Winterhalter calls on businesses to celebrate their kitchen porters
The third annual Kitchen Porter of the Year awards are in full swing, and while the response from the industry has been better than ever before, Winterhalter is trying to encourage more entries from a wider range of businesses.
The Kitchen Porter of the Year competition was launched in 2013 in order to celebrate the work of these overlooked heroes of the professional kitchen. Since then many chefs and managers have nominated their porters, proud of their hard work and keen to show appreciation for their dedication to the role.
2015 saw the launch of National Kitchen Porter Day. On the 22nd June restaurants and caterers were asked to share pictures of their kitchen porters and the response was fantastic.
One thing that did emerge was that some establishments didn’t consider the members of staff they have doing kitchen porter duties as being a ‘true’ kitchen porter. As a result they weren’t nominating them.
The fact is, if there is someone keeping a professional kitchen clean, or helping with the basic food preparation and setup, so that the chefs can concentrate on preparing the meals, then regardless of the official job title, they qualify to be nominated in the competition.
Stephen Kinkead, managing director of Winterhalter UK says “We want to encourage entries from as much of the industry as possible. Kitchen Porters are worth celebrating everywhere, whether they work in a high-end restaurant or a high street coffee shop, or a hospital or a school.
“If you have a member of staff who you know fits the bill but has a different job title, be assured that they do qualify and let’s celebrate the hard work they do.”