Thursday 15th January 2015
A small business.
The tree creaked audibly when I took Bentley the Basset Hound along Hartfell Crescent in Moffat ten minutes ago. The strong cold wind hastened both of us back to the sanctuary of a warm house. He is now sitting at the top of the stairs half asleep, patiently waiting for his next walk or his mid-day meal.
The poor weather in Scotland has contributed to a sluggish start to the season, permanent head chef jobs have been registered, candidates have been submitted and we are just waiting for the hoteliers to respond. They may have other priorities at the moment without electricity or trying to tie down parts of the hotel so they are not blown away.
It will come out in the wash.
Technology
We are maybe a little bit slow off the mark with Twitter and I haven’t quite got a grasp on what is happening, but we sent out a good few Tweets yesterday and my email inbox was full of retweets and acceptance this morning. We are up to about 240 followers and I expect that the number will grow.
We are intentionally not posting our jobs anywhere else other than our own website and on Facebook for now.
Property
Chefs In Scotland owns four properties which provide a mixture of pleasure, income and problems.
The shop in Well Street in Moffat which is called “Crazy Daisy Crafts” is fairly stable. Anne has been in the shop for almost three years and it is quite a busy little shop selling wool and crafts as well as running craft classes. There are occasional patches of damp as water trickles down from the old buildings above. Particularly at this time of year.
The flat in Dundanion House a couple of hundred yards away is a beautiful building and the same two gents have been renting it for over two years now. As long as no trees fall down as they did in the storms a couple of years back or new boilers are needed, it is fairly straight forward and I enjoy the six monthly meetings with the other flat owners. A nice little community on what used to be one of Moffat’s many private schools.
Nether Cottage in Crocketford 9 miles the other side of Dumfries got off to a slow start last year and I often questioned why we had bought it as it sat empty whilst using oil and electricity. Again, it is a lovely little cottage with a nice multi fuel burner and a long back garden which I took enjoyment from cutting the grass and weeding once we did get some guests. From last September though it has been booked solid and we have a five month winter let and there are more bookings in for the summer and Autumn. The new boiler saga is now over after it too me almost two months to find a plumber to pitch up and fit the boiler.
Garden Apartment, Capistrano Village, Nerja South Spain. There seems to be a trend that each subsequent property (and I am saying no more no more) gets further away from Moffat. This is a lovely wee apartment in a delightful town on the Costa Del Sol and so far, nothing but expenses. We did have our first ever booking arrive last night but alas there were no keys when they got to the apartment. A couple of phone calls to Spain yesterday evening and the key was on its way with Steve from Bournemouth, the head house-keeper for the agency we are dealing with out there. A little hiccup, but hopefully all is going well for Martin and Donna. Martin is the chef / manager at the Hub in Eskdalemuir where I was kindly invited to take a couple of classes. Fitting, he should be our first booking. We have had a few more enquiries and Jake from the Three Lemons in Aberfeldy (ex farleyer and the courtyard) has duly won his prize of a week’s accommodation at Garden Apartment at some point in the season.
Relief
Johanna managed to knock out 12 relief jobs last week, her first full week back as relief chef manageress after Christmas. As is usual for this time of the year, relief work is quieter. We are down from 30 relief chefs we are still charging for being out at Christmas to about 16. This will stay like this for the rest of the month I expect before picking up in February through March to Easter.
By summer, there will not be enough good relief chefs for all the jobs.
Permanent
We are now up to over 40 jobs on the website for permanent or seasonal and this will go up to over 100 by June I expect.
We are trying to fill about fifteen jobs, mainly head chef ones, where we suggest our preferred candidates.
A little quieter in January then, but just about enough to keep Johanna, Dean (who is back with us after a break in December) and myself going. Colin Fraser helps with Special Projects and Technology and Development, “Invoices Ian”, who stays in the flat in Dundanion, is keen to get back early February to do some invoices of a Monday and Tuesday evening. Anne, the office house-keeper, is back after a Christmas break, working two days a week, just two hours each.
No legal cases pending, plenty of credit control and the year-end accounts to get ready for our accountant so we know how much corporation tax we will be due on the 1st of September and can work round that.
And that is us.
Annan Athletic v Elgin City Saturday 10th January 2015
The sun shone briefly on a bitterly cold January afternoon in Annan with strong winter gusts hurrying across the Solway Firth and into Galabank.
Ultimately, the sun shone brightly on the players from Elgin who had made a long journey down from North East Scotland.
Elgin played a more controlled game, keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible through the evergreen football skills and nous of Dennis Wyness, a couple of months shy of his 38th birthday. The ball would come into his feet and with one touch he would find a team mate and move into space.
