Pepper preparation pushes staff

Some of you may be looking forward to the Taste of London event in Regent's Park which starts today and are preparing to gorge yourself on sample-size signature dishes from some of the Capital's top hotels. But odds on is that those in the trade have had a slightly more stressful experience.

One chef told Caterer that when he decided to participate in the last year for the first time he grossly under-estimated the number of servings he would have to prepare for, sold out of food in next to no time, and begged and pleaded with his suppliers to bring him more ingredients as soon as possible.

This year the chef has gone in slightly more prepared; much to the disappointment of his kitchen staff. So on Tuesday, having finished a busy evening service the staff settled down to chop 1,250 peppers until 2am.

We all know that failure to prepare is preparing to fail but preparation of peppers until you perspire has forced the staff to prepare for time off instead.