Top Southland Chef Supports Apprenticeship Scheme

Top Southland Chef Supports Apprenticeship Scheme

Top New Zealand chef, Graham Hawkes, owner of Flannagans Seafood Restaurant in Invercargill and Continental Director for the World Association of Chefs for the Pacific Region, has taken on Southland’s first Modern Apprentice in Cookery, Daniel Ashby.

Graham Hawkes says the Modern Apprenticeship programme is just what the hospitality industry needs right now.

“It puts the control of training back into the industry’s court and will ensure there are competent people available in the workplace in the future. There are far too many young people who have been ‘pushed’ through tertiary education programmes who simply will not make it in the industry. We must always be aware that a 51% pass rate really is a 49% failure. The Industry must have competent people, not those who may pass in some areas and fail in others”, he says.

Daniel Ashby went to the restaurant for work experience in the kitchen while he was at Southland Boys High School where he was studying Level One Cookery. Daniel has wanted to become a chef for several years.

Graham Hawkes maintains there are two very important requirements the Hospitality Industry has which cannot be taught with ‘chalk and talk’. They are urgency and discipline. He says the Modern Apprenticeship programme allows the people in training to learn both of these fundamentals and earn a living at the same time they are training.

Craig Cochrane from Hospitality Standards Institute is the training Co-ordinator for Graham and Daniel, and says people like Daniel recognise the advantages of learning through hands on experience.

Steve Hanrahan, CEO for the HSI, says Modern Apprenticeships are for anyone between the ages of 16 and 21. There are three different hospitality apprenticeships currently available – Cookery, Food Service and Hospitality Operations. A Modern Apprenticeship in hospitality leads to national qualifications at Level Three and Four. An HSI Co-ordinator helps support the apprentice and employer with paperwork and by organising off job training if required. It is a work-based scheme where trainees can learn and earn at the same time.

You can find out more at http://www.hsi.co.nz

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