Tag Archives: hospitality

Join our training team! Barista Trainer opportunity at Hub International

Are you looking for a change of pace from the daily grind?

Do you have a keen interest in coffee and a passion for building skills in others?

Ready to rise to a new challenge? If so, we want to hear from you!

At Hub International we are looking for an experienced barista to join the team and help us develop the next generation of café superstars.

Trainee Barista

Training on the coffee machine at schoolWhat does a normal day look like?

As a barista trainer there are many different challenges from a standard day in a café.

The majority of our young trainees will have never made a coffee before, and so the right person will be patient and encouraging while supporting them through this process. We work very closely with schools and charities who support young people to get in to work (sometimes for the first time), so positivity and support is at the heart of what we do. No day will be the same, you might be teaching a school group how to froth milk one day and serving the public in a pop-up educational event the next.

Our team can travel all over the central belt, and often beyond, so while a drivers license and car is not essential, flexibility to travel is required from time to time.

What are we looking for in our Barista Trainer?

A natural passion for delivering hospitality
A confident barista with excellent communication skills
Patience, some of our trainees will need more support than others
Flexibility and willingness to travel to more than one location in a day
Hospitality Management or supervisory experience is beneficial but not essential

Trainees celebrate end of year achievements at the Hub International Hospitality School

What’s in it for you?

Excellent training and support in achieving your next steps in your career
Very limited weekend work, we are busiest Monday to Friday, mainly daytimes!
Annual leave during school holidays & no more working during Christmas festivities
Regular appraisal, funded qualifications and room to progress within our company
A rewarding role where you can watch those you train develop and grow in confidence
Trips to a ton of coffee houses and exciting industry experiences

If this sounds like the right fit then get in touch, we are eager to meet likeminded people with a shared love of coffee!

Where do I apply?

Send your CV or Video intro to: info@hi-people.org

Oh Dear! Lucky Lisa’s locked in my kind of paradise

In March 2020, just before the world as we know it went from under us and was replaced by nothing but our own four walls, we were delighted to be invited behind the scenes of Glasgow’s Dear Green Coffee Roasters. We knew we were in for a treat, a tour of the roastery, a curated coffee class just for our fresh faced trainees but I think the unexpected gift was to hear the story of a fabulous female entrepreneur, Lisa Lawson.

HI! Hospitality Trainees recent visit to Dear Green HQ

Grab a cuppa, and take a minute to watch her message from the eerily quiet roastery to the hospitality trainees https://youtu.be/my35oEW-7LU

I had heard of Dear Green, tried their coffee at the last Glasgow Coffee festival and even have one of their Keep Cups knocking about somewhere, but until our visit had never appreciated how the business started and just how much of a heart it has, it’s safe to safe I am now a BIG fan and even started my own monthly coffee subscription which has given me another reason to be cheerful in the morning lockdown routine.

It was really quite inspiring for me and the young people to hear how Lisa started roasting coffee using her last savings to buy her first roaster and within a matter of years was being flown out across the world to the coffee farms to inspect the conditions of the workers, ensuring they were being looked after and benefiting from their supply partnership. I felt like I was with her for a second when she described the magical experiences she had, hearing the soulful singing of the Ethiopian women in the plantation, happy in their work providing for their families. I sense she feels very proud knowing the more she expands her business the more work, income and stability she is providing for other women, children and families around the world.

Lisa on a visit to meet women coffee producers

Her approach to ethical business makes her a good person, but this teamed with her strong work ethic and respect for others in her team has clearly been a key factor in her success to date. Her business has grown organically, Dear Green has a strong following of indy cafes, bars and restaurants and now a roaring trade from lockdown coffee addicts who are ordering beans online in an attempt to become a pro stay-at-home barista. It’s nice to see so many people are valuing her approach to sourcing coffee transparently, and paying her own staff a fair wage, seeing Lisa’s business growth has given me a little more faith that our buying habits are changing for the better and we’re not just happy to settle for the cheapest of products at all costs.

