Letters

How the French government changed my life

It is most uncharitable of the world's greenies to so comprehensively condemn the French Government for their current policy on nuclear proliferation.

The French have a long and well-established record of thumbing the Gallic nose at the rest of the world - it should be obvious that yet again the rest of the world is clearly out of step with the French.

However, the purpose of my letter is to warmly thank the French for the minor personal lifestyle change which their brave policy has inspired in me.

Under the foolish misapprehension that not only French armaments but all French products contain high levels of radioactivity, I jettisoned all the clarets from my combined wine cellar and fallout shelter, cleared my fridge of those excellent Listeria-based cheeses and cancelled my summer pilgrimage to the French Riviera.

Since then, thanks to the French, I have discovered an amazing new dimension to the world of gastronomy: soft English and Irish cheeses which relegate Brie and Camembert to the ranks of pre-wrapped cheese slices; and full-bodied, wonderfully mature and totally dependable red wines from Australia, Argentina, South Africa and Spain at prices that would not even purchase a generic French vin de table. My family holiday in the uncrowded, peaceful, sunny and hospitable "riviera" of Northern Ireland was an inexpensive episode of good food, good wine, wonderful company, linguistic congruency and incomparable tranquillity.

My family and guests now comment on the soft, creamy excellence of my cheese board and on the lack of "aigre" in my vin. No longer do I find it necessary to dismiss my familial wine critics with the famous Gallic shoulder-shrug which I learned from a wine merchant in Bordeaux.

Though the change in my buying power was brought about by a misunderstanding on my part, I must thank the French for being the catalyst in the process. For this new dimension in my lifestyle my gratitude to the French is boundless.

As a result of my Damascan experience I now wish to commend to my fellow Europeans the cheese, wine and tourism products of countries of the world other than France.

SL FAWCETT

Senior Lecturer in Hospitality and Tourism Management,

Whitehead, Northern Ireland.

Look here for maintenance

Andy Ward states there is a gulf between the industry and equipment suppliers regarding maintenance and equipment servicing.

I would not argue this point, but I would ask why he needs equipment suppliers to do his maintenance when there is an abundance of maintenance companies available?

I would also point out that when an important piece of equipment breaks down, the client usually wants it fixed now, if not sooner. My company offers 24-hour, 7-days-a-week cover. I hope this would satisfy the needs of most customers.

This does not consist of the client talking to an answerphone, but to the customer service desk.

We have been advertising in Caterer for the past two years - I am surprised the letter writer has not seen it.

KEVIN JONES

National Sales Manager, Pearl Services,

Tipton, West Midlands.

Give pay that reflects ability

I have now been in the hospitality industry for 14 years and I still enjoy it immensely. I started my career with the Army so I am lucky in that I had excellent training and continuous support.

I left the Army because I came to the conclusion that there is more to learn in this wonderful industry of ours.

Like most ex-servicemen, I found it difficult to get a job that would give me the satisfaction I required to keep my interest in an ever-changing environment.

I'm a realist so I knew I would not get the wages I was earning when I was in the Army even with all my qualifications and experience.

I was, however, shocked at the level of pay that some people in this industry are trying to get away with.

You just have to look at some of the employment advertisements in Caterer to see how ridiculous it is, and yet you still get the agencies and managers who are looking for "an outstanding individual, must have an HND or full membership of the HCIMA", and then reward them with incredibly low wages.

When are these people going to realise that there is a vast amount of talent out there who would work the hours you want without so much as a blink of the eye, if the pay reflected their experience and recognised their achievements.

I know there are problems in our industry with what is considered to be a fair wage. But if you want to keep hold of individuals prepared to put up with the unsociable hours and the stress of working under ever-increasing standards and regulations, then give them the recognition they deserve and pay a wage they can live on.

You may find that the fantastic turnover in staff might fall, and people might work with you because they want to, not because they have to. Pass on more of your profits to your staff and you might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

So come on, let's put an end to this slave labour. Good people are hard enough to find, so if you keep hold of them and cut down on your employment advertisement, pay them what they deserve.

LV Brewer,

Catering Manager,

King Edward's School, Witley, Surrey.

Are chefs' hats uniform or not?

Am I alone in thinking that a hat forms part of a chef's uniform?

Our house standard requires all chefs to wear hats. I have supplied copies of this standard to those agencies supplying us with temporary chefs and yet consistently temporary chefs report for work without hats and with the attitude that it is the responsibility of our establishment to supply hats.

We are not expected to provide chefs' whites and I cannot understand how any self-respecting chef would not consider a hat to form part of his "whites".

In these days of falling personal standards will the employer of temporary staff next be required to provide complete uniforms, knives and even cookery training?

Name and address supplied

Counselling for stress will help

I realise you have covered the kitchen violence subject in great depth, but one thing has been overlooked.

Emphasis has been put on the idea that chefs need to acquire man management skills. I would argue what many of them really need is stress counselling. Stress can cause extreme irritability and irrational behaviour. This, in turn, can develop into abusive and violent behaviour.

Perhaps one of the larger organisations such as the HCTC could consider setting up some sort of stress helpline to deal with this ever-increasing problem.

MARY ANN GILCHRIST

Carlton House

Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys.

Using skills to manage yourself

Like Mr Forcast, at Westminster College, we feel that management skills, both of self and others, are important for chefs and should form part of training programmes. We have incorporated theses skills into our professional chef courses.

In addition to our full- and part-time supervisory management courses such as the HCIMA Certificate, Westminster offers a programme of half-day training sessions covering areas such as team building, leadership skills, and dealing with under-performance at work. We have a series of 30 sessions scheduled for 1995/6 designed specifically for the hospitality industry. These supervisory management skill sessions can also be delivered in-company as required.

Clients can then choose the sessions they require without the commitment of a long course of study.

MARTYN WAGNER

Head of School, Hotel, Catering & Tourism Studies,

Westminster College. London SW11.