Year 13 BTEC Training at The Loft

Year 13 BTEC students completed their Customer Service units by having a hands-on practice at The Loft, a cafe, a training centre and the head office of Pirata Group.

Students have the privilege to hear words from the Group CEO, meeting the Head of Training, the Head of People Relations and of course, the Chef. The training gave students a valuable insight about the importance of great customer guest service and highlighted how challenging it has been for the industry during the pandemic.

From the front house to the kitchen work, students had the opportunity to take part in different guest service activities, below were some of the highlights

• Kitchen tasks – weighing and rolling dough for pizza, shaping pizza, helping collate delivery orders and washing the pots
• Front of house – Taking orders in the cafe, serving the food and meeting and greeting guest as they enter The Loft
• Training exercises – laying tables and learning how to take orders and dealing with complaints.

At the end of the section, students sat down for a lunch of pizza and pasta that they cooked together with the chefs.

Rachel Handley (13R) who studies Hospitality and Business said, “I incredibly enjoyed the trip to The Loft, the staff were all very friendly and helpful. Speaking on behalf of everyone else I’m sure we can all say that this experience has been extremely helpful, memorable, and a true learning experience.”

Chris Lord, Head of Food Technology said, “Many thanks to all the Pirata team who helped to put on this amazing Guest Service training, this truly was one of the best experiences that the students could have asked for and was great that we still managed to go ahead with everything that is going on with COVID.”