Jupiter Hotels is a highly experienced multi brand operator within the UK’s hotel market. Predominately specialising in management of the Mercure and Holiday Inn brands, they currently manage 31 hotels across the UK. Their property portfolio includes country houses, business hotels, city centre and seaside locations, offering meeting and wedding facilities, award winning restaurants and Feel Good Health Clubs across their properties.
Like all hotel operators, the need for talented individuals has never been greater, and Jupiter takes a bottom up approach to team development. The organisation does everything it can to promote from within and recognise the achievements of individual staff members. Jupiter operates a flat management structure, in which any member of staff can share their ideas with a member of the senior team. They do this by operating an open-door policy at every level, and recognising and rewarding innovation. Small working parties and inter-hotel and inter-departmental knowledge sharing ensures timely communication, and this culture of openness and innovation ultimately allows them to stay ahead of the competition.
Jupiter Hotels’ Rising Stars and staff training programmes are some of the most respected in the hotel industry, and their approach to apprenticeships is no different. They offer a suite of apprenticeship pathways, attracting new talent and developing their own across a range of hospitality disciplines.
Steven Ridgeway is a prime example of how Jupiter support their employees’ career development in order that they reach their full potential. Steven began working for Jupiter as an apprentice Chef in one of their hotels and quickly excelled in developing his cookery skills, becoming a key member of the kitchen team. From the moment he began, the local management team were impressed by his commitment to the role and his enthusiastic work ethic.
Within a short period Steven decided that he wanted to take his development to the next level and enrolled himself on the Professional Cookery level 2 apprenticeship. Throughout the 12 month apprenticeship, Steven demonstrated a keen eagerness to learn new skills and he swiftly developed a vast knowledge of the Brasserie menu, quickly moving to the Pass and producing some quality dishes under pressure. His skills in the kitchen also improved significantly during the course, excelling in the importance of health and safety, food safety and technical chef skills. As an indicator of Stevens’s substantial progress, he has since trained new chefs coming into the kitchen, passing on the skills he has learnt to assist with wider team development.
Alongside his Inspiro apprenticeship, Steven attended the Jupiter Chef School where he worked with other trainee chefs and took part in professional cookery demonstrations, market/supplier visits, and practical sessions.
Not only did Steven show a keen commitment to improving his practical skills, he displayed a great deal of aptitude and resolve in his learning overall. When he first met Gemma, his Inspiro Regional Trainer, he revealed that he had severe dyslexia and was understandably concerned about doing his Essential Skills assessments. To tackle this problem, we scheduled extra lesson plans to develop his maths and English skills. During these extra sessions Steven exhibited real dedication and investment in his learning, even though he found the content difficult. Steven also attempted practice assessments that were set by Gemma and made a point of trying to read more books to improve his knowledge and even write out text messages to friends in a structured and grammatically correct way, instead of using slang.
Talking about Steven’s achievements, Karen Evans at Jupiter Hotels commented ‘Steven is a committed, talented individual with a great attitude and burning passion for producing brilliant food to ensure guest satisfaction.’
Speaking about Steven’s progress, Regional Trainer Gemma Williams said, ‘It is clear to me that he has picked the right profession and I can see him going a long way. I truly hope that he will decide to embark on a level 3 qualification because he is more than capable in excelling in this field.’
Testament to Steven’s enthusiasm and progress is that he has been promoted twice and shortlisted for Jupiter Hotels ‘Apprentice Chef of the Year’ Award.”
