The Staff Canteen Live 2026: Lockhart and CCS event at Benares

Yesterday (Monday, October 26), The Staff Canteen Live joined Lockhart Catering Equipment and Continental Chef Supplies (CCS) for a bespoke hospitality event at the Lockhart Innovation Centre and Benares in London.

The day, the third and final Lockhart and CCS event of 2026, gave chefs, operators and senior hospitality professionals a closer look at equipment and products in action, and the chance to put their questions directly to the specialists behind them.

Guests arrived at Lockhart's London Innovation Centre on Berners Street, where they split into three groups to rotate around demonstrations from Merrychef, Blendtec and Metcalfe. From there, it was a short trip to Benares on Berkeley Square for lunch paired with wines.

The partners

Lockhart and CCS supply the hospitality industry with everything from catering equipment and chef supplies to barware and operational solutions, and the Lockhart Innovation Centre gives chefs and operators the chance to see and test that equipment before they buy.

The format of the day was designed to get products into chefs' hands, with each group spending time at every demo rather than watching from a distance.

Simon Britten, head of marketing at Lockhart Catering Equipment, said: "We're a distributor with 500-plus suppliers on our books. We're always trying to get our suppliers to demo in front of our customers, but you have to offer them something different, a unique perspective on hospitality, to get them along to the showroom.

"We think local businesses that we work with, Michelin-starred Benares is a fantastic example today, really works well and people are engaging with it."

The guests

The day brought together a curated group of chefs, operators and senior hospitality professionals from across the industry.

Among them were Garrett Keown, executive development chef at Harrods, Isabela Vaz, executive chef at Delano London, and Tom Buckwell, head first team performance chef at Portsmouth FC.

Pavlin Karantatski, head chef at Opera Tavern in Covent Garden, said: "The event was really good. The demos from the company, it was a really nice presentation, very well organised. I am happy to be here. There was incredible food from the head chef here at Benares. Everything was fantastic, the highlight was the dessert.

"In the demos I did see some new products, some new innovation in the kitchen, which I guess is going to help us in the future. There were some really strong mixers, if I'm honest.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what is going to happen in the future and how they are going to enter into the kitchens, because chefs find it hard to change from the current things they already have."

Asked whether it helped to see the equipment working in person rather than in a brochure, Pavlin said: "Yes, of course. You can understand the function a bit better and get some extra information for every product first hand, from people who actually know what they are doing."

On the networking aspect, he added: "It is not my first one of these lunches and I really enjoy it. I am very lucky to be one of these people to be here. Finally somebody has done something for the chefs!"

Lunch at Benares

Benares opened on Berkeley Square in 2003 and won its first Michelin star in 2007. It regained the star in the 2021 guide under executive chef Sameer Taneja and holds one star in the 2026 Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland, with Sameer's cooking pairing classical French training with the regional dishes of India.

Guests started with street snacks and murg khumb kebab, a wild mushroom and cornfed chicken seekh kebab, before a sharing feast of Calcutta macchi jhol, a Bengali five spice tempered fish curry, gosht pepper fry, Welsh lamb simmered in curry leaf, Sarawak black pepper and Madras onions, and murg makhani, French poussin grilled in the tandoor with a San Marzano tomato and fenugreek gravy.

They were served with zafrani pulao, dal Benaresi, the restaurant's signature black lentils, podi aloo, and assorted bread and raita, followed by gulab jamun brûlée and petit fours, with wines paired throughout.

Reflecting on the day, Simon said: "The exclusive series, the final one of the year, the third event we've done, has been absolutely fantastic for us. As always, The Staff Canteen have really helped us with promoting the event, bringing on some fantastic decision makers from across the industry and just setting us up to have a brilliant day of networking and a celebration of hospitality.

"The partnership has worked better than we could've imagined when we thought of this idea at the beginning of the year. We've had a sell-out event for three events now.

"The events are also getting recognised across the industry. We've been nominated for Distributor of the Year at the Catering Insight Awards this year, and these networking events and all the opportunities that come with it have been cited as one of those reasons."

He added: "We'd recommend The Staff Canteen to anyone. We do a lot with The Staff Canteen throughout the year, not just the exclusive series, but with the Catering Innovation Show. Hosting The Staff Canteen Live at that was a fantastic success, professional, responsive and got the job done."

Simon added that, following this year’s success, plans were in the works for similar events in 2027.