Letters

Fighting just to get fair play

I READ with much interest Amanda Afiya's editorial "The industry is letting down the talented young of today" and her article "A waiting game" (Caterer, 9 December).

As someone who was involved with the World Skill Olympics, I can only agree with her sentiments entirely and can relate closely to many of her comments during my three years' involvement between 1992 and 1995.

The British hospitality competitors do deserve better recognition and support from industry and the Government. We are far behind many other countries. We desperately need to sharpen our act.

Despite my successes, in 1993 with Colin Sayers in Taipei (silver medal) and1995 with Simon Hulstonein Lyon (gold medal),I wholeheartedly agree with cookery expert Peter Richards' comments. I am aware what it is like and the problems that prevail.

In my experience, it was a political arena you were judged in and I found it blatantly obvious that certain European countries' judges were against the UK, particularly if the young competitor appeared strong. Unfortunately, you had to fight your corner with culinary correctness to ensure fair play. I also worked with some people who, in my opinion, had very little experience in judging at that level.

I was pleased to hear that Jasper Von Almenkerle has agreed to set up a working party, which will include Peter Richards. He obviously recognises that there are discrepancies.

Let us hope for the sake of all the competitors that the gaps can be closed but, to achieve this, the right people with competition experience must be sitting around the table, and the way the competition is marked must be changed.

UK Skills, please take note.

Peter Griffiths

Salon director,

Hotelympia 2000,

Solihull,

West Midlands.

Thanks, but that wasn't our work

YOUR excellent article on the Great Eastern Hotel ("Great expectations", Caterer, 2 December) is misleading in one respect.

You say: "Conran Designs input did not stop at the restaurant. In fact, the entire project is Conran designed." This is true for the interior but not for the overall design and layout of the hotel and the total design of all the back-of-house areas.

As architects and lead designers for the Great Eastern Hotel project, we initiated the scheme with Robert Breare of Arcadian and subsequently affected an introduction for him to Conran.

From an operational point of view, we have completely reorganised the layout of the building. The main entrance to the hotel has been relocated and the back-of-house connection with the kitchen and restaurants horizontally and vertically has been totally reorganised.

In addition, we negotiated a planning approval which resulted in an increase in bedroom numbers from 160 to 267 and, in the process, created a stunning atrium in the centre of the building.

Without these fundamental but immensely complex changes and extensions to the existing building, the Great Eastern Hotel could not possibly hope to compete in today's market - however stylish the interior design.

Jonathan Manser

Manser Associates,

London.

Agencies have a lot to answer for

NICK Yon raises an important point about the quality of agency staff and the service they provide, when supplying staff for functions and formal events (Caterer, 9 December, page 20).

What the training agencies provide (or lack) is one of the key problems being addressed through the Government Office for the London initiative "Tourism Means Business". The Academy of Food and Wine Service (AFWS) is working in partnership with the Meetings Industry Association - and others such as Springboard, the British Hospitality Association, the Restaurant Association and the HCIMA - and is tackling issues such as those skills needed by agency staff working at events and conferences.

Agencies need to be able to supply staff with a guaranteed level of skill, preferably accredited through certification. Our aim is to develop training materials which can be used simply and effectively in short sessions, based on a diagnosis of training needs from MIA members.

I have noted Nick Yon's comments, and only hope that the professional agencies involved will be among the first customers for the new training pack when it is available from us in April 2000.

James Brown

Chief executive,

Academy of Food and Wine Service,

Hampton Wick,

Surrey.

Shocking lack of professionalism

FOLLOWING Nick Yon's letter and subsequent grumbles from Stephen Pennells (Caterer, 14 and 23 December), I started a recruitment agency with the objective of not being like those I had used as an operator.

Times have not changed at all. On one occasion, a local agency supplied me with silver service waiting staff for the local mayoral reception - one turned up in jeans, the other in a T-shirt bearing the logo "Happiness is a tight pussy" and a picture of a drunken cat.

It is disgraceful and shameful and we should do better. If we at CRC do not do so, first, tell me about it, and second, there will be no charge.

Chris Chapman

Chief executive,

Catering Recruitment & Consultancy,

Honiton,

Devon.

Ideas on beef are not well done

SORRY, Ian Thompson (Caterer, 16 December, page 16) but you're wrong about rare beef.

Intact whole muscle meat such as steaks and joints don't have E coli or any other bacteria deep in the muscle. Any contamination will be on the surface and is properly dealt with when the surface is seared on a griddle or in the oven. This will be true even if the centre of the cut remains rare.

Chopped, minced, formed or stuffed meats are a different matter.

It's a shame that you should question the motives of John Gray of the Meat and Livestock Commission, who made the same point. My credentials are 25 years as an "expert" working in this wonderful industry, including 10 years on the Government Advisory Committee on Microbiological Food Safety.

But if you're still not happy, Ian, follow your own advice and read the rules. The definitive source is the official Catering Industry Blue Guide.

David Clarke

Morden,

Surrey.

Web advantages are out of site

I WAS somewhat concerned that, when I recently spent the best part of a day phoning hotels to add their Web site addresses to our venue database, very few receptionists could give me an answer.

Of the 40 or so hotels I spoke to, only the Hyatt Birmingham and the Chester Grosvenor could tell me their Web site addresses immediately. In most cases, I was transferred at least twice before someone could inform me, and on more than one occasion I was told that the hotel did not have a Web address, when in fact it did.

Good hotel Web sites are an excellent way for clients to make quick, informed decisions as to whether a given hotel is suitable for a conference or accommodation booking, and the Internet will become increasingly important as clients look to book online.

While hotels have now spent the time and money investing in a Web site, it seems somewhat futile if they fail to advise their staff of its existence.

Des McLaughlin

Managing director

Hotel Brokers International Ltd

www.hotelbrokers.co.uk