Star Pubs & Bars helps battle chef crisis

A series of food training videos to help licensees combat the skilled kitchen-staff shortage and ensure high standards in food are met, is the latest initiatives launched by Star Pubs & Bars to help battle the trade chef crisis. 

The step-by-step videos highlight the practice required in a commercial kitchen to achieve high standards and deliver consistent top-quality dishes.

The videos encourage best practice in preparation, cooking and presentation of traditional pub dishes such as Sunday roast, risotto, burgers, sausages and mash, fish and chips, and steaks.

They were created in response to licensees' requests for support with kitchen-staff training and are designed to alleviate the expense and resource pressures of sending staff away for courses.

Latest addition

This initiative is the latest addition to the pubco’s food training support scheme, which it launched for operators in 2015 and includes five-day residential training courses, in-pub mentoring and staff workshops.

Food quality is top of the chef recruitment agenda and Star’s scheme aims to help pubs with a range of food offers, according to Star Pubs & Bars managing director Lawson Mountstevens.

He said: “We’re always looking at ways to help licensees address issues.

“With consumer demand for premiumisation, food quality has never been more important and with the chef recruitment crisis, help with kitchen staff training is invaluable.”

Learning points for all

Mountstevens added: “The videos cover both and are all mini training courses with learning points for everyone, regardless of whether their offer is premium or value.”

The videos can be found on Star’s YouTube channel here.

Meanwhile, last June, former owner of the Treby Arms, in Sparkwell, Devon, Anton Piotrowski told The Morning Advertiser that pubs were finding it hard to recruit skilled chefs despite significant positive action by large segments of the trade during the previous year.

He said the explosion of restaurant and food-led pub openings made it impossible to fill the demand for chefs.