Stratford Manor Hosts Student Cook-off!

Two local catering and hospitality NVQ students, Rianna Dartnell from Roade School and Jack Fitzgerald from Guilsborough School, (which are both part of the SWAN Rural Enterprise Centre) are celebrating after their winning dishes were chosen by Stratford Manor to form part of the hotel’s new restaurant and bar menus.

The SWAN (South West Area of Northants) Rural Enterprise Centre is a centre used by the SWAN partnership of secondary schools to help educate young people on all aspects of food preparation and management. They run a professional chef’s kitchen where students learn how to cook basic dishes on a budget and local businesses are encouraged to offer advice and assistance. Stratford Manor has been involved with the Centre since March, working with fourteen 15-year old students who are studying for their Young Apprenticeship in Catering and Hospitality (NVQ Level 2). All the students have visited the hotel, helped in the kitchen, had a lesson in food profit and dish costing and were set the challenge to cost-up and prepare a dish of their choice of which the best three would then be entered into the Stratford Manor Cook-off.

On 26^th April Martin Heap, Operations Manager and Mark Ralph, the Head Chef at the Stratford Manor visited the SWAN Centre to sample all the dishes and were so impressed by the results that instead of three finalists they ended up with five! Last week all five finalists - Jack Fitzgerald and Dan Gale from Guilsborough School, Jourdain Hughes and Becky Keeves from Chenderit School and Rianna Dartnell from Roade School were invited to the Stratford Manor where they spent the morning preparing their dishes in the kitchens before serving them to the senior management team at the hotel.

After considerable deliberation the winners were announced with Rianna and Jack taking the prize. "We were astounded at the quality and preparation that all 14 students put into their choice of dishes and narrowing it down to only three finalists was impossible which is why we ended up with five." commented Mark Ralph, Head Chef at Stratford Manor. "Judging the winner was incredibly difficult but Rianna and Jack just edged the others at the post and we are delighted to include their dishes on the menu."

Rianna’s starter of Thai Salmon and prawn parcel with a creamy chilli and coriander sauce and Jack’s main course ‘By the Beach’ which consists of Yellow fin Tuna steak in a garlic and tomato marinade, sliced new potatoes and samphire will now both grace the hotel menu along with their names.

"At the SWAN Rural Enterprise Centre and the SWAN Partnership, we can’t thank Stratford Manor and the team enough. It is a huge benefit to our students in ensuring they are fully equipped with so much knowledge of the world of work in the hospitality industry." Said Samantha Fitzgerald, SWAN Business Engagement Manager. "The students had a wonderful time gaining knowledge from QHotels and I thank everyone at Stratford Manor who helped make this event possible, especially to Harry Allen (HR Manager) who has been outstanding with all his support in what we do here at SWAN. I hope that other businesses learn about this event and they too will want to help make all our students more employable."

"We were delighted to be involved in this scheme with the SWAN Enterprise Centre as it not only helps to develop the abilities and skills of young chefs but also introduces additional innovation into our menus and enables us to showcase the talents of local students." added Keith Turnbull, General Manager at The Stratford Manor "Our Human Resources Manager Harry Allen was instrumental in setting it up and worked closely with the SWAN Enterprise Centre to make the whole initiative such a success. I know everyone at the hotel would be delighted to sponsor this scheme again next year."