CAM students take to the streets with high-profile book launch

A group of Culinary Arts Management and Hospitality Business Management students have wowed scores of glamorous guests with their launch of Trusted, a book on the human approach to building outstanding client relations in a digitised world, by business consulrants Lyn Bromley and Donna Whitbrook.

After beginning preparations for a street food party open to the public, students had their work cut out when the brief was switched to a glamorous private book launch just four weeks before the deadline.

“We had to think on our feet and change everything as quickly as we could,” said student Ivy Muenda, one of a team of students providing seamless front-of-house service to guests.

“But, while there had to be lots of adjustments, we chose to stick with our initial vision of a street food theme. It was challenging but we pulled out all the stops to make it work.”

While clients Lyn and Donna were keen to give students their creative freedom, their high-profile guest list of corporate contacts, industry figures and key contributors meant the stakes were especially high. Rising to the challenge, a dazzling array of finger-food including fried chicken, burgers, salad and roasted tomatoes and a selection of cocktails kept attendees happy, with publisher Alison Jones praising the spread as the ‘best of any book launch’ she had ever attended.

The event was an assessed piece of work for the students, whose overall mark for the module is determined partly by feedback from staff and guests at the end of the evening.  

“The fact this was executed in just four weeks just goes to show what these students are capable of,” said UCB Employability Tutor David Conway.

“We’re absolutely amazed at how well they have done,” added Donna Whitbrook, whose business clients range from Lloyds Banking Group to The Open University. “We gave them free reign to do exactly what they saw fit and safe to say we’re all blown away with the results.”