Oil and gas manpower services provider El Dorado Offshore (EDO) is collaborating with the Carnegie School of Home Economics in Guyana, for the creation of a training programme in Offshore Catering and Hospitality.
Sixteen candidates, between the ages of 19 and 36, were selected from the Carnegie School of Home Economics to be trained in Offshore Catering and Hospitality Techniques.
“Right now we have energy companies coming into Guyana tendering for the catering complement offshore. So we decided to partner with Carnegie because we know that they do culinary skills as well as hospitality. So these two combined is actually what is needed offshore,” EDO Country Manager, Kerri Gravesande told OilNOW on Monday.
Through EDO’s intervention, the offshore safety and food hygiene standards; storage, purchasing and management of inventories was incorporated into the already operational Culinary Arts and Hospitality Programme being offered at Carnegie.
The three-day introductory program began on Monday and will train candidates to understand and apply international food safety and hygiene regulations. It will teach practical food preparation and offshore storage procedures, along with raw material selection and catering concepts.
EDO’s Chief Chef and Catering Manager Calvin Chin-Sue said cooking for an offshore clientele is different from what would obtain onshore and the training takes these factors into consideration.
“Working on a rig or offshore vessel is nothing like what you would learn in the culinary arts school when it comes to bulk cooking, like the kinds of recipe you would use catering for different groups of people from different countries and cultures around the world,” he said.
The objective, Chin-Sue said, is to teach the students of Carnegie school how to integrate the local and foreign dishes on vessels to put together a menu that appeals to a wide cross-section of individuals.
Principal of Carnegie School of Home Economics, Penelope Harris, says the collaboration with EDO is a welcomed and much needed initiative with the advent of Guyana’s emerging oil and gas industry.
“It is very important to us. I believe that as Guyanese we are now waking up to the fact that we have an oil and gas industry and that we have to be prepared in many ways. Offshore catering is one of the ways and we certainly would like our students to be adequately prepared,” she said.
EDO currently employs 42 Guyanese that are rostered on the Edison Chouest vessels, the Stena Carron and PGS Seismic Vessels.
