What The Hospitality Industry Can Learn From Local Community KitchensFood waste and how to tackle it is a big topic at the moment with new reports being published almost every week or pop-up restaurants, community kitchens or cafes using food destined for landfill or pig farms opening everywhere. Food waste touches us all because we have all at sometime or other been succumbed by BOGOF offers, buy one get one free, from major supermarkets only to have to throw away some of our 'bargain' offers because we simply haven't got the time to use it or the quickest and easiest thing to do is to throw a container of pre-prepared food into the microwave after a long day's work.
Food waste has always been a problem in commercial kitchens and it hasn't been until recently that the issue has become a really burning issue. From high street egg and chip style cafes to Michelin starred restaurants, food is wasted and there are organisations out there such as the Sustainable Restaurant Association and the British Hospitality Association that provide guidance and help to member restaurateurs and hospitality business owners on how to help reduce food wastage in their establishments. More recently, Michelin starred chefs such as Massimo Bottura of the three starred Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy have become involved in providing temporary pop-up restaurants and venues such as Refettorio Felix at St Cuthberts in London which has since become a permanent fixture; they help use waste food from major events to feed disadvantaged community groups such as those on low incomes or the homeless. These provide great opportunities to work on more than one social issue affecting local communities - the recycling of wasted food, providing hot meals for homeless and disadvantaged people and the opportunity to help reduce social isolation. But what can local community kitchens and cafes that recycle unused or unwanted food offer their local hospitality businesses and colleges on a daily basis? Here are a few to consider: They can help develop certain culinary competition skills such as creativity - you may ask 'what is he talking about?' - but think about it; local community kitchens do not always know what will be coming in the next delivery of food from the local supermarket chains which means that, the majority of the time, they will be dealing with a 'mystery box' of ingredients to create a dish often under tight timescales. A number of professional culinary competitions often include having to create a dish from a box of mystery ingredients. The regional finals of the 2018 Roux Scholarship will require competitors to devise and cook a dessert from a 'mystery box'. They can help develop skills in cooking and service in quantity, banqueting and batch cooking - the amount of food that is received and the number of people to be served are often large in number so community kitchens provide the opportunity for foodservice caterers or hotel banqueting apprentices to practice bulk cooking and, if plated food is served at community kitchens, gives practice opportunities to present consistent plates of food They can help develop portion control skills - the food that is available can sometimes be a valuable commodity especially if not much is available but there are still a lot of people to feed. The value of learning how to control portion sizes when these ingredients are scarce is great because this can be reflected when they return to restaurants, hotels and cafes thus also indirectly reducing food costs They provide the opportunity to promote the industry at grass roots community level - the current issue of the hospitality skills shortage is not going away soon. Brexit, reductions in take up of apprenticeship courses, higher employment rates and immigration restrictions are all contributing to this shortage, meaning hospitality businesses and catering colleges need to diversify their recruitment and retention strategies to be able to attract the required number of chefs to meet estimated targets of 11,000 additional chefs over the next five years (The chef shortage: A solvable crisis? People 1st, November 2017). By engaging with and having apprentices, guest chefs and waiting staff help out community kitchens, provides the opportunity for hospitality businesses to promote the industry directly to the local community through cooking, helping serve meals or even just helping with the washing up and break down at end of service. They provide the opportunity to get your brand into the local community and demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - by working with local community kitchens, hospitality businesses and catering colleges are able to raise the profile of their brand within the local community with the possible positive impact of increased footfall to their own businesses by the local community who hear about what they are doing through word of mouth and local press coverage. More and more people are becoming conscious of the ethical practices of companies they engage with, including where they decide to go to eat out. Generation Z and millennials are more discerning and likely to want to frequent or buy from businesses who have a social or environmental aspect to their delivery or within their supply chain. By the same token, the benefits to local community kitchens and food waste Pay As You Feel (PAYF) style restaurants and cafes are that they gain from:
So they may appear quite far from the usual image of fine dining or good casual dining establishments but they can offer far more than you might think if, we only stop to reflect and think about how we can mutually benefit from local community engagement which can lead to an alternative and creative strategy to the recruitment, retention and development of hospitality staff.
