The Cinnamon Collection's executive chef and founder Vivek Singh has been confirmed for a headline Keynote Q&A at Commercial Kitchen 2017.

The UK’s only dedicated event for catering equipment buyers and suppliers returns to the NEC Birmingham next month, on 6-7 June.

Singh’s ‘in conversation’ session, with fellow chef and restaurant consultant Jay Morjaria, is set to reveal exclusive insights into the inner workings of the kitchens and kit at the heart of his top London restaurants; including The Cinnamon Club (launched in 2001 and now considered a benchmark for fine dining Indian restaurants around the world), Cinnamon Kitchen, Cinnamon Soho, and Cinnamon Bazaar.

The author of five cookbooks (his sixth – Indian Festival Feasts, is set to be published next month), a regular face on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and MasterChef, and often featured in the national press, Singh is renowned as one of the most innovative Indian food chefs of his generation.  Much is known about his signature culinary style, which blends authentic, modern Indian flavours with Western techniques.  Much less so about the kitchen designs, equipment, training and practices that have helped steer his restaurants to success.  He’ll be talking about all that and more in this highly-anticipated session, starting at 11am on the show’s opening day (6 June).

"Commercial Kitchen is an important trade event, as it shows chefs the latest innovations and possibilities for their kitchens,” says Singh.  “I'm really passionate about the equipment that makes our kitchens work for our teams and customers, and I look forward to seeing my colleagues and peers at this inspiring industry event."

Singh isn’t the only professional chef lending his specialist expertise to speaker duties at Commercial Kitchen.  Previously confirmed big names include world-renowned pastry chef Claire Clark MBE – the first person in the UK, and only female recipient, to be awarded the Master of Culinary Arts for outstanding craftsmanship (formerly known as the ‘Meilleur Ouvrier de la Grande Bretagne’); Chris Knights, group executive chef at Young’s Pubs and Geronimo Inns; Kumour Uddin, group executive chef at Anglian Country Inns; and Robert Quehan, formerly of The Ivy and now head chef at The Redwood Bistro at Bishopstoke Park (the UK’s first retirement village to be awarded an AA Rosette for its food).

“Commercial Kitchen is the ideal place to source the most up-to date kitchen equipment on the market today.  Your kitchen will benefit from all the latest technology here – helping you run an effective and efficient kitchen, saving both time and money,” says Claire Clark MBE, owner and director of Pretty Sweet and The Claire Clark Academy for Patisserie Excellence.

Other new speakers, announced today, include James Douglas, co-founder and director at Red’s True Barbecue, Adele Hing, development manager (kitchen, equipment & food operations) at Nando's UK & Ireland, and Chris Webb, catering operations manager at Punch Taverns.  Douglas and Hing will be appearing in the ‘Multi-site restaurant kitchen panel’ alongside MEATliquor’s MD Scott Collins and, session chair, Peter Martin, VP of CGA Peach.  While Webb, who heads up the team responsible for menu development, kitchen design and menu implementation across Punch’s estate – joins Knights and Uddin in ‘The pub kitchen panel’, which is to be chaired by Steve Dann, director at Fleet Street Communications.

Graeme Loudon, commercial director at insights firm CGA Strategy, will also be making his show debut.  His session will give an overview of the current challenges facing operators across the market and how they are adjusting their offer and plans in response to the continued fallout from the Brexit vote.  He’ll also be revealing the key trends to watch and their potential impact on the size and shape of the market in the months to come (3.30pm, 6 June).

The Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI) are a new association partner for Commercial Kitchen 2017.  They are set to host an exclusive panel featuring five of the country’s leading foodservice consultants.  Chaired by Michael Jones, editor of FCSI’s Foodservice Consultant Magazine, the session will offer some great insight into best practices, standards and the tangible things that even the best consultants can do to become even better partners to their clients (1.15pm, 7 June).

FCSI panellists include Julian Edwards, chairman of FCSI (UK&I) and owner of GY5; Paul Arnold, project director at Tricon Foodservice Consultants; Roz Burgess, owner of Intelligent Catering; Duncan Hepburn, principal consultant at Hepburn Associates; and Radford Chancellor, director of Radford Chancellor

“With such a wide choice of innovative equipment under one roof, and leading industry keynotes from across all sectors of the foodservice industry, it’s a must attend event for consultants and end-users looking to stay ahead of the latest innovations and trends in this dynamic industry,” says Edwards.

“Commercial Kitchen offers the industry something unique, not only commercial catering equipment but also excellent, relevant seminars.  Our consultants, and a number of our clients, are looking forward to attending this exciting show,” says Chancellor.

As previously announced, CEDA – the show’s lead partner, will feature prominently in the seminar line-up.  The CEDA panel (12.30pm, 6 June) sees five of the association’s former chairs appearing together for the first time (including Mark Drazen, MD of Caterware; Nick Howe, MD of Court Catering Equipment; Peter Kitchin, MD of C&C Catering Equipment; Iain Munro, MD of ScoMac Catering Equipment; and Jack Sharkey MSc, MD of Vision Commercial Kitchens).

CEDA’s Foodservice Kitchen Design Panel (2pm, 6 June), also led by Clare Nicholls, editor of Catering Insight, unites the CEDA Grand Prix Award winners of Best Small, Best Medium and Best Large Projects – Clive Groom, MD of CNG Foodservice Equipment, Paul Gilhooly, head of sales at Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment, and Nick Howe, MD of Court Catering Equipment (respectively) – to discuss their cutting edge commercial kitchen design and execution.

While Adam Mason, CEDA’s director general, will also be appearing alongside senior representatives from The ALMR (Kate Nicholls), FCSI (Julian Edwards), and HCA (Philip Shelley) in a joint association panel discussion at 3.30pm on 7 June.

Commercial Kitchen will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, 6-7 June at the NEC Birmingham.  Show features include a free two-day seminar programme, the Innovation Challenge Awards, and CEDA Awards Gallery.

The event was recently shortlisted for two national awards – ‘Best Tradeshow Launch’ and ‘Best Tradeshow under 2,000sqm’ by the Association of Event Organisers.

To register for a free trade pass, please visit www.commercialkitchenshow.co.uk and enter priority code CK10 (direct link: https://registration.n200.com/survey/3d80hw89gt3j0?actioncode=CK10).