Our state of the art, fully equipped, flexible catering kitchen provides a relaxed, professional environment for tasting, training and product development.

Chefs, butchers and customers of all levels can benefit from time in our Culinary Centre. Whether you’re looking to improve your skills, work on your menu or develop new products, our facilities are perfect for you.

Training programmes

We provide several expert training programmes that focus on all types of meat including beef, pork, lamb, steak, poultry and game. Each course shows you how to break down a carcass into the main primal cuts and then turn these into menu dishes across all sectors of the food industry.

We demonstrate yield by showing you the number of portions you can achieve from each primal cut, as well as suggesting alternative cuts that could help you maximise your gross profit. You’ll then learn about the specifics of each kind of meat before getting the chance to have your questions answered by our vastly experienced Master Butcher. Every course that we offer delivers something different that can really help improve your knowledge and production techniques.

Our ‘Farm to Fork’ experience is also very popular with customers as it gives you an insight into all the work that goes into ethically sourcing quality livestock and producing high quality catering meats. During this course you’ll be taken to a farm to see livestock, meet a farmer and visit an auction to see livestock being sold first hand.

Workshops and meetings

As well as our state of the art Culinary Centre, customers are also welcome to use our modern meeting rooms. This gives both chefs and management somewhere to work efficiently, making it the perfect place for you to accomplish a variety of specific catering objectives in one session. These may include:

  • New product development
  • Margin management
  • Alternative cuts
  • Chicken shop
  • Street food bazaar
  • Burger build
  • BBQ smoke pit
  • Menu launches
  • Christmas menu development
  • Staff training involving everyone from chefs to sales and front of house staff

Apprenticeships

Our employees benefit from first class in-house training, which is enhanced by access to the excellent facilities included in our Culinary Centre. This combination of quality teaching and facilities gives our apprentices the best chance of honing their skills and building a great career at Birtwistles.