Free student competition on afternoon tea 🍰☕️

We’re still developing the details, but wanted to let you know early about a fun opportunity for your students to get to know the world of afternoon tea and try it for themselves!

We’re delighted to be working in partnership on this exciting project with our wonderful host employer, Mackintosh at the Willow, where afternoon tea is a centrepiece of their menu, and the amazing wee cakes change theme every month.

The competition will be free and will be introduced by a presentation from Oliver, the Learning Officer at the Willow Tea Rooms Trust, which owns Mackintosh at the Willow. He’ll provide an introduction to Mackintosh at the Willow and the Willow Tea Rooms’ unique history of architecture and design and social pioneering approaches, as well as introducing the concept of afternoon tea and its traditions. Then we’ll open the competition with its three strands:

• baking, pastry and cooking – to create an afternoon tea menu and produce the afternoon tea (recipes and photos)
• service/front of house/hospitality – to present and serve the beautiful afternoon tea (photos and videos)
• tourism, English, marketing or any other students interested in culture and history – to present a one minute on a topic around afternoon tea or the Willow Tea Rooms/Mackintosh at the Willow

We’re looking to promote the competition widely right after the winter break and have the presentation and launch of the competition around the third or fourth week of January.

We would like your feedback (in the form below) on how long after that would be a sensible amount of time to give the students to research, develop and produce their competition entries.

We expect judging to be a combination of staff at Mackintosh at the Willow and an online public vote.

The winners will feature on Mackintosh at the Willow’s social media and receive treats from the Mackintosh at the Willow shop. The winning menu is likely to be featured on their menu for one month.

If you would like your students to be invited to take part, please fill in our registration of interest form below. We look forward to hearing from you!