TEN more Sandals Resorts junior chefs have successfully completed the five-day intense culinary workshop and certificate programme rolled out by the Sandals Corporate University (SCU) in partnership with the New England Culinary Institute (NECI), based in Vermont, USA.

These junior chefs are among 80 in Jamaica and St Lucia who are now NECI certified and actively bringing what they’ve learnt back to Sandals kitchens across both islands.

The intense training was carried out at Sandals Whitehouse under the stewardship of instructor chef Joey Buttendorf from NECI and covered several key areas ranging from basic theoretical knowledge to stocks, sauces, flavour profiles, knife-handling and butchering skills.

These skills, as explained by Sandals Group Senior Executive Chef Glenroy Walker, are integral to the development of the luxury-included resorts’ cadre of chefs.

“We continuously seek out partners to share their wealth of knowledge and expertise, which can ensure our culinary team is trained to meet world-class standards and ultimately, the discerning palates of our international guests,” said Walker.

To culminate their training, the junior chefs were placed on show in a five-course culinary presentation featuring inspired dishes that would easily satisfy even the most avid gastronome. Sampling their creations were representatives from the SCU and select managers from Sandals Whitehouse.

According to Chef Buttendorf, the most essential takeaway from the programme is the students’ grasp of the fundamentals of ‘why’, that is, understanding the guest-value perspective and how this connects to and should impact what they do as chefs.

“It is extremely inspiring to work with the young Sandals chefs,” she said. “In each batch there are chefs at different levels in their career, from supervisors to sous chefs, to those who are relatively new to the kitchen. What they all have in common, however, is their natural ability and their dedication to the Sandals brand and hospitality as a whole. We now need to stimulate that creative ability, encourage a passion for the industry and an understanding of the very important role they play.”

NECI’s hands-on approach and commitment to grooming passionate, creative chefs and food service professionals, is one which SCU immediately connected with.

“NECI also understands what it is like to work with a corporate organisation and has been very accommodating in helping us to reach our training goals,” said Mark Frederick, SCU vice-principal and registrar.

Indeed, the Sandals Corporate University has found a perfect partner in NECI, with 36 years of experience and over 5,000 alumni to their credit.

“We’re happy with how the programme is unfolding thus far,” said Frederick, who was also in attendance at last week’s culinary presentation which ended the week-long workshop. “This is the first of eight workshops scheduled to take place between July and December this year.”

Frederick also hinted at several exciting developments on the horizon, among them the introduction of NECI’s Level II course for those persons who have already completed Level I, and a move to transform the kitchen facilities at Sandals Whitehouse into one of two state-of-the-art training kitchens in the Caribbean.

These initiatives form part of the Sandals Corporate University’s mandate to help the professional development of Sandals talents through reputable education and training programmes.