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Sophie Roberts-Brown
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The Springboard Charity
51 members
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Academy of Food & Wine -…
27 members
Sophie Roberts-Brown's Discussions
Survey on Wine Training Needs
1 Reply
Started this discussion. Last reply by Jose Ruiz Jun. 17, 2009.
Sophie Roberts-Brown's Events
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FREE wine masterclass - Harrogate
March 30, 2010 from 1:30pm to 5pm – Hotel du Vin, Harrogate
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Wine masterclass - Tunbridge
April 26, 2010 from 1:30pm to 5pm – Hotel du Vin, Tunbridge
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The Academy of Food & Wine is a not for profit, membership organisation and is the rofessional body for Front of House Service Personnel focusing on improving the quality of personnel and image of Front of House Service as a meaningful career choice.
The Academy of Food & Wine is a not for profit, membership organisation and is the rofessional body for Front of House Service Personnel focusing on improving the quality of personnel and image of Front of House Service as a meaningful career choice.
The Academy of Food & Wine is a not for profit, membership organisation and is the rofessional body for Front of House Service Personnel focusing on improving the quality of personnel and image of Front of House Service as a meaningful career choice.
- Wine masterclass - Tunbridge on April 26, 2010 from 1:30pm to 5pm
- FREE wine masterclass - Harrogate on March 30, 2010 from 1:30pm to 5pm
- Masterclasses concentrating on Burgundy wines, Port and the Douro Valley wines on February 15, 2010 from 1:30pm to 5pm
The Academy of Food & Wine is a not for profit, membership organisation and is the rofessional body for Front of House Service Personnel focusing on improving the quality of personnel and image of Front of House Service as a meaningful career choice.
Profile Information
- I am based in...
- London
- About Me:
- I joined the Academy of Food & Wine in 2003. 15 years in PR and marketing and my previous role at the Restaurant Association has proved invaluable for re-positioning the Academy as a highly respected, professional organisation.
From 2005 I was the General Manager of the Academy until this year, 2008, when I was made Executive Director. I combine the day-to-day management of the business with developing the Academy’s strategy and future. I also spend much of her time, liaising with potential sponsors for the Academy and developing new business leads and fundraising activities.
The Academy of Food and Wine is a not for profit Social Enterprise, membership organisation and is the Professional body for Front of House Service Personnel focusing on improving the quality of personnel and the image of Front of House Service as a meaningful career choice. Affiliated to the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI), the Academy of Food & Wine is the official professional body for Sommeliers working in the UK.
The Academy was formed some 20 years ago, in 1988 and evolved out of the old Guild of Sommeliers with a new mission to develop the level of service skills in both food and wine service in the UK. Since then the Academy has become nationally recognised as the Industry’s leading voice for raising standards and the delivery of food and wine service skills. With the growth and change in food and wine service, the role of training and its importance, is constantly in need of being redefined.
The Academy’s approach is to work closely with all the key stakeholders in the market and utilise their skills and experience where necessary for the benefit of the industry as a whole, rather than constantly trying to re-invent the wheel and duplicating effort. We at the Academy certainly do not believe in Ego Trips!
We have formed our UK Guild of Wine Service, as the UK Association of Sommellerie, under the Presidency of Gerard Basset, MW, MS (and most other qualifications you can think of)! His committee is made up of the great and good of Sommellerie and they all play a key role in developing and setting new standards of wine service training.
A parallel UK Guild of Restaurant Service has also been formed more recently under the Presidency of Silvano Giraldin of Le Gavroche. These committees work as part of the Academy structure ensuring that our training programmes and events are “fit for purpose” and answer the needs of Industry.
To improve the quality of newcomers into the Industry and with the Olympics in 2012 very much in mind, we have more recently developed a new introductory, entry-level, course – The “Licence to WorkTM in Hospitality Service”.
This entry level qualification is a 60 hour programme covering Food Service; Wine Service; Customer Care; Health & Safety, Basic Food Hygiene and interpersonal skills (appearance, interview skills etc.) and will be initially delivered by the Academy to unemployed adults via a deal with job Centre Plus. Once the course has been put onto the qualification framework then top Colleges of Vocational Excellence across the country will be able to run the course themselves.
