Aldo Zilli to host "Chef Factor"

Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli has launched a recruitment drive with a difference ahead of the opening of his restaurant in Brighton next month.

The Italian chef-restaurateur is inviting chefs with a background in Italian cooking to congregate in front of his restaurant, which is housed in the Myhotel on Jubilee Square, between 10am and 12pm on Tuesday 10 June.

They will compete in what Zilli has branded the "Chef Factor", a cook off in which chefs are presented with a bag of secret ingredients and expected to prepare a pasta dish.

Zilli told Caterersearch the idea for the drive came from his involvement in the Celebrity X-Factor show on ITV in 2006. "I'm going to be Simon Cowell for a day," he said.

Zilli added that with the Brighton restaurant being his first launch outside of London, he was surprised at the difficulty of trying to recruit good chefs outside the capital.

"The restaurant will open on 21 June and I have only hired half of the kitchen brigade," he said. "I'm hoping to find three or four chefs who are from around the Brighton area.

"Paying recruitment agencies to hire staff is too expensive for me. If the Chef Factor works, I'll definitely do it again."

Chefs wishing to take part in the event on 10 June must send their CVs to cheffactor@hotmail.com by 8 June.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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