Manchester event highlights why foodservice is “one of the best industries in the world”
The Foodservice Equipment Association (FEA) hosted their latest sold-out NextGen event on July 9th in Manchester. Taking place at Browne Jacobson LLP it brought together professionals at the start of their careers and leading industry figures along with NextGen’s leadership team. Together they took a deep dive into issues surrounding the challenge of attracting and retaining the next generation of talent into the foodservice equipment industry.
Since the initiative was launched earlier this year it has already seen enormous interest from new entrants to companies covering all areas of the industry. It has also established important partnerships with the leading careers advice specialists Unifrog and Arena, the hospitality industry’s networking association.
The Manchester event delivered opportunities for further personal development and training. But it also went deeper and outlined the benefits training confers on advancing within the industry.
Joshua Troth, digital marketing specialist at Parts Town UK and one of the NextGen Leadership team joined the industry nearly two years ago, shifting his career focus from chef to marketing. He’s a huge advocate for careers in the industry, as food and the culture around it is universal. “It’s a really vibrant industry to be part of, everyone understands food, and it links into a lot of people’s interests,” he said.
The day began with a presentation from Adam Lawrence, marketing manager at FEA, who gave an update on NextGen’s activities since the previous event, including the announcement of a collaborative partnership with Arena which offers preferential rates for FEA NextGenners to Arena events.
He also urged delegates to take up the new, exclusive FEA NextGen offer for people with less than three years in the industry allowing them to attend FEA’s annual conference for a 50% discounted rate.
The next session was delivered by Chris Noble, regional sales manager at Lainox. Chris explained NextGen’s proposed mentoring scheme structure and how connecting new employees with experienced professionals through NextGen will further develop a skilled and motivated taskforce, particularly in conjunction with training. He outlined how mentoring coupled with FEA’s industry leading Certified Food Service Professional (CFSP) course provide the perfect platforms for growth.
The importance of training was highlighted by Alex Waring, director of foodservice equipment sector recruitment business Foxton Budd. She outlined the principles underpinning NextGen – promoting careers within the foodservice equipment industry, and harnessing the diversity of employees, as well as tapping their experience to help new employees find their feet quickly – and how they deliver huge benefits not just to new starters but the whole company, too.
Research presented by Alex showed that 94% of employees say they’d stay at a company longer if it invested in their development, while firms with strong learning cultures see 30–50% higher retention than those without.
The importance of training in career development was highlighted by Zachary Bland, who began working as a business development manager at Winterhalter UK just two months before the event. “I’ve visited a wide range of different businesses since I joined Winterhalter,” he says. “It’s given me a huge appreciation for all the work you don’t see as a consumer. So much goes on behind the scenes.”
This view was echoed by Bajine Augustine, a designer at Inox Equip Ltd. “It’s an ever-growing industry where everything is changing — it’s nice to learn about that.”
The day was rounded out with a Masterclass session from Matty White, presenter, broadcaster and content creator known for championing the people, places and personalities behind the North West’s food and hospitality scene. Expertly interviewed by Liam Green, managing director of Forest Catering Equipment and part of the NextGen leadership team, Matt spoke about creating great content and the importance of being yourself on social media and his experiences in interviewing big names such as Jason Momoa, Joe Wicks, Yotam Ottolenghi, Raymond Blanc, Angela Hartnett and Tom Kerridge.
He described the hospitality sector as “one of the only industries in the world where you can start right at the bottom and reach the top and become a manager within a couple of years.”
More information about the NextGen initiative and how you can get involved can be found at fea.org.uk/involvement/nextgen The Foodservice Equipment Association (FEA) is the independent, authoritative voice of the foodservice equipment industry, representing over 175 companies who supply, service and maintain all types of commercial catering equipment – from utensils to full kitchen schemes. For more information on FEA visit www.fea.org.uk