Transforming your professional chefs into skilled culinary artists
HIT Chef Academy
The academy provides intensive practical cookery workshops where apprentices can hone their culinary cookery and preparation skills, or learn new ones, to fully meet their apprenticeship standard. These one-day workshops take place in selected demonstration kitchens in 20 venues across the UK. Our Chef Academy workshops deliver the highly skilled apprentices needed to meet the continuing growth in fine dining across the country.
What the Chef Academy Offers
The academy supplements our professional chef apprenticeship programme for any apprentices working in a ‘fine dining’ kitchen and nominated by their Head Chef to participate in the academy’s enhancement activities. It is therefore suitable for Commis Chefs, Chefs de Partie and Production Chefs. It is also accessible on a commercial basis by other learners whose chef skills could benefit from a refresh or boost.
HIT is proud to have recruited some of the best professional chefs from industry to deliver our Chef Academy workshops and to mentor and guide your apprentices back in their workplace kitchen. Our team of chef trainers are led by Paul Mannering (Principal) and Mark Belford (Deputy Principal).
Apprentices spend time with industry experts, sharing ideas and boosting their understanding of key areas such as preparation and cooking, as well as flavour profiling, dish composition and seasonality. The workshops deliver content extracted from industry recognised qualifications.
Apprentice chefs who are enrolled onto our Chef Academy, in addition to their normal apprenticeship schedule, will be invited to attend additional programmes, roughly every six to eight weeks.
Commis Chef Workshops
The Commis Chef academy programme comprises five exciting workshops:
Game and Offal – boosts knowledge and polishes practical skills of working with this versatile, lean and flavoursome family of meats
Fish and Shellfish – takes an in-depth look at the many delicious and versatile cooking ingredients provided by the ocean, focusing on practical skills
Vegetable Protein and Vegetables – develops skills and understanding of the potential for creating tasty and exciting meat-free savoury dishes
Bread and Dough – focuses on practical dough skills, and explores the vast array of sweet and savoury breads to be enjoyed from breakfast to bed time
Bakery and Patisserie – hones skills in creating, preparing and presenting a range of tempting, eye-catching bakery and patisserie products
Chef de Partie Workshops
The Chef de Partie academy focuses on key leadership and management skills alongside technical and complex preparation techniques in a range of subject areas:
Leadership and Communication – builds skills in leading and communicating with team members in the kitchen, explores leadership, motivational theories and interactions
Menu Planning and Costings – supports learners to plan and cost a balanced dish or menu, looks at the many influences to consider including seasonality, sustainability and budgets
Fish and Shellfish – focuses on accuracy, technical and complex preparation, cooking and finishing methods of fish and shellfish from our seasonal recipe bank
Nose to Tail – this butchery masterclass involves the breaking down of a pig into the primary and secondary cuts, and covers a variety of preparations as well as seasonality
Bakery and Viennoiserie – involves making pastry and doughs for a variety of preparations including puff pastry, Danish pastry, croissants, sourdough and financier
Patisserie and Desserts – this patisserie masterclass involves the technical preparation, cooking and finishing of complex patisserie items, and looks at seasonal influences
Production & Senior Production Chefs Workshops
The Production Chef academy programme offers flexibility with the following workshops:
Brand Standards – looks at the power of a brand and the importance of adhering to the brand in terms of the ingredients, presentation and flavour of food and drinks prepared
plus your choice of any two Commis Chef workshops (see above)
The Senior Production Chef academy programme provides skills in key areas in the following three workshops:
Brand Standards – looks at the power of a brand and the importance of adhering to the brand in terms of the ingredients, presentation and flavour of food and drinks prepared
Leadership and Communication – builds skills in leading and communicating with team members in the kitchen, explores leadership, motivational theories and interactions
Menu Planning and Costings – supports learners to plan and cost a balanced dish or menu, looks at the many influences to consider including seasonality, sustainability and budgets
Production Chef Apprenticeship – Fish Frier Route
Fish Frier – This workshop involves a variety of preparation, cooking and finishing methods across a variety of takeaway and restaurant settings
Professional Chef Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are not just available for school or college leavers but to any chefs already working in the industry who wish to improve their skills, undertake more responsibilities or gain promotion. Chefs at all levels and ages can gain new skills with the apprenticeships involving on-site learning and assessment, e-learning and assignments, with frequent on-site visits by our industry experienced chef trainers.
The intermediate apprenticeship at level 2 is for Commis Chefs, the advanced apprenticeship at level 3 is for Chefs de Partie and the Senior Chef Culinary Arts higher apprenticeship at level 4 is for Sous Chefs, future Head Chefs, Executive Chefs and Kitchen Managers.
Who Can Apply?
For national or regional hotel, restaurant, contract catering or gastro pubs chains, a bespoke programme will be organised to meet the specific culinary and skills requirements of that organisation. For individual restaurants, hotels, contract caterers, pubs, or any outlet offering fine dining, HIT will be organising regional masterclasses near you so contact your local office for more information.
McMullen’s chose HIT as its sole external provider for Apprenticeships and vocational qualifications in early 2015 and since then we have found them a pleasure to work with. Their expertise in this sector is superior and they have proven to be a professional and supportive partner who have a passion for learning and development, which matches our own organisation.
Amanda Walden – Training & Recruitment Manager, McMullen's
Encouraging our staff to improve their skills set and supporting them through apprenticeships and training programmes underlines our commitment to help them further develop their own careers. Offering the Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship also gives the Brend Group a point of difference which I’m convinced will help attract new members of staff in the future.
Andrew Mosedale - Group HR Manager, Brend Hotels
Our partnership with HIT has certainly made recruitment much easier in a very difficult labour market and gives us a point of difference in an increasingly competitive environment. Kew Green has also benefited enormously from well trained, skilled and competent staff who contribute significantly to the ever improving and high levels of customer experience that our guests expect and deserve.
Andrew Tregenza - HR Business Partner, Kew Green Hotels
Apprenticeships allow us to give people a great opportunity to develop a career with us and learn a skill or trade that will accompany them throughout their career and life. We see progression to the Level 4 qualification as key to our strategy of providing development at all stages of an employee’s career with Harrison.
Alex Taylor - Training Manager, Harrison Catering Services
There is a shortage of skilled chefs within in our industry at present and any organisation that truly believes in the value of training and development of bright future stars will enable themselves to be in a strong position for the years ahead. Investing in smart training and development is at the heart of what we do within WSH, so it has been refreshing to work alongside HIT within our Baxterstorey Chef Academy.
Rik Razza - Head of Chef Development, BaxterStorey
CONTACT AN OFFICE NEAR YOU
Over 450 training staff operating from 30 offices countrywide
• OPERATING NATIONALLY
• DELIVERING LOCALLY
With a strong local focus, HIT Training offers coverage throughout the nation. Our skilled trainers and training consultants are based in every county of England.
You can apply for a training programme with HIT at any time whether for current staff or looking for new team members. Or if you just need someone to talk to, we’re always pleased to hear from you.
