This National Apprenticeship Week, we speak to Matt Moseley, Regional Executive Chef for ESS, about the key role apprenticeships play in our business and why ESS is a great choice for anyone who wants to join a course.
Why are apprenticeships important?
Apprenticeships are a really important way for us to attract people into our business and build a pipeline of talent for the future. Hospitality has experienced significant resourcing challenges in recent years, and we can’t just rely on traditional recruitment methods anymore. We need to promote culinary careers as a great option for people entering the workforce or looking to change direction. The structured, on-the-job training that apprenticeships provide is a brilliant way to sell our business to prospective employees.
Entry level culinary apprenticeships teach best practice from the very start of an individual’s career. It’s vital that we invest in training and developing these skills to ensure they are not lost. I’m passionate about the role of apprenticeships in keeping the art of cooking with fresh, high-quality ingredients alive.
Apprenticeships also enable people to develop themselves at any stage of their life. While we have numerous team members who’ve joined us straight from school or college, we also have colleagues who’ve moved from other areas of our business, including front of house and cleaning, to start a culinary apprenticeship with us. The courses open up opportunities for everyone, regardless of background, and help to ensure we have a great blend of people in our workforce.
What role do apprentices play in our business?
Compass offers apprenticeships in a wide range of subjects including culinary, hospitality, FM and central functions such as finance, HR and administration.
Apprentices add so much to our business. They bring an extra voice, new ideas and often provide fresh perspectives to our longer established team members. I’ve already mentioned how we welcome candidates of a range of ages and from a variety of backgrounds – increasing the diversity within our teams all adds up to a richer, more creative workplace which benefits our colleagues, customers and clients.
Why is ESS a great choice for someone looking to start an apprenticeship?
Within ESS and the wider Compass business, we’re focused on providing a great learning experience for our apprentices. We want each person to get as much from their course as possible, for their own benefit and to increase the likelihood of them staying and progressing with us.
We select our apprenticeship locations very carefully, ensuring we can offer varied training opportunities and an excellent support network for each candidate. We treat individuals as apprentices rather than core team members, giving them the space to nurture their skills and ensuring their colleagues get them involved in activities that will support their growth. In the same way it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a great team to develop an apprentice!
We’re committed to getting our apprentices out into our wider business too and our breadth and scale means we can offer unrivalled opportunities. Within ESS alone, we cater for the Armed Forces all over the UK, high-profile Government locations, corporate HQs, offshore energy facilities and the largest container port in the UK.
Beyond that, we work closely with Compass’ central apprenticeships team to offer experiences working at events including The Brit Awards and The Championships at Wimbledon, as well as entertainment venues and sports stadia across the country. The team are brilliant at suggesting activities which will stretch and challenge our apprentices, giving them valuable insight into the work involved in catering for a major event.
Crucially, we don’t just offer apprenticeship opportunities for those who are starting out in their careers. Several of our chefs have completed or are currently taking part in Compass’ ‘Forward with Marcus Wareing’ programme which runs alongside a Level 4 or 5 apprenticeship. All have found it a fantastic experience and have been promoted as a result. Simon Coulter, group executive chef in my team, is about to embark on his Level 5 course as he remains hungry to learn and grow. The journey doesn’t stop until you want it to and we’re here to support anyone who wants to take that next step.
Could you explain some of the initiatives you’ve put in place for apprentices in ESS?
I’ve already spoken about our commitment to giving our apprentices experiences outside of their regular places of work, whether in other ESS contracts or the wider Compass business. We’ve seen the positive impact that these placements have on our candidates and wanted to build on this success. This led to the creation of a bespoke apprentice engagement programme which we’ve been delivering for the past 16 months.
First up was a two-day sustainability workshop, including a series of discussions and practical sessions culminating in a challenge to create two plant-based street food dishes. Last summer, a team went to Ground Up Cookery School in Devon where they learned how to identify local ingredients out in nature and maximise their potential back in the kitchen. Most recently, we headed to North Yorkshire to spend two days at the RegenFarmCo Biohub, where the apprentices learned about the farm, helped to build and make alterations to some of the site’s water features and spent time discussing agroforestry design.
These events are designed to give our junior chefs experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have access to, such as working with different ingredients or understanding more about the food lifecycle from farm to plate, to enhance engagement early in their careers. We’ve also invited RAF junior chefs who work in our kitchens to join us, investing in their development and promoting collaboration between ESS and service catering personnel. We’ve got an exciting plan for future events, and I look forward to keeping our apprentices engaged and motivated through these activities.
Apprenticeships within ESS and the wider Compass business provide access to a wealth of opportunities for those who want them – I would urge anyone who is keen to learn and progress their career in foodservice or FM to look closely the wide range of options available.
