HOLIDAY Inn Coventry will be one of 12 selected hotels to take part in a new Chef Development Academy.
The scheme is the brainchild of Valor Hospitality, the international hotel management company that runs Holiday Inn Coventry, to encourage local people to start a culinary career.
The scheme will launch in August and is in response to a national skills shortage in the sector.
Trainees in the pilot scheme will be paid £20,000 a year and will receive a full starter kit including chef whites, shoes and a knife set.
Valor will work with hospitality apprenticeship and training provider Umbrella Training to deliver one on one tutoring and on the job training.
The scheme aims to get candidates to become head chefs within five years.
The academy group trainees will also compete for quarterly bonuses, with the winners demonstrating the biggest development over the period.
Holiday Inn Coventry’s general manager, Edward Holland said: “The Chef Academy provides a brilliant opportunity for local people to get in the hospitality industry, all the while providing them with the training to have a thoroughly progressive career.
“As the hospitality industry deals with a chef shortage, there has never been a better time to seriously consider a career as a chef.”