Service please!

Student chefs from colleges across Scotland have been taking over the Holyrood Room Restaurant at Holyrood.

We followed the service run by West Lothian College who served up a six course tasting menu to MSPs and staff.

Audrey Buckley, Hospitality Lecturer at the college, explained evenings like this are about far more than just cooking in a new kitchen. The students are expected to make their own travel arrangements, ensure they have all their equipment and arrive in plenty of time. They begin work in a strange kitchen, under real life time constraints and together with the front of house team provide a service over several hours.

When not handing over his kitchen to aspiring chefs, Stuart Rose is Sodexo's Executive Chef here at Parliament. Stuart very much enjoys these evenings and is always impressed by the level of service achieved by the students, both in the kitchen and in front of house.

Sodexo run all catering at Holyrood and often invite colleges in to host evenings in the Holyrood Room Restaurant. Stuart sees these evenings as an investment in the future, anything he can do to assist the next generation of catering professionals. The initiative will continue into 2025 with more colleges taking over the Holyrood kitchen.