Chef Academy plan to boost hospitiality industry across the Glasgow region

A new project is set to provide 40 chef apprenticeships to address a decline in trained staff and boost the hospitality industry.
The number of trained chefs is in declineThe number of trained chefs is in decline
The number of trained chefs is in decline

The Chef Academy scheme would subsidise businesses to pay apprentices the real living wage  — £9.50 per hour.

A training fund would also be offered to existing chefs and kitchen staff to help them achieve qualifications and develop management skills.

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It is being developed by the Glasgow City Region as a report to the region’s cabinet meeting revealed the decline in trained chefs across Scotland is a long-term trend, dropping by 2,900 between 2016 and 2020.

Skills Development Scotland has identified the decline, and a decrease in opportunities for existing chefs to advance, as a skills gap, and supports the Chef Academy.

The project will be led and managed by Inverclyde Council. It would cost £400,000 for the first year of the scheme.

In June, more than a quarter of the 269,800 people on the furlough scheme in Scotland were employed in accommodation and food services.

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Between June 2020 and May this year, 682 job postings in the Glasgow City Region specified cooking skills as an essential requirement, the report adds.

Businesses reopening have reported “major challenges” as staff have left the sector during the pandemic.

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said feedback from the city’s night-time economy commission had highlighted the challenge of employing trained chefs pre-pandemic.

And she said the issue had been “exacerbated by Brexit, and by wider immigration policies as well in the context of Asian restaurants, in particular Indian and Pakistani restaurants finding this challenge”.

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Councillor Aitken added: “The balance between eating and drinking is levelling out a bit more, which is a good thing, and people are looking for food as much as or more than alcohol on a night out now.”

It is expected 14 of the 40 apprenticeships will be offered within the Glasgow City Council area, with seven in North Lanarkshire and seven in South Lanarkshire.

There would be four in Renfrewshire and two each in West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde and East Renfrewshire. Recruitment would take place between September and March next year.

Kevin Rush, director of regional economic growth, said if the project is successful it could be rolled out wider, including in other industries with skills shortages.

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It is hoped the training fund will help existing workers progress to senior chef or hospitality positions, and free up junior roles for new chefs.

Skills taught will include financial planning, staff supervision and coaching and new business creation to encourage potential start-ups.

A council officer working on the plan said: “The idea behind the upskilling part of this is not to reinvent the wheel, it’s about taking the existing courses and making sure they are supporting existing chefs and kitchen staff to access them.”

That would include addressing travel and time barriers as well providing support to cover for staff, he added.

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A marketing campaign will be started to promote the careers, working in partnership with colleges, schools and Skills Development Scotland.

The Chef Academy would be funded by £300,000 from the No One Left Behind programme and the Young Person’s Guarantee.

Another £50,000 would come from the a Covid recovery fund and the remaining £50,000 from the region’s existing budget.

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