Sanctuary Care group set to launch chef academy to improve care home cuisine.

The Sanctuary Care group chef academy will improve the standard of chefs in care homes throughout the care group.

All kitchen staff and chefs are welcome from within the organisation, where they will be able to continue to develop the skills and qualities needed to create the highest quality food for residents.

As well as improving core cooking techniques, staff attending the academy will learn menu development skills.

The facilities and training required for the academy will be provided by Unilever Food Solutions, who are also sponsoring the annual Sanctuary Care chef of the year awards taking place on 19 June 2013.

This year the event will be celebrating the launch of the academy, as well as the usual live cook off between eight of the top chefs from within Sanctuary Care, competing to become the overall winner.

Mark Ord, Sanctuary Care’s hotel and catering services support manager, said: “We believe in promoting best practise and encouraging growth of personal and professional development for our chefs and kitchen teams. In doing this, we can ensure that our care home residents are receiving the best possible service and delicious, good quality, home cooked food.

“The launch of our Chef Academy is a natural progression of what is already a very successful partnership with Unilever Food Solutions, and we believe it will be hugely beneficial to all involved.”

Unilever and Sanctuary's long term association has given Sanctuary Care residents opportunities to participate in menu tasting for new Unilever food products, who specialise in creating food that is both great tasting and nutritious. Jean Cattanach, head of Unilever Food Solutions’ care team, says: “We believe mealtimes should be the highlight of a care home resident’s day. So, supporting Sanctuary Care in launching their Chef Academy is something we are very proud of. We hope to help inspire their kitchen teams to provide even more nutritious, balanced and enjoyable meal occasions for residents.”