Peapod is 1 year old!

So we have chalked up our first year as Peapod Recruitment, Wow that was quick! overall it’s been a good year, a learning curve and an experience.  We have built up new skills, re-acquainted ourselves with old ones and placed candidates along the way.  Hopefully you are a client reading this who has experienced our work and now have an employee placed by us, but also you could be a candidate or client who hasn’t worked with us yet, and I hope that that will change in the next year or so.

Don’t worry this won’t be a sales drive on what we can offer.  

Peapod was created by Sascha Rawlinson and myself coming up with an idea over coffee, that with her operational experience over a number of years and with a client viewpoint on work, along with my recruitment career with national recruiters over 12 years in hospitality recruitment, that we should combine our knowledge to create a friendly and personable company, avoiding all the usual fanfare and small print that comes with a lot of recruiters, keeping the terms simple with no hidden charges and getting the job done.

This has worked throughout year one on the whole, and we have done everything from appointing General Manager’s to Head Chef’s, contract catering Operations/Area Managers to CDP’s, its been hard work, however it has been rewarding and hopefully will continue into the next year. 

Hopefully the guide’s we have posted have been useful for CV’s and interviews and I have had some good feedback on these and how they have helped candidates get interviews, so if you haven’t seen them go and check them out.

So for year two, keep an eye on our blog which we hope will continue to interest you and also we will be writing more restaurant reviews of clients, potential clients and just good places to eat, after all we are in the business of food and good service.  And finally feel free to give us feedback, comments on the blog or email us directly as we want to grow this further to let you know what’s going on in the industry, we have our twitter site @peapodrecruit and so join us on here and you will know when the latest blogs are out and also see what is being tweeted in the industry with what we retweet as well.

Here’s to Year Two, we’re off to celebrate the occasion and then get back to helping you find that next role you are looking for!

Provenance is crucial!

Knowing the provenance!

Over recent weeks, we have seen some pretty large operators and food retailers hitting us with revelations that horse meat has been found in their produce.  Everyone from general consumers to hospitals and schools have been affected by this, with one thing in common, the end user, in this case the consumer doesn’t know where the food has come from, or apparently what it contains.  But even more of a scary thought was the trail of blame that each supplier put out, that their meat had come from somewhere else, with trails crossing backwards and forwards across Europe.

Now most of the products found have been discovered in what you would call the ‘ready meal’ department which has been going through a renaissance in recent years as more and more ready meals have been sold each year, especially with each supermarket setting up its own ‘Dine in for 2’ offers (It should also be pointed out that M&S, the creators of this meal deal and whose produce relies greatly on ready meal products has found no traces, as their Chief Exec proudly boasted last week).  For me though the scariest thought impacts on the discovery by Lancashire Council that 40 of their schools had been supplied horse meat, unknowingly within the cottage pies that they had been supplied. 

For me, a father of two children who will soon be entering mainstream education in the near future, this was both surprising and shocking.  Shocking that the horse meat got into the system at all and surprise that schools were selling ready meals to primary school children instead of making fresh on site, especially with dishes as simple as Cottage Pie and lasagne.  I know that no harm can come from horse meat itself, but if you order beef on a menu, you usually would expect to receive it. 

Now I am not daft and realise the argument of cost is banded around by the various authorities, who at the same time are trying to cut millions of deficit off their council running costs, but it does surprise me that they feel fit to put the health of the children that they are helping to develop at risk by providing a product that they don’t know its contents or its provenance.

In recruitment I hear the word provenance a lot, mainly as I deal with good quality contract caterers who although in it for a profit, are happy to produce a product that they are proud in, and in turn expect the people they employ to share this belief.  This almost always means producing the dish on site from fresh ingredients, and although the costs may be up, the long term take up of school meals usually goes up, which in effect eradicates the cost, and overall provides the children with good quality fresh food.  

Fresh food is on the whole is healthy food, you know what is going into a dish and obviously this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ingredients that we don’t know about.  I realise that a trip to your local butcher or an organic farmer is going to be more expensive, but you at least know where the food has come from, you can trace right back to the original source, and know that the meat on your plate is 100% beef etc.  There are a number of ways to counter the cost that seems to be creeping up, in order to facilitate this extra cost, meat free monday’s was something championed by Paul McCartney in recent years and this makes good sense as the cost difference help. 

So lets hope that this scare over the past 6 weeks has given the major food producers and suppliers a jolt in the right direction and that they will now be a little more careful about what goes into their products, lets also hope that councils like Lancashire start to put the health and well being of their pupils ahead of cost and maybe even look into producing on site, like they used to, without fear of not knowing what they are serving.  Overall only good can come from this and hopefully will provide us with a better offering next time we go to the supermarket or order online or more importantly what our children eat at school.

The view from the Pod: No1, Rick Steins Fish, Falmouth

The Peapod review: No1, Rick SteinsFish, Falmouth

So whilst down in the South West recently I decided it would be remiss of me not to have some lunch at one of the regions great restaurants, and as we were in Falmouth, the obvious choice was the Rick Stein Fish & Chip Restaurant down on Maritime Quay, and as we had our children, The princess aged 2 and the boy aged 4 with us, it seemed a sensible choice.

