Food at Collingtree Park Care Home
Our catering team at Collingtree Park consists of experienced chefs who offer only the best in nutritional and delicious food, which reflects the individual tastes and dietary needs of people living at the home. They also love creating cakes for birthdays and other treats for special occasions to make those events that little bit sweeter. Sometimes we’ll even throw on the barbecue and cook up a storm in the summer heat. To get a flavour of the menu we serve here, please see the examples below:
Jennifer Briggs
Hello, I’m Jennifer the Head Chef at Collingtree Park care home. I have been in the Care Home sector for the past 3 years and working in hospitality for 27 years. I enjoy cooking, entertaining and hospitality and have had the opportunity to travel the world with my job. Cooking is a real passion of mine and being able to make and refine dishes to suit different tastes and needs.
My day involves speaking to the residents and finding out their favourite foods and recreating all their happiest memories. Food nutrition is a very important part of the day in a care home and it’s essential to get it right. It gives me great pleasure to see the joy on our residents faces as they enjoy our cuisine. The kitchen team love to share ideas to constantly keep up with the latest trends to produce some appetising dishes. Getting the right balance is a must! One of my specialities is homemade sweets and treats and I like to express this every day on our morning and afternoon tea trolley.
Dietary requirements
For residents who have difficulties swallowing, we modify the menu of the day so that the dishes are more palatable for them. To support our chefs in producing these dishes, our hospitality team and our Chef Academy organise theory and practical workshops. The chefs work with the chef trainer to prepare tasty, modified meals safely and according to IDDSI frame work. This encourages residents to eat and enjoy their food. All our chefs have been trained in IDDSI food descriptors.
Attracting top chefs
Our chefs are recruited on the basis of an interview with the regional hospitality support team and the manager of the home. Selection also involves a practical element, where potential chefs are asked to cook for and meet a panel of people living in the home. Chefs take their job extremely seriously and the annual Barchester Chef Competition sees our chefs battle it out in regional heats and then at a national final for the accolade of 'Barchester's Chef of the Year'.
