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National
Curry Week, which takes place in November this year, will be actively
supporting plans to develop kitchen and front of house staff
education plans in order to provide a long term solution to the
ongoing staffing problem.
Organiser of National Curry Week,
Peter Grove, had already decided to create The Curry Tree Charitable
Fund to act as the recipient of fundraising for National Curry Week
under the control of a Board of Trustees. The eventual target is
£1 per year from every one of the 23 million curry fans in
Britain creating a huge annual charitable fund for deserving causes.
The main recipient of these funds will be charities and NGOs dealing
with world malnourishment and poverty but the Trustees have now
agreed that 50% of funds raised annually will go to support whatever
body eventually comes out of the current discussions between
Government and prominent members of the industry.
Trustee Cyrus Todiwala MBE, who
sits on several Government committees, including staffing said "Imagine
how many young people we can deliver Indian food related training to
if the costs were covered. Imagine how many colleagues we could
influence to help nurture an interest in Asian Food if only there
were a little money. This way the Asian/Indian sector is putting
money back into the development of its own image and nurturing
possible new talent for our never ending pool of recruits."
Fellow Trustee Mridula Baljekar said "I feel this is a
brilliant idea as the money would be of tremendous all round help to
the industry as well as enhance the image of Asian/Indian cuisine."
First restaurant to support the
idea is Babur Brasserie in London SE23 which is already asking
customers to sign up to The Curry Tree when they deliver the bill.
National Curry Week sponsor CurriesOnline.com is also supporting the
charitable fund through their own website.
In due course all restaurants
will be invited to support the scheme by handing information to
customers with the bill asking them to pay £1 per year to The
Curry Tree, either direct to info@thecurrytree.com
or by adding £1 per person to the bill so that the restaurant
can collect the funds for donation.
Peter Grove commented "We
are very excited about this concept as it gives the industry the
chance to financially support itself in terms of staff training with
very little effort or individual outlay from customers and offers a
vital way forward."
Information about The Curry Tree
can be found on www.nationalcurryweek.co.uk.
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