No fuss, no fads, fewer dishes on the menu but creative menus that are varied daily. Most kitchen teams are now working with simpler but high quality ingredients. A development to which Unifine's products can make an excellent contribution.

Each month some hundred cooks, restaurant owners, butchers, fishmongers, and product developers from the food industry attend the workshops in our culinary centre 'Kook-Uni'. We've seen that the margins of the food service companies are under pressure. Our clients are watching costs closely. My advice during the workshop is to maintain quality and if necessary, to accept a somewhat lower margin. It's important to win the loyalty of your guests now and shortly when economic times improve.

My team and I think along with our clients during the workshops to create entire menus and trendy à la carte dishes within their budgets. We do this in line with current trends such as classical seasonal cooking with an Italian, French, Spanish or Oriental flavour. We also try to explore new directions. We are able to create wonderful combinations with our Wyko bouillons, for example adding a distinctive poultry sauce to poached cod. Workshop participants are madly enthusiastic about our creativity with our bouillons. I think it's fantastic that I can provide this creativity and that they take it up.

I am always looking for new sources of inspiration. I talk with colleagues in the Guild of cooks, the Fish Guild and the Guild of Master Cooks. And I regularly have long discussions with culinary journalists about the latest trends and developments. And of course, eat out a lot in new restaurants.

The fare for festive occasions and holidays? Traditional game or turkey, but with creative light, liquid sauces such as a lemon-game sauce with crystallized or candied cumquats.

Michel Hanssen, SVH Master Cook at Unifine

Nijkerk, October 2003

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