21st February 2018 newspage
Rarely can it be accused of being a dull life in a chef recruitment office.
I am back in the main office this week covering for perm head and sous chef recruitment while Jessica is on holiday.
We had a good chef from Lanarkshire booked for a chat about the pros and cons of relief work yesterday afternoon. Two chefs pitched up and I met the first one, who I quite possibly met a few years previously and we had a good chat about chefs he had worked with at well-known Scottish Hotels such as Gleddoch House, The Popinjay and Cartland Bridge in Lanark.
It gives us a better feel when you have a chat face to face over a cup of coffee without the constant interruptions of phones ringing. “How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?” “What would you look to be doing in an ideal world when you get to 50 years old?”
Meeting chefs also brings home what a hard physical job being a chef is; hitting a plateau as head chef early on in your career and then looking for the next direction. Or doing the rounds as a career sous chef or chef de partie and pushing on, working hard, trying to get up to being a head chef.
There is a lot to it, there are positives, such as the lifelong friendships made along the way, the camaraderie and the buzz of a good kitchen service (not that I can quite remember this one) The opportunity for self-betterment, the almost always availability of work at some level. Accommodation, which is not always the best, but often no bills. The most basic, food.
It is interesting to have a chat and get a feel for someone’s life, rather than just seeing a piece of paper and looking at dates and judging.
This week, as we move towards the end of the month in the CIS office, the amount of adverts and relief jobs have increased. Monday, we took a whopping 11 adverts and they still pile in.
I am off to walk the dogs now up the back before hunting for head chef candidates for two well know hotels up the west coast; both of which I have visited and dealt with for getting on for two decades.
Pablo Picasso can wait a little longer.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Michael
There are a few things happening with the brewery at the moment.
In terms of our building work we have detailed drawings from the surveyors now and we have sent them to a few local tradesmen to get quotes. The drawings have also been submitted to building control for approval. We are planning to get the work started in April.
We now have three equipment quotes and we are looking at a 5-barrel brewing system which would produce up to 800 litres of beer each brew.
The main task now is our application for some grant funding through the Dumfries and Galloway LEADER project. This involves coming up with detailed plans of what we are doing and projections for the future. We are sending away our final draft on the 26th of February and the decision date is mid-March. The grant could award us as much as £40,000 if we are successful.
We also have our next beer tasting and tapas night organised for March 23rd. it is being hosted in Lockerbie at the Mid Annandale Comrades Club for 6 to 9pm. We will be showcasing our share prospectus and continuing to sell shares. If you are interested in buying some shares, we have sold a good few already, they can be purchased at £500 per share.
I also bottled another batch of beer last week. I have changed the recipe around and I think it could be the best one I have made so far. Those tips I picked up in Skye were very helpful!
We are now more than half way through February and with 37 chefs currently out working, this is up on last year by 21!!!!
We are keen to meet chefs here at our office in Moffat regarding relief and senior chef positions. If you would like to pop in for a chat please get in touch with us via email jojo@chefsinscitland.co.uk or phone 01683 222830.
Currently working
Stuart MacColl is at The Cairngorm Hotel in Aviemore
Kevin MacAngus is in Skye at The Skeabost Hotel
Alex Yule is at La Piazza in Carluke
John Taylor and Cammy Brown are at Cartland Bridge Hotel in Lanark
Johan Sikkema is at Muckrach Lodge in Dulnain Bridge
John Ferguson is at The Walled Garden Café at Gordon Castle in Fochabers
Graham McLeish is at Onich Hotel in Lochaber
Mark Carswell is at Scores Hotel in St Andrews
Jason Paxton is at The Go Glasgow Urban Hotel
Ross Mathieson is at Golf View Hotel in Nairn
Alan Bair is at Fishers Hotel in Pitlochry
Thanks for all your hard work 😊
Lowland Brewing (LB) update
13th February 2018
We have received the in depth drawings from Homer Young of McGowan Miller in Dumfries and these have now been sent to the builders we have been dealing with in Lockerbie.
It is great to meet up with people I was at school with in Lockerbie and haven’t met for 30+ years!
We are submitting our Leader Application form on Monday the 26th of January and we have an excellent meeting last week with Ellen Grant from Dumfries and Galloway Council who gave us various pointers.
The purpose of the grant application is to match fund the LB resources for the building renovation and to equip the building with our stage one equipment for the large scale brewing of beer, which is mainly vats and kegs and some other smaller items.
I am working on the wording of the application and Tom is chasing up some more figures.
We are hopeful that building works can start to take place in April and with luck we might be producing beer by some time in June.
We are running a free beer tasting and tapas evening in Lockerbie on Friday the 23rd of March between 6pm and 9pm and everyone is invited for a chat and a beer to find out more about our plans for development in Lockerbie.
We have also opened dialogue with a group in Lockerbie about a potential site for a Lowland Brewery visitor centre to get us on the map and onto the Dumfries and Galloway Food and Drink trail. Being realistic (which is not one of my strong points!) this may happen in 2020 or 2021.
We are keen on the idea also of a festival which we would like to have up and running in 2019.
If anyone else would like to get a prospectus please email:
tom@chefsinscotland.co.uk or call the brewery mobile which is 07493716521, leave a message and we will get back to you.
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