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Launching it as a stand-alone, year-round event has already allowed school chefs to enjoy visits to many of the leading eateries in various locations across the country.

Simon Radley’s Michelin Star Restaurant in the 5 star Chester Grosvenor started the ball rolling back in February, with two of Cheshire school caterer Edsential’s most experienced personnel, Julia Wood and Sally Hazlehurst. Sally said: “It was just wow from start to finish, absolutely mesmerising. It wasn’t just about cooking and serving food, it was about presenting diners with art on a plate.

The spotlight was then focused on LACA’s 2019 SCOTY winner Steven Cross, who was scheduled for a high profile visit in March to the Michelin Starred Alyn Williams at The Westbury restaurant in the exclusive Mayfair hotel, The Westbury. Steven said “Words cannot describe it; what a fantastic experience and a truly amazing day. Alyn and his team really looked after me, making the day something special and a lifetime memory.”

April and early May has seen more of the same with Rick Stein’s Sandbanks restaurant playing host to school chef Dan Stable, from Local Food Links in Dorset, whilst Rick Stein’s Winchester restaurant welcomed LACA South West SCOTY winner, Dave Leeper from the Trafalgar School in Salisbury.

Celebrity chefs Angela Hartnett and Glynn Purnell opened their doors to invite two more regional SCOTY winners into their respective Michelin Star restaurants. LACA London’s Michelle Creed from Broadford Primary School in Havering spent the day at Hartnett’s flagship Murano restaurant in Mayfair, with West Midlands Region’s Tanya Malone from Rugby Free Secondary School, experiencing a day with the team in the celebrated Purnell’s in Birmingham.

The magnificent stately home of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, gave Gillian Nally, Catering Manager at Brookfield Community School in Chesterfield an opportunity to demonstrate her skills, whilst one of the oldest and most celebrated emporia in the country, the world famous Fortnum & Mason, invited East of England SCOTY winner Katherine Bridge to work with them in their fine dining restaurant, 45 Jermyn Street.

London Borough of Enfield had three of their Unit Chef Managers taking part after Custom Liaison and Marketing Manager, Ebru Cafer, asked if anyone from the Catering team would like to be involved in this year’s initiative and was duly swamped by the response. Lauren Ford, of Chase Side Primary School, Jaqueline Ball of St Michael’s C of E, Brigadier Hill and Zie Quyyum from Capel Manor School were chosen to represent the borough’s catering team at three top venues in London. Michelin Star chef Angela Hartnett provided two of the locations with her Café Murano outlets in Covent Garden and St. James and surprised Lauren by turning up at the Covent Garden restaurant to meet her and have a photograph taken with her during the day.

Vice President of the Craft Guild of Chefs, Steve Munkley, offered the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington - where he is Executive Chef – as the third host venue. It is the sixth time since the initiative started in 2014 that Steve has hosted a school chef and keeps up his 100% record in supporting LACA. LACA Chair Michael Hales paid a visit to see Jaqueline at work and took the opportunity to discuss education catering issues with senior Enfield management Ebru Cafer and Juliet Dowsett, who were also in attendance.

If you would like to take part in Host a School Chef, either as a participating school chef or a restaurant willing to host someone from the world of education catering, LACA would be delighted to hear from you. Just call us on 0333 005 0226 or visit the website www.hostaschoolchef.co.uk and click on the sign up tab on the menu.

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