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LNER Hero Chefs

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wellhouse

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A number of news sites for the Hospitality Trade have published this LNER Press Release.

"London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has announced the launch of Hero Chefs, an initiative designed to embrace its top cooking talent and enhance the on-board catering experience for its customers.
Eight chefs from across the train operator’s route – two from each region along the East Coast Main Line – have been carefully selected based on their passion for food, local food provenance, commitment to customer service and delivering mouth-watering dishes. 


Claire Ansley, Customer Experience Director at LNER, said: “The Hero Chefs initiative was born from a desire to bring our dishes back in house with our onboard chefs taking the lead.

“We’re lucky to have so many people in our business who are as passionate about our customers and communities as they are about food, and who are keen to develop our menus and shape the on-board catering experience for our customers.

“We were thrilled when so many of our people put themselves forward for this exciting role and the opportunity to develop new skills.”



The chefs will be responsible for bringing the latest food trends and innovations to the on-board kitchen and creating speciality dishes for passengers.

Combining creative ideas with exceptional kitchen capability, the group will play an instrumental role in developing food offerings and the on-board menus.

They will also educate young people from local colleges and catering departments, including coaching up and coming talent for future industry roles.


To equip them in their new roles, Hero Chefs will receive continuous on-the-job training, provide each other with peer-to-peer support, menu development training, and be taught coaching and mentoring skills.

They will also have the opportunity to go out into LNER’s East Coast Main Line communities to learn about sourcing local food and ingredients. 


All Hero Chefs are existing LNER employees and have worked in the customer experience team from between 10 weeks and 18 years."

There doesn't seem to be any announcement of this initiative to the general public, so what's it all about? GNER used to hold a competition for chefs back in the day of full service restaurant cars, but just how much scope is there for culinary heroism in delivery of sandwiches and modest portions of lamb and vegetable stew?
 
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DPWH

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Maybe they should drop these heroes off at Grantham to train with the 167 Catering Support Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps.
 

mpthomson

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Maybe they should drop these heroes off at Grantham to train with the 167 Catering Support Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps.

And do the Army Catering Course, the only course in the world that no one has ever passed!:D
 

Helvellyn

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Sounds like the James Martin partnership could be on the way out in the New Year then.
 

SteveP29

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Sounds like the James Martin partnership could be on the way out in the New Year then.

Lets hope so, we might get something substantial as an actual meal, rather than fancy sh**e that could only fill a coffee cup, a breakfast that might actually be a breakfast, rather than a piece of bread with the essence of bacon
 

DarloRich

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The Hero Chefs initiative was born from a desire to bring our dishes back in house with our onboard chefs taking the lead

that is the key line in the whole piece: bring our dishes back in house
 

robbeech

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The Hero Chefs initiative was born from a desire to bring our dishes back in house with our onboard chefs taking the lead

that is the key line in the whole piece: bring our dishes back in house

Not “get our dishes back” then?
 

scotraildriver

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Lets hope so, we might get something substantial as an actual meal, rather than fancy sh**e that could only fill a coffee cup, a breakfast that might actually be a breakfast, rather than a piece of bread with the essence of bacon
Indeed. I don't think James Martin's foray into the transport industry is doing his reputation any good. His offering on Thomas Cook is abysmal, as for his restaurant at Glasgow Airport - just don't.
 

Chrism20

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Indeed. I don't think James Martin's foray into the transport industry is doing his reputation any good. His offering on Thomas Cook is abysmal, as for his restaurant at Glasgow Airport - just don't.

Is his outlet at Manchester Piccadilly still there as well?

It was totally uninspiring when I visited it last year.

I’ll be quite happy to see him gone on LNER. As an Edinburgh - Newcastle season ticket holder his offering is anything but first class.
 

Bookd

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To be pedantic are they chefs?
In my local pub a barmaid said (someone wants this changing ) chef, to which he replied I am not chef, I am the cook - it is not the b----y Ritz!
 

takno

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To be pedantic are they chefs?
In my local pub a barmaid said (someone wants this changing ) chef, to which he replied I am not chef, I am the cook - it is not the b----y Ritz!
You can be as pedantic as you like but the word isn't attached to any special qualifications. It's widely used to refer to people who are the most senior person in a commercial kitchen, whether they are working on their own or not.
 

sheff1

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You can be as pedantic as you like but the word isn't attached to any special qualifications. It's widely used to refer to people who are the most senior person in a commercial kitchen, whether they are working on their own or not.

Just because a word is widely used doesn't mean that usage is correct. See Delay Repay, which is often referred to as a "refund" (even by some TOCs) when it is actually compensation.

What caught my eye is that "to equip them in their new roles" these Hero Chefs are going to need "continuous on-the-job training" which suggests to me they are not chefs (yet, at least). Yes, everyone can always learn new things but a chef would not need continuous training, instead a chef is the one who is likely to provide such training.
 

joncombe

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I welcome the catering going back in house. I found the food offering worse after the James Martin deal. I tried one of the James Martin Bacon rolls. There was very little bacon and what there was was poor quality and gristly. I never bought another one. They were better prior to James Martin.
 

dave87016

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I think they need to get the catering service back to a consistent acceptable level before starting this kind of nonsense
 
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route101

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Is his outlet at Manchester Piccadilly still there as well?

It was totally uninspiring when I visited it last year.

I’ll be quite happy to see him gone on LNER. As an Edinburgh - Newcastle season ticket holder his offering is anything but first class.

Remember having a burger from the Glasgow airport one , £12 for what it seemed a microwave burger.
 

Iskra

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I'm in agreement that post-Martin catering has been poor.

I think it says a lot about his priorities that he was prepared to put his name to some of the rubbish they serve. When the items on the first class menu can be purchased from Greggs, something has gone terribly wrong somewhere.

GWR/The Premier Service/EMT/VTWC show how to do railway catering that's worth bothering with.

Hopefully, they get this change implemented quickly.
 

ACBest

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It’s okay folks, there’ll probably be enough gourmet sausage rolls left to keep them on the menu for a good couple of franchises yet...
 

Darandio

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It’s okay folks, there’ll probably be enough gourmet sausage rolls left to keep them on the menu for a good couple of franchises yet...

That is fine by me, I actually thought they were quite nice.
 

GrimShady

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Lets hope so, we might get something substantial as an actual meal, rather than fancy sh**e that could only fill a coffee cup, a breakfast that might actually be a breakfast, rather than a piece of bread with the essence of bacon

Well said!
 

w1bbl3

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I welcome the catering going back in house. I found the food offering worse after the James Martin deal. I tried one of the James Martin Bacon rolls. There was very little bacon and what there was was poor quality and gristly. I never bought another one. They were better prior to James Martin.

Surely any "in house" is move is really just a case of dropping the celebrity branding, I assume the food supplier (Rail Gourmet) will be remaining throughout.
Maybe without royalty payments LNER can spedt a little more on better quality prepack. JM's partnership with SSP doesn't seem to worked for either party TBH the JMK's are truly dire, Glasgow Airport in particular, now that is an experience I'll never forget. Should have gone to spoons. The Virgin EC / LNER experiment has basically boiled down to a "posh" sausage roll, that can be sourced from Greggs for 95p.
 
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