It’s a very exciting time at Stokes Tea & Coffee as their development at The Lawn continues to grow. The Lawn houses their head office, a café and a state-of-the-art roasting facility which is linked to a purpose-built training room where, Michael Palliser, Head Roaster and Barista Trainer runs a significant number of training courses. Michael and his team will be even busier in April as Stokes have forged a long-term relationship with the Princes Trust – Youth Can Do It programme to develop and nurture Baristas of the future.
If you are 16-30 and interested in a career as a Barista the Prince’s Trust and Stokes Tea & Coffee are offering an exciting opportunity to work and train in the hospitality sector. The 3-week programme involves a 3-day barista course in Stokes’ training centre, using industry level coffee machines, and a work placement in a café environment. This will enable the candidate to:
- Gain work experience in Stokes and other supporting cafés
- Train in Stokes’ own barista training centre
- Gain a City & Guilds Level 2 VRQ qualification in Barista Skills
- Boost their employability skills
- Receive support from the Princes Trust for up to 6 months following the programme
The initial programme will run with the following time-line: There will be a taster day on Thursday, 11th April, where they will be given a Dragons’ Den Pitch Activity – ‘Create a new drink’ – this will give them all a chance to shine and show their personality and team building skills. Competitive and learning in one day. Alongside the City & Guilds training, there will be learning interviews, and team building tasks to help them with their life skills and employability skills.
From the candidates chosen, the group will be split into two and will attend the City & Guilds Level 2 VRQ course from Wednesday, 17th to Friday, 19th April and Wednesday, 24th April to Friday, 26th April 2019. Candidates from both these groups will then gain further work experience within Stokes cafés and participating customers businesses.
Samantha Pover, Marketing Manager said, “I’m really passionate about helping young people upskill, increase their employability skills and help with life skills. We’re really happy that our customers are engaging too and are playing their part in helping these young people by offering them valuable work experience.”
Samantha continued, “Having the support of the BSA is amazing and it’s great that the young people will come out of this 3-week course with a recognised City and Guilds qualification.”
All this hard work will be celebrated on Thursday 9th May where a ‘Celebration Day’ will be held in Stokes Blue Room. Both groups will be invited, together with participating café managers, parents, friends & family. After receiving their City & Guilds certificates in a “graduation style” ceremony, they will then make a range of hot beverages for everyone – no pressure!
Looking forward, Stokes and The Princes Trust look to build upon this programme and develop it with other City & Guilds VRQ Level 2 Barista Skills providers.
