Catering Scotland NewsScottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

A Central Scotland schoolboy has been crowned runner up in FutureChef 2010. Conor McLean (14) beat nearly 8,000 12?16-year-olds who have cooked their way through the four stages of the competition. Conor came in a close second place, just behind overall winner Kerry Johansen from the North West.

Sixteen-year-old Kerry, who works with Sodexo on match days at Everton Football Club, worked throughout the year with her mentor chef Gareth Billington, Executive Head Chef for Sodexo Prestige at Everton Football Club.

Gareth said: 'Kerry's win is fully justified and it's nice to see a reward for all her hard work.'

FutureChef, run by The Springboard Charity, is a four-stage nationwide culinary programme helping young people aged 12-16 to learn to cook. It inspires them to explore food and cooking as a life skill, helps to develop their culinary talent and informs them about entry routes into the hospitality industry.

Kerry received a range of prizes including an all-expenses-paid trip to Rome, ?500 cash courtesy of City & Guilds, and a Titanium Chef machine from Kenwood. Her school, St Michaels Church of England, will also receive vouchers to the value of ?350, provided by Bunzl Lockhart.

Runner Up Conor scooped a behind-the-scenes visit to Royal Ascot to work with top chefs, a tour of Eton College followed by full hospitality at Ascot and a night in a top hotel.

Third prize went to Charlotte Harvey, 16, from the South East.

Registrations for the 2011 programme open this week. Visit www.futurechef.springboarduk.net for more details.

Over a quarter of those working in the hospitality and leisure sector haven?t learnt something new in the past year, according to new research from The Department For Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Around 26% of those working in the hospitality, tourism and leisure sector haven't learnt a new activity or hobby, while just under one in ten (8%) haven't read a book for pleasure during the past 12 months.

However, workers within the sector are apparently enthusiastic about learning something new, with 46% saying they felt that learning a new skill or hobby would make them more confident at work.

The Government recently committed an additional ?30m during 2009/10 to support informal adult learning under the banner of The Learning Revolution.

North Lanarkshire's Working, an employability partnership led by North Lanarkshire Council, identifies and trains unemployed individuals, and matches them to local employers.

Companies recruiting through the initiative may have access to wage subsidies and will receive support from a dedicated team to ensure that the people placed within their organisation will benefit their business.

North Lanarkshire's Working makes the recruitment process simpler by selecting applicants who are keen to get back to work and already have some of the skill you require. The team can also provide tailored training programmes.

Funky Monkeys, a children's play area in Coatbridge, recruited half of its staff through North Lanarkshire's Working.
Manager Fraser Thomson said: 'The main benefit from an employers's perspective has to be the quality of the candidates and the fact that the process to recruit them is made so easy for you.
'One girl, a 25-year-old who had been unemployed for a year, has turned out to be one of our best members of staff and has been promoted to supervisor.'

Over 100 businesses in the area have already taken advantage. Don't miss out; with our help, finding employees in your area can be a lot easier than you think!

Call our helpline on 0800 0730 226 or visit the North Lanarkshire's Working website to receive details of how we can help your business.

Craig Stevenson, owner and managing director of Braehead Foods, was awarded the Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland's Industry Award 2010 at its annual fundraising dinner last night.
The annual award was created to reward and promote role models for the Hospitality industry.
David Cochrane, Chief Executive of HIT Scotland said: Craig deserved the award because of his key role as a promoter of authentic Scottish products and for supporting rural tourism.
'He invests much of his own time and resources in the chefs of tomorrow at his Braehead Cook School and through sholarships, in addition to his generosity towards industry charities.
Previous winners of the award include Peter Lederer, Neil Thomson, Ken McCulloch Avril Robertson, Andrew Fairlie, James Thomson and Willie Pike, among others.

The black-tie Glasgow dinner raised over £72,000 for HIT Scotland's bursary and scholarship programmes.
Michelin-starred chefs Martin Wishart, Jeff Bland and Steven Doherty provided the three-course meal for over 400 guests at the city's Radisson Blu hotel.

A restaurant manager from Glasgow has made it through to the final of the UK Restaurant Manager of the Year 2010.
The Academy of Food & Wine's competition aims to identify the best restaurant manager in the UK. Sean Simpson, RM at the Holiday Inn Glasgow, is one of the finalsits who will compete for the title at the Roof Gardens, Kensington, London, on 17th May.

The name of the 2010 UK Restaurant Manager of the Year will be announced at a gala dinner to be held the same evening.

The 2010 finalists are:

-Mark Bevan, restaurant manager, Chester Grosvenor, Cheshire
-Michele Caggianese, restaurant manager, Galvin at Windows, Hilton on Park Lane
-David Hennigan, general manager, The Crown at Whitebrook, Monmouth
-Peter McAlister, brasserie manager, Malmaison Belfast
-Paul Shanahan, restaurant manager, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
-Sean Simpson, restaurant manager, Holiday Inn Glasgow

Neil Ellis has been appointed General Manager at Mar Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf resort, near Bishopton on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Having spent four years at the Mercure Point Hotel HOtel in Edinburgh and latterly at City Inn in Glasgow, Neil was Chair of Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG), a director of the Edinburgh Convention Bureau and a Council Member of Edinburgh Hotels Association.

