Photo caption: Paul Tunnicliffe, Bidfood Development Chef and Azhar Din preparing for the Ready Steady Cook challenge
Last week, local foodservice provider, Bidfood, joined forces with The Princes Trust to launch ‘Get Started With Cooking’, a programme aimed to support young people in need develop relevant skills required to work within hospitality. Paul Tunnicliffe, a Development Chef at Bidfood, hosted the week-long programme at The Prince’s Trust Centre in Birmingham, where he ran a variety of sessions including health and safety, food hygiene, menu planning and a number of team-based competitions, to help educate eleven 16 to 25 year olds, to support them in achieving their goal to start a career in cooking. The programme also gave those who attended the opportunity to see first-hand the running of a professional kitchen at The Birmingham Marriott Hotel. Bidfood arranged the ‘insight into hospitality’ day to give the group some real-life examples of how successful kitchen’s operate as well as opening them up to some exciting opportunities, both to apply for potential employment at Birmingham Marriott and the offer to be mentored by Bidfood’s Birmingham team. Through their charity golf day, Bidfood were able to raise over £26,000 to fund the project, as well as providing expert knowledge from Paul and the donation of a number of food and drink products by their Birmingham depot to fuel the programme. Talking about his experience, Paul Tunnicliffe, Food Development Chef at Bidfood said: “This week has been fantastic! Working with the group was extremely rewarding and it’s amazing to see how far they have come and the skills they’ve developed through the course of the week. “The Princes Trust is an incredible charity that we are delighted to work in partnership with and I’m proud to have been given the opportunity to support those who attended the programme this week. I’d like to wish them all the best for their future endeavours and hope to see them one day working within this great industry.” Discussing last week’s programme, Lauren Hoyle, Operations Executive at The Princes Trust Centre in Birmingham, said: “We had such an amazing week in the kitchen with a group of fantastically keen and creative young people. It was such a pleasure to taste all the delicious things they created and especially to see their progression after working closely with Chef Paul. “By collaborating with Bidfood on this course, we have been able to provide these young people with a unique and special experience – which is certainly one that I won’t forget and neither will they! A big thank you to Bidfood for funding this project and for all their employees who made it happen.”