A group of Catering & Hospitality students from Carshalton College will be visiting the Sainsbury’s Head Office in London on Friday 6 June to meet with the Cake Buying Team to gain an insight into this retail sector.

The visit is part of a prize the students won after competing in this year’s Edge competition. Lead by Carshalton and Kingston Colleges, 13 teams of students ran their own businesses and were provided with a budget to help get their ideas off the ground. The competition ended with an Awards Ceremony in London sponsored by NatWest on May 1st 2014 and both Colleges will now continue to encourage each team to develop and grow a successful business. The Overall Team Winner award went to `Cakes R Us’.

5 Catering & Hospitality students, Michaela Nzeh, Connor Cross, Abbas Hussain, Chyanne Pochopin and Kyle Thomas, devised the business ‘Cakes R Us’. Their business idea was to bake and sell all types of cakes for different events and take bespoke orders. During the competition they made between 20 – 25 large cakes, 300 – 400 cup cakes and a 3 tier wedding cake.

The students will now have a fantastic opportunity to meet industry experts at Sainsbury’s and find out about cake retailing with the Cake Buying Team at their Head Office. This is a great chance for the students to show the team at Sainsbury’s what they have been doing and to get some expert advice about the marketplace.

James Turner, Area HR Manager for Sainsbury’s, spoke about the team’s work “We were really impressed by Cakes R Us' presentation. The reason they stood out from the other groups was their passion for the product and the quality of what they had produced. Having made a handsome profit and producing a sustainable business model, it was a fitting prize to introduce them to our Cake Buying team in Sainsbury's, headed up by Richard Hammond - a chance for them to gain a unique insight into the industry.”

The Edge competition was launched across Carshalton and Kingston Colleges in September 2012 with the aim to inspire young people to consider starting their own business, improve their employment prospects as well as supporting specific business units that students are undertaking as part of their College education.

Nigtingales Restaurant Nightingales is Carshalton College's on-site training restaurant. Meals are prepared and served by our enthusiastic Catering & Hospitality students under the supervision of experienced chefs. The restaurant is open to the public during term time for coffee mornings, lunch, dinner, functions and business events plus our special themed evenings.

For more information on our courses, please visit www.carshalton.ac.uk Based on information supplied by Maxine Bruckner.