THE CHIEF executive of Brewhouse and Kitchen said they are ‘reaching out to schools in the area’, due to an industry-wide skills shortage.

The local branches of the Brewhouse and Kitchen will be reaching out to schools in the Bournemouth and Poole area, running careers evenings and offering a range of apprenticeships, placements and trial shifts.

Chief Executive, Kris Gumbrell said: “We invested in our people with huge amounts of training during lockdown, but the reality is that right now we have a skills shortage within the sector.

“One of the problems with hospitality is that we’ve been labelled the ship of doom and actually we do offer skilled, very well-rounded training and career progression.

“Hospitality is such a massive part of the Bournemouth and Poole area as an industry, so I think we need to break the stigma.

“People maybe see it as beneath what their children are capable of when they’re deciding their career paths but we want careers teachers to understand that a managerial salary in hospitality is comparable to a teacher or a junior doctor’s salary and we’re able to provide high quality training.

“People forget that hospitality it’s one of the best ways to become your own boss, the entrepreneurial opportunities are like no other.”

Minister of State for Higher and Further Education, Michelle Donelan, said: "We as a government are determined to fill some of these skill gaps, through a range of tools including investing in further education and a range of apprenticeships, that will lead directly to a tangible skill and a job."

The Brewhouse and Kitchen recently spent two years developing an industry-leading brewing apprenticeship, which became one of the ‘best brewing apprenticeships in Europe’.

Mr Gumbrell added: “I’ve had 35 years in hospitality, I love it and it’s thriving, when it’s allowed to thrive, it thrives because people love hospitality in this country.

“Our problems right now are supply of products and supply of people.

“We’ve got two more sites in the works and we’re looking to create 50 to 60 new jobs next year, so we will continue to grow our businesses in the Bournemouth and Poole area.”