Restaurant makes kitchen a hygiene hotspot
HYGIENE INSPECTIONS used to be something restaurateurs dreaded.
However, one Yorkshire restaurant has decided to underline its commitment to the practice by turning itself into a classroom for a food hygiene course for East Riding College.
Staff at 1884 Wine & Tapas Bar in Hull have seized the opportunity before Christmas of completing fully-funded food hygiene and customer service courses offered by the college. Now key members of kitchen and front-of-house staff have progressed to higher level courses to ensure that the restaurant stands out as one of the best in the business.
Jaqui Graham, short course provision and development coordinator at East Riding College, said: “This restaurant is at the top of the industry and is setting a great example.
“I have been in the sector for 17 years and I have never seen a business embrace training so willingly.
“A lot of restaurants won’t even come forward to take the funded training but 1884 Wine &Tapas has gone beyond that and is paying for the next level.”
Deborah Spicer, director of the restaurant, has always achieved the highest score of five in the food hygiene ratings but still decided to sharpen her team’s skills after reading of culinary catastrophes across the region, with some outlets scoring zero.
She said: “We visited East Riding College’s training restaurant last year as part of a business supper club and we were really impressed with them, so it made sense to bring them in to top up our training.”
Ms Graham set out the restaurant seats in classroom style and used a laptop and projector to deliver Level 3 courses covering food safety, customer service and auditing.
The partnership worked so well that Deborah has now paid to progress to Level 4 Food Safety in Management, with a smaller group gathered around the restaurant’s VIP table.
She said: “There is a moral, not just legal, obligation to ensure that people who buy and consume food are safe and with the funding available there is no excuse for getting nought out of five.
“I would encourage any businesses who need this kind of training to speak to the college whilst the funding is available – we can help.”
There is a moral, not just legal, obligation. Jaqui Graham, course provider at East Riding College.