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stay. L’atelier des Chefs – mobile kitchens ||| Cooking school L’atelier des Chefs has begun rolling out its mobile kitchen concept in the UK. It’s not literally a kitchen on wheels, but rather a moveable feast in the making, whereby chefs and equipment are set up in almost any venue the client chooses for cookery class events – corporate or client entertainment, team building or stand-alone cook-and-dine occasions. L’atelier des Chefs UK is taking its cue from France where the concept has been tried and tested with great success. There they also work with marketing agencies to bring food and drinks brands to life with experiential activities in unusual places such as open-top buses or supermarket car parks that get consumers interacting with a brand’s products. ‘When we had enquiries about mobile kitchens and weren’t able to service them we realised we were turning down too much business,’ says Jono Jenkins, Business Development Director. ‘We are starting with events agencies and the corporate market, which we know and have the most contact with. It’s very nascent, but a concept that is now open for business,’ he continues. Since last September they have run a few events for between 30 and 150 people. Jono describes one for a South African bank conference at Heathrow. ‘They had a dinner in the evening, and after the starter and main course the
mobile concept was introduced to them as a surprise and they had to make their own dessert! We had 14 chefs with 10 people on each team making crème patissiere tarts, croque-en-bouche, mille feuille and chocolate truffles. They had an hour to put it together and then a judging panel toured around the cooking stations marking on flavour and presentation before announcing the winner.’ The basics needed are a 2kW power supply per table (up to 15 people), water access and a pot wash area. ‘We’ll adapt the experience to the venue,’ says Jono. ‘It’s relatively low intensity on the venue and really interactive for the customer. I think it’s pretty unique to the market. Others do the cookery concept in their own venues or use certain sites on an ad hoc basis, but I don’t know of anyone else going into a hotel and creating this animated product for a group of people.’ With this year being the soft launch of the mobile kitchen concept, L’atelier des Chefs is initially planning on doing about two events per month. ‘Once we get some interest in the concept we will look to replicate some or all of the ideas that the French guys have put in place. They’ve done a great job and so it’s quite straightforward for us to pick and choose what we feel will work the best in the UK,’ says Jono. I KF www.atelierdeschefs.co.uk
The bell at the Blue Boar ||| Every village has its pubs, and despite being at the heart of the capital, Westminster is no different. At the InterContinental London-Westminster, the Blue Boar Smokehouse and Bar is a sophisticated take on the traditional British pub and is locally recognised as the hub of Westminster village, where Members of Parliament mix with guests. Set amongst myriad satirical artwork and cartoons that adorn the Blue Boar’s woodpanelled walls, an eight-minute division bell defines its proximity to the corridors of power, installed by the Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons in order to call MPs back to cast their votes. I www.blueboarlondon.com info - may / june - 57