They say 'too many cooks spoil the broth' but one Derby restaurant showing that working as a team in the kitchen can add real value to your business.

Masa Restaurant, which is based in a beautifully converted chapel in Brook Street, Derby, has developed a cookery-based team building event and has already secured its first bookings.

The one day event is suitable for up to 16 people and is designed to improve team performance by encouraging small groups to undertake different tasks to achieve an overall goal - in this case cooking a three-course a-la-carte meal.

The event can start with an optional team building meeting and light lunch in Masa's downstairs bar and dining area. Here the group will also receive a health and safety briefing and are supplied with chef's whites before they move to the kitchen. They are then divided into three randomly chosen groups - this is to ensure that the groups quickly learn to work as a team rather than relying on existing bonds.

Once the teams have been formed, Masa's head chef will demonstrate how to create each dish on the menu, before giving each of the three groups responsibility for preparing one course.  

They then have to prepare their dish from scratch - as Masa's chefs would - whilst ensuring that they are ready to be served at the correct time, thus achieving the overall objective of serving a three course meal for themselves and any colleagues not taking part in the event.  The menu will be tailored according to the seasonal ingredients available and individual group requirements.

Masa has already undertaken a couple of trial team building events, which proved to be extremely successful with both the staff taking part and their managers. As a result, it has now launched the service and has already secured two bookings.

Speaking about the team building events, Masa's owner, Didar Dalkic, said: "Before opening Masa, I worked for big corporations and was required to take part in team building events myself, but most of them are games or simulations of events that could happen - or not - as the case may be.  As a result, people don't tend to take them too seriously, which means you don't learn a lot.

"When we decided to launch a team building event, we knew we wanted to develop something that would not only help people to work together effectively in teams but also teach them a new skill that they could use in every day life.

"During our trial sessions, there was a real range of abilities and experience; a couple of people felt truly confident in the kitchen whilst others had only ever microwaved a ready meal.  But by the end of the day, they were all cooking like professional chefs and were really proud of what they had achieved together."

Masa Restaurant and Wine Bar is a fine dining restaurant set in a beautifully converted chapel on Brook Street in Derby. It has established a reputation for offering an extensive and sumptuous menu, backed by the highest standards of quality and service - all in an elegant and ambient setting. As a result, it received two AA rosettes as well a bronze award at the 2008 Midlands Enjoy England Excellence Awards.

The restaurant is open from Wednesday to Friday from 12 until 2.30pm then for evening service and all day on Sunday.  Customers can choose from either the a la carte or set menus (Wednesday to Friday only).

It can seat up to 70 guests in the galleried restaurant and 100 guests in the downstairs bar, making it the perfect venue for civil services, wedding receptions and corporate events.