Espoo Catering’s Ville Kivinen won the PRO Award for Product Developer at a Professional Kitchen
Finland’s top kitchen and restaurant professionals were awarded at the PRO Gala in Helsinki Opera House on Monday, 29 January. Each year, the gala brings together hundreds of industry professionals to celebrate the expertise of the finalists competing in 16 different categories. The winner of the category “Product Developer at a Professional Kitchen” was Ville Kivinen from Espoo Catering.
Our PRO Award winner Ville Kivinen is responsible for product development for the whole of Espoo Catering. He joined Espoo Catering in 2004 and has been working in product development for almost ten years. In his work, Ville most enjoys learning about new ingredients and using them to develop new dishes. As his focus is on developing school food, the meals he creates have a direct impact on the future of growing children.
The PRO finalists were chosen by popular vote, but the final winners were decided by a jury of restaurant professionals. The PRO Award jury was impressed by Ville’s passion and described him as a pioneer in the development of vegetarian dishes and recipe innovation. As people are constantly demanding more and more from vegetarian food, Ville is striving to respond to its growing popularity in meal planning.
In his winner’s interview, Ville emphasises cooperation between colleagues and encourages people to share ideas and recommend ingredients to each other. He aims to bring the industry more visibility in every situation. Ville has, for example, developed Espoo Catering’s Christmas recipes and created a home kitchen version of the recipe for puréed carrot soup, which is a favourite in schools and day-care centres and became very popular on social media.
Espoo Catering’s Food Service Manager Eliisa Matinmikko was also a finalist for the PRO Award in the category “Head of Professional Kitchen”. In the past, an Espoo Catering professional won the PRO Award in 2011, when Jouni Hartikainen won in the category “Chef in an Industrial Kitchen” (now “Chef in a Professional Kitchen”). Now, Ville Kivinen joins our PRO Award winners as the 2024 Product Developer at a Professional Kitchen!