Catering students create show-stopping crumpets

City Bistro and students at the college have recently teamed up with street food vendor ‘Krumpit’ to produce the perfect artisan crumpet for the local business.

City Bistro were recently contacted by Krumpit to see how they could help with providing Artisan Crumpets for their vendor business. The catering team at City Bistro began to develop the product, working on various different batters, cooking times and methods helping students to go through the trial and error process, much like they would do working in a fully functioning kitchen in the industry.

It was a real team effort from the college, with welding and fabrication students also helping to create moulds for the crumpets to cook in. After various trials, in and outside of the kitchen a product was produced to suit the brief perfectly, and the partnership began.

Since the first order from Krumpit, students have successfully made, packed and delivered 350 handmade bespoke crumpets. This has given the catering students vital experience in working with a supplier, meeting deadlines and vital business skills to help deliver top class produce.

Rob Stewart Curriculum Lead in Hospitality, Tourism and Engagement at Sunderland College said:

“This is a fantastic project to be working on and something that brings in a whole new dimension of learning for our catering students. To be able to develop a product, fulfill orders and meet specific demands that, if we don’t, will lead to the customer not being able to operate is a real challenge and one which teaches our learners some fundamental business skills. It also opens up dialogue about street food vending and how they can get into this. It’s a growing trend and one which learners need to be aware of.”

Mark Shields Owner of Krumpit added:

“Setting up Krumpit has been made so much easier knowing that my key product is being looked after by Rob and the catering department at Sunderland College. From the initial conversation to the research and development, the time spent with them has been incredible, not to mention the final product which gets nothing but great comments! Really looking forward to getting stuck in with some new ideas I have with them early next year. I can’t thank the team enough.”

City Bistro is looking forward to working with team Krumpit on further projects and expanding on the range of food products they provide for the business.