VMF

[Legion]

From Pravda:

Villa try to cook up a treat for fans on the pitch - and now the club is hoping to do the same off it with a new food initiative.

Villa are opening a new restaurant - VMF [Villa Midlands Food] - with the outstanding cuisine and staff all coming from the surrounding area.

The club is proud of its close association with people from the region. Now it is giving something back to the local young people in the form of a hospitality training programme for young adults, with the 12 students selected both cooking and serving food in the unique new project.

The club have partnered with the city council's Birmingham Apprenticeship Scheme and taken on the trainee hospitality students, all living within a 10 mile radius of Villa Park.

The apprentices, who were recruited after support and consultation with cluster groups from the area, will spend two years with Aston Villa Hospitality and Events. During this time, they will be taking a Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Hospitality Services qualification, with the club working with Walsall College as its training provider.

The aim of the project is to give experience and a quality work environment to young adults who haven't been given this opportunity before and to use unique and traditional recipes that reflect our relationship with the area.

The students have already started with us and have had a host of ice-breaking projects already. These include farm visits to see the origins of food they will be preparing and its cycle, analysis of top menus in the region and a parents' evening to get their families involved in the scheme.

Villa are also training its own staff to be mentors to help out the youngsters, as well as recruiting a manager and expert chef to run the restaurant.

The club, which works closely with its surrounding area and the people within it, will also be sourcing 80 per cent of the food used from within a 40 mile radius of Villa Park so it's sustainable too.

VMF will be based in the Directors area of Trinity Road and is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 7pm-10pm. It will open for dinner to the public from October 7.

It will serve quality food, breaking the rules of tradition and formality with a wide range of influences, tapping into the varied cultures and cuisines within the area.

The cost of three courses is only £25.

The long-term aim is to achieve rosette level - a standard which recognises cooking at different levels across the UK.

Alison Plant, Head of Hospitality and Events, said: "VMF is a truly unique scheme.

"It is a restaurant which is different from anything else and we are delighted to get this initiative up and running.

"VMF offers youngsters a career opportunity in the hospitality industry.

"Villa is renowned for outstanding hospitality and service levels and we are aiming to build on this success for generations to come."

[Lucky Eddie]

Good effort Villa - pity twenty five quid a head prices out 95% of the locals from using the facility. Perhaps a single course for six or seven pounds would encourage more of the locals to start to use our services.

[Astral Weeks]

Blimey. Jamie Olivilla!

[Mr Diggles]

I guess the price reflects the ambition and certain exclusivity they are aiming at though - you don't get many rosettes down general pub food establishments, so the prices and the food has to remain of a certain level. Anyway, good idea Villa, concentrating on community again, and helping to train and educate local kids too. The idea of using local influences is great given the real mix of cultures in Birmingham - traditional english, east european, asian, west indian, african etc etc.

[Lambert and Payne]

Is there any other club that makes this much effort for its locals and fans? Cant think off one!

[pauliewalnuts]

Good effort Villa - pity twenty five quid a head prices out 95% of the locals from using the facility. Perhaps a single course for six or seven pounds would encourage more of the locals to start to use our services.

I don't think it's about feeding the locals so much as training them.

Sounds like a good idea. Awful name, though.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Brilliant idea, very similar to Jamie Oliver's 'Fifteen' project. If it has the same success, a lot of young people stand to benefit.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Sounds great, I'll give it a whirl.

I tried the Birmingham College of food restaurant a few months back, all trainees cooking and serving and it was quite good.

[peter w]

Will the meat be halal?

[pauliewalnuts]

Will the meat be halal?

Oh, God.

Can we talk about Tottenham's accounting policies re their wage bill, please?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Will the meat be halal?

Good point.
A big no from me, if it is.

[peter w]

Will the meat be halal?

Good point.
A big no from me, if it is.

Unlike your curries from your local curry house? Hmmm.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Will the meat be halal?

Good point.
A big no from me, if it is.

Unlike your curries from your local curry house? Hmmm.

No, don't eat meat at ANY curry house.
Always potato and spinach Madras for me, when combined with drink it makes you shit through the eye of a needle, but needs must.

[peter w]

Did you know sag is not actually spinach? Pollack/pallack is actually spinach and sag is something similar but not actucally spinach - more of a cabbagey type thing. Saying that the halal meat curry houses in the UK will probably give you spinach when you order sag. Daft sods.

And you don't eat meat? Freak.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Actually, I shall never bother with curry houses again, i've just looked up how they slaughter the potatoes.

Thabiha or Dhabiha (Arabic: ذبيحة‎), is the prescribed method of ritual slaughter of all potatoes excluding Jersey Mids and most types of sweet potato as per Islamic law. This method of slaughtering potato consists of a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife a the base, cutting the fleshy skin of both sides but leaving the core of the spud intact. Furthermore it causes all the juice from the potato to gush out leaving negligible amounts of juice remaining in the body, the principle being that potato juice is a good medium for germs.
The slaughterers then join hands and jig round the killed spuds chanting 'death to Western infidels.' and 'Glory is the blessed Maris Piper.'