interview with sharon and ange
Fri 12 Oct 2007
Hi guys,Continuing in our series of interviews to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Fifteen, please find below a recent chat that I had with two integral members of the Fifteen team, Sharon Wright (on the right in the pic) and Ange Morris (on the left).
All the best
Danny
To Sharon
When did you start working at Fifteen?
I started in July 2003 as a charity administrator when the Foundation was called Cheeky Chops
Over the 5 years there have obviously been many changes to the Foundation, tell us what your role is now?
I am the Project Manager for Fifteen Ventures which is a subsidiary of Fifteen Foundation and I look after all the graduates. Everything pertaining to the apprentices after they have completed their course, things like finding them jobs, giving them advice about travel, assistance with the next steps in their life, business advice if they are looking to set up their own business which may include management training courses as well.
How do you communicate with the graduates and get the group together?
We have an Alumni Site where the current apprentices, graduates and staff from Fifteen can come together. It is an ideal forum for the grads to reunite if they have lost contact over the years, also for them to know what is going on at Fifteen, come back for events, jobs and travel tips and information about the catering industry as well.
Has Aaron’s success with the Cock in Braintree been inspirational to the apprentices?
Yes and no. I think that allot of people have realised that actually they are not ready for that type of commitment. I think that seeing the series on television made them aware of how much work was involved in owning a Pub. There are a few apprentices who are interested in running their own business, but it’s the “slowly, slowly” approach though. They have to be fully aware of what they are in for basically and part of my job is to coach them in this.
I was chatting to Jamie recently and I asked him how he felt about graduates who gave up cooking but found their passion for another career. What are your thoughts about this?
I think that if they have gained something from the course that has lead to them taking a more positive path then I think that we have succeeded anyway; however, for me it would be great if they continued with a career in the catering industry.
Do other Fifteen restaurants have their own Alumni as well?
They do have access to the Alumni site, however, the apprentices are at different levels at each restaurant so it is a challenge to link everyone up at the same time.
Has there ever been any discussion about an exchange programme for staff and apprentices between the various restaurants?
It is something that we would absolutely love to get off the ground and there has been discussions about it. There are quite a few logistical issues that we are trying to get around at the moment. We have even discussing the possibility of an exchange programme for staff at Fifteen as well. It does make sense and we would really like to get this off the ground.
JO.com has a global reach, and you never know who may be reading this interview. If you could be granted one wish for something that would help you in your job what would this be?
It would be amazing if we could get some funding for the Alumni site as it is my goal to make it really cool for the kids and something that they want to use. Anything from a Web Design company would be great. For the exchange programme it would be great if we could get sponsorship from an airline company as that is one thing that is preventing us from moving forward. Finally, we need the services of professional mentors to mentor the graduates in setting up their own businesses or even industry leaders who want to back the graduates in setting up their own businesses. It would be great to hear from anyone who would like to invest in these your people.
Thanks Sharon, let’s hope that some of your wishes will be granted….
To Ange
Angela Morris has been with Fifteen from day 1 starting in October, 2002.
Can you tell us a little bit Ange about your role at Fifteen?
I started at Fifteen as one of the restaurant managers on the opening night and I am now Marketing Manager for both Fifteen and Fifteen Events.
Tell me a little bit about Fifteen Events
We do whole event production as well as catering with food very much at the forefront of our business. We like to think of ourselves as Borough Market on a plate in that we bring restaurant quality food as served at Fifteen to various events in London.
So anything from a dinner party of 10 up to how many?
We recently catered an event for 500 people which was a 6 course tasting menu. We have also done private dinner parties for a few people.
Weddings?
Yes we have done about 5 weddings over the last few months and it is definitely an area where we want to tap into.
Fantastic! What have some of the highlights been, I believe that you have catered for an event for Elton John?
Yes that was last year, his annual charity event and since then we have done lots of corporate events as well.
Are the graduates from Fifteen involved with Fifteen Events at all?
Yes certainly, as we have found that many of our graduates prefer working in catering rather than the restaurant environment.
Finally, as to your wish list, who would you like to hear from?
I think that we have had such amazing feedback from all of our clients and we are definitely getting repeat business but the struggle that we have is with venues that have a preferred caterers list. We have been around for 2 years now and cracking that market is something that is very important to us. We would love to be aligned with particular venues and hope that they would consider us. It is important to remember that we are the only catering and events company in the UK where all our profits go back into a charity and we really want to get that message out.
If anyone would like to contact either Sharon or Ange, please email:
editor@jamieoliver.com
2 comments
Comments
cassie [Visitor]
Sat 08 Dec 2007 @ 14:16
yeahh,yeahhh brilliant!! sounds like some great ideas hope things come together as im sure they will with super ange and shazza on the case :o) x
Veronica McGannon [Visitor]
Wed 30 Jan 2008 @ 00:16
Girls you really sound to be enjoying your jobs-so much fulfillment with it. Keep up the good work. Am desperately looking for a chef for my new restaurant-do you find your guys placements?
soundbytes
London, over 50 graduates from the programme – 6th lot have start at Fifteen, all bushy tailed and bright eyed!Cornwall and Melbourne graduated their 1st group of apprentices this year and they are now onto their second lot.
Amsterdam just graduated their second lot of apprentices and they are now onto their 3rd.
Fifteen Events was created last year and has been going for 18 months (more info on this at a later date).
Fifteen Ventures has been set up as a means of networking and supporting the Graduates.
fifteen website
In 2002, Jamie Oliver combined two ambitions: to open a top class restaurant and to give disadvantaged youngsters the chance to gain professional training that would set them up for an independent, inspired and productive life. Click here for more.Jobs at Fifteen
If you would like to work at Fifteen London, please send your CV to jobs@fifteenlondon.com
