Chef de Partie Review

My day to day role in my workplace is to prepare and cook a number of dishes from our menu. Usually my top priority would be to starters and desserts however, I may also be asked to work on main courses as well. Fridge temperature checks and food safety checks are also part of my job.

During my time on the apprenticeship course I've unfortunately been furloughed for the majority. I have however been able to help out at another restaurant that's been open. Whilst there I've been able to use certain new cooking techniques that we have been taught to college during my apprenticeship.

I'm enjoying my programme a lot and have been very happy to learn new cooking techniques, food origins, food seasons and generally working of a kitchen. the practical lessons are my favourite part as you it's only a small class of 8 so there's plenty of time to ask questions and you feel as if you're benefitting hugely.

The programme has been structed well but due to Covid has been some what obstructed. in a normal world I would be working at the restaurant and then going to college on a Tuesday and then back to work to put into practice the skills I've learnt. This had not been the case recently but will be soon enough.

I've had some support from my employer whilst at work. I had a meeting with Craig Parsons about the apprenticeship and that was very informing and helpful in making my decision to take up this challenge. Again due to the way the last year has gone I've not had a huge amount of support but that being said if I wanted it I'm sure fullers would supply it without question.

I've not had much support from the training provider outside of college hours. I've had one video call with my assessor last year and the occasional form to fill out. we get taught in our theory lessons on how to complete our portfolio and the rest is up to us but as it's just recipes/dish specs it's fairly straight forward.

The Training I've been provided with by my employer will have help greater when I'm back at work full time. the skills I'm learning will greatly improve my performance at work as my cooking skills will be greatly improved also my organisational skills will help me perform towards tighter time schedules.

I've not been part of or heard of any extra-curricular activities apart from a xmas party at the beginning of 2020. However, due to the type of hours I do I'm not sure i would have much time to take part in activities. Again though due to this crazy year i wouldn't really expect there to be.

Yes

Fullers are a great company to work for, they appear to look after their staff in terms of training and the way they have open dialogue all the way from the kitchen porter to the area manager and so on. Being a big company there's plenty of room for promotion and/or relocation.

If you're looking to begin a career rather than a job then I believe Fuller's is a great place to start as i've meet a lot of people in my day to day life at Fuller's that have worked there way up the ladder and are currently in a much better position due to hard work and having a company that is willing to invest in it's employees.