Author: Olivia

A unique career certification programme for Alshaya food professionals, created in partnership with Worldchefs and City & Guilds UK

As part of its ongoing investment in people, Alshaya Group, one of the world’s leading brand franchise operators has launched the Alshaya Global Hospitality Certification (AGHC), a unique international culinary certification to help develop the careers of its professional culinary employees.

With a wide portfolio of award-winning restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s, Texas RoadHouse, Asha’s, Dean & Deluca, Bouchon Bakery and Princi, Alshaya Group has a strong hospitality footprint in the region bringing customers a wide choice of well-loved international restaurant brands.

The Alshaya Global Hospitality Certification (AGHC) is recognised by the City & Guilds of London Institute (City & Guilds) and endorsed by the World Association of Chef’s Societies (Worldchefs). AGHC. The first of its kind in the region the certification programme provides employees in Alshaya Group’s hospitality division with professional recognition for their skills and expertise, benchmarked to international standards.

AGHC is fully funded by Alshaya for its employees as part of Alshaya’s ongoing investment in its people and provides a fully portable, practical, and professional qualification. Certification is broken down into five levels, depending on the employee’s expertise and level of responsibility. No exams or study time is needed, and certification is based solely on experience and level of responsibility and is assessed by an independent panel. Certification is made in the form of a digital badge, which provides a portable secure method to showcase achievements and allows for a physical certificate to be printed, if required.

AGHC will make it possible for Alshaya employees to get recognised for the skills and experience they have developed whilst working and will help them stand out from the crowd as their career develops.

Commenting on the new certification, Matthew Holgate, President – Hospitality Division at Alshaya Group said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Worldchefs and City & Guilds to introduce this international culinary certification for our employees. We continually invest in our people and recognise that career development and training is critically important to maintaining world-leading levels of excellence. Professional development is key to this and we have seen what incredible things can happen when our employees are empowered with new skills and confidence. We are extremely happy and proud to be offer this unique certification programme.”

This article was originally published by Worldchefs Collaborative Partner Alshaya Group

This July, we invite you to celebrate World Chocolate Day by creating exceptional, personal experiences with a pairing as simple as… Chocolate and Tea!

Serve guests multiple dimensions of taste, texture and flavour when you pair Lindt Excellence Chocolate with Ceylon Tea from our Dilmah Watte Tea Selection.

Learn how to discern the best flavours for the palate with Tea Grower and Dilmah CEO, Dilhan C. Fernando in this video: 

The Watte Series of Single Region Teas recognizes the individuality of every tea drinker. The range features a selection of distinctly different teas from the four premier tea growing regions of Ceylon, each possessing its own bouquet, mouthfeel and flavour.

Shop the Watte Range Here:  https://shop.dilmahtea.com/our-teas/watte

Even in 2020, we keep making sustainable cooking the preferred choice.

2020 has been a difficult one, no doubt. But we have been working so hard to make sustainable eating and cooking the preferred choice, and transforming so many people’s lives, that we couldn’t just stop now.

Without expecting it to be so, this year became a great challenge to adapt our Like A Chef program, but now we can proudly say: We did it!

Before the lockdown started in Curitiba, Brazil, Like A Chef was a 12 week program in an Electrolux Kitchen, followed by 24 students per wave and a group of chefs that used Worldchefs’ curriculum to train them in sustainable cooking. This meant daily meetings of 25 to 28 people, in a close space, for 3 consecutive months, where they’d be cooking and taking food to their homes. Clearly, this wasn’t the model we could keep using during 2020 but we still wanted to help people improve their lives by learning how to live a healthier life and get the tools they needed to find a job or become entrepreneurs. With the global employment rates going down and the hospitality’s industry taking the worst part, our goal became more important than ever and that’s why we developed our new Like A Chef’s blended learning program!

Blended Learning Program

3 weeks of online training + 1 week of practice in the kitchen. The first week is all about the basics. Using the Worldchefs Academy app, the students get to learn everything they need to start into the culinary world. Terms, utensils, mise-en-place, types of cuts and more. This online course is open to everyone, its certifiable and available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Do you want to check it out? Just have to click here.

During the second week, the students get the chance to put everything they’ve learned online into practice. Divided into 2 groups of 6 students each, the 12 selected people get to cook and learn with well experienced and recognized chefs in the Electrolux kitchen, always following the safe distance measures and every health recommendation. In this new format, we reduced the physical exposure time in 91,6% and the number of students in 75%.

For the third week, we partnered with SEBRAE, the Brazilian Agency to support Small Entrepreneurs. For 5 days in a row, our students got online classes related to markets, trends, business administration and everything they needed to know in order to start their own business, even in the middle of a pandemic.

Finally, the fourth week counted with the following 3 how-to workshops:

• “How apply for a job” by the Electrolux HR Team
• “How to manage food waste by Sodexo”
• “How to develop your own digital business on a food delivery mobile app” by Rappi

Followed by the closing event which, during this first pilot, consisted of preparing 160 Christmas meals to donate via “Mulheres do bem”, a local NGO that’s been working hard for a while into the pandemic now, bringing food to those who needed it the most.

Results

The feedback we received both from the chefs and students was amazing!
Everyone was happy about this new format, especially because they found it easy to teach in smaller groups. Of course, not everything was perfect due to current circumstances, there’s still a lot to improve when it comes to online learning environment (interactions aren’t the same, it gets harder to learn when you can’t practice while you’re receiving the information, there’s a lot of distractions going on at everyone’s home…) and in this type of program, everyone would love to spend more time in the kitchen. But even so, we managed to deliver the Like A Chef new frame work starting with the first group of 12 students and successfully graduating 8 of them.

