ON TRACK TO PERFECTION

In October 2002, Network Rail took over the running of Britain’s rail infrastructure with a clear objective; to improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of the UK railway. In seven years, the organisation has met target after target and aims to transport even more passengers, move more freight, improve safety and reduce delays, all at a reduced cost. None of this would be possible, however, without first class leaders, who in turn need to be refuelled in their own right. Essential Cuisine is more than happy to help...

A railway to be proud of
“We want Britain’s railway to be world-class – a source of pride for the whole country.”

This is Network Rail’s mantra and, since the day it rose from the ashes of Railtrack, it has improved train punctuality year-on-year, reduced broken rails to 280 per year and brought down the annual running cost of the railway infrastructure to £4.3 billion by 2009.

While investment in tracks, stations and equipment are a key part of this success, a large chunk of its achievement comes from investment in people.

Over the past few years, Network Rail has endeavoured to make development a key priority and, in addition to setting up in-house training programmes for engineers, signallers and drivers, a state of the art leadership development centre in Westwood Heath, Coventry, adjacent to the University of Warwick, was opened four years ago.

At the ‘can do, will do’ centre, individuals are taught leadership and management skills with exactly the right backdrop for team building, strategic planning and networking across functions. The centre is also used for team meetings to address business issues and communications for the whole company.

To understand the sheer scale of the operation, the centre has 48 training rooms, two 250 person auditoriums, 155 residential study bedrooms and 10 hospitality stations, and can see up to 2,300 delegates and visitors pass through its doors every week.

Keeping the wheels oiled
The days are long and great concentration is required for Network Rail to get the best from its employees in the long run. Brain food is therefore high up on the priority list.

The centre’s dining facility opens six days a week, breakfast from 7am-9am, lunch from 12noon-2pm and dinner from 6pm-10pm. Thousands of covers are produced every week, and, in accordance with Network Rail’s commitment to high standards, it has to be first class.

Head chef Lee Paterson, who has been in the hospitality industry for 11 years and started out carrying suitcases at the age of 17, said his 12-strong team was not simply tasked with churning out food, but giving guests a fantastic experience.

“Employees love coming here,” he said. “The idea is to make the experience enjoyable, bring pleasure and provide a comfort zone to break up the intensity of training. Everyone who eats with us is treated as a customer rather than a colleague.”

In addition to a cold section for sandwiches and salads, during lunch, the centre offers a carvery and a hot area for pies, stews and other hearty dishes to keep trainees on the ball and brimming with enthusiasm. At dinner, there is a buffet and an a la carte menu.

By nature of the types of dishes served, stocks and sauces play a big part in the catering operation, from gravies and bourguignon to fish sauce and soups. They have to be consistently good, easy to rustle up, with a taste that is memorable for all the right reasons.

The gravy train
For 10 years, Lee has sworn by Essential Cuisine and when he left the 4* Shire Hotels’ Kettering Park hotel to help open Network Rail’s leadership development centre in 2005, Essential Cuisine went with him.

“I use their products all the time, from Fish Stock in fish pies to Vegetable Stock in soups. While we do make our own beef stock for the likes of beef bourguignon and stews, Essential Cuisine stock complements this perfectly. They are seasoned just right and do not leave fats floating on the surface. Their veal glace, meanwhile, is particularly good drizzled over our parmesan crusted veal chop, rocket, fennel and red onion salad.

“We also have their No1 Chicken and No1 Beef gravies on our carvery, which have no hydrogenated fats and meet our philosophy on healthier and ‘greener’ ingredients.”

“We get through between 16-20 tubs of Essential Cuisine stock and the same for the gravies every month, it’s that good. To demonstrate how good, we had a salesman from a market leading competitor in the other day and I asked him to blind taste test his products against theirs. Guess which one he preferred.

“We also had all our chefs together for an 8am meeting one morning at which they were asked to try the Essential Cuisine fish stock. For them to try fish stock at that time of the morning and then like it means you’ve got to be onto a winner. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want my chefs to think stock naturally comes out of a tub, but on this scale, it’s about quality and consistency. You need to know an ingredient, know what it will taste like.

“The guys behind Essential Cuisine products live and breathe what they do and are always more than happy to come in. I like to work closely with my suppliers and with them, it’s easy. To coin a cliché, they really are big enough to cope, small enough to care.”

03/06/2009|