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Hospitality Careers - Re-Thinking, Not Re-Inventing, The WheelThe hospitality and catering industry's leading magazine The Caterer has run a number of articles recently following the relaunch of its Think Again campaign to encourage more people, especially young people, to consider a career in the industry. For example, the 2-9 December 2016 edition ran an article entitled "The staff retention strategy" where it brought together senior leaders and visionaries including Springboard UK and People 1st, the industry's Sector Skills Council to discuss the issue. This week's issue of The Caterer (6-12 January 2017) also features articles on the industry's wish list on the Think Again campaign for the year ahead and Albert Roux's tireless work on promoting the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts' Chefs Adopt A School charity and the work it does to educate primary school children on food, its provenance, healthier eating and cooking lessons. The need to not reinvent the wheel with regard to additional initiatives and events and the need to work together collectively as an industry is evident and a common sense approach. Most people's perceptions are that jobs in the industry are low paid/low skilled with stories of long hours spent working in hot kitchens or dealing with unhappy customers. Yet this is not always the case and there are highly skilled and popular career paths within the industry and its supply chain which careers advisers, teachers and parents do not always consider to be associated with hospitality. These include • entrepreneurs including restaurateurs, street food businesses • technology experts • venture capitalists, investors • lawyers • accountants Using Existing Initiatives There are existing initiatives and opportunities to potentially help with getting more people, especially young people and their parents, to consider hospitality as a serious career path and profession. The following are just some of the ways that can help and which have already seen engagement with leading industry operators and employers: Kidzania - An established attraction aimed at children and young people is Kidzania which encourages children and young people to try out different roles and jobs; a few hospitality and food sector companies are already involved in Kidzania London including Compass Group, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Hamptons, Dorsett Hospitality International and COREcruitment are launching their 2017 range of client engagement events at Kidzania on 26 January 2017 http://www.corecruitment.com/news/9-news/news-cat1/487-an-evening-at-kidzania-thursday-26th-january-2017. A possible route is to consider whether it is possible to work with them to set up something similar specifically for the hospitality and tourism industry/sectors to showcase the different sectors, roles and opportunities available in the industry. These could also include - competitions and initiatives such as FutureChef, University of West London's Young Chefs Academy or the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts' Chefs Adopt A School - real-life case studies of people giving talks or telling visitors what they do and how they started - showcasing the opportunities which are not always associated with the industry including a specific area around the use of technology in the industry with virtual reality exercises, games, practical work experiences and role plays - a cooking competition similar to La Parade des Chefs There is also the opportunity to get feedback from children as future users, diners, travellers and employees or even future employers. The current round of the Careers and Enterprise Fund might be an avenue to part fund this. Trade Shows - All of the industry's trade shows currently do not allow access to people under 18 which is appropriate most of the time, however, if the industry is trying to showcase the industry to attract more young people, one of the days of most of these multi-day trade shows could be dedicated to young people to attend eg A Young Hotelympia day. Hotel Tech Live in September 2017 would also be a good showcase to young people of the opportunities in the industry. Local Social Enterprise Engagement Engaging with schools and colleges to promote the hospitality industry and the chef's profession is a tried and tested traditional route of raising awareness of the industry with the next generation of recruits and is a great way of promoting a career in the industry. What kitchens need right now, however, are those with some experience, training and proven commitment. That is where hospitality based social enterprises can help. Social enterprises primarily help disadvantaged groups of people often located in areas of deprivation including young unemployed, women, the homeless and ex-prisoners. Many of them provide training in food preparation to at least Level 2 as well as food safety and hygiene. They have local knowledge of the community and their needs and help keep the local economy thriving. But a key aspect of social enterprises is that they are committed to helping way beyond just providing training. They provide other support services such as signposting to specialist service providers but also help to find jobs and placements in mainstream restaurants often continuing to provide additional support once in work. Social enterprises already well known in the industry, such as Fifteen and Brigade help train and place the people they help into work after their training and these are just examples of organisations that look for establishments to work with. Yet there are also a wealth of smaller and not so well known grassroots social enterprises who provide these opportunities. Lists of hospitality and catering based social enterprises on various social enterprise support network websites such as Social Enterprise UK's members directory http://socialenterprise.org.uk/membership/our-members/members-directory or Business In The Community's arc programme member directory http://www.bitcarc.org.uk/arcsocialenterprises. Therefore, when considering industry-wide strategies to help tackle the current skills shortage the industry is facing at the moment, schemes and opportunities for the industry to engage and work in collaboration with local hospitality social enterprises should be encouraged and set in place - to achieve and ensure that a pipeline of skilled chefs and hospitality workers is established at the same time as helping local disadvantaged communities. Hospitality Skills Crisis - Think SocialEngaging with schools and colleges to promote the hospitality industry and the chef's profession is a tried and tested traditional route of raising awareness of the industry with the next generation of recruits and is a great way of promoting a career in the industry.
