Major hospitality operators tumble on government’s apprenticeship employer ranking

The UK government’s annual ranking of the top 100 apprenticeship employers has seen several major hospitality operators drop significantly year-on-year.

Mitchells & Butlers, which came in number one in the 2025 ranking, came in 17th in this year’s ranking. Other hospitality firms that ranked in the top 10 last year have also fallen substantially. McDonald’s, which came ninth in the government’s 2025 ranking, came 65th this year, while Premier Inn owner Whitbread did not rank in the top 100 this year, having ranked eighth in 2025.

Pub operator Greene King came in 34th in the 2026 rankings, having been 18th the previous year.

By contrast, Compass Group rose 10 places year-on-year in the rankings to 25th, and foodservice firm Sodexo UK rose three places to 43rd.

Compass Group’s UK & Ireland director of skills and early careers Jonathan Foot said: "We’re incredibly proud of this achievement and remain committed to investing in people, developing future talent and creating opportunities that help individuals build rewarding careers.”

The 2026 Top Apprenticeship Employers ranking was overseen this year by the Department of Work and Pensions, having fallen under the purview of the Department of Education in previous years.

The methodology for this year’s ranking has been updated to account for which employers convert the most apprenticeships from start to completion, as well as the proportion of apprentices in an employer’s overall workforce and the volume of 16-24 year old apprentices.

The annual ranking also takes into account employers’ investment in apprenticeship opportunities, programme breadth and inclusivity, and feedback directly from apprentices on their learning journey and overall experience.

A spokesperson for Whitbread said: "We are very proud of our apprenticeship offer, which remains unchanged, and forms an important part of our commitment to offering no barriers to entry and no limits to ambition. We offer apprenticeship standards at every level in our operation and across our support centre functions, with over 900 apprentices starting an apprenticeship last year, nearly 450 achieving their qualification and our achievement rate continuing to improve each year.

“Having improved from 35th to 27th in the 2026 The Sunday Times’ Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer rankings, we are looking into these results to understand how changes in criteria for 2026 may have impacted our ranking.”

Greene King’s head of learning Si Cox said: “We are hugely proud to be recognised on the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2026 list, which demonstrates Greene King’s continued commitment to driving skills development and creating meaningful career opportunities in hospitality.

"Since launching our apprenticeship programme, we have supported more than 19,000 apprentices across England, Scotland and Wales, helping people of all backgrounds build skills, progress their careers and realise their potential within our industry.

"Despite the ongoing economic challenges facing the sector, apprenticeships remain a key cornerstone of our people development strategy, and we will continue to work closely with our teams, training partners and government to further strengthen apprenticeship opportunities for the years ahead."

The Caterer has reached out to Mitchells & Butlers and McDonald’s for comment.

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