‘Decent grades are desirable, but passion and talent will make you a success’

Two men at the highest levels of London’s hospitality industry reveal why they have broken the habit of a lifetime to take on their first apprentices, reports David Cohen
p20 p21 Ladder for London: CEO of Rex Restaurants Jeremy King with apprentices; Candice Clarke, 18, left, Paris Daway, 19, Halima Begum, 17, and Bianca Price, 19, from City Gateway at the Brasserie Zedel, Piccadilly. PHOTO MATT WRITTLE Picture commissioned exclusively by the London Evening Standard. Use in another publication will require a fee.
MATT WRITTLE

One of London’s top restaurateurs has signed up to the Ladder for London campaign, telling potential recruits: “Ours is an industry in which raw talent and aptitude is far more important than the grades you got at school.”

Jeremy King has never hired apprentices before but, inspired by our initiative, has promised to employ 12 young people trained by our partner City Gateway, and pay them the London living wage, earning them up to £16,125 in their first year.

Chatting to recruits in his Brasserie Zédel, Mr King said: “I started on the lowest rung, as a barman in a Chelsea wine bar, never thinking it would be more than a stop-gap job before university. But I was promoted and decided to forgo university, became a manager at 21, opened my first restaurant, Le Caprice, at 27, then a few years later, The Ivy, and I’ve never looked back.”

Mr King, 58, is the chief executive of Rex Restaurants — owners of The Wolseley, The Delaunay, Colbert and Brasserie Zédel. He urged the apprentices “to see themselves as they could be in 10 years”.

Also taking on apprentices for the first time is hotelier Henrik Muehle, the managing director of the five-star St James’s Hotel and Club, who is employing two youngsters.

“In our trade, it is best to learn from the bottom up through an apprenticeship,” he said. “I started as an apprentice at 19 and went from kitchen to housekeeping to reception. Today, I run a hotel with £8  million turnover and 86 staff. I grew up in Germany, where they have one of the best apprenticeship programmes in the world, and that is a big reason why youth unemployment is so low.

“I applaud Ladder for London because it is precisely what London needs, and I hope other hotels will follow our lead.”

The youth unemployment level in Germany of eight per cent — compared with 25.9 per cent in London — shows what can be achieved if we broaden the base of companies hiring apprentices, the aim of Ladder for London. Office for National Statistics figures show the urgency of the situation, with the number of jobless Londoners aged between 16 and 24 rising 8,000 to 128,000 since the summer.

Since the launch of Ladder for London two months ago, and with 1,036 companies making enquiries, we are well on our way to our initial goal of creating 500 apprenticeships by Christmas.

Meanwhile, hundreds of youngsters have signed up for pre-apprenticeship training at City Gateway. Richard Cruden, 18, told Henrik Muehle that he commutes from Surbiton to Tower Bridge in the hope that his IT training will lead to a decent job.

Richard, who left school with 10 GCSEs — six at A to C — and has struggled to overcome dyslexia and dyspraxia, said: “I read about Ladder for London and thought this is brilliant for motivated people like me.”

Mr Muehle showed Richard the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant and introduced him to his star, marketing manager Benedetta Fullin. “Benedetta started as an apprentice,” he said, “and now, at 28, she’s a manager.”

He told Richard: “We can train you in the skills, but it’s the passion to give somebody a great experience that we are after.” He said the two apprentices would start at Easter, with one in the rooms division and one in food and beverage, and that both would be paid the London living wage.

At Rex Restaurants, which has a staff of 550, Mr King said five apprentices would work as commis chefs, five as junior waiters and two as back bar staff, starting over the next few months. He told four potential recruits — Bianca Price, Halima Begum, Paris Daway, and Candice Clarke: “Anyone with aptitude can progress very quickly.”

As the young people quizzed Mr King about his rise to the top, Bianca, 19, and unemployed since leaving school three years ago, summed up their mood: “It’s not exactly McDonald’s, is it? I’d be proud to bring my mum and tell her this is where I work. I have applied for so many jobs and got nowhere and now, suddenly, big doors are opening. It blows me away.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in