Letters

Olympic team absence is surprising…

I read with interest and some confusion the comments of British Culinary Olympics team manager Brian Cotterill as to why the team did not enter Hotelympia.

The reason he gave was that "Hotelympia was not approved by the regulatory body of the olympics, the World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS)", yet in his letter (21 March) he said the team was planning to enter La Parade des Chefs, but the decision not to compete was the result of the resignation of two members, one being the captain, Michael Kitts.

I can confirm that the British team was formally invited to enter Hotelympia on 8 September 1995 and on 9 November I received a letter from the Chefs and Cooks Circle saying that unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond Brian Cotterill's control, he was unable to offer a team.

I can certainly understand Mr Cotterill's disappointment in losing his team captain, but rather thought and hoped that a replacement team member could have been found for Hotelympia by February 1996.

With the Culinary Olympics in Berlin only six months away, Hotelympia would have been an ideal practice run for the team and being local would have been cost-effective. Also, the British team's presence would have helped enhance the show further.

As director of what is the largest Salon Culinaire in the UK, I have worked hard to bring on board the exciting La Parade des Chefs with the hope of, in the long term, attracting more international teams. I was obviously delighted and honoured this year with the presence of Team USA and the world president of WACS, Keith Keogh, but equally disappointed that the British team were not competing at Hotelympia, especially as they also did not compete in 1994.

I cannot help but feel that other international team managers must be equally surprised at the British team's absence on home ground - again.

PETER GRIFFITHS

Hotelympia Salon Director,

Solihull, West Midlands.

…so is it not time for a shake-up…

With just six months before the next Culinary Olympics, the British team of chefs appears ill-prepared to meet the challenge of this world-class event. Is it still feasible for one small organisation - the Chefs and Cooks Circle - to have the management resources and sufficient broad base of membership to single-handedly mount an international challenge?

Chefs recognise hard work, enthusiasm and commitment; they also recognise a lost cause. Unfortunately, this is how many chefs perceive the present situation with regard to the British olympics team and was the main factor in Michael Kitts's decision to resign from it.

Sponsorship has a key role to play in the team's ultimate success, but to achieve sponsorship, the team needs to be promoted at top-level culinary events, Hotelympia being a prime example.

Sponsors need something tangible back for their money, so the formation of a team at the earliest possible time (two or three years) before the next event is essential. To achieve this, a combined effort is needed from all the leading chef organisations, which should pool their expertise and resources to form a united management team. This body should then hold the WACS membership.

This is the only way to stop Britain from being a second-class competitor and compete on a level field with other world-class teams.

To Brian Cotterill, I say this is not intended to be destructive criticism for all your past efforts but a genuine call to all interested parties to move forward.

BRIAN JONES

Past Member of the British Team of Chefs,

Camberley, Surrey.

…starting from the top?

In response to Brian Cotterill's letter (Letters, 21 March), I want to set the record straight and try to put a stop to all this tit-for-tat.

There was no pressure put on my junior sous chef, Andrew Baxter, to step down from the British olympic team. He left because he did not want to be part of a team that he did not feel confident with and which he felt was lacking in resources and commitment.

We have both had first-hand experience of being part of the British team, having competed at previous olympics, and have had enough of working in corridors and travelling across Europe in Transit vans.

In relation to the organisation of other national teams, the Brits are lagging behind. It's time we had a new person in charge and fresh input from the top.

MICHAEL KITTS

Executive Chef,

Swallow Royal Hotel, Bristol.

Tutors please stop wasting our time

Last year, I used this column to write an open letter to tutors and students on hospitality and catering courses suggesting they reconsider the number of requests for information and the format in which it is requested from industry.

The following is typical of the dozens of requests that are still landing on my desk (not to mention my colleagues in operations, marketing, finance, and so on) each week:

"I have an assignment to complete for the subject management strategies. The sector I am interested in is luxury hotels, and I would be grateful if you could send me the following information:

• Goals of the hotel - what is to be achieved and when results are to be accomplished

• Policies - plus legislation or guidelines that express the limits within which action should occur

• Programmes - step by step sequence of actions necessary to achieve objectives

• Economics - impact on hotels

• Demographics - impact on hotels

• Mergers that may take place."

Now forgive my suspicious mind, but apart from the above requiring enough information (and man hours) to fill a 10,000-word research report, doesn't it read rather like a straight copy of the assignment brief itself?

Since the trend towards more coursework-based assessment began and the introduction of National Vocational Qualifications, we in industry have been bombarded with requests for information connected with one or another unit, assignment or research study.

We could, of course, just bin them, but what kind of impression does that send to our future employees? The responsibility for slowing this heavy flow of requests lies with tutors and I suggest the following simple guidelines to reduce this problem to manageable proportions.

Think carefully before you set an assignment that depends on writing to industry for information, there are other ways of testing students' ability to discover and assimilate information. What about library research, trade journals, or the use of the HCIMA reference facilities?

Where industry research is considered essential, check the questionnaire before it is sent out, consider how long it will take to respond to. Does it ask for information of a sensitive nature? Also, ensure that the information requested will have a learning value and relates to the student's course level.

In future, I will only be responding to students from centres that are part of the Hospitality Partnership and will not reply to anything that is not a well-structured questionnaire.

ALAN MAKINSON

Director of Personnel and Training,

Greenalls Hotel and Leisure Division, Warrington, Cheshire.

Private chalet proved a shock

I am writing to share my experience and offer a word of warning to future employees of privately run ski chalets.

I took a job with an exclusive Alpine retreat in the French Alps expecting to enter a professionally run establishment. I discovered that these establishments are often run by the owners as a glorified family home, with the hope that the staff fit around their way of life.

Many of these owners have little or no catering experience and are not ready to release their home into the care of professional caterers.

On finding that I didn't fit in, I was asked to leave. I was given no contract of employment (illegal in France) and no notice.

CLAIRE DAVIDSON

Sandhurst, Kent.

Hotelympia strives to help students

I am sorry some students who visited Hotelympia '96 at Earls Court felt dissatisfied because of the way they were received by a few of the exhibiting companies (Letters, 22 February and 14 March).

We, as the organisers, spend a great deal of time discussing the issue of students in relation to the event with the exhibitors and the general consensus is that students are welcome.

Indeed, at the Hotelympia '96 Advisory Committee meeting it was an exhibitor who suggested that all stands should appoint a student liaison officer to devote time to students' queries.

Planning for Hospitality Week '97 (at the Birmingham NEC next January) is under way and student visitors is one of the key points being addressed. We hope to see them there.

SAMANTHA EBBENS

Hospitality Marketing Manager,

Reed Exhibition Companies, Surrey.