WHEN they first started cooking, some of the trainee chefs didn’t know what a carrot was.
But now the young team at Aston Villa’s own in-house training restaurant face each dinner service like seasoned professionals.
Villa Midlands Food, or VMF, is the culinary brainchild of the club’s billionaire owner Randy Lerner. He came up with the name for the fine dining establishment and, as a keen restaurateur in the US, he’s taking a personal interest in its development.
Whether it’s a game of two halves, or a dinner of three courses, Lerner wants Villa to entertain and commit to winning ways.
VMF is unique, the first hospitality training restaurant to be set up by a football team. For three days a week, the formerly unemployed local youths put on a silver service in the club’s swanky directors’ suite.
Villa’s top chefs take over on match days, and, should the team be playing Manchester United or Chelsea, this is where Sir Bobby Charlton and Roman Abramovich dine. But it’s the same lay-out when the trainees take over: crisp white linen, sparkling cutlery and fine glassware for up to 50 covers. Expectations are high and that’s exactly as Lerner wants it.
The owner, his senior club officials and departmental bosses including Alison Plant, Villa’s head of hospitality and events, felt a moral obligation to foster positive change in the community living within the shadow of the Holte End. Aston ranks as one of the most deprived wards in Birmingham (eighth out of 40) and unemployment is 28 per cent (the Birmingham average is 12 per cent). Infant mortality in the inner city suburb is double that of England; men are likely to die aged 71 – six years earlier than the national average. Contrast this picture of poverty and hardship with both the designer lifestyles of the millionaire footballers who ply their trade at Aston Villa and the enormous wealth of the club, which generated £84 million in revenue in 2009.
Lerner told the Birmingham Mail: “VMF is a very visible aspect of what the Aston Villa philosophy is all about. We firmly believe that our football club should be a central pillar of the local community.
“We now have a high calibre restaurant which provides young people from the local area with the practical skills and experience to have a rewarding career in hospitality.
“This is good for both the club and for future generations.”
Aston’s youthful population (almost half are aged under 25) and its rich ethnic mix is seen as an attribute rather than a obstacle, allowing the new catering operation to reflect diverse cultures and cuisines. Jobless trainees, a dozen in the first batch, all living within a ten-mile radius of the club, have been recruited following formal applications and taster days.
Each has been given a mentor and they will work towards a two-year Level 2 NVQ diploma in hospitality services. Walsall College acts as the training provider. The restaurant is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 7pm-10pm, unless there is a match. Tuesdays are spent on theory and folder work and Wednesdays are for preparing both front of house and in the kitchen. The recruits, aged 16-19, are supported in an innovative partnership with the Birmingham Apprenticeship Scheme.