Sitting in the stand at the half way line, the game was entertaining for the 311 fans, with twice Annan taking the lead through David Hopkirk and Ryan McStay.
Elgin were up for a fight though and did not allow themselves to give up. Craig Gunn had a first half equaliser and two second half goals, first from Daniel Moore and then a header from Ally Gilchrist in the 74th minute, allowed Elgin to run out winners.
Annan had some late opportunities but a resolute Elgin held out to take three well deserved points for the second consecutive game on their travels.
Chefs In Scotland News-page Wednesday January 7th 2015
The light from my office lamp reflects upon the window panes as white rain drops hang on the glass before falling down, to be replaced by others. Through the bare trees which sit across Dundanion Road behind the large house called Gowanbank, the sky remains steadfastly grey.
Out and About
It was a very good December for Chefs In Scotland and the many excellent chefs who went about their work on temporary placements.
Johann Watson, the Relief Chef Manageress, had some well -deserved time off over the festive period and I enjoyed myself working between Christmas and New year coming in at about ten pm and managing to get a few jobs out and some adverts and a couple of permanent placements.
Lillian Clarkson spent December up at the Redcliffe in Inverness and did, I believe, make it back for the bells in Glencoe where hopefully there were no massacres. I hope 2015 is a good year for you Lillian.
Gail Meikle has been a head chef on Skye for the last five years and her first relief job was over at the up and coming place to eat in Aberfeldy, The Three Chimneys, with serial restaurateur Jake Schamrel. The feedback was excellent so many thanks Gail and Jake wins a week in Nerja South Spain.
Kirsten Grant has completed successfully several jobs via Chefs In Scotland now, The Waterside in Peterhead and Burts in the Borders and is now over helping out in Arran at Auchrannie. Many thanks Kirsten and again excellent feedback.
The flying Finn Mikko Koskinen went off to work in Fife on the 16th of December and duly completed his time and helped the hotel into the New Year. Feedback from Scott Wilkinson, the owner was that Mikko did all that was asked of him and “is an excellent chef” Cheers Mikko
Piotr Dzeiedzic has a permanent full time head chef job in the Borders at Tillmouth where we placed him about five years ago. He takes up a relief job over New Year and this year was in Dumfries. Job completed on time. Many thanks Piotr (again)
At Loch Melfort, Jamie Atkinson and Frank McDonald both turned up, completed the job as booked. Thanks gentlemen and again all the best for 2015.
New Year and time for the mature men to step up to the mark
30th December and the morning of the 31st of December and those available on relief became a little fewer.
David Ironside answered the called and drove up on the 30th of December to Bridge of Orchy (they call it BOO). He managed a week before injuring himself and will NOT lose any grading points. Recover soon David and all the best for 2015.
Meanwhile, the call came in from Pitlochry and Paul Chlebek (mean little bread) had his phone on and he duly caught the train up on the 31st of December to start work that evening. Paul is completing his two week stint. Many thanks Paul.
All in all about 40 relief chefs out over Christmas and December and only one failed to complete and that by a couple of days and there was an issue about not being paid correctly.
When Will Furlong comes up to you in a hotel on Arran and says “should have been a plumber Will!”
“No thanks, being a chef is a hard job, not brilliantly paid, asking for good cooking ability, good multi- tasking skills, often man management skills, perseverance, good knowledge of kitchen hygiene and so much more. And like many of my colleagues in Scotland, one which I am proud to do well”
OK enough of getting maudlin.
Relief is as expected quiet at this time of year, but permanent work is starting to pile in and I am hopeful that 2015 will be a very god year for Scottish Hospitality, for the many decent thoughtful employers as well as the many good up and coming young chefs out there.
All the best for 2015
Michael in Moffat
Christmas Eve - Closed
Christmas Day - Closed
Boxing Day - Closed
Saturday 27th December - 10.30am to 2.30pm
Sunday 28th December - Closed
Monday 29th December - 10am to 4pm
Tuesday 30th December - 10am to 4pm
New Year Eve - 9am to 1pm
New Year Day - Closed
Friday 2nd January - Closed
Saturday 3rd January - Closed
Sunday 4th January - Closed
We wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year
by Dean Aitken
We are reducing our rates to £35 plus VAT per week for Relief Chefs for any bookings taken until the end of November including for those over Christmas and New Year.
We have very competitive rates for our Relief Chefs.
We have an extensive database of over 2,000 Relief Chefs going back 15 years.
To register a relief job, please call 01683 222830 or private message Dean on Facebook. Michael, Johanna or myself will be glad to get in contact with you.
Half price adverts until the end of November quoting “facebook” or fill in enclosed link http://www.chefsinscotland.co.uk/content/add/
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