GARY Rhodes is one of the best-known chefs to learn his craft in Kent. He has been part of a revolution that, has put cooking high up the agenda.

Ironically though, it has not necessarily encouraged more people to cook.

Jamie Oliver put school dinners under the microscope, damned the turkey twizzlers and inspired the Government to inject a little more – but nowhere near enough – money in school catering.

His comments prompted many parents to give their kids packed lunches rather than dinner money, sparking a steep fall in the number of dinners just at a time when standards have begun to improve.

Consumers are spending more on eating out. Town centre restaurants and other eating places proliferate. But all is not well in hospitality and catering. Skills – or lack of them – remain a big issue.

Eating and accommodation establishments still find it hard to attract the right staff. Many depend on overseas recruits, many from Europe, who seem better able to work effectively in the demanding service industry than their British counterparts.

So the decision to stage a big hospitality and catering show in Folkestone is timely.

If Kent is to fulfil its frontline role in the next few years it must offer good restaurants and hotels, with great service. The show will put skills at its heart and tell bosses what they have to do to give their customers a good experience.

Standards demanded of hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfast establishments are about to become tougher.

Quality assessment will determine which stay on recommended lists and which are outlawed. Rules and regulations in hospitality and catering are rightly becoming tougher.

There is no longer room for poor business performers that reflect badly on the county and harm its economic prospects.

Gary, Delia, Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Anthony Worrall-Thompson and the rest have done a great job in the cooking business but more has to be done in catering.

Basil Fawlty gave guest houses a bad name and that image has to be changed.

The proposed show in Folkestone must not be a talking shop but a vibrant catalyst for positive change.

And let’s hope our Gary Rhodes puts his own cooking pedigree on the event by opening what promises to be a tasty dish.