Don't be sucked in by self-serving publicity
I trust that, by now, Caterer will have been inundated with complaints regarding the Catercheck survey into staff feeding ("Changing times for staff catering," Caterer, 11 September, page 17).
It is one of those apocryphal stories, which I am sure crops up in Caterer at least once a decade, and, I am equally sure, is prompted by a self-serving desire for publicity.
"The research covered staff catering in the finance, public utility, IT, media and car and food manufacturing sectors," reports Caterer. That is quite a wide spread of interest. But I would suggest these companies are mostly, if not all, the clients of Catercheck and, as such, would naturally be interested in cost reduction, as this is the primary interest of that company.
This is not, therefore, a representative view of the market, but an extremely biased opinion which tries to gain credence by stating as a revelation what professional food service consultants have known for years.
There will always be a small percentage of any market that wants only to cut costs and save money, just as there is also another small percentage in the staff feeding sector that wants to build fabulous sit-down restaurants serving five-star food. Both are extremes.
Staff-feeding clients are, of course, interested in saving money and reclaiming valuable office space. That is why so many clients and contract caterers are investing in the development of a new generation of staff-feeding facilities, including sit-down dining.
Staff feeding has never been so creative and innovative. Good facilities help to take the stress out of work, improve socialisation and integration of new staff and, altogether, make the workplace more pleasant and productive.
The high street has only a limited choice, and good staff-feeding facilities complement retail outlets.
Yes, kiosks are coming in, but so is theatre cooking, and the multi-purpose sit-down staff restaurant which can double as a presentation or lecture theatre. The sit-down staff restaurant is alive, kicking and more flexible and sophisticated than ever.
Staff feeding is about looking after quality staff and keeping them. In areas of high employment, for example, good catering facilities can be a big influence on recruitment and staff retention.
For an independent, well-informed and rounded view of the market, look at the website (www.fcsi.org.uk) of the Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), the only professional body in the UK and worldwide representing leading food service management and design consultants.
Come on, staff restaurant chefs and managers, what do you have to say in support of your profession?
Arthur Meakin
Chairman, FCSI Task Force
Credit where it's due for bringing in star chefs
I felt I had to write following the cynical and negative comments made about star chefs working in contract catering (Caterer, 2 October, page 40).
Sodexho has developed spectacular, insightful training for more than 1,000 chefs in the past nine years with our Masterclass programme, using the following great artisans: Anton Mosimann, Paul Heathcote, Ken Hom, Willi Elsener, Alastair Little, Cyrus Todiwala, Valentina Harris, Nick Nairn, Rick Stein, Tony Tobin, Paul and Jeanne Rankin, Antony Worrall Thompson, Madhur Jaffrey, Peter Gordon, Franco Taruschio, James Martin, Ross Burden, Steven Saunders and, of course, Anton Edelmann.
Gary Rhodes also helped train a number of our chefs through a programme at City Rhodes. This was highly motivational, and he added significantly to our culinary skills.
All I would say to the consultant commentators quoted in the article is this: to have access to such a wealth of skills, experience and talent, and to share that with the talent that is already in our organisation, is motivational, inspirational and deserves credit, not derision.
We would welcome both Peter Pitham of the Catering Consultancy Bureau and Chris Stern of the Stern Consultancy Group to come and talk to our chefs and join in one of our events - then I would like to hear their views.
Peter Hazzard
Executive director (food services), Sodexho, London
That was no peak, it was just a foothill
In response to your article about chefs moving into product development (Caterer, 25 September, page 38), we were surprised by a comment from Berkeley Scott that they believe this particular market has peaked.
The "Check On" division of Focus Management Consultants is the market leader in this sector, working with UK and pan-European food manufacturing groups, and we see ever-increasing demand from clients.
There is a real desire to bring highly talented chefs from the restaurant and hotel sectors into the manufacturing arena, in order to provide the ideas and creativity the high-street retailers and food service groups demand for their regular new product launches.
It still remains an exciting alternative career route for the best chefs to consider and, from our perspective, is a recruitment category that continues to grow.
Jack Mitchell
Focus Management Consultants
Disability access still a minefield for hotels
I read with great interest Forbes Mutch's Comment and the article on the prosecution arising from the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (Caterer, 25 September, pages 5 and 13). I have no sympathy with the restaurant for banning a guide dog, but there is a part of the act that I don't think is grasped by all.
I own a small, nine-bedroom Victorian guesthouse in Cumbria. This year, I have spent thousands of pounds installing a ramp at the entrance, opening up passageways and building a new, accessible room.
I have been told by my local disabled access officer from the council that, despite being the only place in town that has access, under the terms of the new DDA, I am still liable for prosecution because I cannot offer total access to all rooms of the guesthouse.
In other words, if a wheelchair-bound guest wants to sleep on the top floor, if I cannot get him or her up to that room, I have broken the law.
The officer tells me that, until this is tested in court, this is the way things stand.
He has also suggested that I install lifts or stair lifts - both of which, given the nature of the building, are impractical and prohibitively costly (needless to say, there is no assistance for these items).
I must admit that, having read through the DDA, I feel it has been put together by people with no experience of the hotel or catering trade (or, dare I say, reality).
While I would support genuine access and discrimination complaints, I feel the door has been opened to those who seem to make a career out of complaining.
Tim Blagbrough
Norcroft Guest House, Penrith, Cumbria