LJMU's new Food Academy
24 October 2008
A brand new kitchen facility, 'The Food Academy', has been launched at the IM Marsh campus, along with a new commercial venture designed to address some of the demands of the corporate world with the challenges of the kitchen.
The new facility is contemporary, functional and fully accessible. It includes a raised demonstration area, the ability to adjust working height for food preparation and cooking, increased capacity - accommodating up to 30 people at one time - and is a bright, modern and well resourced learning environment.
As well as being an invaluable resource for LJMU students, outside of teaching time the LJMU Food Academy will become an integral part of the Food and Nutrition team's work with the commercial food sector. This work includes, for example, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, training and consultancy in areas such as food product concept research and design, product development, product evaluation and food safety management as well as food analysis, food science and nutrition.
The Food Academy will also become the base for a new LJMU venture, 'Corporate Kitchen', a commercial 'product' that will be offered to organisations from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors as well as to teams and departments from within LJMU.
Gill Smylie, Business Development Manager for the Faculty of Education, Community and Leisure within the Business Development Centre, explained: 'The basic premise behind Corporate Kitchen is that food preparation involves a great deal of team work. In order to produce the desired finished product, consensus has to be reached in the planning stages, each person has to take responsibility for their particular tasks and people need to work cooperatively, communicating effectively throughout.'
Team building events will be organised around any meal – breakfast, lunch or dinner – and as a reward for working effectively together, teams will be able to enjoy the output of their efforts by eating the finished product! Team building events can also be built around other facilities available at IM Marsh Campus – either independently or in combination with Corporate Kitchen - including the sports hall and swimming pool.
For more information about Corporate Kitchen or other team building opportunities at IM Marsh, please contact Gill Smylie in the Business Development Centre on 07968 422588 or email: G.K.Smylie@ljmu.ac.uk
