Sandie
I’m a qualified chef and I’ve been cooking for over 20 years, but I wanted to move into a management role. This catering manager role came up and I was really drawn to the job and the business, so I applied!
Teamwork
The thing I enjoy most about the role is the organization; everybody is on the same page and things run smoothly. I think I’ve made a great career move as this is such a hard-working team, with so many different personalities, but we are all so supportive of one another. Not everyone is the same and that’s great when it comes to contributing to the business; everyone has a different opinion, a different strength and we’re able to balance out each other’s weaknesses in that way.
Because of that, we all have a shared respect for one another, so that really helps with teamwork; everybody is confident to have their say, yet also receive constructive criticism. It’s great when we have students working with us and we can show them that this is how you need to work in a professional environment: treating everyone with respect.
Supporting learners
I am now working together with our Life Skills faculty to support our LLDD (Learners with Learning Difficulties or Disabilities) cohort. We have a student that comes to our Recharge café daily to get experience of working in a busy café environment. We support the students, giving them training in different aspects of the business and an understanding of how a business works and working as part of a team.
Looking forward
I’m also very excited to be part of the bakery that will be starting on the 25th of April 2022. This is part of the PIP café that will be a new part of the Life Skills business. It will teach the LLDD students how to bake and sell the products to paying customers.
I feel a real sense of achievement and happiness when I see that the support that I am giving is going to make a difference in someone’s life.