HC-ONE'S FIRST GROUP DEVELOPMENT CHEFS GRADUATE

HC-One is celebrating the graduation of three group development chefs that have passed a ten-week initiative.

The programme is designed as the first of its kind with the aim to fast-track chefs in care homes to create and deliver tailored menu's for HC-One's 257 care homes across the UK.

Advancing beyond the typical career path of a care home chef stationed at one care home, this initiative individuals on a national scale to design their menu.

“We are proud to have selected these highly promising chefs from our internal talent pool," says Chris Bonner, executive chef and nutrition and hydration lead at HC-One, says. "Each individual displayed enormous potential within their existing, home-level work, and we are excited to support them to excel in the next stage of their career progression. There are no limits to what you can achieve through a career in social care, and our home-grown experts prove just that.”

Following three graduates, the new group development chefs will work with the wellbeing and catering teams nationally across HC-One to deliver nutrition and hydration programmes that will be tailored to each individual resident. The new team will work with residents in each home in the form of recipe tasting, cooking activities as well as delivering pop-up shops.

To celebrate, the chefs will go to London for a masterclass on fish from CJ Jackson, principal and chief executive of Billingsgate Seafood School.

"At every stage of my career with HC-One, from cover kitchen assistant to head cook, I have been offered the training and encouragement necessary to surpass what I thought I was capable of," says Suzanne Stirling, group development chef. "The group development chef programme is no exception to this, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to push myself further. I'm excited to take on new challenges and to see the impact of my work on homes across Scotland and the North East of England.”

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