Pune hospitality college wins Athitya 2012

The host college of the annual hospitality event Athitya 2012, All India Shri Shivaji Memorial Society’s (AISSMS) College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (CHMCT), walked away with the champions’ trophy.

A national-level inter-college competition, Athitya 2012 saw over 20 hospitality colleges from across the country vying for the top
position in more than 11 competitions.

The three-day event was held from February 1-3 on the institute’s campus.    

Principal of CHMCT, Sonali Jadhav, said, “Our aim is to raise the bar of hospitality education through Athitya as a common platform for budding hospitality professionals. It is a fun way of learning, which definitely adds to the confidence level of students.”

She said that the competitions covered all the core
areas of the hotel industry, including food production, food & beverage services and accommodation. 

The competitions included creating innovative dishes from a basket of ingredients, replicating the dishes prepared by master chefs, tasting to identify food ingredients in given preparations, making classic cocktails, flaring the bottles, flower arrangements and planning a banquet function. Each competition was judged by eminent jury from the industry.

The Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad, won ‘Cremica United Colours of Hospitality’, the most popular competition of the event. All the teams were given a colour theme based on which they had to plan and prepare a banquet menu and present it with a theme-based décor.

Inspiring students, the COO of Le Meridian (Delhi), Tarun Thakral, who was the special guest at the food safari, Serengeti, said, “At the entry level we get many freshers who are closed to ideas. So, we are looking for those who have an open mind.”

Final-year student of CHMCT, Piyush Deshmukh, said, “Competing is not new to us. It is always good because we know where we stand in the industry. The most challenging was the group competition, Cremica, wherein we had to work with food & service, housing & production departments and deliver the best service.”

Another third-year student of hotel management, Prachi Kulkarni, said, “This is the first time that the event was held at a national level, making it rigorous and demanding, both mentally and physically. It taught me how to cope with pressure.”