In the past I have eaten at the original Padstow restaurant which was an enjoyable experience, however here there is a much more defined menu, so it was a good chance to experience a fuller menu, as well as plated service(Padstow served all food in cardboard containers).

The Restaurant in Falmouth which is in a newer part of town with a variety of other branded and independent restaurants as well as the Maritime Museum which is well worth a visit.  It is an open restaurant with plenty of space and a good feeling of not being sat on top of each other like the original can often give.  The service here is friendly and the children were made welcome and entertained by a well thought out colouring/games sheet with every colour crayon you could need.

As for the menu, there are a variety of options ranging from the a la carte, to a selection of 2 and 3 course options.  We both plumped for the 3 course which at £19.95 was very good value.  To start we chose the Salt & Pepper Prawns and the fishcake.  It would be fair to say that this was the weakest part of the meal, still not shabby though.  The prawns were lovely and fresh, however most of the Salt and pepper flavour remained on the outer shell and so it amounted to more of Prawns with garnish.  The fishcake was more of a hit, and was extremely tasty, as you would expect, homemade and with a lovely sweet chilli sauce to complement it.

At this point it would be good to mention the service, during the course of the meal we were served by two of the staff, who were excellent in their interaction and conversation, they were attentive and informative and we felt very well catered for throughout the meal, engaging with the boy as he likes to tell them about everything in his life, and making their experience very enjoyable.  The childrens menu is very good it should be mentioned and ours both emptied their plates of the Fish with new potatoes (They don't like chips! ...Yes I know?) and peas followed by ice cream.

On to the main, which for both of us was the Cod and Chips, this as you would expect was delicious, coming in a lovely beer batter, not to thick, but nice and crunchy on the outside and falling away inside and cooked to perfection, the chips were good chip shop style chips however slightly on the drier side which was good.  The homemade tartare sauce was exceptional and the mushy peas were, well mushy peas, washed down with some mild ginger beer the main course was very good and what you would expect from this tried and tested dish.

Finally the desserts, we decided to chose differently here, and so ordered Apple Pie and Treacle Tart.  The Apple Pie came with vanilla ice cream and was delicious, the pastry was short and complemented the apples well, however we were both taken by the treacle tart which was amazing, the taste of the tart, combined with the clotted cream that accompanied it was declared by my colleague as the best they have ever had, some praise from a dessert connoisseur.  In seriousness, the tart was rich but not sickly, it had a lovely consistency and provided a great way to end a very good, reasonably priced meal, which I believe you would struggle to match for price and quality.

Service: 4.5/5

Price:     5/5

Food Quality:  4/5

Cleanliness: 5/5

Overall experience: 18.5/20

Research Research Research!!!

Research, Research, Research !!!

I often get asked by candidates “What is the client like?” or “What areas should I concentrate on to impress?” Questions that are good and show that they want to make sure they make the right impression, but I also sometimes hear from clients that the candidate came into the interview and knew nothing about them or the role even though as a consultant I had pointed them in the right direction.  These are obviously the poles apart elements of research that you should do before going to interview, but the amount of research you do is critical to success and failure and in my opinion shows your level of passion for wanting a job.

By the time you get to interview stage it is highly probable that you are on an equal skill level with the other interviewees, and so research is a key area to make an impact.  So below are some points on what you should look to do to get the best preparation for that interview:

1. Learn about the company - Knowing about the company nowadays is a free and simple thing to do with the internet showing you everything about the company, what its achieved and even who you are meeting (especially with Linkedin).  

2. Visit the site - Other elements of research which are easier in public operations like hotels, restaurants and bars is to visit the operation, experience the service, pre sales where possible and get a feel for the general atmosphere, what the staff were like and how your overall experience was.  Go to the interview with constructive and honest views as these will show for your eye for detail, and shouldn’t offend then.

3.  Use your consultant - This may be merely talking to your recruitment consultant if you are going via a consultancy, they will probably know the client and their style of management, or areas that they focus on in interviews, it is good to have a sounding board when running ideas past them on how to approach the interview as well.  

4.  Questions - Although you are being interviewed, don’t forget, the interviewer will always ask you for your questions at the end of the meeting, make them useful, creative and of a level that shows you are interested, not “how many days holiday do I get”.

5.  Your career - Go through your CV prior to your interview, even with friends or family and think about times in your career when have come up against difficulty, or created something that has saved the company money, or something else where you have made a difference, the client needs you to be able to throw scenarios back at them, it shows that you are decisive in your thought process and capable of doing the job.

Overall good research can be the difference between getting a job and being one of the nearly candidates.  Make sure next time you have an interview you do your research and the job you are looking for could be yours.

Lets Continue that Feel Good Factor!

Lets continue that Feel Good Factor!

Watching the Olympics over these past two weeks has given us all a real boost of positivity that has been missing over the past few years, even the press have stopped talking about empty seats, and have gone positive talking about gold medals!  It is really great to see everyone together as a country supporting the athletes who have given us real role models for once.  

