said, even more so due to the current staffing issues, "you need to get to them at the right time."
"It's all about relationships. If you build that relationship at these networking lunches, the next time you cross paths they know what you're about, you know what they're about and you've got common ground as opposed to going in cold."
Elizabeth Cottam of Home in Leeds said: "It's been absolutely brilliant today. Just a really great group of people, fantastic food. The suppliers that we met were all brilliantly diverse and interesting. We've had a really good chat over dinner about some really useful relationships going forward."
She specifically commended Nyetimber for being an "outstanding supplier" and applauded Michael Bush for his wine introductions for each pairing.
"Suppliers can knock on your door, they can email you a million times, they'll get fobbed off from me by staff."
"Ordinarily you don't get the airtime because you're so busy to concentrate on a product that you don't even know about. You just don't have the brain capacity to think seriously about it."
Even with interesting products, "there are probably lots of missed opportunities to find a brilliant thing because you just don't have the time."
"So on a day off, when you can sit around the table in a very relaxed way, where you're not feeling like you're being sold to, to find out about someone's product, business, to make a relationship with somebody who you'd quite like to do business with, it's a great way to find new people to work with."
Callum Bowmer, executive chef at Rudding Park Hotel, who had never attended a lunch before, said "it was good to mingle with people in the industry," not to mention Michael's food, which he said was "super sharp, super clean, really fresh stuff."
He acquiesced to the suggestion that the lunches are a good way of meeting suppliers, as, he said, "you're out of the kitchen, you're out of the restaurant, you're out of work, you can be a bit more relaxed, a bit more chilled, you've got time to focus, concentrate, be open and talk about stuff."
"You have to put faces to a name, which is always good."
"I would definitely recommend it to other people - you get to meet other people, to chill out and you get some banging food as well."
Jon Hughes, head chef at Man Behind the Curtain said: "It's been amazing, nice to meet people who you wouldn't normally wind up having lunch with, within the industry."
"There's something about [suppliers] circulating around the tables which means you're already at ease and relaxed and enjoying yourself, so the conversation can go into a more natural flow and you can end up discussing things that aren't just set around one aspect of the product. It just feels a bit more relaxed."
"It's not too salesy, it feels a little bit more chilled."
Even when it comes to the interactions amongst chefs, he said, the lunches deliver something quite singular. "This is the kind of things chefs should do more," he said.
Being so time poor, "it feels like a bit of an effort to do it, but it's a constructive way of rubbing shoulders with people who do the same job as you."
"It's good to know who people are and where chefs are cooking."