What kitchens need right now, however, are those with some experience, training and proven commitment. That is where, I believe, hospitality based social enterprises can help. Social enterprises primarily help disadvantaged groups of people often located in areas of deprivation including young unemployed, women, the homeless and ex-prisoners. Many of them provide training in food preparation to at least Level 2 as well as food safety and hygiene. They have local knowledge of the community and their needs and help keep the local economy thriving. But a key aspect of social enterprises is that they are committed to helping way beyond just providing training. They provide other support services such as signposting to specialist service providers but also help to find jobs and placements in mainstream restaurants often continuing to provide additional support once in work. Social enterprises such as Brigade, the bistro and bar founded by chef Simon Boyle and the social enterprise arm of the Beyond Food Foundation assist homeless people through their Freshlife and United Kitchen programmes; the Clink Charity train pre-release prisoners in kitchen and front of house roles. Both help place the people they help into work after their training and these are just two examples of organisations that look for establishments to work with. Yet there are also smaller and not so well known grassroots social enterprises who provide these opportunities. Therefore, when considering industry-wide strategies to help tackle the current skilled chef shortage the industry is facing at the moment, schemes and opportunities for the industry to engage and work in collaboration with local hospitality social enterprises should be encouraged and set in place - to achieve and ensure that a pipeline of skilled chefs and hospitality workers is established at the same time as helping local disadvantaged communities. You can also find hospitality and catering based social enterprises on various social enterprise support network websites such as Social Enterprise UK's members directory http://socialenterprise.org.uk/membership/our-members/members-directory or Business In The Community's arc programme member directory http://www.bitcarc.org.uk/arcsocialenterprises. So when considering whether to #BuySocial also consider whether there are opportunities where you can #HireSocial as well. Good coffee and where to find it in Croydon is the flavour of the summer this year - and rightly so because we do have a great number of independent coffee shops across the borough. A number of those are listed or have adverts in The Croydon Citizen and Jonny Rose captures the current essence of the coffee culture in the borough in his article in the latest edition http://thecroydoncitizen.com/economics-business/will-defeat-prejudices-croydon-one-artisanal-coffee-time/ It is true that the 'boundaries between social and professional life are fading' and there is a fusion between our personal and professional lives. But there is also the fusion between the professional and social in the emergence of social enterprises using and selling coffee for good - and I am not just talking about buying Fairtrade coffee. We Walk The Line CIC based in Hackney http://wewalktheline.org help NEETs, the homeless and ex-offenders start their own business through coaching them to become qualified baristas and give them use of their own pedal powered coffee stall. Second Shot http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/introducing-the-coffee-shop-that-hopes-to-give-homeless-people-a-second-shot--WyZ8Sg0b3Mg, a new social enterprise cafe venture by a final year UCL student aims to help the homeless off the street and train them to become baristas and have a better way of life. They also plan to have additional street based services to help the homeless as well as a pay it forward system where you can pay for a coffee for someone less fortunate. Well Grounded @WellGroundedHQ is a social enterprise providing barista training to young people and is currently training their first cohort. Moving a bit closer to home, in the Croydon borough stretching up to Crystal Palace, the social enterprise Living Water Satisfies http://www.livingwatersatisfies.org.uk/cafe runs a cafe serving various coffees and food (including a delicious curried goat) to help empower and support victims of domestic abuse. From their unit in Keeley Road and the newly opened Wandle Park cafe, social enterprise Mum's the Chef http://www.mumsthechef.com serves a variety of coffees and fare to local park users, office workers and joggers through training and employing minority ethnic women as chefs. And with all these coffee shops springing up, if you were starting to worry about all the used up coffee grounds going to fill up the waste system, there is social enterprise Green Croydon http://greencroydon.co.uk who collect used coffee grounds to grow their own crops of oyster mushrooms which they then sell to local restaurants and cafes. So if Croydon is likely to follow in the footsteps of East London 'gentrification' through its coffee and independent cafe culture, we also have the opportunity and choice to satisfy our need for a caffeine fix - even a latte has some caffeine - by helping our own local social entrepreneurs help our local community. Surely that is a product or experience that we would like to relate and associate ourselves with. |
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