BHA aims for better chefs
by Max Gosney
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has launched a new skills academy to counter the declining quality of NVQ trained chefs.
The Hospitality Skills Academy aims to combat failing training standards by fusing seven of the trade's craft associations into a single body.
The combined associations will command greater financial resources and work towards establishing "professional" recognition for junior hospitality staff and boosting practical training.
Bob Cotton, chief executive of the BHA, said: "There has been too much emphasis in the past on promoting academic education, with the result that vocational education and training has not commanded the attention it demands. I think pub operators will call on the academy to boost the quality of their kitchen staff. As food becomes more important to the pubs the trade will need to improve the quality of its chef's."
The BHA will team up with employers to boost on-the-job training and work with colleges to provide tutor support and practical testing as part of the initiative. Cotton also called on greater Government support for the hospitality trade.
He added: "We are not recruiting, or training, enough young people. The industry has to play its part by taking training mores seriously, but we need a greater commitment from Government to fund more vocational courses."
The BHA's drive to improve the calibre of college leavers will have a positive impact for pubs according to Paul Smith, head chef at the Fountain Hotel in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire.
"Something needed to be done because the colleges are turning out chefs who lack basic culinary skills. If the schools produce top quality chefs then that can only be great for the industry," he said.
The Hospitality Skills Academy combines the Academy of Culinary Arts, Academy of Food and Wine Service, Amicale Internationale des Chefs de Reception, Clefs d'Or, Craft Guild of Chefs, United Kingdom Bartenders Guild and UK Housekeepers' Association.
The academy will work with People First, the sector skills council, to develop recognised industry training qualification and will be administered by Hospitality and Leisure Manpower, responsible for managing the Best Practice Forum. The BHA will regulate its development in its first year.
