To mark this year’s Afternoon Tea Week (9-15 August), global snacking giant, pladis, and NAPA (the National Activity Providers Association) are asking UK care home residents to get creative and join in the challenge to create the nation’s best decorated biscuit for the second year running
And this year – in recognition of foodservice heroes who’ve devoted themselves to serving delicious care home meals over the last year – pladis are launching a new competition for care home cooks: a search for the nation’s best care home cooks dessert using McVitie’s Tasties.
Both competitions run until the end of October. Residents from all over the country will be downing their cuppas, gritting their teeth, and taking up their sprinkles. While care home cooks will be getting creative in the kitchens and testing their delicious dishes on delighted residents.
The prize? A lavish £1,000 afternoon tea for all to enjoy at their care home.
These challenges are part of a wider activity pack McVitie’s Tasties Care Home Challenge developed by pladis in association with NAPA, with the aim of bringing care home residents together to enjoy creative pursuits. The activity pack can be downloaded for free from: https://napa-activities.co.uk/can-your-care-home-transform-tasties-teatime-biscuits-into-customised-classics
Scott Snell, Vice President Sales, UK & Ireland, pladis, says: “This competition is about so much more than making our teatime favourites look fancy. It’s about bringing a much-needed dash of fun and creativity to care homes across the UK.
“Last year, over 200 care homes took part and everyone loved it. We saw some amazing entries that included a peacock’s tail, a greenhouse and even Blackpool Tower! Who knows what we will see this year?
“New for 2021, we thought it was time to get care home cooks involved. They’ve done a sterling job over the last year, serving meals under incredibly challenging conditions. Hopefully our McVitie’s Tasties dessert challenge will go some way towards recognising their dedication and creativity.”
Hilary Woodhead, Executive Director NAPA, says: “We had such great feedback and inspiring competition entries last year – It would have been a missed opportunity not to carry it through into 2021.
“It gave care home staff and residents a welcome lift during a difficult time and was a lovely opportunity to relive memories using biscuits and decorations. It was so much fun; a lot of last year’s contenders are already chomping at the bi(scui)t to bag the Afternoon Tea this year!”
Both competitions are free and easy to take part in. Care homes entering the nation’s best decorated biscuit competition need to come up with a theme for their biscuits, get creative, and then email photos of the resulting creations to [email protected].
Care home cooks need to send photos of their desserts alongside the recipe, cost per portion, nutritional details, and five pieces of resident feedback. The top recipes will be featured alongside the winner in a downloadable recipe book, which will be sent to all participating care homes in December 2021.
Full T&Cs and biscuit-themed activities for residents are in McVitie’s Tasties Care Home Challenge pack, available for download on NAPA’s website. www.napa-activities.co.uk
The McVitie’s Tasties Biscuits Range “Tasty Biscuits at a tastie price” are available from stockists including: Brakes, Bidfood, Compass, Sodexo, Creed Foodservice, Trevors, Foodservice, Blakemore, thomas Ridley (selected lines only) and W H Smith Travel
