The holiday park operator Haven is launching a training scheme for 200 chefs in the latest attempt to address a shortage of skilled kitchen staff.
The company, which operates 40 sites across the UK, said successful applicants would receive 18 months of training from professional chefs and would have a talent coach and mentor.
After an eight-week course at selected Haven centres, the trainees will learn on the job at one of the company’s parks.
Haven said trainees would be paid £8.91 an hour, the legal minimum for those aged 23 and over, and would gain a professional apprenticeship qualification through its training partner, Lifetime.
Ann Blyth, the talent director at Haven, said: “This carefully curated programme will be hugely beneficial to all those selected, giving applicants the tools they need to begin a fantastic career and get that essential on-the-job training, which is very hard to come by these days.”
Hospitality businesses have faced a recruitment crisis as a shortage of workers created by Brexit combines with a rebound in consumer demand and a surge in Covid infections, forcing some firms to close temporarily or reduce hours because of workers needing to isolate.
The industry is raising £5m to support the training of up to 10,000 recruits by next summer, via the SpringBoard initiative, as employers say former workers have sought alternative employment or returned to Europe after months of lockdowns kept businesses closed.
Meanwhile D&D London, the owner of about 40 upmarket restaurants across the UK including Coq D’Argent and Pont de la Tour, launched a permanent chef training programme this month after a pilot over the summer.
It plans to run monthly courses in basic kitchen skills at its 100 Wardour Street site in Soho, central London. Trainees then take part in a MasterChef-style cook off and a work experience shift at a D&D restaurant, with successful participants then offered a job. Those with six months of kitchen experience can opt for an eight-week training course to become a chef de partie.
