PART 4 (Part 3 can be viewed 
So I can finally start putting the last few months meticulous planning into action,
The boys and girls (some of who have waited for a year!!! are all called and told to report mid September ready for kitchen and menu training, oh yes this is what the last year of ups and downs have been about"¦"¦"¦..game time.
We take an overnight trip to Nakuru National Park about an hour and a halfs drive from Nairobi (the road is good and with tarmac!!!)a stunning park with lots of White and the rare Black Rhino, after an early breakfast its so nice to drive on the shores of the lake and see these huge Rhino some with Babies sleeping by the water without a care not that many things would dare attack them I would have thought. Some great pics and we see a small Lion pride as well as Giraffe and the usual Warthogs and Various Antelopes.
So back to the Big City and my kitchen takes shape, finally the 15th of September arrives and the boys and girls arrive looking very nervous I take them through my kitchen induction, all the paperwork is done we then sit for the day explaining my plans for the next 6 months and how we are going to get there, they seem to be well up for it my motivational speech seems to have worked wonders, easy first day for them and I let them go early for the day well it is nearly 6pm.
Second day and they begin the hotel induction, halfway through the day we have our first casualty!!!
One of my prospective CDP's jumps ship not sure what they told him on the hotel induction but he leaves at lunchtime and we don't see him again!! Impressive!!
I mean I thought I would have to break some of my team in but that was until at least after some kn
ife skills training!
As it happens the guy calls me nearly 7 months after and apologises giving me some reasons so we give him a trial and he is still here now and actually one of the strongest of the team!!
Ha-Ha funny how it goes and lessons to be learnt I guess??
Ok back to it day two passes well and the team seem to be settling, day three comes and goes on orientation then day four whites sizing and uniforms then 2 days of scrubbing the already brand new kitchen clean this country is so dusty and dry the equipment is covered but still a layer of dust is around.
I have seen quite poor hygiene control generally here so I dedicate nearly a week to the standards I will work to (and them)
Ok so we are around 2 weeks in so now we start dish testing and production for our 1st restaurant to open which Is 5 open plan mini kitchens with Grills, Italian, Chinese, Teppanyaki and Indian foods, the kitchens over look the National Park so its nice being on the "˜Pass' and seeing Giraffe, Zebra and Ostrich in the distance beats most of the kitchens I have been in either no view or the bin area!!!!!
I have kept the dishes quite safe as we open and not pushed it yet would rather begin consistently and build and not confuse the team, they are getting the hang of things rather quickly which is very pleasing a lot of work has gone in to make sure this was so but hey you never know!! After this is Africa and most things can and do happen.
The equipment is getting used a bit more to its potential now and snagging is going well, we have done some trial runs for Directors and HOD and Staff and the dishes are coming together as well as the team is (no more bail outs since the first chef either"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦which was nice)
The Directors are mainly Indian as I think I mentioned earlier so the weekend before the Wednesday which is the day our first guest arrives we have a priest coming to bless the hotel, I hope he will throw a few my way too haha, we draw up a nice Indian menu with some of the dishes and canapés being cooked live on each of our 5 stations, the food goes dThe Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.
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