Last month BigHospitality's sister publication Restaurant magazine teamed up with Nestle Chef for its first round table discussion bringing together educators, established chefs and other stakeholders to discuss the future of catering education in the UK.
Representatives from the Professional Association of Catering Educators (PACE), the British Hospitality Association (BHA), the Craft Guild of Chefs, the Springboard charity, City & Guilds and the Hospitality Skills Academy were joined by chefs, restaurateurs and catering lecturers to talk about the issues facing the industry such as the challenges associated with employing newly qualified cooks, whether courses give students the skills they need, and the impact funding cuts could have on developing future talent.
We've included some of the points raised during the discussion below to get you started, but we are interested to know YOUR thoughts on catering education.
Email your views to news@bighospitality.co.uk by 22 January and we'll post a selection of them on the website the following week giving you the perfect platform to air your feelings on the subject.
The full round table discussion can be found in the January edition of Restaurant magazine.
Panellist quotes to inspire you:
On employing trainee cooks:
"I get a lot of requests for internships from colleges. I haven't taken all of them, by any means - sometimes you have time to go through all the CVs and find the best candidate, sometimes you're just in the shit and you take anything that's got a pulse," Philip Howard, head chef and co-owner of The Square.
"It's worse than ever, dropout rates are very high. They come out and within six months they're lost. They are ill prepared for what's going on out there. There are some fantastic restaurants in the UK that require a high standard and a fast pace. They're not ready for it straight out of college, even after three years," Herbert Berger, chef patron of 1 Lombard Street.
On looming government cuts to courses
"These drops in funding are a real threat to college restaurants, which in my view provide a fantastic environment for young cooks. We've got a quality college-based course in the new Professional Cookery Diploma (VRQ) and it's under threat because we soon won't have have enough resources to run training restaurants," Gerry Shurman, head of catering at South Downs College.
"We have on the horizon the potential for the disappearance of the craft training programme in favour of just using apprenticeships. The apprenticeships programme is a great programme - you get out there and you do it for real with one day a week at college. The problem is that by sending some young people straight to an employer from school you effectively throw them away. They're not ready, consistent or disciplined enough to perform in the real world. There's got to be a halfway house, which is what colleges provide," Geoff Booth, chairman of PACE and centre director for hospitality at Westminster Kingsway.
On red tape and bureaucracy:
"We have to sign lots of pieces of paper to say we've complied with specific health and safety stuff - it actually makes me quite nervous. We want to get these kids in, but actually there are a lot of hoops to jump through. It's very off putting for chefs as we've got lots of other things on our plate," Bruce Poole, head chef and co-owner of Chez Bruce.
"The local careers organisation should carry out a risk assessment. If it's not reasonable you should go back to them - it's in their interest to get people into your kitchen," Gareth Edwards, education director, the Springboard charity