An integral part of your luxury chalet holiday is making sure that you choose the right chalet, but what if you chose the right chalet with all the features you could dream of but then end up eating poor quality food cooked by an amateur host?
Over the last few years we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of cookery schools offering high quality culinary training for chalet hosts. But why have these chalet cooking courses become so popular?
Finding a job in the ski industry is as competitive as ever. The leading luxury chalet companies are looking for the best chalet hosts with experience of cooking cuisine that even the pickiest of connoisseurs will be impressed by. Chalet cookery courses train the ambitious and driven students to a level that sets them apart from other hopeful job hunters.
Intrigued by what these course offer, I contacted four of the most well known and respected Cookery Schools. The responses that I received from all four were incredibly passionate and informative. All seemed very proud of the product that they offered and were happy to share testimonials of past students. They sent so much information that I haven’t been able to share it all in this blog but would be happy to send it through if you want to contact me by email.
The cookery schools that I contacted and participated in the blog are:
Chalet Cookery School through Green Rides – Martyn Hanley, Head Instructor
The Orchards School of Cookery – Isabel Burt, Director
The Mountain Cookery School – Caroline Pitt, Marketing Manager
The Hive Cookery School – Christina Hadden, Principal
What made you want to run a chalet host course?
Green Rides: I had been with Green Rides for only one winter season when I came up with the idea of running our very own Cookery course. We felt, with our experience, we could run a training facility for budding chalet hosts looking to earn themselves a job in the industry running their own chalet. We took a whole month studying what the other cookery schools were advertising, offering on their courses and how intense they were making the course. At the time, there was only 2 cookery schools operating to the level we wanted to compete at so we could spend a lot of time on our research.
Hive: My first season was spent managing a team of hosts who had mostly done cookery courses, but none of them chalet specific. I found that their expectations of the season varied greatly from what was actually required of them. Most of the staff either gave up mid-season or were asked to leave as they were not up to the job. I set up The Hive to give students not only the training they need in the kitchen, but to also give them a true idea of what it’s really like to do a season running a chalet. We teach them cleaning, chalet maintenance, budgeting, take them shopping and introduce them to other seasonaires living locally. By the end of their time with us they really know how hard they’re going to have to work, but also how much fun it is, and go into their winter jobs with their eyes open, getting a much more satisfying season out of it.
Orchards: Both my sister and I had done ski seasons as chalet cooks and we felt that there was a gap in the market for training chalet staff for the role. There were plenty of cookery courses around but no one really focused on teaching people how to cook and entertain in the Alps. We learnt on the job and felt that there were many things that we could teach others to help them have a fun and successful ski season. There are many other companies and private chalets who subsequently started running chalet courses!
What backgrounds do your students come from?
All operators had much the same response to this question. The majority of their students are British but they have students joining them from all over the world. Most students are aged 18-25, some of whom have just graduated whilst others are school leavers. All Cookery School’s mentioned that they had found that more and more people are taking their courses later in life once they have retired or are taking a career break to follow their dreams of working a ski season.
Orchards mentioned that a lot of their students come from families who have regularly stayed in ski chalets as they have grown up and so it is an environment they have always wanted to work in. Green Rides are an approved activity provider for the Duke of Edinburgh award so they have 16 year old’s attending as part of the Gold award.
Do you work with any chalet operators, providing them with trained staff following completion of the course?
Mountain: We work closely with Ski World in finding candidates for the upcoming season.
Orchards: Yes, we work with well over a 100 different ski companies ranging from private chalets to the large tour operators. Many of the ski companies visit the school to give presentations to students and interview them while they are on their course.
Green Rides: We work with a number of tour operators who visit the school every single week to interview suitable candidates while they are here. From Alpine Elements, Ski Bug, Ski World, The Sainte Foy chalet company, SkiVo2 and many more independently owned well known tour operators from the area. We maintain great communication with tour ops so that when the perfect candidate for them comes along, they are well informed so they can visit that very same week.
In your opinion, what makes the perfect chalet host?
Hive: The perfect chalet host needs to be sociable and friendly, a good cook, have attention to detail and be prepared to work hard. One of the hardest things for chalet hosts to learn, especially young ones, is the right balance between making the most of the social side of a season and the job that puts them in the mountains in the first place. Those that get the balance right will have a fabulous experience and gain so much, from meeting interesting people and making new friends, to learning new skills which will help them throughout life.
