2024 AHOCE Catering Conference
Last week our Facilities team headed out to The Anderton Centre in Lancashire for the annual AHOCE Catering Conference where catering teams from other Activity Centre’s gather for a day of networking.
The day started off with breakfast and a catch up with the other participants before we then went on to have a tour of their site. We then moved onto a team building session, in groups we had to decide and then bid on what fruit and veg we wanted to go for and then design and make vegetable cars. Whilst doing this we were able to have a chat to the other Centre's about common problems we face and give each other tips on how we would overcome them. We then had to race our vehicles where, our very own, Judith and Robyn’s team won!
After lunch, Brakes delivered a presentation on inflation and sustainability, then it was on to making butter by hand!! The groups were all given a small bowl of double cream and we had to sit and mix it with our fingers until we finally had butter, it was then seasoned, and we tried it on a cracker, and it was just as good as Lurpack!
Then came the moment we had all been waiting for, the ‘Bake Scoff’ competition. This year each Centre had to bring along a cheesecake with them to be judged by independent judges.
April, one of our cooks, made an after eight cheesecake and WE WON!!!
We have been given the ‘Bake Scoff’ shield with the winning Centre engraved on it to keep for the year, we may have to hand it onto next year’s winners, or we may not.
We had a fantastic day, and we are looking forward to hosting the Catering Conference in 2025.
