Hospitality industry backs National Apprenticeship Week 2016

Hotel du Vin, Greene King and Starbucks are among the hospitality businesses announcing new training programmes to mark National Apprenticeship Week.

Running from 14 to 18 March, the event champions apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on young people, businesses and the economy.

Greene King is planning to take on 10,000 new apprentices over the next three years, it was announced today.

By 2019 the pub chain expects to have supported more than 17,000 young people in to training since 2011.

It follows the company's 2015 goal of hiring 2,000 apprentices by March 2016, a target it has exceeded.

Malmaison Hotel du Vin has pledged to take on 33 new apprentice chefs across the country, one for each of their properties.

Trainees will work alongside the group’s head chefs during an 18 month scheme, with talented learners selected to hone their skills at the HIT Training Chef Academy.

Starbucks has committed to taking on a further 1000 apprentices by 2020, as well as launching head office training schemes in digital, finance and HR.

The coffee chain is also planning to introduce level four, five and six apprenticeships, which are equivalent to a foundation or bachelor degree.

“Some people look at Starbucks and say ‘is a coffee shop a career?' And I say absolutely yes,” Carol Muldoon, VP for partner resources at Starbucks, told guests at the launch of National Apprenticeship Week.

“You can go from barista to Bachelor of Arts all at Starbucks and have no debt at the end of your career.”

Compass Group currently recruits 500 apprentices a year, but has announced plans to hire 1500 by the end of 2017.

The company is already one of the UK’s top 100 apprenticeship employers, and has trained 3000 people since 2011.

Mitchells & Butlers - which owns Harvester, All Bar One and Browns - is taking on more than 2000 trainees on what it claims is the 'best apprenticeship scheme in hospitality'.

Earlier this year Pizza Hut Restaurants became the first hospitality business to offer a degree level managerial apprenticeship, run in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.