Brighton restaurant The Arrogant Frog has reopened at its new seafront location in budget hotel Umi, with a view to offering students a hands-on catering and hospitality training experience.
Umi owner Steve Lowy and Arrogant Frog chef-proprietor Rosario Guarneri have teamed up to offer both Umi guests and Brighton consumers a homemade French-European experience, while also offering vocational training for hospitality students.
The 100-cover restaurant will serve diners a new menu of French-European dishes and grills using mostly locally sourced ingredients, including Boeuf Bourginon pie, Moules Marinere and fresh daily changing specials.
Guarneri, who appeared on UKTV’s Chefs in the City reality series, said the partnership was born from the pair’s commitment to ‘mentoring and developing’ staff. “Here at Umi, we can both continue to grow hand-in-hand whilst complimenting and adding value to one another’s customer experience,” he said.
While the Umi hotel brand is renowned for its commitment to giving hospitality students the chance to develop their skills in the workplace, Guarneri plans to pioneer The European Academy for Catering and Hospitality (TEACH) where students will combine both academic and vocational training.
“The development of young trainees is at the heart of what we do at Umi and Rosario’s plan to open an academy that services the hotel and restaurant industry mirrors my own dream of opening a fully-operating hotel school run entirely by students,” said Lowy.
While Umi Brighton has been training hospitality students for almost a year, the first catering students are expected to arrive at The Arrogant Frog this winter.