So lets hope that this feel good factor continues into our economy in the next few months and see a stop to the doom and gloom that seems to have been around forever (2007 to be truthful).  One thing that can come from this is that the professionalism of some of our key industries may come to the fore.  The British Isles (Or Team GB as it seems to be referred to currently) has a great deal to offer with excellent Chef’s, restaurants and hotels in every corner and now is the time for them to shine, as people see what a success the country has made of the ‘Worlds Greatest Show’ they may come here over the coming years and we can show them what else the country can do.  

This will also allow a lot of businesses to grow, and develop, they may do this in a number of ways, from developing the young members of the team to approaching companies in recruitment like us to bring in some strong talent available on the market, either way they must do it in a committed and professional manner that will help develop the industry and show that it means business.

This is the opportunity to continue that feel good factor and having shown the world how well we run such a large event, hopefully this will spread through future international conferences and other events in the future and give the country the boost it needs!  

Everyone's got an opinion!

Something funny happened to me yesterday, and it brought me to ask how companies come up with names, and what makes them think its a good idea.

It only struck me when I was entering a building yesterday and on telling the concierge our company name he retorted with "another random name" it was probably a bit rude on his part, but I guess he hears that many different company names on a daily basis that Peapod was one of the new band of different names from the ones of years gone by when everyone sounded like a firm of Accountants. So how do companies come up with names, some happen as subconsciously as ours did (see the blog what's in a name), but some take weeks and months to come up with, with the end result being a scientific concoction that nods towards the industry they are in. Then there are those who spend thousands and sometimes millions of pounds on employing consultants to come up with something catchy and memorable, only to find that they could have been more creative themselves.

Ironically as I left my meeting I walked down the street and stumbled across a company called Pod who are a coffee chain in London, I had never seen or heard of them before, but they had similar fonts to us, a similar colour scheme on their website and I guess a similar ethic (albeit in a different industry). I had never seen or clapped eyes upon Pod when we created Peapod, but in some ways it could look like we had.

The point I am getting to in a long and meandering kind of way is that although some people may think the name strange or different as the concierge did, embrace it as there's always the same amount who like it and think its innovative, overall its your identity and no-one else's and you should be proud of it. Also don't think too hard as sometimes the answer is there and waiting to be discovered.

Interview from Hospitality Events North with us!!

Darryn Wright, Director of hospitality management and catering recruitment agency Peapod Recruitment, talks to H&E North about attracting candidates to the right role.

What is Peapod Recruitment?

Sascha Rawlinson, my fellow Director, and I launched Peapod Recruitment in March of this year. After we both spent 12 years each in recruitment and operations for the hospitality and catering sectors, we decided to set up Peapod. As Director, I oversee recruitment within the events, hotels and catering sectors.  

We use our experience in the industry, offering a personable service and providing candidates with the essential information and advice to help them prepare for their meetings.  We have a wide network that we use to help us find the right candidate, matching the briefs that clients give us.

What type of roles do you cover and are you a nationwide service?

We cover all managerial levels, from Assistant Manager and Sous Chef up to Operations Director and above. We are based in the north of England; however we have experience of recruiting nationally and since we opened have been looking at roles as far afield as the Home Counties, South West and Scotland.  

What was your role prior to becoming Director and have you always been involved in the hospitality industry?

Prior to setting up Peapod Recruitment, I graduated from Lancaster University in 2000 with a degree in hospitality management. After 18 months in operations I went into recruitment, initially with Chess Partnership for nine years where I oversaw the northern office before moving on to another company where I worked in a similar role for two years.

What are the benefits of going through a recruitment service for those on the hunt for a new role?

By going through a recruitment company, candidates are getting knowledge and information to help their application. This information can be anything from CV advice and interview guidance to research assistance, depending on the level of role that they are going for. Recruitment companies also get roles that aren't necessarily openly advertised and so it is good to keep in touch with recruiters as sometimes there are jobs that they are working on that candidates could be suitable for.

Since the recession first hit, have you noticed any changes in the roles you are providing? Has the number of applicants altered or have there been any other changes?

When the recession first hit, the roles that were being recruited for obviously moved to just essential positions. Also, candidates who were in roles stopped looking and held on to their positions due to insecurities in the job market. Over the past two years I have seen a huge change, with a big increase in numbers applying for roles now compared to 2010. Overall, the market has become healthier in the past year. Only time will tell if that will change again.

What advice would you give to people trying to break into the catering and hospitality industries in the current climate?

Get your CV right. There are high numbers of candidates applying per job at the moment, so the clients can be a little more picky in who they shortlist to meet. Also, make sure your skills are relevant to the role that you are applying for and that these skills are mentioned on your CV. This is crucial in catching the eye of either the recruiter or client making the selection. Register with a couple of recruitment consultancies as one is never enough, but don't register with too many. Build a relationship with the consultant as they are key to you finding a role. Candidates that made an impression with me even a few years ago are sometimes the first people I speak to when I pick up a role.

What is the future for Peapod Recruitment?

It’s still early days for Peapod Recruitment. We are building on the great start we have had and want to continue this, developing more relationships with potential clients and candidates. It’s been a great first few months for us and hopefully word will spread about how we operate through providing a knowledgeable, personable service at good value and ultimately finding the right candidates for the client.