This is a profile of what my Husband and myself have done as far as our
catering lives are concerned.
This a little of what I did before I came to New Zealand. That is before we became based
at Formica New Zealand at Papakura. My name is Carolyn and after my school education
I went to Technical College and did a 2 year course in catering. Then I went from there to
New Market in England and worked in a Hotel as a general Dog's Body. You would have had to
be a gene to keep up. It was hard work but very good training.
I took 2 years off to work as a housekeeper for a Member or Parliament and his family in
London. This was very interesting as I worked within the Jewish community and spent time
in Israel. I learn't about the rules of food prepartion and service as required by Jewish
Laws.After that I did a Cordon Bleu course and qualified with honors. Time then to
make my career in Catering.
In Industrail catering the hours were reasonably sociable also the pay, so I went to work
for Grand Metropolitan Catering Services which I did for 16 years as a contract Caterer.
I worked at the head office of British Steel Corp. Watney Brewary at Mortlake, and John
Brown Ship builders Head Office in Paddington.
There I had a 32 storey office block to provide with Tea Trolley rounds for the
staff, 2,300 of them. They also had a Company Apartment overlooking Hyde Park at which we
did business lunches for select persons.
Full waitress service and 5 courses plus accompanying wines.
Margaret Thatcher, The Russian Trade Minister, The Chinese Trade Delegate and Mr Pinker's
the Queen's Gynaecologist just to name a few,quite a mixture.
One job I did was for 1000 people this job included The Queen and Prince Phillip, catered
in a field in Suffolk in November under canvas and It was very cold, we almost froze!
Luckily the food was a hot menu, so near the end we all warmed up.
One day I hope to write a book, about the interesting people I have met and worked
with and the likes and dislikes of some of the Rich and Famous.
But the most interesting chapters will be on the Formica Family and New Zealand and how
their tastes have changed over the last 8 years that myself and husband Tom have
experienced.
My husband Tom has been in catering with me for more than 10 years and together we have
worked the catering facilities for :- Papakura Cosmopoliton Club for 2 Years. We also ran
the staff restaurant at the Social Welfares Head Office at Manukau City.
If you want to contact us about ourselves or any up coming Catering problems that we maybe
able to help you with.
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