galloping gourmet

April 20th — Bar Manager at Rivervale Barn

We welcome Kris Jankowski as our Bar Manager at Rivervale Barn. Kris has been comprehensively trained in first class service at various posts around the world including New York, London, Cyprus and Warsaw. He joins us as we embark on a busy summer at Rivervale and looks forward to introducing, amongst many other new product lines, local draught real ale.

April 20th — Head Chef at Coltsford Mill

We welcome Mike Duckett, to the post of Head Chef at Coltsford Mill. Mike has worked for Galloping Gourmet on our casual bank for many years diligently cheffing at various places as diverse as Coltsford Mill, Staple Inn, Kew Gardens and numerous private homes and venues. He's another great example of a talented individual who have come through the ranks after years of dedicated service in our organisation and we all greatly look forward to working with him on a full time basis from this point on.
Mike's previous experience includes six years hard graft at the RAC Pall Mall before being promoted to Head Chef at the RAC Country Club in Epsom. Most recently Mike has been Executive Chef for Le Meridian, heading up banqueting at, amongst other properties, the Cafe Royal in Regent Street cooking for up to 2000 guests at a time.

April 16th — Eyjafjallajokull Volcano

Eyjafjallajokull volcano might stop the flights but it cannot and will not stop The Galloping Gourmet. With Wasing's Head Chef Joe Cathers stuck in South Carolina and other staff sleeping in bulging airports all over the world - the show must go on! With our rich stream of dedicated personnel Andy Gotting has co-ordinated and deployed our people to best effect and every one of our customers will still enjoy the top level of food they've been looking forward to, whatever nature throws at us.

April 15th — New Spit Roast Machines

New spit roast machines are being delivered to all our kitchens from today and will make a terrific difference they will make to the quality and presentation of our evening food. After a great deal of research we've invested in the right machinery to do the right job and as a result we'll now be able to provide even better hog and lamb roasts than ever before.
Andy and Chris at Curradine Barns cooked the first of our in-house hogs a couple of weeks ago, followed in quick succession by two more. They all went extremely well and both chefs were effusive about the food.
Spit roast pork with crackling and apple sauce is an extremely attractive way of providing evening wedding food and furthermore it's a great value for money option for our clients too. Andy and Chris conducted a survey of wedding costs in Worcestershire recently and discovered that our GG pricing for a spit roast is considerably less than our local competitors. So, with our brand new sparkling state of the art roasters, our superb quality, locally- sourced meat and the sheer theatre of it all we're all really looking forward to getting to work.

April 10th — New Second Chef

Michal Banaszek starts today as our Second Chef at Rivervale Barn working alongside Nick Price. Most recently working for DeVere at Highfield Park, he joins us just as we enter the full wedding season and Rivervale's inaugural full year of service.

April 2nd — New Second Chef

Our new second chef starts at Gaynes Park today, Luke Pickman: "I was born in Essex and have worked at numerous establishments throughout the county. From the age of 16 I realised I had a strong passion for food and this is enhanced by cooking with the best local fresh ingredients Essex has to offer. I support all of the local suppliers in Essex and think they produce some of the finest ingredients available. I have learnt many skills in my career, always adapting myself to cater for any customer's needs whether in banqueting venues, hotels, pubs or restaurants. I am thrilled and overjoyed to be employed by Galloping Gourmet and am particularly looking forward to making the most of my creativity and having a successful career alongside head chef Xavier Pellerin at Gaynes Park."

March 24th — Food Photo Shoot

Team Chef gather today at Wasing Park to take part in our latest Galloping Gourmet food photo shoot expertly managed by Neale James of Breathe Pictures. www.breathepictures.com Apart from greatly adding to our image bank such days give the team a great opportunity to get together swap ideas and work on innovations and improvements to our menus. See more photos...

March 15th — New Chef at The Curradine Barns

Christopher O'Neil our new chef at Curradine Barns starts work today. Christopher will be working with our Group Head Chef Andy Gotting in Shrawley continuing our record of employing the very best in local talent. His appointment will also allow Andy more time at our portfolio of kitchens driving on the food standards and inspiring our teams to pool their creative thoughts and ideas. Christopher reports "I have always lived in Worcester and therefore have worked in a range of different establishments throughout Worcestershire since becoming a chef 12 years ago. These establishments have included 3 & 4 star hotel's catering for large numbers such as The Stone Manor Hotel, to smaller fine dining restaurants including The Crown and Sandy's IN Ombersely. Whilst working at The Stone Manor Hotel I had the opportunity to enter The Midlands Chef of the Year competition where I was one of the 10 finalists out of over 100 contestants. I enjoy creating dishes using the freshest produce and support local suppliers. I am very happy to have joined Galloping Gourmet and look forward to be working alongside Andy at The Curradine Barns."