Casual Dining 2022

Casual Dining - co-located once again with Commercial Kitchen (the essential event for executive chefs and leading decision makers from all types of professional kitchens) and lunch! (the defi nitive event for the café, coff ee shop and food to go sector) - returns to ExCeL London on 14 and 15 September 2022.

Thomasina Miers Tim Martin

Renowned for attracting the best names in the business, Tim Martin, founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon, and Thomasina Miers, co-founder of Wahaca will be part of this year’s speaker programme designed to help provide some vital insights and inspiration to the sector.

Chef and food writer, Thomasina Miers, is a former MasterChef winner and founder of the Wahaca group of Mexican restaurants. The company opened its fi rst restaurant in London’s Covent Garden in August 2007 and in October 2008 a second opened at Westfi eld London. Wahaca launched their fi rst mobile kitchen in 2011, selling Mexican street food on the streets of London, and by the end of 2017 Wahaca had 25 branches. Commenting on the show, she said: “Casual Dining is a great opportunity for the industry to meet, share best practice and discover the latest innovations. Really looking forward to speaking at the show in September.”

Other big names to be confi rmed include Clive Watson (chairman of City Pub Group), David Campbell (Hospitality Rising), Sona Sha (group marketing director from Comptoir Group PLC), Andrew Hazel (head of food & beverage development at Boparan Restaurant Group) and Ollie Rosevear (head of sustainability at Fullers).

As well as inspiring content across three theatres (sponsored by Yumpingo) – including the dedicated Pub and Bar Keynote Theatre – the show will feature over 200 suppliers, including the latest food, drink, equipment, tabletop, furniture, interior design, technology, and services suppliers all under one roof.

The line-up features leading foodservice providers including JJ Foodservice, Menu Fresh, Unilever, McCain Foodservice Solutions, Jack & Bry, Borough Broth Company and Peka Kroef B.V, Craftis, Lumea Ltd, SuperTuff Menus, and IPW1. Visitors can also sample the latest baked goods and cakes from Billington Foods, Little & Cull, Tom’s Pies, and Symphonie Pasquier, and plant-based products from Biff ’s Plant Shack, Future Farm, LoveSeitan, Meatless Farm, Moving Mountains Foods, and The White Rabbit Pizza Co – plus many more.

Surgital (CD437), who claim to be the fi rst Italian manufacturer of deep-frozen fresh pasta, deep-frozen ready meals and deep-frozen sauce pellets for catering, restaurants, and bars, will be in attendance, as will fresh, artisan pasta company, La Tua Pasta (Stand CD536) and Italian coff ee company, Lavazza (Stand CD641b).

Foodservice solutions company, Dr, Oetker Professional (Stand CD531), will be present, also off ering a slice of their latest insight, innovation and channel expertise.

Commercial Kitchen, the essential industry event for kitchen innovations, will be welcoming an eclectic line-up of leading chefs to its 2022 Keynote Programme, including Tom Aikens, Anna Haugh, Romy Gill, Ruth Hansom, Cherish Finden, James Golding and the return of Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL.

Tom Aikens, chef owner of Muse by Tom Aikens is one of the UK’s most acclaimed and inspirational British chefs. His remarkable career has taken him to David Cavalier’s in Battersea, Pierre Koff man’s La Tante Claire, Pied-à-Terre and Joel Robuchon in Paris to name a few. At 26, Tom became the youngest British chef ever to be awarded two Michelin stars.

Ruth Hansom, head chef at The Princess of Shoreditch will join the female chef panel at the show, along with executive pastry chef, Cherish Finden, who is host of Bake O : The Professionals and has launched her fi rst patisserie at the Pan Pacifi c Hotel in London – which she joined ahead of opening in 2021. Called Shiok! – pronounced “Shook” – the new venture in Devonshire House next door to the hotel has 25 covers open for breakfast and pastries all day every day.

Anna Haugh, chef owner of Myrtle Restaurant in Chelsea London has previously worked for great chefs such as Philip Howard and Gordon Ramsay. Dedicating her restaurant name Myrtle Allen to her Irish heritage, Anna was the fi rst Irish woman to win a Michelin star back in 1975. She will be joining the Kitchen Culture panel alongside Romy Gill, chef consultant, to discuss wellness and sustainability.

