TONY LOVELIDGE
Background
Located in West Auckland, the Auckland School of Technology teaches cookery and hospitality skills to international and domestic students which allows them to take their first steps toward developing a career in the hospitality industry.
Tony Lovelidge is a NCEA Cookery Tutor and the Academic Head of the accredited training establishment.
Tony began his career in the hospitality industry over 30 years ago when he started working as a chef. During that time, he honed his skills in hotel and restaurant kitchens throughout the United Kingdom. His vast experience includes working as a chef at London’s Savoy Hotel, owning a catering business and working as Area Manager for the Lincolnshire County Council where he was responsible for controlling school meals and age-care catering contracts to 12 different sites.
Additionally, Tony also owned a fish and chip restaurant – The Fisherman’s Gallery in the UK – which he ran successfully for three years.
In 2004, Tony ventured into the world of teaching where he worked for a number of years as a Cookery Manager before moving on to the Auckland School of Technology.
The Chip Group™
Tony first heard about The Chip Group™ after talking with a colleague at a conference. He was eager to find out more about the online training modules she had advocated and immediately headed online to check them out. At first glance, Tony thought they were a great way to teach people how to cook chips properly but soon realised that they could also be used as a valuable teaching aid.
“The online training modules provide an excellent overview of all the important aspects of cooking chips,” Tony said.
“They’re also a useful tool in educating people that chips are not as easy to cook as we’d often like to assume.
“Because chips are so common in New Zealand, people think they’re really easy to cook, however, there’s actually a lot more to it than meets the eye. When running a chip shop you have to make sure that your chips not only taste good and are cooked well but that you’re also using good cooking techniques and know how to handle the frying oil.
“This is particularly important for business efficiency, as you could lose a lot of money in waste if you don’t know what you are doing.”
The Results
Tony has now incorporated The Chip Group™ online training into one of the education standards taught at the institute. All students complete this unit standard in order to gain credits which are part of the total credits needed to pass their NCEA Level 4 cookery course. Tony uses the online training to teach students about potatoes and one aspect of cooking them, which they are then examined on in a test about vegetables.
Tony said the online training has been popular with his students.
“The students like sitting down to do the online training because it’s so interactive and a lot more fun than typical classroom teaching.
“They like that it’s online and relate well to it because it’s of that. They also like the second chance that is given at the end to complete the quiz.”
For Tony, it’s a quick way to give a complete outline of frying chips and helps to increase students’ knowledge.
He plans to continue to use The Chip Group™ Online Training with his students and believes it is something they will continue to use as a training refresher as they progress in their careers.
For further details of cookery courses at the Auckland School of Technology contact Tony on 021 26762217.
Leave a Reply