Mangan backs compulsory week of basic hospo training
Over the weekend, Sydney Morning Herald’s chief restaurant critic, Terry Durack wrote an article where he suggested a compulsory week of basic hospitality training for all school leavers.
The article was in response to the devastation caused by COVID-19 with regard to staffing levels and hiring staff.
Durack has support in his view from celebrity chef, Luke Mangan.
In an interview with Deborah Knight, Mangan said he recently advertised for staff and even though he had 100 applicants, not one single Aussie applied for the position.
Mangan thinks Durack knows what he is talking about and has a fantastic idea saying “the industry has been ‘crying’ for something like this that would get youing people involved in the industry.
“There are so many different avenues in our hospitality industry.
“You don’t have to cook. You can make coffee, you can be a bar person… Even a kitchen hand is a great job as well.”
Mangan said that getting young people involved in the hospitality industry will get them off their phones and into a job where there they can interact with others and learn from other people.
In his interview with Knight, Mangan also questioned where training funding has gone.
In 2019 the Australian skills minister (Stuart Robert) was given $7.2 billion dollars to create more skills and create training for people.
Mangan said this should have been put into apprentice training and education.
“Where has that money gone and what is the skills minister doing?” Mangan asked.
“We need to educate young kids to get into our industry.”
“Apprentices just aren’t coming into industries like ours anymore and when you don’t get one Aussie applying, that’s a worry.”
Irit Jackson, 26th April 2022