Green Rides: For me, I look for personality and confidence. The cooking I can teach but personality I can not. Students and candidates must come across approachable, be well presented and confident in what they do and more importantly, confident in themselves. The perfect chalet host must be well organised, punctual, attentive and have a great eye for detail.
Mountain: Someone that really goes the extra mile to impress, and genuinely enjoys all aspects of hosting. Providing exceptional food goes without saying, but an individual that can also make guests feel spoilt and their ski holiday truly memorable.
What does your course program entail?
Orchards: Our courses are intensive but great fun, with dinner parties in the evenings enabling students to get the most out of their time at The Orchards. In addition to the cookery course, during break times students have the opportunity to: receive personal help and advice with CV writing; have interview training; attend ski company presentations and interviews; take the Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering; have a tour of the kitchen garden to see how some of the fruits, vegetables and herbs used in the cookery school are grown and harvested; learn quick ways to deal with a brace of pheasants (during the shooting season only).
We provide students with:
- Three week, five course menu plans, including vegetarian options and children’s meals with detailed recipes and time plans for cooking at altitude.
- The Orchards Cookery Book supplied contains hundreds of additional quick, easy and impressive recipes, so that students can work at the top end of the industry, but still have time to enjoy life in the mountains.
- A detailed “Chalet Guide” which contains all the information you will need to know about running a chalet.
- Help and advice with CV writing, interview training, ski company presentations and interviews at the school.
- The opportunity to take the Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering.
- Henry’s Avalanche Talk. Henry is well known and experienced Mountain Safety expert in Val d’Isere and he has prepared a bespoke training video for Orchards students to introduce them to the real risks of skiing off piste and the dangers of avalanches.
- A wine tasting evening (an optional extra available on most courses).
Green Rides: Students learn to cook four courses every single day and they get to eat everything they cook. Our instructors teach them different methods of cooking, styles of cooking and presentation skills of their food fit for a restaurant. Specialist subjects we cover during the students’ stay with us include
- Knife skills and handling
- Wood chopping and fire laying
- Customer service and client handling
- Shopping and budgeting
- Cake baking and decorating
- Chocolate tempering and sugar spinning
- Spa maintenance
- Housekeeping
- Snow chains
- Canapés
- Cheese and wine training
- Students take away their Level 2 food safety and hygiene qualification.
Hive: We run one and two week courses. Both courses cover cookery skills, all students cook three course evening meals, plus afternoon teas, canapés, breakfasts, and on the two week course we have a fake Christmas dinner. For those students joining the one week course we assume that they have a bit of experience in the kitchen already, but the two week course accepts absolute beginners (therefore tends to attract school leavers). We also cover theoretical subjects such as food hygiene and kitchen safety, budgeting, shopping, customer service, a day in the life of a chalet host, dietary requirements, menu planning, food & wine tasting and so much more. Both curriculum’s are packed, but students also get a bit of time off during the week to maybe go white water rafting, swimming or hiking. If students want it, we also help them with their CVs and cover letters to assist with their applications.
Mountain: Our season workers course covers everything from basic technical skills to cooking 3 course chalet style meals and running a chalet, with an optional interview on completion of the course.
Do you have any testimonials of previous students?
Each Cookery School sent me some great testimonials of previous students, there were just too many to put in their blog so please see below their testimonials pages.
Chalet Cookery School through Green Rides Testimonials (On their home page)
The Orchards School of Cookery Testimonials
The Mountain Cookery School Testimonials
The Hive Cooker School Testimonials
So there we have it. For somebody with little or no cookery experience a chalet host cookery course can give you a great boost in finding your dream job as a host in a luxury ski chalet. There are plenty of schools to chose from. Which of them is the best? I don’t personally feel there is an answer to this question. Each Cookery School is unique and includes aspects that others don’t include. What is for sure is that these courses look great fun and very insightful and allow chalet operators to chose from well trained students.
So on your next luxury chalet holiday, ask your chalet host how they got in to the industry and I think you will be surprised by how many of them mention that they have taken a chalet cookery course.
If food is an integral part of your chalet holiday then get in touch, we are happy to suggest the best places and chalets where you will experience the finest service and mouth watering cuisine. Give us a call on +44 (0)1202 203650 or send us an email.
