Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to open an expanded cookery school at River Cottage

30 January 2013 by
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to open an expanded cookery school at River Cottage

TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage business is to open an expanded cookery school, as it branches out from teaching amateur cooks to professional chefs at its base in Axminster.

The cookery school now has City & Guilds accreditation and will offer courses for individual professional chefs, as well as those from restaurant groups. Courses on offer include: a professional cookery level 2 apprenticeship; accredited one-day workshops to allow chefs to build skills they do not currently have; a young chef's apprenticeship scheme; and a professional cookery level 3 apprenticeship.

Rob Greacen, director of River Cottage, said the new venture, which is set to open on 1 April on the extended site of River Cottage's existing cookery school, had been driven by a need for more skilled chefs in River Cottage's own Canteen restaurant and deli business.

"One of the reasons we have got more interested in this is that we have been opening our own restaurants called Canteens and looking at the quality of staff that have come in and it has become pretty clear to us that there is more and more requirement for training and development of chefs, so we see this school as fitting in with the expansion of the River Cottage business and hopefully expanding the skillset that we can offer," he said.

There are currently two River Cottage Canteens, in Plymouth and Axminster. A new 140-cover site is expected to open in Bristol at the end of this month, with another planned for Winchester later in the year.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to expand River Cottage brand to Bristol and Winchester >>](http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/24/10/2012/345894/Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall-to-expand-River-Cottage-brand-to-Bristol-and.htm)

[Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage cookery school site hit by barn fire >>](http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/08/02/2012/342246/Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall39s-River-Cottage-cookery-school-site-hit-by-barn.htm)

By Neil Gerrard

E-mail your comments to Neil Gerrard here.

Tabletalk
Tabletalk
If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/tabletalk

Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

[Blogs on Catererandhotelkeeper.com ](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/blogs) Catch up with more news and gossip on all Caterer's blogs
[E-Newsletters](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/email-newsletters.htm)[ For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our E-newsletters
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking