Compass Group UK & Ireland team up with charity 2nd Chance for Secret Kitchen Pop-up Restaurant 28.6.16

Graduates from Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s largest food and support services company, partnered with London based charity 2nd Chance to host a pop-up restaurant on the HMS Belfast on Thursday, June 23.

2nd Chance is a specialist education to employment training course created to support unemployed 18-24 year olds develop their careers. This event provided twenty 2nd Chance associates with the opportunity to gain experience working in a professional kitchen as they took on various roles including kitchen assistants and waiters as part of the “Secret Kitchen” pop-up restaurant.

Altogether, seven graduates helped organise the event and Executive Chef of Chartwells, Andrew Walker, acted as head chef and led the team of 15 Compass Group chefs, apprentices, which included some of our Women in Food ambassadors, and 2nd Chance associates in the kitchens during the evening. 

125 visitors, including the Mayor of Southwark, were able to enjoy great entertainment as well as delicious food. The menus were created by 2nd Chance associates and items on the menu included Kiln Roast Salmon, Hay Roast Chicken and Panacotta.

The “Secret Kitchen” event was the third in a series hosted by Compass Group graduates and 2nd Chance associates following two successful events at the charity’s headquarter in south London in April.

The event was held as part of a Compass Group charity challenge that the 2015 intake of graduates were set at the beginning of the year. As part of the challenge, graduates from across the company have been set a task of turning £400 into £4,000 for charity through planning and organising their own projects within a year.

Gemma Taylor, Project Manager at 2nd Chance said: “It has been such a great experience to be part of this event. It has been amazing to work closely with professional chefs from Compass Group UK & Ireland and learn about menus, food, service as well as assisting with the cooking.”

Graduate Kirsty Harris from Compass Group UK & Ireland, added: “This has been such a great learning experience for us all and I am thrilled with that we were able to achieve such a great event with 2nd Chance. Not only has it raised money for charity but it has been amazing to see the associates from 2nd Chance gain hands on experience in a professional kitchen while we have been put through our paces organising and hosting the event.

“We chose to work with 2nd Chance to create the Secret Kitchen Pop-Up Restaurant over a 3 night period, in order to raise as much money as we could for 2nd Chance itself, and raise awareness of what fantastic work they do with the 2nd chance associates.”

Tim Stokes, Programme Director at 2nd Chance, said: “The Secret Kitchen event has given our associates the chance to develop their employability skills through a real working environment. I am extremely proud of our associates as they have done so well to produce such an outstanding meal, to a really high standard for over 125 people.”

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For more information contact:
UK Communications Team
Compass Group UK & Ireland
Uk.communications@compass-group.co.uk
01895 554 999