Apprentice Catering Assistant

Summary

We're looking for someone special with a keen interest in food to learn how to prepare and cook some of our fantastic recipes, whilst supporting the team to ensure we can offer the best level of service to our customers.

Wage

Competitive

Competitive wage offered

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Training course

Production chef (level 2)

Hours

You'll be working Monday - Friday, no evenings or weekends. You'll work 40 weeks of the year (term-time only) plus 6 weeks study time.

30 hours a week

Start date

Monday 5 May 2025

Duration

1 year 6 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you’ll do at work

As an Apprentice Catering Assistant, you will support the team in basic food preparation and provide excellent service to both students and staff.

Your responsibilities will also include:

Preparing and cooking dishes from our menu
Working on the tills during service
Cleaning duties within the kitchen
Ensuring Health and safety compliance is met
Providing friendly and polite customer service for all

Where you’ll work

Lichfield Road
Sutton Coldfield
B74 2NH

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

ASPENS-SERVICES LIMITED

Your training course

Production chef (level 2)

Equal to GCSE

Course contents

Prepare and cook pre-portioned fresh and frozen meat, fish, and poultry to business standards.
Prepare and cook fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables to business standards.
Prepare salad vegetables to business standards.
Cook poached, simmered, steamed, boiled, braised, stewed, baked, grilled, and fried dishes.
Regenerate dried and frozen ingredients and dishes.
Undertake stock control, storage, and rotation.
Communicate professionally with colleagues, line managers, stakeholders, and customers.
Work as part of a team to support service delivery.
Follow specifications to produce, portion, and present food.
Manage own time to ensure allocated tasks are completed.
Use techniques for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing to support self and others, including asking for and giving help with daily tasks.
Use feedback to improve own performance.
Prepare and close down an area for service.
Use problem solving techniques to resolve routine and non-routine issues within scope of own role.
Maintain prep and par levels according to business need.
Clean and maintain manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, and technology.
Follow standard operating procedures to select and safely use appropriate knives and boards for the task, for example red handled knife and red board for raw meat.
Monitor and record food temperatures and manage allergens during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving.
Apply hygiene management techniques to maintain a safe clean work environment, for example COSHH, personal hygiene, and uniform.
Reduce the waste of resources, acting to measure and reduce plate waste, exercise portion control, and maximise yield.
Comply with health and safety legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures, including stress management.
Follow equity, diversity, and inclusion legislation and organisational policies.
Deliver to key performance indicators to support the production, performance, and budget within own area of responsibility.
Use manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, machinery, and technology.
Prepare and cook pre-portioned fresh and frozen meat, fish, and poultry to business standards.
Prepare and cook fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables to business standards.
Prepare salad vegetables to business standards.
Cook poached, simmered, steamed, boiled, braised, stewed, baked, grilled, and fried dishes.
Regenerate dried and frozen ingredients and dishes.
Undertake stock control, storage, and rotation.
Communicate professionally with colleagues, line managers, stakeholders, and customers.
Work as part of a team to support service delivery.
Follow specifications to produce, portion, and present food.
Manage own time to ensure allocated tasks are completed.
Use techniques for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing to support self and others, including asking for and giving help with daily tasks.
Use feedback to improve own performance.
Prepare and close down an area for service.
Use problem solving techniques to resolve routine and non-routine issues within scope of own role.
Maintain prep and par levels according to business need.
Clean and maintain manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, and technology.
Follow standard operating procedures to select and safely use appropriate knives and boards for the task, for example red handled knife and red board for raw meat.
Monitor and record food temperatures and manage allergens during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving.
Apply hygiene management techniques to maintain a safe clean work environment, for example COSHH, personal hygiene, and uniform.
Reduce the waste of resources, acting to measure and reduce plate waste, exercise portion control, and maximise yield.
Comply with health and safety legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures, including stress management.
Follow equity, diversity, and inclusion legislation and organisational policies.
Deliver to key performance indicators to support the production, performance, and budget within own area of responsibility.
Use manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, machinery, and technology.

Your training plan

You'll enrol onto the Level 2 Production Chef apprenticeship with Aspens-Services. If you require English and Maths, we'll also help you achieve these in-house.

The training will take place monthly on-site and/or online. You'll have your own skills coach, who will provide support and guidance, alongside your manager.

Full training will be provided to ensure you are successful in the role
Functional skills if required

Requirements

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
IT skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Customer care skills
Presentation skills
Team working
Non judgemental
Patience

About this company

Aspens Services Ltd is a market leading contract catering company specialising in school food. By combining our understanding of the education sector and our knowledge of what’s on trend in the food world, we encourage creativity and excitement in our kitchens, allowing our teams to do what they do best and provide fantastic food experiences for the children. By providing excellent care and services to both clients and children, we have ensured the successful growth of the company and to keep up with the rapid pace of this growth, we are now looking for an Apprentice Chef! With over 700 sites we are one of the top 100 fastest growing independent companies in the UK with great career opportunities! If you’re passionate about skills development, we want to hear from you

After this apprenticeship

On completion of the Level 2 Production Chef apprenticeship, we will encourage you to progress on to the Level 3 Senior Production Chef apprenticeship, learning supervisory skills for the kitchen.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

ASPENS-SERVICES LIMITED

Nicki

nicki.tilt@support-services.com

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000313449.

Apply now

Closes in 6 days (Friday 2 May 2025)

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After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.

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