Apprentices at Compass Group UK & Ireland celebrate National Apprenticeship Week

Apprentices across Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s largest food services firm, celebrated National Apprenticeship Week (14-18 March) by taking part in numerous competitions to showcase their skills, talents and knowledge.

To mark the beginning of National Apprenticeship Week, Compass Group UK & Ireland, the top 100 apprenticeship employer, launched the “It’s the start of something big” campaign, supported by online advertising, posters and leaflets, to attract 1,500 new apprentices to the business by the end of 2017. 

Following on from the launch, over one hundred of the company’s current apprentices celebrated during the week by taking part in a many different challenging competitions. 

Some of the events included the “Unilever Chef Challenge” where a number of apprentices competed to win top prize by creating a selection of main courses and desserts with Chef Academy Apprentice, Patrick Kane, winning the challenge. Over 20 culinary apprentices also attended the “Springboard Future Chef National Final” where they helped with food preparation. 

In addition to competitions, apprentices also had a chance to attend career fayres and events which showcased the wealth of opportunities available in apprenticeship programmes. 

Compass Group UK & has trained 3000 apprentices in the last five years in a range of areas including, food service, business administration, security, cleaning, professional cookery, chef leaderships, finance, Human Resources, leadership and management.

Melanie Hayes, Resourcing and Development Director for Compass, who was recently appointed to a new Apprenticeship Delivery Board (ADB) by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, said: “We had a great week launching our “It’s the start of something big” campaign and celebrating National Apprenticeship Week. The various events and competitions that took place throughout the week gave apprentices an opportunity to put the skills and knowledge they have acquired into practice.

“We have been thrilled by the response so far to our “It’s the start of something big” campaign and are looking forward to welcoming many more people onto our apprenticeship schemes across the business. While we have set an ambitious target to attract 1500 apprentices, it’s important to emphasise, each apprenticeship has been designed to provide good quality opportunities so apprentices develop genuine skills that set up them well for their future careers.”

Apprentice, Patrick Kane, said: “Winning the Unilever Chef Challenge was a brilliant way to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week. The competition gave me a chance to show the skills I have picked up as a culinary apprentice. The support I have received through my scheme so far has been great and I look forward to what my future career brings.”

For more information about joining the Apprenticeship Scheme, please visit: www.jobsatcompass.co.uk 

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For more information contact:

 UK Communications Team
Compass Group UK & Ireland
Uk.communications@compass-group.co.uk
01895 554 999