I MISS COFFEE. I have it every day and yet I feel like I am missing it. The ritual of grabbing a coffee I suppose. Nothing will beat the smell of freshly ground coffee in the morning, the hiss of the milk wand and the chitter chatter of people from all walks of life milling about a coffee shop. I know we all cannot wait to get back to enjoying basic freedoms like a morning coffee..with PEOPLE! Although I do wonder how we are all going to have a brew with a face mask on?

SO…for now all we can do is put the kettle on and enjoy some peace, this is probably the only time in your lifetime that you will have to be so relaxed and de-stressed with little pressure to do anything, so before the world awakens again try to savour this special quiet time, if you can.

Stay Home, Stay Safe, Drink Coffee

Steph

Steak pie & chocolate brownies

Lockdown has given us the chance to catch up with lots of our awesome chef ambassadors in their downtime and hear what they’ve been up to when not busy in the kitchen.

We thought it might be nice to share a few of their words of support as we know it can be such a hard time just now, especially for our young trainees who have only really just embarked on their career but have suddenly found themselves out of work all too soon. Believe it or not, chefs feel a bit lost too, they’re not used to not working and find it hard to sit still without something to do!

First up we heard from Stephen Hampson, of the Sodexo Sports & Leisure team. Stephen has been the Sous chef at Hampden Park for 4 years now, he has been supporting the Hi! employability programmes for the last couple of years, providing fun cooking challenges to trainees, chances to learn during work experience in the stadium kitchens and supporting many of you to gain employment with Sodexo, in particular during the 2018 European Championships which was an amazing opportunity to be a part of.

Stephen training young people of the Hi! Champions Academy we did with charity Achieve More Scotland in 2018

To keep your mind off what’s happening Stephen’s keen to share the message that things will pick up again, kitchens will be busier than ever so please try to enjoy this time off while you can, learn some new recipes and keep busy!

Stephen has shared his chocolate brownie recipe here with us, we cant wait to try it! Why not send us your pictures if you manage to have a go? Stephen would love to see them!

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

There’s hundreds of different chocolate brownie recipes, here’s a great website I’ve been using during lockdown: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chocolate_brownies

The ingredients Stephen used were:

185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
50g white chocolate
50g milk chocolate
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar

Stephen’s keeping busy in lockdown making chocolate brownies

Thanks for reading, and remember when you start working again you will look back on this time and wish you had spent more time relaxing, learning new things or catching up on boxsets, so be kind to yourself and enjoy a little me time!

Safe at home, not stuck at home

Steph

Charity Cooks Up a Storm to Plug Hospitality Skills Gap

The first young people have graduated from a new programme helping to plug a recruitment gap in the hospitality sector, which has been described as a “crippling shortage” by one of the country’s top chefs.

The programme is a collaboration between Action for Children Scotland and Hub International and works with young people aged between 16 and 24 with an interest in hospitality or cookery. Throughout the programme, the young people earn industry specific qualifications, innovative educational experiences and spend time working in top hotels.

The new programme comes as leading chefs including Nick Nairn and Andrew Fairlie warn of the crisis gripping the sector. Mr. Nairn referred to “a crippling shortage of talent out there at the moment” while Mr Fairlie, of the eponymous restaurant at the Gleneagles golf resort, is on record saying: “We have stopped advertising for experienced staff and are now taking on people straight from college or with no experience whatsoever.”

This hospitality programme is the latest addition to Action for Children’s employability offering in Scotland. The charity has delivered employability programmes in Scotland since 2008. Initially offering ‘Youthbuild’, a construction based programme, the charity’s employability network now includes 11 services, supporting young people into careers in sectors as diverse as forestry and engineering and, now, the hospitality sector.

The move into providing hospitality training continues a journey that Action for Children have been on in recent years. Since 2014, around 20 young people have come through the charity’s ‘Yes Chef!’ programme, which sees them train as chefs in restaurants and kitchens across Glasgow.

