New Principal appointed to HIT Chef Academy

Esteemed Paul Mannering has decided to step away from the Chef Academy Principal role and pass the baton (pun intended) to his trusted colleague Mark Belford. 

Mark has been involved in the Chef Academy project since 2016 and has a huge wealth of culinary skill, knowledge and passion, and we congratulate him on his appointment as Chef Academy Principal. 

Paul, who over the years has developed his brigade of chef trainers with a view to one of them eventually taking over the Principal role, will become National Hospitality and Culinary Lead. He will take a strategic lead in developing ideas and concepts that will take HIT to the next stage of its journey. We know he will be a huge success in this role. 

The HIT Chef Academy story

Paul founded the HIT Chef Academy back in 2016 with a vision that all chef apprenticeships should be the gold standard of education within the sector, and that apprentices should have access to a broad and deep learning experience that would ensure they were ready for anything a professional kitchen could throw at them in their future careers.

He began to form ideas around his vision, eventually proposing the HIT Chef Academy – a series of masterclass workshops in a safe learning environment for apprentices that would enable them to grow, experience new techniques and cuisines, and embed that wonderfully rich learning in their workplace. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

As Principal, Paul developed the Chef Academy concept from scratch, including the technical culinary aspects, the content of the workshops, the mapping to the Apprenticeship standards, the venues for the workshops, and the recruitment of his team of expert Chef Academy trainers.

Paul also worked tirelessly to make sure clients, potential clients, key stakeholders and anyone else who would listen, knew about the Chef Academy and were invited to engage with it. 

Since then, the HIT Chef Academy has become a hugely respected centre of learning within the sector, winning many accolades over the years including a ‘Supplier Excellence’ award at the annual Foodservice Cateys 2018.

Future plans

Speaking about future plans for the Academy, Paul says: “It’s always difficult to let go of your baby, but there’s no-one better to take the Academy on and I’m delighted to be passing the baton to Mark who has been instrumental in the development and success of our Chef Academy offer. 

“We have set the bar high, and Mark’s impeccable standards have continued to improve on that. He has an abundance of talent, passion and knowledge to lead the team from strength to strength.

For me, this move comes at an exciting time for HIT and we have lots of plans afoot to take our hospitality offer to the next level.

 

Mark will take over the Chef Academy Principal role from April 2024 and is looking forward to building on the incredible foundation Paul has built and continuing the success of the HIT Chef Academy.

He says: “It feels great to head up the Chef Academy, since day one Paul has given me endless opportunities to grow, develop and believe in myself as a Chef and educator.

“My vision is to build on the solid foundations I now inherit, ensuring we continue to provide excellence in culinary training, whilst ever evolving our offer to align to the apprenticeship standards and industry trends.

“I have a wonderful team of Chefs supporting me, together I know we will continue to provide our apprentices an exemplary experience on their learner journey.”

Click here to find out more about the HIT Chef Academy and the apprenticeships available.