BaxterStorey has been crowned Talent Development Team of the Year at the 2018 Institute of Hospitality Awards, fighting off stiff competition from its peers.
The winners were announced at the black-tie dinner and ceremony on Tuesday 19th June in London. Up against six other businesses, including contract caterers CH&Co, BaxterStorey were praised for their innovative approach to training and development through their award- winning academies and broad range of bespoke training programmes.
Over the past twelve months, BaxterStorey has seen significant activity across their training and development division, including the launch of a training centre for their Barista Academy.
Every year, the programme trains and educates approximately 300 baristas, managers and supervisors on the history of coffee, the journey of the coffee bean, the importance of quality milk, machine maintenance, recipe management and customer service.
Most recently, BaxterStorey launched its newest training initiative; the Service Academy. Designed to ensure hospitality staff across the business are equipped with skills and confidence to provide a service to rival that of a five-star hotel, the initiative is the first of its kind within the hospitality industry. Gabrielle Le Roux, who was recently awarded a coveted Acorn Award, assisted in developing the Service Academy.
Having successfully completed the WSET Wine Educator programme herself, Gabrielle led the application for BaxterStorey to become the first UK Contract Caterer accredited to deliver WSET courses. Le Roux is the first APP educator within the foodservice industry and is responsible for running the training available to all 8,500 BaxterStorey staff.
Noel Mahony, co-chief executive at BaxterStorey, said, “This is an incredible achievement for our Learning and Development team, and recognition of the impact they have across our business.
“Training is the foundation of our business. There is immense value in giving our staff the opportunity to develop their skills at any stage of their career, from our graduate programme to our advanced management programme.
“We are always looking to introduce new programmes, such as our new Service Academy, to attract new talent not just into our business, but into the hospitality industry. With a wealth of career opportunities available across the sector, we hope our training schemes help to showcase what our great industry has to offer.”