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Cooking with a Team from Bayer

Team Building with Bayer once more

Quest was delighted to be commissioned by a small team from Bayer to once more deliver some team building.

Working with new clients is always very exciting, being recommended to colleagues by highly satisfied clients and earning repeat business is even better, as was the case with this piece of work.

Cooking Team Building ~ A Recipe for Success

The team wanted to run a team meeting for the morning and then take part in some experiential team building in the afternoon.

Faced with possibly inclement winter weather, and following the advice of their colleagues, the team opted to do some cooking, and the beautiful Flagstone Farm Cottages in the Cotswolds was booked once again as a perfect location for this activity.

Perfect Planning Produces Professional Performance

Having spent all morning in a meeting, the team were keen to get started after lunch.

The Quest facilitation team, which as ever included the Quest Chef, delivered a full briefing, issued the two sub-teams their cash food budget and maps showing the location of local food retailers and got the teams started.

Their team building challenge was simply to have planned and cooked at least three courses for their team for that evening’s team dinner without exceeding their budget.

This team building event is designed to be competitive. Teams are awarded points for each course they produce for each team member, so there is an immediate incentive to cook a 4 or even 5 course meal.

Extra points are awarded for buying locally produced or organic food, so the planning and purchasing stages are crucial to get the teams off to a solid start.

The large supply of cookery books and recipe cards supplied by Quest were soon being rapidly referenced, and before too long both teams were heading for nearby Stow on the Wold muttering things about where they could buy dressed pheasant, and what the likely prices would be for butternut squash!

Ready Steady Cook

Time was tight and slick performance crucial, with dinner having to be served on time.

The teams soon returned from shopping, and very soon afterwards the sounds and smells of cooking began to radiate from each of the teams kitchens.

The Quest Chef Mike was soon in action. Quest's Recipe for Success team building events are designed to be hands on and highly experiential for the team members.

The teams do the cooking. However, Mike is always on hand to advise and demonstrate, and with dishes such as Pheasant Au Vin and Chicken stuffed with Boursin and Basil stuffing announced as the two main courses, he was soon sharing his expertise.

The Kitchens Get Hotter

The heat increased in the kitchens as the activity grew more intense. Both teams opted for three courses given the time available, but also added some special additions.

One team were very successful in creating honey comb, (never an easy task), and they covered it in chocolate to create delightful after dinner petit fours.

The other team produced an iced raspberry puree with carver as an aperitif, and mighty fine it was too. This was stacking up to be a most enjoyable team building event.

Too Many Cooks…

In this case there certainly weren’t too many cooks, and as the clock ticked on the fruits of their very great labours in this tasty team building treat were becoming evident.

A sample dish of every course had to be produced for judging.

The Quest facilitators retired to taste, deliberate and cogitate in true MasterChef style, while the teams sat down with a glass of wine to enjoy the wonderful food they had cooked with their colleagues.

A Gastronomic Team Building Delight

On the menu was Goats Cheese & Sweet Onions in a Filo pastry parcel; Pheasant Au Vin, followed by Apple Crumble from one team.

The other team had cooked Butternut Squash soup; Chicken stuffed with a Boursin and Basil Stuffing followed by Apple Sponge with Pecan Nuts.

Judging was tough but finally a decision was reached. The Quest facilitators re-joined the two teams just as coffee was being served to summarise the day and deliver the results.

A great team building day had been enjoyed, and a great dinner eaten too. How positive is that?