Galvin brothers help design hospitality training scheme

The scheme allows restaurant, hotel, pub and catering workers to obtain electronic certificates designed to recognise skills developed on the job, providing a ‘digital footprint’ of an individual’s career.

Starting from May, it is open to employees of all levels in the hospitality industry. Casual staff can gain a badge for experience in hospitality operations, and earn additional badges if they move on to permanent chef or management roles.

Chris and Jeff Galvin have helped design the award, and see it as “vital” for the hospitality industry ahead of Brexit.

“Our industry faces two major problems,” says Chris Galvin. “The first is that there simply aren’t enough people - not enough to fill the vacancies. The second is that too few people at all levels, from school leavers to university graduates to mature workers see hospitality as a career they want to pursue.

“There is a perception that it is a low-grade sector but in fact the reverse is true. We are a young people’s industry and progress in a career can be both rapid and lucrative.”

City & Guilds, which specialises in vocational education and apprenticeships, is focusing on embedding the certification with leading brands before opening it up to the wider industry.

“Instead of having paper certificates, individuals can now provide a digital footprint of their career against standards which have been co-designed with leading employers,” says City & Guilds’ Jeremy Dahdi.

“We’ve worked closely with Chris and Jeff Galvin to make sure that the framework is realistic and easy for any hotel, bar or restaurant to adopt. We know that all leading hotels and restaurants have their “bibles” – you might call it the ‘Galvin Way’ of doing things for example. Our Global Certification meshes seamlessly with these individual operations manuals.”