Milton Abbey – The Capability Bakehouse, Kitchen and Smokery

26 Jul 2017

This term Milton Abbey School Lower Sixth form Hospitality pupils have been studying a Business Enterprise unit as part of their Level 3 Hospitality BTEC qualification.  In previous years events such as the School’s Cabaret evening were used to enable the pupils to plan menus and publicity.  This year we decided to set them the challenge of having a stall at the Friends of Milton Abbey Summer Fete, and so idea of the Capability Bakehouse, Kitchen and Smokery was born.    Individually or as teams the pupils were asked to come up with ideas for artisan products to create, package and price.

To support the pupils and provide an insight into the world of business we asked Rose Prince to work with the group.  Rose is an author and food writer who has been writing and campaigning for good food for over 20 years and writes a column for the Daily Telegraph; she also set up and ran her own business for three years, the Pocket Bakery in 2010. She is the author of five cookery books and guides to good shopping.

Pupils began by researching a range of different items that they could cook to sell at the Fete.  Through a process of elimination they arrived at a wide ranging list of products:  sourdough breads, pizza pockets, fudge, parmesan shortbread, peppermint creams, chili jam, macaroons and dog biscuits.  

Perhaps most challenging was Charlie and Archie’s decision to smoke locally sourced trout from Winterborne Houghton fish farm which is run by Hans Hoff.  This required careful planning on their part as they had to weave the time to remove pin bones, cure and smoke the trout into their school day.  They also had to consider appropriate packaging and devise an attractive label to include both price and information about the ingredients used to cure the trout.

Hospitality teacher Elka Charlton worked with Rose and the pupils on branding, ensuring an overall cohesiveness for the stall and products.  They decided to use the school colours of black and gold in their labelling; use of brown paper and raffia, baskets and wooden boards also gave an authentic artisan feel to the stall.

On the day of the Fete the pupils worked throughout the morning to ensure the stall was ready on time, with all the products arranged in clearly defined areas across the tables. On the previous evening several of the group worked on shaping the sourdough loaves, preparing for the overnight fermentation. 

The effect was truly impressive and the stall was a great success with many items selling quickly, whilst other products which had been produced in bigger quantities, have continued to sell to school staff in the weeks following the event.   All proceeds from the stall will be donated to Julia’s House and SKRUM, a charity working in Swaziland bringing life changing education to children about HIV/AIDs.

The Bill Ainscough Award for Artisan Food Enterprise will be awarded to the pupil or pupils who showed sustained effort throughout the project as well as a willingness to support others in their endeavours.  Bill has over 30 years house building and property experience and has been a Director of a number of public companies. He is also involved in many youth projects, setting up youth clubs in Merseyside and London. 

Rose Prince said of the venture, “It has been a fascinating experience to work with the Lower Sixth form pupils, and I think we had an overall outstanding result. The pupils worked really hard to ensure their different products were of a professional standard and displayed great creativity – any one of these products would be commercially viable.”