New catering rules - Laissez-faire Catering Team

Hot from the kitchen and fresh to your thoughts, Clinton Brown chef at Laissez-faire catering, shares the modern rules of foodservice and what new schools of thought, are keeping the Laissez-faire brand best on the plate. |

1. Environmental sustainability

Organic just isn’t good enough. Food has to be locally grown, meat and seafood locally sourced. And at Laissez-faire, we have started to adapt our recipes to ‘nose-to-tail/root-to-stalk cooking’. This has reduced our food waste by using the entire animal or plant. Today’s consumers want to know where their food comes from, and they are willing to pay a little more if the food has been sustainably sourced.

2. Health and nutrition

This has been a trend over the last five years but it is here to stay. With smartphones within arm’s reach, consumers know more about nutrition than ever before. Using Smart Phone apps for tracking nutritional intake not only accommodates the busy lifestyles of consumers but will continue to be popular in 2014. People can use their smartphones to download applications that perform all of the dietary monitoring that is necessary for good health. These applications include the ability to track and record the number of calories, sugar, carbohydrates, sodium and grams of fat consumed. Some of our clients are wanting this information on our menus too.

3. Nostalgic nosh

As life speeds up and becomes even busier, people are yearning for the simplicity, warmth and certainty of bygone eras. Hence the growth in comfort food eating and retro recipes. You will start to see back on the menus prawn cocktail, moussaka, chicken Kiev and Black Forest gateau.

4. Cognac

There are certain timeless classics that retain their allure in part because of their superior quality and corresponding prestige. Cognac is one of these things so look out for the new chocolate and cognac bars.

5. Gluten-free

We have started to use super-nutritious grains such as quinoa and amaranth in dishes that might once have used wheat flour.