National Apprenticeship Week is an opportunity to put the spotlight on apprentices, and hospitality apprenticeships are a great way to get future leaders on the right career path and promote diverse employment recruitment.
Hayley Connor, Head of People and Learning, Brewhouse and Kitchen told us: “In 2017 we launched our Up! Management development program which is a Level 3 apprenticeship for our rising star managers across Brewhouse and Kitchen.
“That has now evolved to be the Legends course, which is supported by the British Institute of Innkeepers Awards Body. The program develops our learners in HR, Project Management, Finance and Operations whilst developing key leadership skills. This program has been a lot of hard work, and at times stressful, but we can really see how our Up! candidates have grown over this time and some have taken the next step in their careers already.”
Brewhouse and Kitchen offer a variety of courses for candidates to master their skills and develop towards the next step in their career. This includes nationally recognised apprenticeships.
Connor went on to explain further saying: “Within our Front of House teams, we have roles called specialists. These roles champion 5 areas within the business; Beer, Wine, Coffee, Service and Spirits.
“Our specialists are tasked with being the keeper of knowledge within the team for their specialism and training new starters.
“Our beer specialists are tasked with educating our guests on the world of beer by delivering our beer masterclasses. To become a specialist, candidates will attend a training course in their desired speciality. Candidates then undertake rigorous assessments before being signed off, their position is then awarded at an enhanced pay rate.
“Our recruitment strategy is based around diversifying our teams as much as possible, both in terms of how we recruit and how we attract talent. A key pillar of this is building multi-generational teams. Our guests are different ages and from different backgrounds, so we feel it’s important for our teams to reflect this.
“Attracting under 18 talent has been an issue in the hospitality sector for a few years now, but many leaders in the industry started when they under 18, so it is crucial to attract talent at that age. Also, by bringing different generations into our teams, we balance out our culture and skill sets across the sites.”