Award-winning event caterer Seasoned is set to provide students on the City & Guilds Level 2 Professional Catering course at Barking & Dagenham College’s Technical Skills Academy with essential catering experience to get them ‘work ready’.
The junior chefs will receive one-on-one training from Head Chef Chris Hawkins at the Seasoned central production unit (CPU) in Essex. Each student will need to complete 30 hours of work experience in order to pass their course as set out by the government.
Training commenced on Monday 2 November and will run until the students graduate next year. The work experience won’t affect their studies and will help them improve on their professionalism and skills in large scale commercial environments.
Within their 30 hours of work experience the students will have the chance to create canapés, starters, main courses and desserts. They will learn about allergens, health and safety processes and special cooking techniques but above all they will gain an insight into what it’s like to work in the events and hospitality industry.
Valuable work experience – and overtime
Those who stand out will be given an opportunity to work in the kitchen with Chris Hawkins on an overtime basis while they are completing their course or even find a permanent position or further work experience with Seasoned once they have graduated.
Lynden Davies, Professional Catering Lecturer and Assessor at the College, said of the partnership: “There is nothing better than real life on-the-job work experience to help the students develop their employability skills.
“This partnership with Seasoned is a valuable complement to the work experience our students already receive in the College’s commercial and training restaurants. With Seasoned they will see catering and hospitality on an industrial scale. It will be great for their CVs and will help them break into the industry when they graduate.”
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