Keep this competition on the agenda
Today I found out that the 2004 British Meat Chef of the Year competition may well be cancelled. This is the worst news that I've had this year.
As a finalist last year, I came third in the contract catering competition and I enjoyed every minute of it. One of many useful aspects of competitions is learning about using the product in imaginative ways. That particular competition raised awareness of the quality of British meat.
It is an honour for chefs to be selected to compete at that level. For me, the prize does not influence my decision to apply to take part. Maybe the organisers should think about changing the prize to something more educational, such as spending time with the producer of the meat or visiting the slaughterhouse and butcher, rather than providing a cash prize?
I hope the decision to cancel the competition will be changed and the search to find the 2004 British Meat Chef of the Year will still go ahead.
Yoram Odentz, Catering Manager, Universal Sodexho, Aberdeen
Regio Food Project launch achieves its aim
I feel obliged to reply to the letter that Mary Ann Gilchrist felt compelled to write highlighting the missed opportunity for regional food at the launch of the Regio Food Project.
The points she raised are the exact reasons why the project is so important to the partner countries involved.
The ingredients used to make the buffet lunch were, in the main, Welsh foods, therefore asking the question: what are the regional dishes of Wales?
This is an innovative project with partners in Italy, Estonia, Malta and Wales, and its aim is to produce multimedia training materials to enable establishments to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to produce regional food dishes using the excellent regional produce that is available to them. This project will make a difference in demonstrating not only the preparation and cooking of regional dishes but also the use of authenticated regional ingredients in the preparation of the dishes.
I hope that Ms Gilchrist takes time to complete the questionnaire in the launch pack, which relates directly to the points raised in her letter, and that she takes an active role in the future development of the project.
Arwyn Watkins, Managing director, Cambrian Training Company
The facts don't quite match the figures
You carried an article reporting on a study by Mintel that quoted a number of facts about developments in the eating-out market. However, much of the article was misleading.
Headed by the words "Boom time for fast food", it goes on to report that consumers now spend twice as much on fast food as they did in 1998. Doing the simple sums, this equates to a growth rate of more than 15% a year for five years.
While the sector has indeed been growing, competition from supermarket ready-meals and general downward pressure on prices has meant that, according to ongoing research from Horizons, the market has grown at less than 1% a year in real terms.
Your article also notes that average weekly consumer expenditure on eating out generally has grown by 16% in the last two years. Let's take inflation out, and we get to a growth figure of 11% over the two years. The vast majority of restaurants, pubs, hotels and other outlets that make up the eating-out sector would be immensely pleased to have seen an increase like this.
The point to make is not that the survey itself is wrong - I haven't had the opportunity to go into it - but that it does nobody any good to make claims that can so easily be seen not to be true. It's misleading and calls into question the value of any information about the eating-out market.
I'd like to make a plea for great care in ensuring the accuracy of information that is made available about this industry. Its complexity makes measurement difficult - all the more reason, therefore, to be vigilant about the underlying quality of facts quoted about the eating-out market.
The research done by Horizons, on its own and in conjunction with trade bodies, has developed a basis for measuring the market using credible definitions. This research indicates that the market as a whole has stood still over the past five years. The conclusion is that the industry has a lot to do to develop the offers that will be needed by tomorrow's increasingly demanding consumer.
Peter Backman, Managing Director, Horizons
Training centre could be catalyst for change
No offence to Forbes Mutch, but it was a nice change to see a new "editor" in the hot seat of Caterer (4 December). I personally welcomed Oliver Peyton's comments on catering training and that we need "a truly inspirational, stand-alone institution that our chefs of the future aspire to".
While the demand for skilled chefs is as high as ever, we should not omit the need for the same quality of training for front-of-house restaurant personnel and, of course, the range of supervisors and managers for all the sectors.
With our industry being such a significant contributor to the UK economy, the need for quality in the products and services we offer has never been greater, yet criticisms of our hospitality and tourism product continue. So I suppose it is only natural to look at training institutions overseas and compare these with the majority of UK colleges and universities.
The industry deserves high-quality training institutions, well funded and resourced, which deliver flexible, relevant training and development to existing and aspiring employees and respond to industry needs. But most of all it needs well-funded institutions that are free from the complexities of state funding and can operate an all-year-round provision.
In most US and European culinary and hospitality schools, students pay a much higher fee than in the UK, and many of these receive substantial donations from industry. So are fees the answer? Some would argue this, and point to the continued success of private cookery schools. Yet look at the recent arguments against higher tuition fees - we have to find a more effective way of funding our training institutions and influence more forcibly the way in which training at all levels is conducted.
Dare I suggest that the Butlers Wharf Chef & Restaurant School was one of the first to approach training in this way and, in its time, saw a considerable number of aspiring and experienced chefs and restaurant personnel through its doors?
Never has the time been better for the establishment of a national centre with close links to, and real financial support from, the industry and which can deliver the quality of training Oliver Peyton and many others argue we should have.
Working in close partnership with such centres as the Asian School of Catering, it could then be the real catalyst for change that our industry needs. Perhaps Oliver Peyton will be one of the first industry patrons?
John Roberts FHCIMA, Ashgate, Chesterfield, Derbyshire (ex-director, Butlers Wharf Chef &Restaurant School, London)