Suppliers & Produce
Using home-grown herbs and vegetables from our own gardens whenever possible, our menus change with the seasons to ensure we offer delicious food made with only the freshest ingredients. To supplement what our grounds and gardens provide, we only select the best produce from around the British Isles wherever we can.
The Cuisine and Menu
Our menu caters for vegan and vegetarian options with all allergies notified.
- Breakfast – A traditional British cooked breakfast or continental breakfast served every morning
- Lunch – A generous packed lunch is prepared for our guests to take out with them. Our packed lunches are now packaged in recyclable materials with all single use plastics removed from our houses.
- Afternoon Tea – Cream tea with freshly baked scones served on arrival day
- Evening Meal – Traditional 3 course British cuisine served banqueting style.
Kitchen Structure & Roles
Our kitchen structure varies slightly across our estate as each house we own is unique in size, rooms, guest occupancy and therefore covers. Typically our Kitchen holds a Head Chef, Sous Chef, Chef / Cook, Kitchen Porter or Kitchen Assistant and in some houses a commis chef position on apprenticeship.
Supporting our Chefs
Our chefs and kitchens are all supported by our Central Food and Beverages team regarding infrastructure, menu development, supply chain, systems, process & procedure and off course, personal development. We also have a HR Team including recruitment and Learning & Development.
Why our Chefs love working for HF Holidays
The vast majority of our chefs live in and benefit from heavily subsidised live in accommodation which includes wifi, all bills, laundry and free meals. This does create a family culture within the kitchen and we often hear our chefs singing with each other and laughing as they prep. This fundamentally feeds down to their roles and ability to all pull together as a team in busy periods.
There is no lunch service in our Country Houses as our guests leave shortly after breakfast taking their packed lunch with them. Our chefs tell us this allows them the breathing space to prep for dinner service. Our guests pre-order their evening meal so our Chefs know exactly how many covers they have that evening and how many dishes they need to prepare. With the three-course evening meal served banqueting style, our chefs are then able to clean down, close the kitchen and finish work no later than 9pm every night.