Stephanie Wade CEO of Hub International said:
There’s been momentum building in the industry for some time to bring back the classical practical cookery training and development of professional hospitality skills that the young people are required to have in our trade. We listened to educators, chefs, hoteliers and restauranteurs to find out what skills they wanted young people to have. We took away the traditional classroom, lecture style approach to training, to design a programme that was 90% hands on, skills led, and employer backed, to produce real results. To inspire these young people in to hospitality careers, we needed to let them see and experience real working kitchens & bars, to cook with fresh produce, visit the producers, meet the makers and get to grips with all the equipment first hand, not through a textbook, and not just gain the mandatory qualifications. Our students even visit farms to see where Scottish produce is grown, and learn about the importance of seasonality & local produce when designing menus, they got the chance to dine out and experience 5* service at Blythswood square before getting the chance to work there. We were keen to launch the first project in the vibrant city of Glasgow, with its diverse food & drink scene, and due to the success with nearly all of the young people achieving roles in top hotels, we can’t wait to take the programme nationwide. Our aim is to help build confidence and create opportunities for anyone who may be struggling to gain meaningful employment, and of course support more great employers with their mission to inspire the next generation in to the industry we adore. Recruitment isn’t as simple as sticking and advert out anymore, we need to all work together to show young people how attractive and exciting hospitality careers can be, highlighting the positives instead of all the issues would be a good start.

James Cantley, Operational Director for Children’s Services at Action for Children said: “We are really proud to see the first young people graduate from our new hospitality programme.
“Hospitality is a crucial sector in Scotland but is suffering from a skills shortage. Our hope is that this new programme will support young people into careers in this sector and help plug this skills shortfall.

“Over the last 10 years, we have supported some 6,000 young people into employment, training or to re-engage with education through our network of employability programmes. The hospitality programme is an exciting new venture for everyone at Action for Children and builds on the success we have already had through our ‘Yes Chef!’ programme. Through this programme, we hope to help plug that gap and create the next generation of talented chefs.”

Time for an adventure?

Ever wanted to travel the world and get paid for it?

Hub International Ambassadors do!

What does Hub International do?

We work in partnership with our clients to support their businesses and our industry to grow, we like helping others to be the best they can be through expert consultancy, innovative training and bespoke recruitment strategies. We can’t think of a better industry to be a part of, everyone in the world loves to eat & drink and together with our Hub Ambassadors we can be a part of shaping the future of food, drink & service.

Our aim? Our ultimate goal is to make our industry one of the most sought after career choices for youngsters. We want hospitality businesses to be great places to work, with support and development on offer for all levels of staff meaning we never have to loose top talent from the trade.

Who are Team Hub?

We are a quirky collective of like minded souls, we have serious talents in all corners of the industry, from mentoring, to mixology, menu development or molecular gastronomy and we take our roles as industry ambassadors super seriously. We are all different, but we all share the desire to help others succeed and share our skills. This is not just a job to us, we are so passionate about our careers that we burst with pride when we talk about them to anyone who will listen!

What do we need?

Like what you hear so far? Then we need you, new talent to join the team. Some of our projects are right here on home turf, so you might want to dip your toe in and work with us a couple of days here and there across the UK alongside your other commitments, but for the adventure seekers out there we have some once in a life time international opportunities to teach your specialism overseas. This might require you to be away from home for a couple of weeks, or months at a time in some far flung corners of the earth, so if you fancy getting away from it all, just sign up and see what we could have in store for you.

All Flights, accommodation, expenses will be covered on top of a decent consultancy fee for the right people.

What about experience?

You ideally need to have great all round knowledge of hospitality, having dedicated your career to date to the trade, you could be a teacher already or an award winning bartender ready to try something new but you must be willing to teach in any subject area. As well as the desire to teach, you must have your own Mastermind-esk area of expertise, this could be service, sales, management, drink, events or cookery to name only a few. You must be a confident public speaker and have the ability to train and encourage others, so perhaps you already train staff in your workplace and are keen to learn more? This could be the next step for you!

Hub projects do vary so in skill level required, time and commitment needed, so if you’re just at the early stages of thinking about teaching but haven’t a clue where to start please do still get in touch – we have opportunities for beginners as well as the demand for absolute pro’s!

To apply in confidence please send a CV, Video or email to info@hi-people.org specifically telling us about yourself, your area of expertise and why this opportunity appeals to you.

Info sessions and Interviews will be arranged for the shortlisted applicants within 14 days or your application, if you are not shortlisted for the summer projects we will keep your details on file for the future.

Thanks for reading we hope to hear from you soon!

Team Hub