girl" (or should that be Mysterious Grill?) singer has signed a deal worth £1.5m to write a cookbook series inspired by his Australian and Greek heritage.

A source told the paper: "It will start with barbecue food -  which all men will love - and ways to spruce up a juicy piece of meat."

And as the Jordan and Pete love affairs come to a head this will be yet another battle the couple will have to fight it out: the book charts!

Andre's estranged wife has achieved huge success in the book charts since the release of her first autobiography, Being Jordan, in 2004. And Pete takes is ready to take this on!

With Peter's popularity growing as a family man - while Katie parties in the Med - publishers are confident that the cookbook with prove to be really popular and the public will jump at the chance to get their hands on his family's old Greek recipes!

Whatever next? Will he be next hitting our screens in "Andre goes kitchen side"... I do hope not! Or that'll drive me Insania! 

More and more, Twitter is being used as an information service and Somerset County Council has become the first local authority to use the micro-blogging site to keep parents informed about what's on the menu.

Apparently it's not just the parents who are keen to know what grub is going into the Somerset tiny-tums during the school day.

When a Kitchen Rat colleague investigated they discovered @SCSSchoolmeals already had its first follower.

I'm not sure Camilla is the audience the school dinners service had in mind...

Clearly @SCSSchoolmeals agreed because it wasn't long before Ms Shaw no longer appeared on the list, most likely blocked.

On the phone to the hotel's general manager to get a quote on the story, one of Kitchen Rat's colleagues was rather taken aback to hear the choice of hold music.

Thriller by Michael Jackson. Yes, the Michael Jackson who sadly passed away just a few hours ago in LA.

Was it deliberate we wondered?

Probably not if the reaction was anything to go by. "You're joking? We'll have to look at that..."

Perhaps they should look at the Man in the Mirror and Beat It before making such Bad and Dangerous musical choices. There will be Blood on the Dancefloor.

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.

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>>