In July 2022, Assistant Julien Pursglove and Liverymen Jim Sharrock and I had the opportunity to visit Worthy Down, home of the Tri services food training wing. During the tour, the subject of the sharing of best practice and methods of operation with a food service operator arose. Having worked with food service operators for over 30 years, I suggested Mitchells and Butler (M&B) as a partner.
M&B are one of the largest groups with numerous brands such as Millers and Carter, Browns, All Bar One, Toby and Harvester.
After many discussions we found a date everyone could make in April. Whilst Julien gave the culinary trainers an excellent lamb butchery session, the M&B team of Tanya Hibberd (Head of Food), Mikey Summerville (Head of Culinary training), Phil Sharpe (Senior training Manager) and myself spent the day with Commander Thomas Shavers, Major Javed Johl and the heads of the three wings (Army, Navy and Airforce) along with a number of senior trainers.
Our day started with a tour of the training wing and then a presentation by Commander Thomas Shavers on the role, the method of delivery and the issues for the MOD. This was followed by a presentation by the M&B team on M&B’s method of operations which included menu development, training, allergens, costings etc. The same challenges touched upon by the MOD were mirrored, albeit in a slightly different way, within M&B.
Following our day together, further discussions have taken place. M&B are keen to find roles for exiting MOD personnel, who are trained to a high standard as chefs and/or front of house staff, whilst at the same time they will utilise the MOD training wing for training their own staff. On the flip side, MOD trainers will have the opportunity to work in a commercial environment within M&B’s branded restaurants alongside M&B’s culinary chef trainers as well as being able to access the latest kitchen equipment and online systems for product development, costings, nutritional information and training programmes created by M&B.
The Tri services food training wing and Mitchells and Butler are grateful to the Worshipful Company of Butchers for facilitating, what they both hope will be a fruitful union.
LIVERYMAN ANDREW BERISFORD