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Catering and Hospitality

If you have a passion for cookery and excellent customer service, Hospitality and Catering could be the career for you. We have state-of-the-art training kitchens and an on-site training restaurant, ‘Food For Thought”.

The Catering and Hospitality Department


Our highly vocational programmes are delivered in bespoke, industry-standard facilities, and students benefit from screens above each work station to ensure that all those present have a clear view of techniques and dishes being demonstrated to the class.

Students develop the skills and knowledge to produce industry standard foods in realistic working environments, with an emphasis on workplace practices relating to productivity, food hygiene, the reduction of waste, and an understanding of profit-margins.


What You Can Expect
  • Develop your skills in professional cookery in our modern training kitchens and also have the opportunity to gain experience in a realistic working environment.
  • Cover units such as food safety in catering, health and safety, food preparation.
  • Learn to prepare and cook a variety of different foods, using different methods including boiling, poaching, steaming, roasting, baking, grilling and frying.
  • External visitors providing demos including Royal Navy, The Marriott HotelGroup, local butchers and fishmongers, and the RAC Club.
  • Work with fresh produce at all stages of the qualifications.
  • Trips which can include Borough Market, Food Expos and industry establishments.


Our Facilities

Our highly vocational programmes are delivered in bespoke, industry-standard facilities, and students benefit from screens above each work station to ensure that all those present have a clear view of techniques and dishes being demonstrated to the class.

Progression

Our students have gone on to employers such as:

  • The RAC Club - Pall Mall
  • Epsom College
  • The Eight Bells
  • Nescot

POSSIBLE CAREERS...

  • Baker
  • Barista
  • Bar person
  • Butcher
  • Butler
  • Cake decorator
  • Catering manager
  • Chef
  • Consumer scientist
  • Counter service assistant
  • Food processing worker
  • Food scientist-food technologist
  • Housekeeper
  • Kitchen porter/assistant
  • Kitchen porter
  • Mobile catering assistant
  • Publican-licensee
  • Restaurant manager
  • Waiting staff

At Nescot we encourage our students to think ahead, so that they can choose the right courses to fit them and their future. We also use an innovative online platform called Start, which is a free and comprehensive digital platform, offering students a single starting point to help simplify careers guidance. Students can build a personal profile aimed at guiding them throughout their career. Find out more here.

Labour market trends

This chart shows some details about employment trends in the sector, and companies Nescot works with.

Skills you will gain

The catering and hospitality sector is rebounding strongly after pandemic lockdowns, showing that there will always be a high demand for skilled chefs and other catering professionals. Our courses will equip you with skills including:

  • Passion and drive for improvement
  • Understanding of nutrition, health and hygiene
  • Teamwork
  • Attention to detail and dexterity
  • Numeracy
  • Customer service with speed and accuracy
  • Reliability and responsibility
  • Knowledge of professional catering equipment
  • Health and safety


Photograph of a Nescot student

We work on a lot of different dishes, and I enjoy the variety. One of my favourite units recently was making pasta from scratch. The college sells what we make to staff around the college for a low price. Sometimes customers tell the teachers how much they liked something that you made. It’s really nice to know that people are buying our dishes and enjoying them and it motivates me to keep improving.
Brooke
Level 2 Catering

Photograph of a Nescot student

Every part of the course is based around what we’ll be doing in the industry, from the things we learn and the way we’re taught to the standards they expect of us when we’re in the kitchen. For example, it’s important to always be on time and in the correct uniform, because when you’re working professionally then your team depends on you. We also do work experience at part of the course, and this helps us to put the skills we’ve learnt practice.
Sam
Level 1 Catering

Photograph of a Nescot student

The tutors always talk about what it’s like to work in catering, like telling you the right etiquette in a kitchen, and how to present food so that it looks really special. I’m in college four days a week, and at the weekends I work at a restaurant in Westminster. It’s a great experience and I’m learning a lot.
Ismail
Level 1 Catering

Catering at Nescot