To celebrate Hospitality Apprenticeships Week, we caught up with Dan Flannagan from the Liberation Group (one of our brand new Hospitality Career Excellence Hub endorsers), to get his thoughts on the sector, and how Weston College is supporting them.

Who are the Liberation Group (Butcombe)?

Butcombe are an award-winning range of pubs, bars and hotels with our own brewery that creates a fantastic range of stunning ales, lagers and IPA’s.  Our pubs are food led, having won the prestigious Best Food Offering Award at the National Publican Awards 2 years running.  We have an emphasis on local produce and everything we make is made from scratch, with no corners cut!

What challenges have you been facing over the last 18 months?

Like any Hospitality business, we have had a tough time with the closures of our pubs.  Everything we do is geared towards providing a great customer experience and we have really missed seeing our customers happy.  We have had some challenges around recruitment but are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel and believe that relationships with organisations such as Weston College will provide us with access to the next wave of talent in the industry.

Have you faced a skills shortage?

Our Back of House teams (kitchens) have faced the largest challenge in terms of recruitment.

How have you managed to combat these challenges?

We have created and rolled out a range of innovative solutions to help us address the recruitment challenge and believe that our best solution will always be to work with local colleges, charities and organisations that can help us identify, recruit and train the future stars of the business.

Why did you choose to work with Weston College?

We are proud of our Somerset roots and having grown our business in this area, a relationship with Weston College seemed a natural step.  Weston has a superb set up and we firmly believe that our future partnership will provide a huge benefit to both parties.

If you were starting in the sector now, what advice would they give to that young person?

I started myself in the hospitality when I was 16 years old in a hotel in Bristol and would say to anyone looking for a career in the industry, enjoy it!  Try and absorb everything you learn from your college, work placements and if you work in the industry, listen and learn from Head Chefs, General Managers etc.  It is easy in this industry to learn as people genuinely want to share their knowledge and help you develop.

If you'd like to enter the hospitality industry, you can study a course with us. Click on the link relevant link, below.

• 16-19 courses
• Apprenticeships
• Adult courses
• Find out about Career Excellence Hubs