Anton's new horizon

The position of maitre chef des cuisines at the Savoy hotel is a hard act to follow. On 22 September after 21 years, Anton Edelmann handed the title over to Georg Fuchs. Edelmann is moving on - not, as many might have predicted, to a fancy hotel in Paris or New York, nor to set up his own restaurant. Instead, he's donning his whites for one of the world's biggest contract caterers, Sodexho.

I met Edelmann a few weeks ago while he was still at the Savoy. As it happened, US magician David Blaine was holding a press briefing in the hotel before his 44-day fast in a box over the Thames, and my arrival coincided with him "chopping" his ear off in a publicity stunt. I heard the screams as I made my way through to the River Room restaurant. Deep in the cocoon of his kitchens, however, Edelmann hadn't heard a thing. It's an analogy that triggers the question: what will the great man make of life "out there" in the world of contract catering?

Edelmann explains patiently that life "out there" is exactly what he is looking for.

"It offers me the excitement of something new and different and that is the biggest factor," he says. "Once you get to 50 you start to think about things. I've been at the Savoy for 21 years. I love it, but did I want to be here for another 15? I need more variation in my life."

Nowadays, it's not that unusual for a top chef to be linked with a contract caterer in a bid to win clients who today benchmark their catering against the best in the restaurant trade. Look at Gordon Ramsay and Aramark or Michael Caines and Compass subsidiary Baxter & Platts. Even the smaller companies are at it. David Cavalier is now the food innovation director at Charlton House, the Vineyard at Stockcross's John Campbell is retained by Wilson Storey Halliday.

But, how well do they work? Edelmann's appointment follows events earlier this year when Gary Rhodes and Sodexho dissolved their six-year joint venture. The contractor helped Rhodes to open several restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Rhodes in the Square and City Rhodes in London, but there's speculation that the relationship went sour.

With Edelmann, Sodexho has taken a different route, making him an employee of its fine-dining subsidiary, Directors Table. Managing director Tim Cooper stresses it is not just an endorsement.

"Anton's employment is with us," he says. "There's a greater degree of exclusivity now. He's a legend and we benefit from the fact he's already created a reputation rather than working to help him create it."

There are those, however, who question how well permanent relationships work. Consultant Peter Pitham, of Catering Consultancy Bureau, agrees Edelmann will help boost Sodexho's press - taking the focus off its poor performance in the past year or so - but he warns that full-time arrangements can become old hat.

"People start to think ‘is he still there?'. I think they need a turn over [of star chefs]. Once clients know the chef's style, he has fulfilled his usefulness. It needs to be an evolutionary thing."

Chris Stern, at Stern Consultancy Group, is also sceptical about many of the big-name pairings. "It's about PR and egos and people at the top," he says.

In particular, Stern questions how much training these chefs can realistically do in such large companies. "Big companies who pay a lot for these chefs still tend to have terrible staff restaurants in most of their contracts."

He cites last year's big-name consultancy deal between Gordon Ramsay and Aramark, and is not alone in his scepticism. William Baxter at BaxterSmith describes it as "not the sort of useful arrangement I would seek", while Pitham labels it a "PR thing".

Bill Toner, chief executive at Aramark, argues that the level of inspiration a chef such as Ramsay brings is unique. He says up to six of his chefs spend time in Ramsay's kitchen each month for two days. So far, this has involved 40 employees.

"Our relationship with Gordon Ramsay links in with our in-house culinary training programs. Gordon is an inspirational character for chefs and we use the training opportunities at his restaurants to motivate, train and inspire our ambitious chefs," Toner says.

Stern concedes that PR is valid, particularly if it results in prestigious contracts, but he reckons the most productive relationships are in smaller companies and he cites David Cavalier at Charlton House. "He's passionate about what he does, he's employed by the company and he's a director, so there is a real benefit."

Pitham reckons it is more beneficial to keep consultant chefs on a retainer than to take on an expensive overhead. He stresses the importance of balancing what the consultant chefs achieve with what they cost - and adds there should never be a visible cost to the client.

At the end of the day, perhaps, as Pitham says, there's only one way to measure success - and that's to monitor staff morale.

"Consultant chefs are the heroes," he says. "To work with them and chat with them is infectious. It rubs off on company chefs and they are bursting with enthusiasm."

Michael Caines and Baxter & Platts

Compass subsidiary Baxter & Platts signed Michael Caines up as consultant chef three years ago. Managing director Noel Mahony describes it as a "simple relationship" whereby Baxter & Platts pays a retainer and Caines gives the company 25 days a year of his time.

You'd hardly think Caines had any time, as he is chef-director of the two-Michelin starred Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Devon, and oversees two other restaurants, Michael Caines@the Royal Clarence in Exeter and more recently Michael Caines@the Bristol Marriott Royal. But both he and Mahony are conscious that it's detrimental to both parties if he takes on too much.

Duties include assisting at key-client tenders and launches, working alongside the Baxter & Platts team at events such as Hotelympia and training staff. Some 25 of the company's 350 chefs have been sent to Gidleigh Park for week-long stints this year.

It's the training benefits and knock-on effect of staff-retention that Mahony values most. "Michael brings skills and total access to his business," says Mahony. "It's nice to have the kudos of Michael and to use him to impress clients. But he comes into his own when he is training our chefs. They just look at him with their mouths open. He inspires passion in them."

For this reason, Mahony puts Caines's retainer fee under his training and development budget. The figures are confidential, but he says: "We get significant value for money and the investment is by no means extortionate. Michael's not in it for the financial gain, otherwise he would work elsewhere."

