Culinary Ability Awards seeks £250k for new training restaurant
The team behind the Culinary Ability Awards is seeking to raise £250,000 to set up its own training academy and restaurant.
In their 10th year, the Awards were set up in 2005 by Scottish professional chef and World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) judge and examiner Chris Sandford, with business partner and plancha-style-cooking expert Mona Leone, to provide an opportunity for disabled people to become involved in professional-level cooking.
The duo is now looking to crowdfund £250,000 to set up a permanent training restaurant base and allow trainees to study towards a recognised qualification that will allow them to work in top kitchens across the UK and Europe.
The restaurant, to be named A La Plancha after its expected main cooking method, will be UK-based, and also aim to provide a structure in which professional chefs may come to lecture or otherwise assist with the programme.
It is hoped that the fundraising target will be hit by September this year, to help kick-start the project and allow the qualification to be finalised.
Anyone interested can invest in a range of options, from sponsoring a trainee for £1,000; winning a 20-person private dinner cooked by Sandford, Leone and the trainees (£3,000); an "a la plancha" workshop plus your logo displayed on trainees' uniforms (£10,000); and a five-course dinner prepared by five top chefs plus logo displays and rights as an official partner (£20,000).
Last year's winner, Michael Auld, went on to stage with Anton Mosimann at his M restaurant in London, and now has ambitions to work in a top end restaurant upon leaving college.
Sandford told The Caterer: "The whole idea with creating the competition was to give people with disabilities an opportunity that was never there before. Now, we want to have a dedicated training kitchen and restaurant, so that the qualification is real. This will also provide structure so we can take [the awards] further and allow more chefs to help."
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