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Food at PGL - Catering for everyone

Cora Crawford is Catering Manager at PGL Hillcrest in Herefordshire. She told us a little bit about what it’s like catering for up to 130 guests and staff at every mealtime.

Cora Crawford, Catering Manager at PGL Hillcrest

 

‘Working as Catering Manager at a PGL centre is never dull. We have to be prepared to cater for the dietary needs of all the guests (and staff) staying at the centre and eating in our dining room every day. These can include anything from severe food allergies, medical or religious requirements to food phobias and fussy eaters.

We will happily speak to any guest with a special dietary requirement during their dining room tour if they have any queries. We double check they are happy with the meals they will be having during their stay and make sure that they feel confident enough to approach us with any concerns during their visit.

Diabetes

Some dietary requirements are more common than others. For example, we regularly cater for guests with diabetes, both adults and children. In the case of children with diabetes, we are happy to speak to their parents before the children arrive at the centre and we can send them a copy of the menu prior to their stay.

Allergies and other conditions

We also frequently cater for guests with coeliac disease and serious food allergies and have blackboards in our dining rooms advising which meals are gluten free, as well as which are suitable for those requiring nut free, dairy free or egg free meals. Our chefs all receive training on how to help guests with dietary requirements and food allergies and can give information about which items on the menu contain allergens. We ask that guests advise us of their requirements prior to arrival so that we can provide suitable alternatives where appropriate, such as gluten free pasta or soya milk.

Occasionally guests have more complicated needs, and recently we had a young guest with a genetic condition that required a strict low protein diet. In this case we spoke to her mum before she arrived and came up with a menu specifically to meet her needs. We managed this as discreetly as possible to avoid her feeling unnecessarily self-conscious.

Cultural or religious dietary requirements

Guests with cultural or religious dietary requirements may need help selecting meals which are appropriate and information about which meals are vegetarian, vegan or halal is always available on the blackboards in the dining room, as well as from the dining room staff themselves.

Full up? You bet!

It is extremely important that whatever their dietary requirements, likes or dislikes, everyone has enough to eat. We know that children may feel shy about asking the dining room staff for something different so we work closely with the group leaders to ensure no-one leaves the dining room hungry.

Happily, we get lots of positive feedback about the food we serve and the way we handle dietary requirements.

What’s cooking?

Most people really enjoy the many ‘home-cooked’ meals and puddings on our menu – the steak and mushroom pie is a favourite and although spinach and ricotta cannelloni is one of our vegetarian options, it’s very popular with everybody. Sticky toffee pudding and forest fruits crumble always go down well too.

Sunday roast is a definite favourite with the staff, although piri-piri pork comes a close second! Of course, there are still lots of kids who also enjoy our chicken nuggets or hotdogs too!

‘Souper’ Salad!

It’s easy to work up an appetite when every day is packed with activities but for guests who want something a bit lighter to eat, we have a homemade soup on offer every day: tomato is always popular and leek and potato has been a success too.

There’s a wide variety of options on the salad bar too which includes plenty of pulses as well as fresh salad and a protein such as cheese, egg or tuna so it’s easy to make a meal from the salad bar alone. Even here at PGL Hillcrest, which is not one of PGL’s biggest centres, we could easily go through 5 kilos of sweetcorn at just one lunch sitting and as many as 12 cucumbers each day!’

By Cora Crawford, Catering Manager, PGL Hillcrest.
 

Find out more about the food at PGL centres and see sample menus.