Cooking up a storm - Whitbread's first Design a Dish competition

Trainee chefs have been put through their paces in Whitbread's first Design a Dish competition. Phil Mellows reports

For all the charm, skill, glamour and showbiz pyrotechnics of the legions of celebrity chefs that expose their steaming kitchens to the television cameras, neither the clownish Ainsley Harriott, nor the incendiary Gordon Ramsay, nor even poor dear Delia Smith have had a serious impact on the hospitality industry's ability to recruit and develop talented chefs.

Life over a hot stove must quickly evaporate illusions.

There are exceptions, of course, and one of them last week won a new contest for aspiring chefs organised by Whitbread Restaurants, the company that, when Laurel was formed, held on to the old food-led Whitbread pub and bar brands such as Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and TGI Friday's, as well as the more formal restaurants.

Greg Pryce has dreamed of being a chef since he was a schoolboy fan of shows such as Ready, Steady, Cook and, thanks to scooping top prize with his loin of pork with egg noodles, he will now join the British team at the Culinary Olympics in Luxemburg later this year.

The Whitbread Design a Dish contest, sponsored by suppliers Merrychef and Unilever Bestfoods, was open to the 70 people currently in their second year of the company's Modern Apprentice (MA) scheme for chefs.

There was more to designing a dish involved here than throwing together something tasty. The competition reflected the commercial reality of today's branded restaurants and pub concepts.

As well as demonstrating cooking flair with the recipe itself, the contestants had to put a price and a preparation time on the finished dish, and even describe the route it would take through the modern kitchen production line. Efficiency and profitability were as much the order of the day as flavour, looks and texture. The dish also had to fit the food offer appropriate to the retail brand in which the apprentice is working.

It reflects the ethos of the Chef MA which was created two years ago to fit the needs of a company such as Whitbread.

"There are about 8,000 chefs in the company and there is a massive turnover," said resourcing manager Chris Dunn. "We want to do something about it and the MA is designed to attract young talent into the company by offering them a career, rather than just a job."

Appropriate units were chosen from the government MA programme and life skills were added to ensure that it not only produced chefs but also well-rounded individuals.

"We spend a lot of time with the kids training them in things like communications and teamwork, and we also work with their parents, so they understand what we are trying to do," said Chris.

"We impress on apprentices that it's important to be articulate and well-dressed. That may not sound like it's a lot to do with catering but I feel we have a responsibility for making them as a person.

"They have to be our managers of the future," he continued. "They have to understand finance and time management and they have to be organised - we are investing too much time and money in this for us to have any less of an ambition for them."

Apprentices work four days a week at an outlet and spend the fifth day at one of 25 catering colleges around the country. "Over the three years they are apprenticed we move them to different parts of the business so they can experience different brands and they each have their own mentor and personal development programme," said Chris.

In the two years the scheme has been running, 280 young people have been recruited onto it, the vast majority of them school leavers. For the September 2001 intake, the company received 900 applications for the 100 places on offer. Now Chris aims to add another 350 places this September.

"I don't believe there is anything like it in any industry," he said. "We are spending hundreds of thousands on this."

Vital to its success is the support of the management of each Whitbread brand and strong links with suppliers, such as the sponsorship of the Design a Dish contest, that again helps give the trainees a commercial perspective.

For Chris, the competition is more than a bit of fun. As well as helping to improve their skills, the overall experience is a great boost to their confidence - and it gave him quite a thrill, too.

"The final was the proudest day of my career," he said. "I got extremely emotional. What you have to remember is that these kids have not got a lot of GCSEs between them yet we are turning them into talented, mature people.

"The calibre of them just blows me away - and I know that the current batch of first years are at least as talented.

"It has inspired us to go really big on this." Whitbread has put together a new team, now led by Tom Legg, to develop the programme. We want to make it the most spectacular training scheme in any industry," said Chris.

The competition​

Apprentices were asked to design a dish that could go on the menu where they work. They had to:

• create a recipe based on pork or lamb, or a vegetarian alternative
• cost the dish and propose a selling price
• map the route the dish would take around the kitchen, saying who would be responsible for each stage of the preparation
• detail the time it takes to prepare the dish
• use Merrychef catering equipment and incorporate Unilever Bestfoods ingredients.

The eight recipes selected for the final were tested and adjusted at workshops held at the apprentices' colleges before the finalists took part in the cook-off at the Unilever Innovation Centre in Sussex. The dishes were then judged by Nick Vadis, head chef at British Airways; Andrew Bennett, executive chef at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel; Jay Nartowicz, food and innovation director at Whitbread Restaurants; Graham Veal, managing director of Merrychef; Darren Seaborn, development chef at Thomas Morel Foods and food journalist Amanda Afiya.

First prize was a place on the British team at the Craft Guild of Chefs 2002 Culinary Olympics which is being held in Luxemburg in November while two runners up each won a week's work experience at the five-star Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London. All finalists also received £50 Whitbread Leisure Vouchers.

The winner​

Greg Pryce​Age:​ 21Training at:​ Renaissance Marriott, Birmingham Winning dish:​ Chinese loin of pork with egg noodles

"I've always been interested in catering since being inspired by watching celebrity chefs on the television. I'd planned to study full time until I heard about the MA course. Now I've got the best of both worlds, gaining experience and earning money while studying for industry qualifications. Whitbread gives you a chance to find out how different brands work - I spent my first seven months at RSVP in Birmingham. Cooking is the only thing I'm any good at, really, and I'd like to get on the management side, travel and just learn as much as I can about the catering industry."

Pictured: Winner Greg Pryce with his trophy and Graham Veil, managing director of Merrychef​

The runners up​

Matthew Thorne​Age:​ 19Training at:​ TGI Friday's, Cribbs Causeway, BristolWinning dish:​ Crispy pancetta pork fillet with roast garlic mash.

"I'm grateful I had the chance to take part in the competition. It was a fantastic experience. I joined Whitbread because there are opportunities to develop and go on to bigger and better things. You're not stuck in one place. I've always wanted to be a chef and I'd like to end up with my own business."

Thomas Frew​Age:​ 21Trainin​