The Youth Restaurant has developed out of the ideas outlinned in the film, hope you like what you read.
The idea is thus,
Get young people from different diasporas to come together to run a restaurant for a week, this process will last three months, they will learn about food production and service, both from the kitchen perspective but also front of house.
Included in This will be setting up a restaurant from scratch, decor to create the correct atmosphere, setting up tables for service, and the correct way to serve,
We will be learning how to produce good quality food that is serviceable when busy, teaching quality skills,
They will be coached and trained by people in the industry, When the team are up to scratch and ready to produce the final price of work, The Youth Restaurant, we will have a dry run, this I when we will invite in the professionals for a meal and give Honest feedback,
Alongside this we will be inviting the next cohorts along to enjoy the experience, this will be the start of the mentoring aspect of the process,
This is a magic idea, with your support and youth involvement, this could give young people the opportunity their postcode, skin colour, name or religion could be restricted from!
This is about inclusion, skills, knowledge, community cohesion, health and most importantly shouild open doors to jobs!
To many unhappy chefs, you can taste it in the food! this is also about safegarding the trade and giving young people the base s.kills they will ned in the catering enviroment.
Lets raise the bar!
Starting with this venture,
Youths, catering professionals and youth and community workers welcome,
Lets make this an ongoing program!
your support is paramount to the success of this project and those young people involved.
The youth restaurant
Broken-down into stages
Stage one: Involvement
Promote the youth restaurant and get different groups involved, youth groups, chefs, waiters restaurants, sponsors, designers for tee shirts, aprons, promotion adverts and more, all sponsors names and logos will appear on all promotions and on the aprons. Catering suppliers, food suppliers.
The initial meeting is to promote the event, generate more interest and support leading towards the launch of the program in February 2016. Running for 3 months.
Getting groups to sign up or individuals to partake or facilitate. 20 youths in each cohort, 10 front of house and ten chefs.
Stage two: Skills share
Start this stage with a few days talking about food, what to do with raw produce and its health benefits, followed by a two cooking sessions to see where people are skills wise.
Placements and day shifts, the youths will be placed into restaurants bakeries to learn how a kitchen or front of house actually works.
As a group we will attend a food health course, looking at various options at present.
We then all meet for a discussion, too see what has been learned and what still needs to be learned, and any issues arising. Getting the participants enthused, inspired and motivated to learn and be inspired through peer empowerment.
Now the cooking starts in earnest, Sessions broken down into chunks.
Actual cooking sessions, veg market visits, visit to billingsgate market in London, this is to inspire and create interest and discussion about the vast array of fish and vegetables available in the UK today, also they will be given ten pounds to spend on fish and create their own dishes on return to Bristol, with some guidance from myself and other chefs involved. We will also buy fish for other restaurants when we visit showing how to bulk buy in a market, all good experiences.
3 sessions on starters 6 sessions on mains and 3 sessions on puddings, many other aspects will be covered during this process, refining what is required to make the process successful for all involved. Preparation and knowledge is the key.
Organising the prep list and orders forms for all ingredients needed.
Stage three: Delivery
Week one
Day one, two & three: monday, tuesday, wednesday,
The restaurant will be decorated and have new art placed on the walls, showcasing local artists, we will also use this time to refine the front of house service, coffee making, drinks service, how to take food orders, using a till. Taking a table booking.
Etiquette as a waiter
Shopping for all the ingredients that are needed, also placing the orders for the rest of the week, weights and amounts will be learned.
Taster menu session for the waiters, so they all know what they are serving and how to explain what the dishes are, after eating they should be able to give a good explanation of the flavours, nutrition and what the customer can expect.
The restaurant service will be broken down in the three parts:
Day four: thursday
Part one is to invite in the sponsors, trainers and other volunteers in to the restaurant to say thanks for their support in making the event happen. They will be served and cooked for, by the students.
Feedback forms will be available on the night for people to fill in, as it’s all about development of the program and the youths involved.
Day five: friday
Invite the next cohort of youths along for a meal; the main reason for this is to inspire the new group, so they can see what can be achieved in such a short amount of time.
Employability skills sets and empowerment. Youths arrive with youth workers, also prospective sponsors and trainers for future events. This will also be the start of a mentoring process that will run throughout the next course.
Day six: saturday
Invite the media in to meet the youths taking part in the process,
But they must eat before we all get together. so they can get the full experience. After service the press can ask questions about the process and the experience.
This should create media coverage, a positive vibe and discussion, and ultimately bookings.
Week two
Day eight: monday
Closed Monday but veg market run needs to be done and orders need to be placed for this weeks service,
The staff can meet up for lunch and have discussion about how we all feel the service went, Good restaurants and businesses’ discuss issues and also successes to keep the product viable.
Day nine: tuesday
The product had been refined and ready to open to the public, promotion is done and the day will be spent getting ready for 6pm opening service from 7 pm. for 7.15 sitting.
We will serve a three-course meal with coffee and biscuits, made in our own kitchen of course. Offering fish vegetarian option and meat. Vegan will also be catered for.
Day ten: wednesday
Day eleven : thursday
Day twelve: friday
Day thirteen: saturday
Day fourteen: sunday
Day fifteen: monday
Clean up restaurant, have lunch together empty kitchen, give each chef two knifes as their own to take away, and the waiters get a quality pen, that wont leak and a good trade quality bottle opener, these are the tools they will need to get them started in the trade.
Stage four: Mentoring
These relationships should be the foundation of future projects, sharing what was been learned and hopefully opening doors to employment or philanthropic enterprises. This process should allow youths to make the connections in the trade to get a decent job with opportunities to develop and move up the ladder, introducing them to skills so they can enter the work environment with, a basic knowledge of what is required and able to work positively with intuition.
This should enable them to enter the working forum at a higher more skilled level, making participants more employable and also more aware of what they are eating and how to compile a health diet.
If you feel that you would be able to contribute or support this project, please get in touch or come along to the Orangery at Goldbrick House 2pm, 17th November 2015.
Many thanks for taking the time to read about this project, I hope to hear from you soon! Cheers, Steen the Chef.
Day seven: Sunday
Closed to public a deserved day off for the staff.