A new and improved version of the Cutting Edge, a free resource featuring video clips of a master butcher at work, has been launched on Quality Meat Scotland's website, www.qmscotland.co.uk.

QMS Industry Development Manager, Andy McGowan, said: 'The website is aimed at helping trainee butchers and farmers to master the wide range of cutting techniques required for the job.
'It's been very popular since it was launched on CD-Rom about five years ago and on the website in 2007.
'The feedback about the Cutting Edge has surpassed all our expectations. In the time we've been redeveloping it we've had messages from all over the world saying how useful a training tool it is.'

The new version features remastered tapes offering higher quality video and sound, and features over four hours of footage of master butcher, Viv Harvey, undertaking a cut-by-cut breakdown of a complete beef, lamb and pork carcase, and demonstrating how to maximise the value of each part of the animal.

Although the greatest interest in the teaching tool has come from the butcher and retail sectors, farmers looking to diversify into butchery through farmers' markets and farm shops have also found it a useful tool to develop their cutting skills.

The updated resource is available now at www.qmscotland.co.uk/cutting.

Businesses throughout Scotland operating in the food and drink industry
are being urged to encourage their young employees to sign up for
WorldSkills UK competitions for the chance to represent the UK on the
global stage.

The Scottish Government is calling on businesses in a range of
vocational sectors, including restaurant service, cooking, confectionery
and pastry chefs, to recognise the emerging talent they have within
their organisations. The WorldSkills UK competitions offer talented
young people the opportunity to compete against their peers and
demonstrate their skills.

Successful entrants from this year's WorldSkills UK competitions may be
selected to represent the UK at WorldSkills London 2011 at ExCeL between 5th-8th October 2011.

Scottish Government Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning, Keith Brown, said:
'The development of our current and future workforces is
paramount to a strong economic recovery for Scotland, with sustainable
economic growth as our long-term aim.
'Worldskills is a real opportunity for young people to showcase their talents
and hopefully we can find some Scottish medallists for WorldSkills
London 2011.

Scotland's hotel sector has had a poorer start to the year than any other part of the UK, with both occupancy and rooms yield down, according to the latest monthly survey by accountants and business advisers, PKF. The firm's monthly survey found signs of room-price discounting across the UK to maintain occupancy levels. Among Scottish hotels the impact of the recession was exacerbated by the terrible weather in January which had an adverse impact on occupancy and rooms yield.

During that month, Scotland's hotels witnessed a 1.5% fall in occupancy levels, whilst Wales, in comparison, enjoyed a rise of 1%. Rooms yield also dipped in Scotland, to 6.8%. However, it wasn't all bad; occupancy in Glasgow and Edinburgh rose during January by 7.5% and 0.3% respectively, but was down by 7.3% in Aberdeen.

Alastair Rae, a partner in the Real Estate and Hospitality sector at PKF, said: 'These figures indicate that discounting to maintain occupancy levels remains a feature of the sector as the economy creeps from recession.
'Many hotels will have minimum occupancy levels to ensure they can maintain efficient operational performance. Leaving rooms empty with full capital costs and staffing levels makes no sense so, clearly, many hoteliers are reducing the cost of their rooms to maintain footfall.'

'The positive aspect of this is that customers will experience high service levels for their money and may consequently return when the economy has picked up. The risk is that their expectations of how much services cost may have been reduced which can cause problems when hotels try to return to normal pricing structures.'

Alastair concluded: 'Of some concern at the moment for hoteliers is the re-evaluation of business rates. As these are based on turnover from 2008, many hoteliers will find their rates rising substantially at a time when revenues and profitability are falling. The concern is that, while the rates are reviewed every five years as a matter of course, this review has extremely unfortunate timing for most hoteliers, since it coincides with a major economic downturn and still limited signs of recovery.'

North Lanarkshire's Working, an employability partnership led by North Lanarkshire Council, identifies and trains unemployed individuals, and matches them to local employers.

Companies recruiting through the initiative may have access to wage subsidies and will receive support from a dedicated team to ensure that the people placed within their organisation will benefit their business.

North Lanarkshire's Working makes the recruitment process simpler by selecting applicants who are keen to get back to work and already have some of the skill you require. The team can also provide tailored training programmes.

Funky Monkeys, a children's play area in Coatbridge, recruited half of its staff through North Lanarkshire's Working.
Manager Fraser Thomson said: 'The main benefit from an employers's perspective has to be the quality of the candidates and the fact that the process to recruit them is made so easy for you.
'One girl, a 25-year-old who had been unemployed for a year, has turned out to be one of our best members of staff and has been promoted to supervisor.'

Over 100 businesses in the area have already taken advantage. Don't miss out; with our help, finding employees in your area can be a lot easier than you think!

Call our helpline on 0800 0730 226 or visit the North Lanarkshire's Working website to receive details of how we can help your business.