News

Out and About 18th February 2016

Relief is starting to pick up with 11 relief jobs out so far this week.

We have also met quite a few chefs over the past few weeks and have availability for next Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday.

Relief chefs out working is around 30 – 35

Michael Njoroge is at Murrayshall for a 4 week stint, Sara-Jayne Moffat is over at Auchrannie along with Max Nisbet, Dmitrij Cvilij is at The Caladh Inn, Roger Brown at The Queens Hotel in Oban, Steve Moffat is at Lodge at Carfraemill, Andras Rethi at The Links Hotel, Jonny Lewis at The Dunavon, David McConnachie at The Burnett Arms, Piotr Miga at Dryburgh Abbey, Rene La Barre is at The Scalloway Hotel, Glyn Musker at Dalmunzie Castle and Gareth Connolly is still at Loch Fyne Hotel there are a lot more to mention.

Great job guy and girls

We look forward to a busy season ahead

Availability of Head Chefs

Availability of Head Chefs 12^th February 2016

The availability of head chefs is getting less as we move into the middle of February and chefs take up jobs, particularly in rural Scotland. There are still quite a few about which will lessen as we move towards an early Easter at the end of March.

Good in central location including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling. Suggest paying £25,000 upwards to £40,000 according to requirements and demands of the job. Ideally we advise for a five day week and over-time paid on a pro rata basis for extra days worked and for hours in excess of 48 on a pro rata basis.

Currently decent in Perthshire, less so in the highlands, Inverness-shire and west coast.

Aberdeenshire, Dundee and East coast, there are quite a few Head Chefs registered and the low oil price is having a knock on effect on the availability of chefs as some come back on shore due to cut backs.

Head Chefs are being put off jobs that offer set wage for 5 or 6 days per week and are preferring 5 day weeks or if six paid by the day.

We are also finding it more difficult to fill seasonal head chef jobs.

Suggest wage from £25,000 upwards will get some candidates, ideally over £28,000 and suggest paying overtime for extra days and for hours worked over 48 sanctioned by management.

Ideally this will get candidates with verifiable work histories and often well known to Chefs In Scotland. Below quality will be hit or miss.

3AA Rosette head chefs (suggest £35,000 to £45,000) can be scarce, some 2AA (suggest £27,000 to £32,000) and happy to look.

The more central, the more candidates you will expect to get and the more rural, the harder it can get.

Out and about Friday 5th February

A few chefs starting new relief jobs this week are Jamie Atkinson at Kenmore Hotel, Michael Njoroge at Murrayshall House Hotel, Sara-Jayne Moffat at Auchrannie, Craig Ferguson at Balcary Bay Hotel, Mick Kitson at Oban Bay Hotel. Chefs still out working are Stuart MacColl at Auchrannie, Rene La Barre at Scalloway Hotel, Scott MacIntyre at Isle of Glencoe Hotel, Glyn Musker at Dalmunzie Hotel, Pawel Cimek and Ryan Marshall at Scores Hotel, Gareth Connolly at Loch Fyne Hotel, Paddy Farren at Drovers Inn, Mark Murray at Lodge at Carfraemill, Martin Nel at Isle Ornsay, Don Craig and John Ferguson at Shetland Hotel.

We are still keen to meet chefs who are registered for relief who we have not met and have availability, please call 01683 222830 or PM me or email jojo@chefsinscotland.co.uk and we can check which dates we have.

Thanks to everyone for all your hard work and support.

Death of a Chef

4^th February 2016

“Death of a Chef”

Many of the chefs who I knew personally from working on the island of Skye over the years did not have the choice of putting a gun to their head at the age of 44 as did Benoit Violier the Head Chef at the three Michelin star Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in a suburb of Lausanne.

He leaves a 12 year old son Romain and his wife Brigitte.

I do not know what demons are at play in a man’s head that would force him to take his own life. We all, at some point in our lives have low moments.

I do think that the adulation that some chefs receive for what is food is over the top.

Can we compare the daily creation of food to works of art or literature such as Vincent Van Gogh or Henry Miller? There is a lot of talk propagated on television programmes such as Master Chefs The Professionals and which filters through into the industry of “taking the food to the next level” which always seems to entail working endless hours in a kitchen which would often appear to be to the detriment of the individual chef’s well-being and health.

Can food be perfect?

It can be precisely cooked and presented and seasoned well and full of strong individual flavours. But surely food is subjective not objective? What may be to one person, a three Michelin Star meal may be to another a small portion of pretentiousness. One man or woman may prefer the simplicity of some langoustines caught off the island of Skye and cooked in boiling water and served with garlic mayonnaise, a wedge of lemon and some daily home- made bread.

Big Andy was a messy big chef who worked up at The Isles Inn in Portree and also at The Royal in Portree back in 1999 / 2000. He worked and was born locally on Skye. He ambled along and put lots of lettuce on the plates and had a big bushy beard. He loved a game of pool in the Camanachd Bar. He was aged about 25 when the car he and his parents as travelling in was in an accident on the windy Skye roads down towards Broadford. He was killed out-right.

Des Dillon was in his early forties when he pitched up and took a temporary job at The Cuillin Hills overlooking the harbour in Portree. Prior to that, Des had worked in Perthshire for a few years. He got on well and took the full-time sous chef position and stayed on Skye for the rest of his life. Married with a dog. Des worked his last season at Sconser Lodge before dying of a heart attack in November 2010.

Colin was the head chef at The Royal Hotel in Portree, an amiable man from Ayrshire in his mid thirties. He had been there for some four years and kept himself to himself, working hard and on his days off pitching up to the Bosville Hotel to the modern Merchant bar where a few of the chefs such as Martain Irvine, Jim Quinn, Cameron Donaldson and myself would quaff a couple of beers of an evening. Sadly Colin was found dead in the staff accommodation.

There was the guy from south England who worked at The Isles who was implicated in an attempted murder back in about 2003. He was found dead up north of Inverness. We didn’t place him but I remember meeting him at The Isles in Portree, a young man of 25 with large ear piercings.

Stewart Taylor from Aberdeen came over from Ballater with his Labrador in 2006 and took over the head chef job at The Portree Hotel in Somerled Square. Stewart had owned his own pub down south and was a good chef, a nice man from Aberdeen. Stewart was good jovial company who had worked in some nice places. He had split up with his partner and was making his way on Skye.

I had had enough of chef recruitment that summer in 2006 and was doing a few shifts at Sligachan and would then meet up in Portree for a few beers with the other chefs, Bobo, Bruce and Billy and Stewart. I enjoyed the camaraderie. A few years later Stewart came down to Moffat and stayed over and we went out for an Indian meal before we placed him down here at Balcary Bay. Sadly, that was the last time I met up as Stewart was killed in Edinburgh in a fire, murder, in 2011.

There are plenty parts of the world where life is vulnerable; Syria, parts of Africa and the many who find themselves homeless as they are forced to flee their native land in fear of persecution.

If the food doesn’t quite sit right on the plate, take a break, get a seasonal job in the Highlands of Scotland and enjoy the craic and a couple of beers.

Luckily Billy and Bruce are still going strong and with both having spent time in the army, they have a fairly relaxed attitude to life and the workings of Hospitality.