Somerset Larder investing in home grown talent to secure the future of hospitality

National Apprenticeship Week: 7th – 13th February 2022

With the ongoing struggles the hospitality industry faces apprenticeship schemes are a great way to introduce young people to the field, not only introducing brand new, these schemes also offer re-training for anyone looking to pave a different career.

Over the past 2 years hospitality has taken quite a knock, but what has been heart-warming to see is key players and faces stand up to champion the industry as a career path, rather than a stop gap.  Fred Siriex, the face of First Dates and Michelin star Maître De recently commented in a 2021 article:

“We have an exodus of people from the industry, but also we are not bringing new people in. There is a huge crisis within professional and further education. When I started to work with education, we had about 280 catering colleges in the UK. Now, depending on how you classify a catering college, we have between 120 and 170. If we don’t invest in our own homegrown talent, the gap and the skills and staff shortage that we have is going to become even bigger than it is now”.

HPC has a goal of achieving 1000 apprentices by project end, included in that is a range of catering apprentices.  So far, Somerset Larder have supported over 20 apprentices from a range of levels and in a variety of front and back of house roles. These apprentices are seen as “future leaders” with the apprenticeship schemes building a foundation of learning and development.

Martin Smith, Culinary Director for South West Larder comments “It is essential that we future proof our industry by offering young people the necessary skills in a wide range of hospitality roles.  South West Larder are driven by the value of Nurture which ensures we cultivate home grown talent.  Alongside on the job training our apprentices spend quality time studying and rotating their time in our restaurants, bars and production kitchens. Our focus right now is developing the next generation of chefs, catering assistants and managers who can rebuild and safeguard our industry”

To find out more about the range of Apprenticeship’s available please contact us at info@somersetlarder.co.uk or call 01278 555340.