Greeny News

He aims to recruit the best and persuade big names from every sector of hospitality to teach them. "Industry has always come to the college saying 'you're not up-to-date, you're not supplying the quality we need,'" he says. "And the college replies, 'you're not supporting us'."

Investing the time to find out more about applicants' attitudes certainly exposes the faint-hearted: one student, asked to taste and identify the offal, shrieks, covers her mouth and jumps up and down in horror. Though Southcott's expression remains admirably non-committal, this reaction doesn't bode well.

Steve Edwards, who heads all front-of-house services for Caines's Abode group and is interviewing applicants about their views on the service side of hospitality, says that this selection process must also assess enthusiasm and understanding of the importance of engaging with customers.