January Newsletter
Happy New Year! And welcome to our first ‘meet the team’ edition of the Hospitality & Accommodation on Campus newsletter. We’d like to tell you a little more about who we are and what we do to provide food and accommodation on campus.
Blues Café
Debbie Williams
Team Leader; always thinking ahead
Debbie’s forward thinking generates a high energy, healthy eating outlet on campus available seven days week. Accredited this year with Food for the Brain, Debbie is now training the Hospitality team on the fundamentals of food nutrition.
Blues Café is located in the Sports Training Village and provides a unique menu for students and staff using the facility. Debbie also offers a service to the general public and caters for visiting athletes who use the facilities every year for prestigious sporting events. These include British Gymnastics, England Netball Super league, LTA Tennis and, most recently, BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Blues Café is a complex operation that draws on Debbie’s past experience of running catering services for the MOD HQ in Filton, Abbey Wood, Bristol and GCHQ, Cheltenham. Her military-style precision for events management is second to none as she weaves between managing up to three teams to cover more than one event and satisfying all her customers’ needs during the course of a working day.
Her success is down to planning, she’s always thinking ahead. The steadfast Team Leader gave us the lowdown on how her weekend looks.
Friday
200 + tables and chairs arrive from a hire company for the BBC Sports Personality Awards held this year at the STV.
Debbie finishes off Friday night by polishing a mere one thousand glasses.
Saturday
Her team of staff are ready and open to the public before the Saturday Hockey League arrives for lunch. 14 teams of 10 people, that’s 140 spuds.
Next up, five children’s birthday parties to arrange. Groups of 10+ children play football, trampoline or swim and return to the café for party food and birthday cake.
Sunday
The day begins with Debbie organising a full scale military manoeuvre. Three teams are in place to coordinate the running of the café, setting up for the afternoon and evening events as well as opening a temporary café when Blues is closed.
Debbie conducts a pincer movement feeding the organisers of a swimming competition of 250 visitors to the STV and hosting the BBC Awards ceremony catering for 200 VIP guests. Gasp.
Sunday evening finally comes to a close and Debbie puts the week to rest. What will you do when you get home Debbie? “Time for a bath and a glass of wine”, she replies.
It’s plain to see it’s no easy ride running Blues Café. Debbie and her accomplished team provide the best for their customers whether it’ll be Jason Gardiner and Darren Harris one week or Ben Rushgrove and Craig Pickering the following.
Next stop the British Paralympics training camp. Only eight days planning to go before they arrive. Blues Café will be closed from 4 January to 8 January to cater for our guests. Debbie will guarantee a temporary service is available for her regular customers.
Events
Parade Bar; January Sale
£1 off House Meal Deals:
Monday Street Food Company from 5pm – 10pm
Tuesday Mexican night from 5pm – 10pm
Sunday Roast from 12 noon – 5pm
Was £4.95 Now £3.95
From 11 January to 28 February
Food and Drink Deals
Blues Café
20% off all coffee during January from Monday - Friday
Tikki offer - Skinny Caramel Latte regular £1.74 large £1.82
Breakfast Special
Scott’s porridge served piping hot with Honey - 99p a bowl.
'Meat-Free Monday' Lunchtime Special
Spinach & Sweet Potato Curry served with Naan Bread £3.99.
Available Monday - Friday 11:30am – 3:00pm
Claverton Bar & Deli
Iced cupcake with any regular tea or coffee £2.00
Claverton Rooms Hot Food
Hotpot with crusty roll offer at £2.00
Soup and roll at £1.50
4W
Panini with any regular coffee £4.25
Parade Bar
Bacon roll with any hot drink regular £2.40 large £2.60
Available Monday – Friday from 10am – 12 noon
One World Muffin with any hot drink regular £2.25 large £2.50
Level 1
Jacket potato and beans £1
Dolche Vita
Muffin and regular tea or coffee £1.50
Customer Notice:
Blues Café Supports Meat Free Monday
The UK’s Food Climate Research Network suggests that food production from farm to fork is responsible for between 20-30 percent of global green house gas emissions. Having a meat free Monday will make a real difference. Like many of us you will be aware of the urgent need to reduce global CO2 emissions in order to slow the rate of climate change and protect the environment. The scale of the problems we face can make many of us feel helpless, and yet each of us has the power to make changes in our lives that can have a meaningful impact on the future.
Get involved
It’s easy, just devote at least one day a week to eating meat-free.
If you're vegetarian or vegan already, please use the campaign as an opportunity to get
others involved by sharing your delicious dishes with them.
Meat Free Monday Recipe
Swede & Potato Gnocchi
500g peeled swede
500g red-skinned potatoes
2 egg yolks
100g semolina
150g strong white flour
100g vegetarian parmesan cheese
Cook the potatoes in their skins in boiling water, drain, cool and peel. Cook the swede in
boiling water until soft and drain. Put the swede and potato through a fine ricer and add the egg
yolks and parmesan. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for about an hour until the liquid
has thickened; adjust the seasoning, remove the bay leaves and set aside to cool. Mix in the flour
and the semolina, and roll out into long strands, then cut into 1 inch pieces. Roll each piece in
your hand into a ball, place on a floured tray. To cook, place gnocchi in boiling water until they
rise, light and fluffy, to the surface.