But does he believe a Michelin-starred chef such as Caines can understand the challenges faced by chefs in contract catering? Mahony concedes that his chefs have a different skills base but adds: "Our customers are the same. They work in banks and big companies. They are the same people who eat in his restaurants."

Caines, in turn, describes what he has seen at the fine-dining end of contract catering as cutting edge and innovative, and enjoys passing on his knowledge: "I don't see working for contract catering as a stigma. I see it as building my skills and their skills," he says.

What does he mean - building "his" skills?

Caines explains: "It has given me an insight. If I ever set up a contract catering business on my own, I'd know how to do it. You never know where your business might lead you."

He adds that he has no plans at the moment to follow Edelmann into contract catering full time, but he's aware that contract caterers have become more interested in consultant chefs as their businesses have become more commercial. "A lot of contracts want nil-subsidy, which is forcing chefs to be more commercially minded. It helps that they have exposure to restaurants," he says.

John Campbell and Wilson Storey Halliday

Alastair Storey, managing director at Wilson Storey Halliday took on John Campbell, the one-Michelin-starred executive chef at the Vineyard at Stockcross, as consultant chef in January.

The company is only three years old and still growing, but in Storey's book there's no point stinting on staff development. He has struck a financial deal with both Campbell and the Vineyard, which, according to Storey, is a "great investment" rather than a cost.

"Our objective is to be a niche, quality player catering for top businesses in the UK. We are not expecting a miracle. We know it has to be through developing good teams of people," he explains.

What appeals to Storey about the way Campbell works is that he "de-risks" things. There are lists, for instance, specifying measurements for all dishes so any novice could go into his kitchen and cook - it's a system that chimes with contract catering disciplines.

Besides holding masterclasses and so on, Campbell takes a Wilson Storey Halliday chef once a month for five days, starting on a Tuesday through to Saturday night. The training is designed so that by Saturday morning the trainee can come in and, say, make the bread for Saturday service. By Saturday night they will be working alongside Campbell. It means they have achieved something.

Storey has noticed the difference: "Our chefs think smarter, are more innovative and give more to the client."

Even so, he says he would not want to employ Campbell full-time and says he had difficulty understanding how the Gary Rhodes partnership with Sodexho benefited the contract caterer.

"The benefit of John is that he has a live restaurant," explains Storey. "What makes him cutting edge is that he has the pressure of running that restaurant. If you took away that pressure, would it work? Would he be as well received in our organisation?"

Campbell agrees. He appreciates he's got 20 chefs to feed 50 people while contractors have three or four chefs to feed 300 people. But he reckons that a lot of contract catering chefs show more potential than those trained in Michelin-starred restaurants.

"It's all about attitude," Campbell says. "Some chefs from Wilson Storey Halliday could be better than those in Michelin-starred restaurants. It's the training that counts."

Anton Edelmann and Directors Table

One thing Anton Edelmann was understandably adamant about was that he didn't want what he calls a "non-job" after the kudos of the Savoy. He reckons as principal chef at Sodexho's fine-dining arm, Directors Table, he has made the right move for his career. Under his jurisdiction will be 42 kitchens in the City of London, plus the former Rhodes in the Square restaurant at Dolphin Square, recently renamed Allium.

He will oversee Allium for two-and-a-half days a week, developing menus and retaining the restaurant's Michelin star. "One is enough," he says. The rest of his time will be spent visiting sites and cooking special dinners for clients when required. His main remit, however, is to set up a training academy to develop new concepts. He reckons he will spend four or five days every month training staff in both front and back of house operations.

Edelmann has no concerns about entering a sector obsessed by systems and profit margins. "Every company is bottom-line driven," he says. "Not just Sodexho. Everyone has to meet targets. I had a lot of autonomy at the Savoy but we had to make money."

He's also impressed with the state-of-the-art kitchens at many of Directors Table's City sites. "A couple of million pounds is small beer for a big company, so the infrastructure is fabulous," he says.

So how much is this costing Directors Table? Edelmann describes his employment terms as "generous" but neither he nor the division's managing director, Tim Cooper, will discuss figures.

"He is going to cost a lot," Cooper says. "But he will help create a commercial restaurant [Allium] so there is a financial benefit."

Cooper believes Edelmann's presence will benefit Directors Table at launches and in winning and retaining business. The real payback, however, is the fact his staff will be trained by a Savoy chef. This is crucial as clients tend to be City directors who can afford to eat in London's best restaurants and his chefs have to compete.

"Anton wants to pass on his expertise to as many people as possible and this will be his prime activity," Cooper says. "We buy his skills and expertise. People will be motivated and their careers will develop. It's difficult to put a price on the benefits."

Why not a long-term relationship?

William Baxter says he used to retain Nigel Haworth chef-proprietor of Northcote Manor in Langho, Lancashire, as a consultant chef in the days when he ran Baxter & Platts and it worked OK. He has no plans, however, to go down the same route at BaxterSmith, the company he started with Mike Smith three years ago.

"If you look closely, most long-term relationships have gone sour after a while," says Baxter, citing Gary Rhodes at Sodexho and Marco Pierre White at Granada.

That's not to say he doesn't appreciate the need to inspire his chefs. BaxterSmith competes for some of the top contracts in the City, but he and Smith have decided to use chefs in response to the occasion - whether it is a salon culinaire or cookery demonstration. Recently, for instance, it took all its chefs to sample Heston Blumenthal's innovative cooking at the Fat Duck. Other chefs who have worked with his team include Willi Elsener.

"It's not necessary to tie people in," says Baxter. "But it's useful to use top chefs - they are inspirational and add grandeur to an event."

Baxter denies that having to meet the sort of salary a top chef might command is the real reason. He reckons most chef-contractor relationships are a PR exercise, "and would not inflate the wage bill much more than paying for PR".