Chef Romy Gill MBE is a British/Indian chef, food/travel writer and broadcaster based in the south-west of England. She was the owner and head chef at Romy’s Kitchen, and in 2016 she was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours list. She is one of the regular chefs on BBC1’s Ready Steady Cook and has appeared on many other TV programmes, including Sunday Brunch, BBC’s The One Show, Country Life, Celebrity MasterChef, The Hairy Bikers’ Comfort Food and James Martin’s Saturday Morning.

James Golding, group chef director of THE PIG hotel group started his career at the Savoy, later working for Caprice Holdings and then moving to Soho House New York, and when he returned to the UK, his passion for sustainability grew (he will be joining the seminar line-up talking about food trends and his love of local produce).

Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL (chef patron, Café Spice Namaste and Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen) joined the Commercial Kitchen line-up for the fi rst time last year. He is a staunch advocate of education and training; Café Spice Namasté being the fi rst ever restaurant in the UK to win a National Training Award.

Commenting on the importance of the event for the sector, Cyrus Todiwala said: “Visiting such a show is extremely important for operators, because it helps professionals keep abreast of changes and advances in technology and new equipment on the market. I’m excited to see product development and Commercial Kitchen is the show to fi nd it all under one roof!”

Over 70 leading chefs and industry experts will be taking to the Commercial Kitchen Keynote stages for exclusive interviews, live talks and panel discussions. The star-studded line-up also includes Alice Bowyer (head of food at The Liberation Group), Thom Elliott (founder of Pizza Pilgrims), Hamish Stoddart (MD and founder of Peach Pubs) and Nick Vadis (culinary director at Compass Group UK & Ireland).

As well as providing key insights and inspiration, Commercial Kitchen will feature a bustling central exhibition with over 100 brands, including Inomak, Wearesdi, Instock Group, Forest UK, Adventsy UK, Fagor Professional UK, RSS Hereford, and Nationwide Ventilation. They join returning big industry names including UNOX UK, Meiko UK, True Refrigeration, Jestic Food Service Solutions, Synergy Grill, Rexmatins, Quintex, Carpigiani, Filta Environmental, Regale Microwave Ovens, Welbilt, MKN and Gamble.

Pizza Equipment Ltd (Stand CD736), who were established in 1990, and clalim to be the most experienced pizza equipment and pizza accessory dealer in the UK, specialising in supplying world famous commercial pizza ovens such as Moretti Forni, Lincoln Impinger and Forni Ceky, will be at the show.

CD440), a supplier of fresh pizza bases to the hospitality industry in the UK, Europe and US, will be there showcasing their pizza solution, backed by an innovative combination of pizza products, equipment, training and support. Freefrom pizza base company, White Rabbit (Stand CD563), will be there too.

Blue Seal Commercial pizza ovens, with its range of traditional Italian style, stone base deck ovens that are designed to cook delicious deep-base or thin based pizzas, will be at the show. Designed for everyday professional use, these powerful electric ovens cook at high temperatures to ensure fast service and great cooking results, offering an alternative to wood burner stoves or gas ovens, which are higher maintenance and require more specialist and costly extraction systems to take away smoke and fumes, the company point out.

The fact these ovens are also only single-phase power supply makes them very versatile and suitable for dark kitchen takeaway sites and certain mobile kitchen operations that may have limited power supplies, they add. Due to the electric power supply, the ease of installation is simplified as there are no complex regulations regarding interlocks/ ventilation and extraction requirements, as associated with gas powered or solid fuel type ovens.

will be the place to sample a range of gourmet German sausages, including traditional Bratwurst, a range of Frankfurters (Krakauer Bacon, Vienna Beef, Cheese or Chilli Beef) and the everpopular Pork Hot Dog. Special diets are also catered for with the Halal Turkey Hot Dog and Vegan Hot Dog. All their sausages can be enjoyed hot or cold, point out the company, as they are fully cooked. As such, caterers benefit from a safe, stable product that is easy to prepare and quick to serve, even with limited catering equipment and the smallest of catering spaces.

Quote VCD15 to save the £20 door fee.