{"id":4370,"date":"2016-07-29T09:20:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T08:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skiinluxury.com\/blog\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2016-07-29T09:21:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T08:21:34","slug":"chalet-cookery-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skiinluxury.com\/blog\/chalet-cookery-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of the Chalet Cookery Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

An integral part of your luxury chalet holiday is making sure that you choose the right chalet, but what if you chose the right chalet with all the features you could dream of but then end up eating poor quality food cooked by an amateur host?<\/p>\n

Over the last few years we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of cookery schools offering high quality culinary training for chalet hosts. But why have these chalet cooking courses become so popular?<\/p>\n

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Finding a job in the ski industry is as competitive as ever. The leading luxury chalet companies are looking for the best chalet hosts with experience of cooking cuisine that even the pickiest of\u00a0connoisseurs will be impressed by. Chalet cookery courses train the ambitious and driven students to a level that sets them apart from other hopeful job hunters.<\/p>\n

Intrigued by what these course offer, I contacted four of the most well known and respected Cookery Schools. The responses that I received from all four were incredibly passionate and informative. All seemed very proud of the product that they offered and were happy to share testimonials of past students. They sent so much information that I haven’t been able to share it all in this blog but would be happy to send it through if you want to contact me by email<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cookery schools that I contacted and participated in the blog are:<\/p>\n

Chalet Cookery School through Green Rides<\/a><\/span>\u00a0– Martyn Hanley, Head Instructor<\/p>\n

The Orchards School of Cookery<\/a><\/span> – Isabel Burt, Director<\/p>\n

The Mountain Cookery School<\/a> – Caroline Pitt, Marketing Manager<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hive Cookery School<\/a> <\/span>– Christina Hadden, Principal<\/p>\n

\"Chalet<\/p>\n

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What made you want to run a chalet host course?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Green Rides:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0I had been with Green Rides for only one winter season when I came up with the idea of running our very own Cookery course. We felt, with our experience, we could run a training facility for budding chalet hosts looking to earn themselves a job in the industry running their own chalet.\u00a0We took a whole month studying what the other cookery schools were advertising, offering on their courses and how intense they were making the course. At the time, there was only 2 cookery schools operating to the level we wanted to compete at so we could spend a lot of time on our research.<\/p>\n

Hive:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0My first season was spent managing a team of hosts who had mostly done cookery courses, but\u00a0none of them chalet specific. \u00a0I found that their expectations of the season varied greatly from what was actually required of them. \u00a0Most of the staff either gave up mid-season or were asked to leave as they were not up to the job. \u00a0I set up The Hive to give students not only the training they need in the\u00a0kitchen, but to also give them a true idea of what it\u2019s really like to do a season running a chalet. \u00a0We teach them cleaning, chalet maintenance, budgeting, take them shopping and introduce them to other seasonaires living locally. \u00a0By the end of their time with us they really know how hard they\u2019re going to have to work, but also how much fun it is, and go into their winter jobs with their eyes open, getting a much more satisfying season out of it.<\/p>\n

Orchards:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Both my sister and I had done ski seasons as chalet cooks and we felt that there was a gap in the market for training chalet staff for the role.\u00a0 There were plenty of cookery courses around but no one really focused on teaching people how to cook and entertain in the Alps.\u00a0\u00a0 We learnt on the job and felt that there were many things that we could teach others to help them have a fun and successful ski season.\u00a0 There are many other companies and private chalets who subsequently started running chalet courses!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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What backgrounds do your students come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

All operators had much the same response to this question. The majority of their students are British but they have students joining them from all over the world. Most students are aged 18-25, some of whom have just graduated whilst others are school leavers. All Cookery School’s mentioned that they had\u00a0found that more and more people are taking their courses later in life once they have retired or are taking a career break to follow their dreams of working a ski season.<\/p>\n

Orchards<\/span> mentioned that a lot of their students come from families who have regularly stayed in ski chalets as they have grown up and so it is an environment they have always wanted to work in. Green Rides<\/span> are an approved activity provider for the Duke of Edinburgh award so they have 16 year old’s attending as part of the Gold award.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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Do you work with any chalet operators, providing them with trained staff following completion of the course?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mountain:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>We\u00a0work closely with Ski World in finding candidates for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Orchards:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, we work with well over a 100 different ski companies ranging from private chalets to the large tour operators.\u00a0 Many of the ski companies visit the school to give presentations to students and interview them while they are on their course.<\/p>\n

Green Rides:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>We work with a number of tour operators who visit the school every single week to interview suitable candidates while they are here. From Alpine Elements, Ski Bug, Ski World, The Sainte Foy chalet company, SkiVo2 and many more independently owned well known tour operators from the area. We maintain great communication with tour ops so that when the perfect candidate for them comes along, they are well informed so they can visit that very same week.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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In your opinion, what\u00a0makes the perfect chalet host?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hive:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>The perfect chalet host needs to be sociable and friendly, a good cook, have attention to detail\u00a0and be prepared to work hard. One of the hardest things for chalet hosts to learn, especially young ones, is the right balance between making the most of the social side of a season and the job that puts them in the mountains in the first place. Those\u00a0that get the balance right will have a fabulous experience and gain so much, from meeting interesting\u00a0people and making new friends, to learning new skills which will help them throughout life.<\/p>\n

Green Rides:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>For me, I look for personality and confidence. The cooking I can teach but personality I can not. Students and candidates must come across approachable, be well presented and confident in what they do and \u00a0more importantly, confident in themselves. The perfect chalet host must be well organised, punctual, attentive and have a great eye for detail.<\/p>\n

Mountain:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>Someone that really goes the extra mile to impress, and genuinely enjoys all aspects of hosting. Providing exceptional food goes without saying, but an individual that can also make guests feel spoilt and their ski holiday truly memorable.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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What does your course program entail?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Orchards:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Our courses are intensive but great fun, with dinner parties in the evenings enabling students to get the most out of their time at The Orchards. In addition to the cookery course, during break times students have the opportunity to: receive personal help and advice with CV writing; have interview training; attend ski company presentations and interviews; take the Level\u00a02 Award in Food Safety in Catering; have a tour of the kitchen garden to see how some of the fruits, vegetables and herbs used in the cookery school are grown and harvested; learn quick ways to deal with a brace of pheasants (during the shooting season only).<\/p>\n

We provide students with:<\/p>\n