Food at Wadhurst Manor Care Home
Meet our Head Chef, Richard Hool
Working with fresh produce is both rewarding and interesting and helps me to create seasonal menus, of which our residents enjoy very much. We have a strong and passionate team here and we are looking forward to welcoming our new residents to their new home.
Food and Nutrition at Wadhurst Manor
Our catering team work very closely with the care staff to support our residents who need specialist diets. They also enjoy displaying their expertise by providing beautiful home-made cakes and biscuits on a daily basis not just for special occasions such as birthdays and celebratory days such as Christmas, Halloween and Easter. Our team visit the residents and join in with the residents meetings to have the opportunity to listen to our residents opinions and ideas. As we are a 24 hour care setting there is always an opportunity to have a snack at whatever time of day. To get an idea of the range of choice we offer please see the examples below.
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'.
