Time has flown by since the start of September when I started at Chefs In Scotland.
The brewery Galldachd na h-Alba takes up a lot of my time. I have been doing a lot to try and make the building good, get the change of use from the council and register the business.
I spend one or two days a week upstairs in the recruitment office throwing myself into the world of chef recruitment. The most difficult part, without a doubt, is getting chefs to answer their phones! So if you're reading this chefs, please pick up. I have had to learn very quickly and have made more than a few mistakes when answering the phone (sorry Lillian!). I am , however, starting to recognise our regulars but there are a lot.
I also spend time organising all of the Chefs In Scotland properties, there are 8! I'm still to see the one in Spain but that might be a tad far for a day trip. We are hoping to have Nether Cottage in Crocketford filled with new tenants soon.
Golfing in Scotland is another project I have been working on. The idea is to replicate CIS in the golf world, promoting golf packages and job vacancies. The site is live now golfinginscotland.co.uk.
Working at CIS is like having four jobs rolled into one, it's great! I guess I should have know that though with the job title 'Director of special projects'.
Tom
We have 73 relief chefs out working, this is a 28% increase on last year.
Relief remains busy so far as we move in to October with an average of 5 jobs being filled per day.
...The availability and quality of chefs is also better.
If you haven’t already please get in touch with your availability for over the festive period (double time is payable both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day)
I am off for 1 week after today, Alannah will be picking up relief so if you are interested in anything please PM her or email Alannah@chefsinscotland.co.uk
Jobs out - 1st to 15th September were.
Vlad Sviridenko at Kenmore Hotel, Jenny Quashie at Daffodill Hotel, Mark Shaw at Springkell, James Miller at Kitchen Brasserie, Ricky Agnew at Aysgarth Hotel, Stacey Donnelly at Garth Hotel, Thomas Scott at Hotel Hebrides, Dale Paton at SU Scotland, Gordon Wright at Drovers Inn, Chris Daily at Allan Ramsay Hotel, Vlad Sviridenko at Bridge Hotel, Steve Nye at Victoria Hotel Bute, Sarah Pozzi at Four Seasons Onich, Daniel Rothwell at Eden Court, Glenn Richards at Glenisle Hotel, Glyn Musker at Tontine Hotel, Gemma McGregor at Mansion House, Ian Hoey at Ramnee Hotel, David Ironside at Old Manor Hotel, Ricky Leyland at Aysgarth Hotel, Duncan Campbell at Fishers Hotel, James O’Brien at Grant Arms Hotel, John McGregor at Jam Jar, Stuart MacColl at Drovers Inn, Ivan D’Allesandro at Pierhouse Hotel, James Miller at Eden Court, Gary Williamson at Four Seasons Hotel, Thomas McLean at Queens Hotel, Gordon Wright at Cross Keys hotel, Andy Hughes at Popinjay Hotel, Iain Rennie at Bridge Hotel, Tim Morris at Three Lemons and Leon Edgson at Tigh an Eilean Hotel.
Lots of excellent feedback - Keep up the good work everyone it is appreciated.
Progress continues to be made on the brewery. We are now an officially registered company 'Galldachd na h-Alba Brewing ltd' after a small hiccup from companies house hitting the wrong button on our application. We plan to trade under Lowland Brewing so don't worry if you can't pronounce the Gaelic name!
The building in Lockerbie is still waiting for it's change of use from the council, they really do like to take their time! The decision date for them is November 21st. Once we have this we are primed and ready to send out our investor share prospectus so watch this space. And if you are interested in shares email tom@chefsinscotland.co.uk and we will get you on the list.
We have been in touch with PBC brewing equipment and ordered our brewing set-up, a 4 Barrel brew house to start, which should produce upwards of 1500 litres of beer a week! The delivery date is set for the 15th of January.
In the mean time we plan on clearing out the garage here at Sunnybrae and creating a brew lab to experiment with flavours for our beer. And at Christmas time we plan to hold a festive beer tasting.
We are also continuing to work on a website and logo.
Tom
This week at Chefs In Scotland Alannah and I have been busy getting lots of CVs out for chefs for positions all over Scotland and in the North of England with the view to getting chefs placed. As the season turns the availability of chefs becomes much better and there is more choice of chefs although it is still sometimes difficult to get chefs for the more rural positions. We do try and advise establishments the best ways to attract relevant candidates when we are go...ing through the recruitment process. We advise a good salary or a decent hourly rate of pay and pay weekly is an effective way to attract chefs but we can only advise. It is difficult to see some chefs leaving jobs too quickly or CVs with lots of movement but it is still very much a chef’s market even as we come close to the end of the season.
We have implemented working terms of employment for more senior positions that have solely asked us to look as we find that looking at chef retention is crucial.
Also things like working 4 days a week and some evenings off and just being innovative is good to attract chefs and also more importantly retain them.
What is the one thing other than money that would either entice you or keep you in a job?
Out and about Friday 29th September
We have over 70 chefs out working on relief.
We already have 20 relief jobs confirmed so far this week with more to confirm.
Relief still remains busy!!!!
We are still keen to get the availability of chefs for over the festive period so if you haven’t yet got in touch please let me know if you are available for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, double time is payable on both days.
We have met a few chefs at our office this week with another today at 3pm.
We are looking to have met all chefs who are registered with us on relief for the 2018 season.
Get in touch and we will give you our availability.
Looking back, we have had an excellent year on relief and the figures show that we are up by around 20 – 30 chefs every month.
There have been quite a few chefs who have taken permanent jobs after being placed on relief.
Out just now:
Michael George is at The Royal an Lochan Hotel as head chef.
Alex Burns is at Ardvasar Hotel as relief sous chef.
Stuart MacColl is at The Greygull Hotel as chef de partie.
Vytis Baltrunas helped out last Saturday at an event with Taste of Moray.
Leon Edgson is at Tigh an Eilean Hotel as sous chef.
Kirsty Hamilton is at Powfoot Hotel as chef de partie.
Duncan Campbell at Fishers Hotel as chef de partie.
Steven Nye is at Victoria Hotel as sous chef.
Alan Baird is at Esplanade Hotel as sous chef.
Glyn Musker is at Tontine Hotel as sous chef.
There are lots more to mention but I better stop here as I need to get on and place more chefs.
Thanks for all your hard work it is very much appreciated 😊
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