We gladly counted with the participation of one former student as the chefs’ assistant for the whole week of practices. 5 different chefs shared their knowledge with our students, 2 of them being completely new to the program. 13 different recipes were taught, 160 meals were donated, and nobody got sick during the whole experience!

For us, this counts as a huge win for Like A Chef program, otherwise severely hit by the restrictions of the pandemic. Now we can’t wait to implement its new format in all the countries we’ve already worked before and to see it growing and reaching new locations, always with the purpose of making eating and cooking sustainably the preferred choice.

Everywhere.

Feed the Planet is an initiative founded by Worldchefs to inspire sustainable food consumption among communities and culinary professionals as well as to support people in need through education. Powered by Electrolux Food Foundation and AIESEC, the vision of Feed The Planet manifests in 4 major projects: Like A Chef, Food Heroes Challenge, Food Waste Challenge and Sustainability Education for Culinary Professionals. Since May 2020, the webcast Sustainability Around the World hosted by chef Chris Koetke is broadcasted, featuring outstanding culinary sustainability enthusiasts across continents.

Learn How to Serve, Pour, and Plate Tea – From Soups to Sauces and More!

Ever wondered if you could get certified in tea? Now, you can – while on the go! Become a certified Tea Aficionado at the world’s only Worldchefs accredited Tea School, online. Visit www.schooloftea.org and purchase the course you’d like to follow. Next, download the Dilmah School of Tea app to access any module, and take the tests to get certified wherever you are, at any time. Earn a Worldchefs accredited certificate at the Dilmah School of Tea today!

The first Dilmah School of Tea was established in 2009 at The Institute Paul Bocuse with the aim of upholding the traditions of tea, by cultivating a respect for tea and sharing its rich cultural heritage. It is a tea program that seeks to inspire passion in tea through knowledge of the artisanal aspects of tea amongst hospitality professionals, tea aficionados and tea drinkers.

Learn how to craft tea experiences for the 21^st Century 

Calling all Chefs and Mixologists from around the world! Put on your apron and get inspired by tea around the theme of “immunity”, to stand a chance at winning a vacation of a lifetime!

Here’s an unrivalled opportunity to showcase your culinary skill and flair, while revolutionising and pushing the boundaries of tea in gastronomy and mixology, with recipes that can help boost immunity, with a 5000-year-old, immunity-boosting herb at the heart of it – tea!

Brew our judges away and win an all-expense-paid 7-day vacation to a luxury resort in Sri Lanka, and an opportunity to attend the only Worldchefs certified tea school – The Dilmah School of Tea in Sri Lanka!

Here’s how to enter:
 
1. Make a food item that is sweet or savoury using Dilmah Tea as an ingredient.

2. Make a non-alcoholic beverage using Dilmah tea as an ingredient. This could be an iced tea, chai, hot & cold tea mocktail, smoothie, tea shake etc.

3. Upload your entry as a video or image with a rationale behind your creations on to Dilmah’s tea inspired awards website.

Submissions close on 18th March 2021. After which, our global panel of judges comprising the following experts will get shortlisting!

 
Dilhan C. Fernando
Tea Grower, CEO of Dilmah Tea, Director, Dilmah School of Tea, Sri Lanka

Dr. Tissa Amarakoon
Author of Tea & Your Health, former Deputy Director Research at the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka 

Tomek Malek
World Champion Flair Bartender, Poland 

Peter Kuruvita
Chef & Restaurateur, Australia 

Shortlisted participants will be notified by 23^rd March 2021 and will have the opportunity to present LIVE via Zoom to our judges.

Good luck!

Support for Croatia

On December 29th half of the town of Petrinja in Croatia was destroyed in a 6,3 magnitude earthquake. The very next day, another struck with a magnitude of 4,1. 

Please help to support Croatia by donating to those affected by the earthquake. You can make your donation through the Croatian Red Cross by using this link: https://www.hck.hr/english/10656

Show the power of the white jacket by sharing and calling for donation through your channels. 

It is cited in texts and known around the world that ‘Tea began as a medicine, and then grew into a beverage’ – The Book of Tea. 

Scientific research further confirms what Asians have believed for centuries; that all types of tea contains polyphenols and powerful natural antioxidants which can protect regular tea drinkers from many degenerative diseases. Similarly, studies also suggest rooibos and spices have potent antioxidant and antiviral properties. 

Chef Peter Kuruvita combines both its ancient healing properties and its modern-day pleasures into tea inspired gastronomy recipes to help enhance the immune system. With carefully thought-out ingredients, he combines the polyphenolic and antioxidant goodness of tea and the antiviral properties from our Infusions to bring you Immunity Inspired by Tea Recipes. From energy-boosting recipes such as vegan-protein balls, to restaurant-worthy dishes such as Beetroot Tartare with Black Tea and Walnuts. 

Watch how to make a Gazpacho that can boost your immunity, with Dilmah’s Tangerine, Rose and Grapefruit Infusion: 

Dear colleagues, chefs and friends from all around the world.

I am wishing you all a “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and from the bottom of my heart a very festive season. 

Despite of a very difficult year 2020 and so many obstacles due to COVID 19 Pandemic this special time of the year shell give you all the positive energy and to ensure that 2021 will be a better year for all of us. 

The entire world population is suffering but in my personal view I believe in the positive energy in our human raze and especially in the “POWER OF THE WHITE JACKET. 

We as culinarians can make a change and as well our social responsibility is to support all the NEEDY and UNFORTUNATE as well. 

GOD bless you all and please “SHARE” with the people in need. 

Today I am talking to you as your WORLDCHEFS President and as the virtual “SANTA” and on behalf of the entire “Board of Directors of WORLDCHEFS” again our personal “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and “GOD bless you all”. Stay safe and healthy and we are looking forward meeting and seeing you all somewhere around the globe.

Yours,
Thomas A. Gugler
Worldchefs President