Pub companies embrace apprenticeships

A survey of the top 10 managed operators by the Pub and Bar Careers Perceptions Group, found that in 2013, they employed 4,300 apprentices compared to 9,056 in 2014.

Spirit​

Spirit Pub Company today announced plans to double the number of management apprenticeships over the coming 12 months. It currently has more than 900 apprentices across the five apprenticeships on offer, and Spirit plans to increase the number of management apprentices by 500 over the next year this is in addition to the current 330 Team leader and 120 Advanced apprentices currently enrolled in Leadership and Management so far this year.

Spirit said it has refreshed its level 2 Team Leader Apprenticeship Programme, originally launched in 2011, with technical elements such as qualifications in beer and cellar quality, training design and delivery, and the award for personal licence holders.

Jo Bradford, national qualifications manager for Spirit, said: “The Team Leader Apprenticeship Programme along with the Advanced Apprenticeship in Leadership and Management are proving instrumental in developing the managers of our future. Our first intake of learners graduated earlier this year and we have already seen 35% progress to the role of general manager.”

'Brilliant'​

Regarding the latest figures on apprenticeships across the 10 largest companies this year, Anthony Pender, vice-chairman of the Perceptions Group and managing director of the Yummy Pub Company, said: “This demonstrates the huge investment that the pub and bar sector makes each year in developing young people. It is brilliant to reveal that 9,056 apprenticeships are offered by just a small proportion of the sector.

“Smaller operators are keen to get involved with apprenticeship schemes if the funding were available. It is clearer than ever that the sector is keen to employ ambitious and motivated young people like graduates from apprenticeships and the Pub & Bar Careers programme.”

Patrick Dempsey, managing director of Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, said: “We want young people to know that hospitality is a career path that is open to them and its one they can excel in. We’re committed to doing what we can to offer opportunities to unemployed people to get their first job or to get back into work. We have a target of recruiting half of our new team members from the long-term unemployed, and we offer a robust and structured qualification pathway.”