Fit with the “state-of-the-art” presentation technology, a lecture theatre, break-out spaces, meeting rooms and a refreshment area, the Qualsafe-accredited centre will be used to deliver training and skills sessions to its own staff as well as education caterers from across the UK, providing courses from basic food safety to first aid, menu development and craft chef skills.
The launch event will offer guests, including Birmingham City Council’s chief operating officer, Angela Probert and cabinet member for value for money and efficiency, Majid Mahmood, the chance to see both the centre and Cityserve’s development kitchen, CityKitchen, in use.
As Birmingham City Council’s foodservice division, pupils from Wheelers Lane Technology College in Kings Heath have been invited to take part in first aid training on the day, while pupils from Turves Green Girls School in Northfield will take part in a session with Cityserve development chefs.
Dale Wild, head of service at Cityserve, said: “We can’t wait to launch our brand new learning and development centre, which will allow us to offer a whole range of training for our own staff as well as other organisations who want to take advantage of a bespoke learning environment in an accredited Qualsafe training centre.
“National School Meals Week is the perfect time to launch our new centre, which we hope will play a key role in making the school meals of the future across Birmingham and beyond top quality as well as reasonable in price.”
Cityserve is also running a number of other activites to celebrate National School Meals Week, including ‘Host a Roast’ on 15 November, where Cityserve will join schools from across the nation in Food for Life’s National Roast Dinner Day.