Lexington Catering, one of the leading contact caterers in London, has partnered with Galvin Restaurants to deliver the very best apprenticeship and graduate training programme. Apprentices going through the Lex School of Talent and Galvin’s Chance training programme, and graduates across the two organisations, will join forces to share best practice and training opportunities.
Rob Kirby, Chef Director at Lexington, and Gavlin’s Group Chef, Warren Geraghty, have been the driving force behind the new partnership. Rob says, “I’ve had a long standing friendship with Galvin brothers, Chris and Jeff, and I’m really looking forward to working alongside Galvin’s Group Chef, Warren Geraghty, in bringing our apprentices together.
“There’s so much synergy between the two organisations – both have been built around amazing food, people and suppliers. The partnership has been developed based on this together with the trust and integrity both organisations share.”
Warren Geraghty, Executive Head Chef at Galvin Restaurants, is equally thrilled about the partnership. He says, “I have always been an advocate for recruiting young talent to our industry and inspiring them to choose a career as a chef. We are in our fourth year of running a very successful apprenticeship scheme at Galvin with our first 3 chefs passing out last year. What is most rewarding is seeing the boys and girls blossom and grow into fully-fledged skilled chefs with a strong foundation on which to build their future careers.
“Rob and I have talked at length about how we can further enhance these young chefs apprenticeships and Lexington seemed the perfect partners for us as I know we both want to promote a positive attitude towards learning and collaborative work. We want to encourage all apprentices to challenge themselves, build their self esteem and develop their interpersonal skills. We have some fantastic activities planned and this is only possible because the Galvin- Lexington relationship will enable us to give the apprentices exposure to a new working environment, network with their peers and build a strong foundation to give them solid grounding for their future.”
The new partnership forms part of the apprenticeship programme for both Lexington and Galvin’s Restaurants. It aims to:
> Provide apprentices with engaging learning opportunities
> Reinforce existing knowledge with exposure to different working environments
> Challenge and hone skills by offering a platform to compete and self-evaluate
> Enrich learners’ experience and present them with a new perspective on work by hosting successful guest speakers
Apprentices across the two organisations will not only get the chance to train together but they get the chance to work in another environment. The programme involves a job swap whereby the team get to spend a day in each other’s kitchen/restaurant to get a feel for a different environment, cuisine and style of service.
Murray Tapiki, Development Chef at Lexington, is working with the team to co-ordinate the training programme. He says, “We are so excited about the new partnership – it’s a great opportunity for our young talent to engage with each other, share experiences and learn from each other. We are both incredibly people focused, committed to investing in future talent, customer centric and big believers in having fun at work.
“By working together we are able to invest more in future talent and give young people, who are often relatively new to the world of work, the chance to interact with new people and exchange ideas. There’s so much contract caterers can learn from the top restaurants and vice versa – it’s really exciting to get the two teams together.”
