September 2015
The Michelin star restaurant staffed entirely by UCB trained chefs
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It’s the newly-crowned Michelin star restaurant where all the chefs trained at University College Birmingham.
Chef/proprietor Brad Carter rightly made the headlines when his neighbourhood Birmingham restaurant was awarded its first star last week.
It is Brad’s culinary vision and consistency that impressed the inspectors of the prestigious Michelin Guide to Great Britain and Ireland 2016.
But Brad, 33, who studied at UCB’s College of Food from 1999-2001, isn’t the only UCB ex-student cooking day in, day out at the award-winning restaurant Carters of Moseley in Wake Green Road.
Sous chef Pete Jackson, 25, and fellow chefs Richard Walter, 22, and Jack Gooch, 19, all trained at the Summer Row kitchens.
In fact, assistant restaurant manager Abigail Connolly, 23, also studied at UCB.
Abigail and Richard, both Culinary Arts Management students, only graduated this week and Jack completed his VRQ Levels 1 to 3 in Professional Cookery in the summer.
Brad said the young talent he has assembled at the restaurant is testament to the first-class training delivered by UCB’s chef lecturers. The chef himself studied the then NVQ qualification in Professional Cookery.
"The facilities at UCB even then were great and now they are amazing. It is the Number 1 food college in the country. When I went there the chefs were firm but they were not like teachers at school. They didn't hassle you. Going to UCB after school I felt comfortable. I totally got it. It was not surprising that I have recruited my brigade from the College of Food. I have such a good relationship with UCB. They know what I am looking for in the kitchen. The training there is excellent."
Winning the Michelin star tops a whirlwind year for Brad after Carters scooped the award for Readers’ Restaurant of the Year from the Waitrose Good Food Guide 2015.
The chef launched Carters in 2010 with his partner and restaurant manager Holly Jackson – sister of sous chef Pete – and has garnered a reputation for ingredient-led, seasonal cooking. Both Brad and Holly are keen to help the next generation of catering and hospitality staff and hold masterclasses at UCB to pass on their experience and knowledge.