Tourism Skills Network Gloucestershire

Chef Excellence
Chef Conference 2008

Monday 3 November, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester

The 2nd Gloucestershire Chef Excellence Conference is to be held on November 3rd at Royal Agricultural College Cirencester. This conference will offer Head Chefs from around the county a chance to join forces to hear some exciting speakers and learn some top tips to enhance their kitchens and businesses in the county. This years conference is also encouraging secondary school food teachers in Gloucestershire to attend to help bridge the gaps between schools and chefs needed to help deliver new Hospitality Diplomas for 14- 19 year olds, improving cooking skills of our young and create a healthier Gloucestershire.

Headline acts at the conference include:
~ Matthew Fort from BBC Great British Menu, Observer Food Critic, Author and Gloucestershire resident.
~ Ben Axford from the CheeseWorks and former Masterchef Finalist delivering a Cheese Master class
~ A Cotswold Beer and Food Matching session
~ Top Tips on maintaining profits during a “credit crunch”
~ News on Hospitality Diplomas and Lets Get Cooking Clubs

This conference is funded by Learning and Skills Council, The Savoy Education Trust and Tourism Skills Network South West.

Rob Rees MBE – The Cotswold Chef™ says “Chefs will really enjoy this conference and I encourage as many as possible to attend. With great speakers and events people will be inspired. Schools are going to need Chef support to deliver the Diplomas and this event will offer advice on how to be involved”

To reserve your place at this FREE event, please click the icon to the left to download a booking form.

For further information please contact Lizzy lyons on 01275 370915 or email lizzy.lyons@tsnsw.org.uk

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Chefs4Schools

Chefs4Schools is a new local initiative developed by the Tourism Skills Network Gloucestershire, which aims to link local chefs with local schools in order to provide support for the School Food agenda.

With many schools now delivering / seeking to deliver GCSEs in Hospitality & Catering there is a real need for industry support to ensure that delivery is consistent with current industry practice. Therefore, one of the main objectives of Chef Excellence is to create a team of local chefs who would be willing to deliver chef demonstrations in schools in order to provide young people with some practical cookery skills and inspire them to seek a career as a chef.

Furthermore, with the changes in school food and a greater focus upon nutrition and diet, industry support is also required for our school cooks in assisting with this transition.

So how can we do this? We are all passionate about what we do…. We know that. However, experience shows that in order to add real value to schools we have to understand their needs and practicalities of dealing with education system.

An information day was held in August and there are now chefs trained to deliver presentations in schools. If you would like a chef to deliver a presentation in your school, please fill in the attached booking form and return to kelly.gingell@gloucestershire.gov.uk

If you are a chef and you would like to become involved in this project, we have organised another training day for Monday 16 June from 2 - 4pm in Cirencester. To register your interest please contact kelly.gingell@gloucestershire.gov.uk

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Chef Excellence

Gloucestershire Chef Excellence is a management and business skills programme aimed at senior chefs working in hospitality & tourism in the county. It is a 'pilot' training programme which is funded by the Learning & Skills Council and is being managed by the Tourism Skills Network in partnership with Gloscat. It has been designed in response to industry requirements.

Programme 1 was delivered between June & November 06 with 20 chefs enrolling.

Programme 2 commenced on 26 February 07 and involves 8 days training over a 3 month period. Click on the attachment for programme information.

At the end of Programme 2 an evaluation report with a suggested format for future delivery will be presented to the Learning and Skills Council.
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Chef Conference

The first Gloucestershire Chef Conference took place on Thursday 06 April 2006. The conference launched the 'pilot' Chef Excellence Award in addition to presentations from Michael Caines, Gloucestershire Tourism, British Nutrition Foundation, British Food Fortnight organisers and local supplier Mise en Place. For information on the event please click on the icon (you may need to save the document before you can open it). _________________________________________________________

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