On Saturday, myself and my partner visited Six by Nico in Edinburgh. The theme this time was 'Mad Hatters Tea Party'. I am a big Alice in Wonderland fan so I was really excited to try this menu! We were visiting for the opening of the Christmas Markets so this fitted in nicely with our trip.
We currently have 41 chefs out working all over Scotland and North England. We have 7 jobs confirmed so far for the week.
If you are happy to work Christmas and New Year (double time is payable both days) please get in touch to let us know.
There are some relief jobs coming in, but it is much quieter which is what we expect for the time of year.
Here are some of the chefs we have out working now:
Stuart Sullivan who is new to us this year is at The Scores Hotel where he has been working for the last few weeks.
Stephen Mcculloch is up in Shetland working at The Brae Hotel.
George Mccallum is finishing up at the Waterside Inn in Peterhead.
Bobby Ainsworth is at The Loch Ness Inn for the second time this year.
Andy Westwood and Scott Macintyre are working at The Kings House in Glencoe.
Al Mancini is working at Saorsa which is a vegan restaurant in Pitlochry.
Jason Paxton is finishing up at Skeabost this week.
Scott Mckie is at The Inverary Inn.
Norbert Waniek is at the Golf View Hotel in Nairn.
Thanks to all our chefs for your hard work and continued support 😊
Head chefs
If paying good money and in a central location such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Dundee, Aberdeen and Perth the availability of head chefs is ok, basically, the more central and the larger local population the better availability
What is good money for a head chef? This can vary from a small pub to a large five star or 3AA Rosette Hotel and can be anything from £16 per hour for a one-man job cooking simple food to £45,000 and upwards.
For a standard hotel job, we would suggest in the region £32,000+ with overtime paid pro rata over 45 to 48 hours as sanctioned by management.
Bonus schemes always help and can be based on getting a gross profit margin of over say 65 to 70% and it is always advisable stressing in advance how often the bonus is paid and what the exact criteria are. Other bonuses may be based on increase in sales. Keeping wages ratio down and helping to achieve certain net profits subject to maintaining quality of food, kitchen cleanliness and staff retention.
In more rural Scotland it is harder to get and retain chefs and often accommodation should be offered to attract suitable candidates.
Sous chefs
The availability of sous chefs in rural Scotland is good.
In more central Scotland, there are candidates if paying decent money (i.e. upwards of £28,000 or £13-15 per hour) and offering good working conditions.
In rural Scotland, there can be a need to think outside of the box to retain and attract good sous chef candidates. Its is almost essential that you will need to provide accommodation in rural areas.
Chef de parties
Availability is good in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the central belt.
In rural Scotland with accommodation there are candidates and you will get applicants if wages are decent, suggesting £10 to £12 per hour or a salary of between £22,000 - £25,000.
Commis chefs
There are candidates available centrally or further afield if offering accommodation.
Pastry Chefs: this is quite a specialist position and there can be a couple of specialised pastry chefs looking, not always though.
Enclosed link to minimum wages:
www.minimum-wage.co.uk/
Availability of Relief Chefs changes, and we can advise daily. The rates of pay are £12.50 to £18.50 per hour according to the position.
These astronomical amounts just go to show how well thought of Bourdain by other chefs and hospitality workers all over the world in life and in death. 40% of the proceeds were donated to the culinary institute where Bourdain studied himself.
With Christmas just only 6 weeks away the Christmas dinner in our house has already been discussed.
I feel that each families Christmas Day is unique and we all have our own traditions and ways of celebrating.
We have always spent Christmas Eve with a Cheese Board and The National Lampoon Christmas Vacation; produced 10 years before I was even born it has been my favourite since I can remember. It would often not be until around 11pm at night before we got to it as I would be working.
Christmas day always start with a full Scottish breakfast, of course, and tea served from my great grans tea pot - another tradition.
We always have either a Prawn Cocktail or Lentil Soup to start. Followed by the traditional turkey and all the trimmings. Pudding is always a meringue dessert of some sort; either pavlova or a roulade and an option of cheesecake. Christmas pudding in our house has never been an option, thankfully as I'm not a fan. We have always had the same dinner for as long as I can remember and I feel that its a tradition I will continue to pass on.
I always remember one of my friends telling me that her family don't open their presents until after 12, after they have had their traditional cola ice cream floats. Something I always thought was bizarre to have on Christmas Day.
My Aunt actually served up Fillet steaks and all the trimmings last year as none of her kids will eat turkey. Personally couldn't have Christmas Dinner without a turkey roast dinner.
At the end of the day, families will have their own personal traditions that are unique to them.
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