Successful candidates will receive no fewer than 4 certificates! A basic Food Hygiene Certificate, a Health & Safety Certificate, a further certificate endorsed by the Academy with the Institute of Hospitality and People1st and finally access to the People1st electronic Skills Passport, to set the successful candidate on their way to a fulfilling career in Front of House Service Skills.
Each successful candidate will also be guaranteed an interview for a job from key employers in the Industry who have signed up to the Academy’s “ACE” programme – Academy Centres of training Excellence, thus creating a constant stream of personnel with the appropriate basic certificate of training, or Licence to Work, for quality service.
Other Academy personnel development programmes are our celebrated series of Professional Connoisseur modules, Product Tutorials and Academy Advantage master classes, all aimed at employers who wish to improve their staff knowledge by allowing them to attend these development programmes.
These programmes are ideal vehicles for brand owners to present their products in front of the people who will actually be using and selling them.
So all the aforementioned are ways in how we are improving the quality of personnel within the service industry - but what about the image of Food and Wine Service and how to attract and retain people and convince them that Front of House Service is a worthwhile career?
To this end the Academy has developed and runs an ever growing series of high profile competitions and events, positioning key service personnel into the role models to which others can aspire.
Examples of these are the Academy of Food and Wine Sommelier of the Year Competition, the Restaurant Manager of the Year Competition, the Sommeliers’ annual dinner and the Restaurant Managers’ annual dinner and the Gastronomy Team of the Year competition- all of which acknowledge quality performance with key industry high profilers participating.
We also run the Wine Quiz and our own Annual Academy Awards which are in the main Wine Travel Bursaries and we are currently developing a Hospitality Risings Stars Award for 2nd year CoVE students who will receive a years student membership of the Academy gratis and the winners will also receive a trophy, scholarship and work experience together with a guaranteed job interview.
The Academy also has a website and publishes an e-zine called Table Service which is packed full of Industry news and information and a web-based magazine called Front of House (www.frontofhouse.net) – both of which keep us closely in touch with our members.
The Academy only comprises is funded primarily by membership fees (we currently have over 1,000 members and rising); charitable donations (primarily for training development work) and most importantly of all by many Industry benefactors.
If the Academy did not exist there would be NO organisation dedicated to improving quality Front of House service. So we need MORE support from benefactors so we can continue our work such as the development of new training; lobbying the powers to be to recognise and support front of house training on an equal scale to that of cooking; running bite sized training such as our Advantage master classes, professional connoisseur modules, product tutorials and devising and running exciting competitions and events.
As we always say “training is an investment not a cost”. Or to put it another way: “What is the cost to your business of not training your service staff”. Therefore we would argue it is in every employer and employees interest to support the Academy. After all, our success is also your success!
I do hope you will support our much needed work. If you’re interested in joining either as an individual or an establishment please get our details from www.acfws.org or www.frontofhouse.net
- I currently work for...
- The Academy of Food & Wine - dedicated to raising the standards of service skills
- My current job is...
- Executive Director
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Sophie Roberts-Brown's Blog
Help needed please!
Over the next twelve months, the Academy of Food and Wine is planning to collaborate with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust on the development of training programs and qualifications for wine service staff.
In order to assist us in this development, we would like to gain a clearer understanding of the scale and nature of the need for training in this sector. To help us gather the information we need, we would like you to participate in a short on-line questionnaire. This should take a maximum… Continue
In order to assist us in this development, we would like to gain a clearer understanding of the scale and nature of the need for training in this sector. To help us gather the information we need, we would like you to participate in a short on-line questionnaire. This should take a maximum… Continue
Posted on June 17, 2009 at 5:00pm —
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Comment Wall (5 comments)
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Thanks for making me your friend. Sorry I took so long to reply. All the best.
Nigel
You missed out on lovely afternoon afloat, with great company, superb food and of course amazing Piper Heidsieck!
Looking forward to catching one day.
Paul
My God father is James Brown, i believe you know him. He sends his reagrds.
Paul Gilley
That would be great, I'm always looking for new content and look forward to discussing it further. The newsletter link is on the front page on the left, just click on it to download it (pdf format).
BW
Sonya
Welcome to the site...I was really interested to read all about the Academy and the training it offers. Hope you enjoy using the site.
Best wishes
Sonya