Hospitality & Catering
Hospitality and Catering is a dynamic industry, employing 1.5 million people nationally, in hotels, restaurants, hospitals, industrial food services, travel industries and the armed services. For those with drive and enthusiasm, it offers many exciting opportunities to develop and succeed – and the training starts here.
For anyone wishing to follow any Catering training, we look for enthusiasm and personality rather than academic ability, and there’s no age-limit on any of our courses. We focus primarily on developing the essential skills you’ll need to work effectively and productively in the hospitality industry.
You’ll receive training within a variety of realistic working environments including kitchens, restaurants, a bar and a bakery. All practical sessions are supported with the necessary theory to give you a full understanding and prepare you for entry into your chosen career.
The Hospitality and Catering Department has an excellent reputation locally and nationally, due to the skills and professionalism of its students, demonstrated by success in competitions such as Rotary ‘Young Chef of the Year’, the UK Skills Challenge and Restaurant Magazine’s ‘College Restaurant of the Year’.
We work closely with a range of employers both locally and nationally to ensure we are developing current industry skills and techniques, and also to enable us to provide high quality work experience and employment opportunities.
Our specialist resources include:
• Two restaurants: The Lane Restaurant & Brasserie which combine contemporary formal dining and banqueting with more informal, popular dining.
• Two cafeteria outlets: The Lookout (full refectory service) and The Lookout Express (quick counter service) at Booth Lane plus cafeterias at Lower Mounts and Daventry.
• Three production kitchens
• Two specialist training kitchens (Pastry and Larder)
• One production bakery
• Three general training kitchens
• A fully-functional front of house reception and bar area
• Realistic working environments providing members of the public and the College with a varied range of hospitality services
• Highly-qualified staff with many years’ commercial experience to train you to the highest standards during your studies.
Enrichment programme
As well as the main academic programme, you'll also be expected to take part in the College Enrichment Programme, which offers a wide range of activities such as sign language, sports, drumming, driving test theory and many more.
For more information please see our Enrichment area.