Deliveroo launches new chef apprenticeship fund to tackle skills shortage

14 February 2020

Deliveroo has warned a shortage of trained chefs could arrest growth in the UK restaurant sector and harm British high streets as it unveils a major new training package for chefs and all 35,000 of the company’s restaurant partners and staff across the UK.

New research commissioned by Deliveroo shows that 8 in 10 of Deliveroo’s restaurant partners are struggling to hire new chefs, saying it is ‘moderately’ or ‘very difficult’ to recruit new chefs. More than half of restaurant partners (54%) cite not finding enough suitably qualified applicants as the main difficulty and barrier to hiring new chefs. And, nearly 7 in 10 of Deliveroo’s restaurant partners say it is ‘moderately’ or ‘very difficult’ to recruit front-of-house and kitchen staff.

Deliveroo has responded to the concern of their restaurant partners by launching a new chef apprenticeship scheme funded by part of the company’s apprenticeship levy. This will invest £100,000 per year to train up to 20 chefs a year.

The new scheme will be run in partnership with HIT Training. HIT will work with Deliveroo’s restaurant partners and offer access to its national chef academy.

To address the sector-wide skills shortage of trained chefs, both Deliveroo and HIT Training are calling on the Government to lift the restriction on apprenticeship levy transfers and allow large employers the power to contribute as much as they choose down their supply chain.

Large employers such as Deliveroo are currently restricted by a 25% cap on the amount of unspent apprenticeship levy which can be transferred to businesses in their supply chains who would otherwise have to pay for an apprenticeship via the government co-investment model. For Deliveroo, this amounts to nearly half a million pounds over five years for small restaurants.

If Deliveroo were able to transfer up to 50% of the levy, for example, this sum could amount to a million pounds of investment directly to support a new generation of chefs and the restaurant sector.

Deliveroo has also launched 4,000 market-leading, online training courses to its 35,000 restaurant partners and their staff. Deliveroo is the first food delivery company to offer training of this kind, alongside a package of lifestyle savings and well-being plans.

Rohan Pradhan, Chief Operating Officer, Deliveroo, said: “Deliveroo is proud to work closely with 35,000 restaurant partners across the UK, who produce amazing food. We wanted to respond to their concerns and support their skills training to develop more young chefs.

“We speak to restaurants across the country every day and want to help them tackle the challenges they face. That is why Deliveroo is investing in new chef apprenticeships and rolling-out thousands of online training courses for all our restaurant partners and their staff.

“Our priority is to help our restaurant partners hire, train and upskill restaurants' workforces and develop a new generation of culinary talent. We’re always looking for new ways to help our restaurant partners grow their businesses and, ultimately, bring more amazing food to even more customers.”

Jill Whittaker, Managing Director, HIT Training, added: “Hospitality is one of the most vibrant and exciting sectors to work in, yet there isn’t a business within the industry that’s not affected by staff shortages.

“We are delighted that Deliveroo is supporting our Don’t Waste: The Future of Hospitality campaign. The aim of the campaign is to bring the industry together and leverage its combined resources to support businesses of all shapes and sizes across the sector.”