Kelly’s apprenticeship journey with the #bmFamily💜💚

Meet Kelly, a talented Chef de Partie at one of our sites in Reading. Kelly started her career with the #bmFamily💜💚 at a site in Surrey as a General Assistant back in 2015. Her boss at the time, Jackie, noticed Kelly’s natural instincts and talent in the kitchen and encouraged her to do an apprenticeship scheme whilst working at bartlett mitchell. Despite confidence setbacks, coursework to learn and the fear of being assessed in front of her peers, Kelly gave it her best shot and passed with flying colours, receiving her City & Guilds qualification in Professional Cookery last year. From there, doors have opened wide.

Still a General Assistant, but now with a qualification and passion to progress, Operations Manager, Georgina Tomlin, secured a sneaky place for Kelly at one of the prestigious Adam Byatt training sessions. This is where she was ‘noticed’, having shown insight and understanding on the various topics from the training session. Development Chef, Darryl Young, then approached Kelly to see if she would like to help with the mobilization of a new site in Reading. Not one to miss out on an opportunity and despite feeling like a small fish in a big pond, Kelly went for it. Kelly impressed the socks off the chefs on site who were shocked to hear that she was a General Assistant, especially as she had prepared quality food to a very high standard without ever having done this before, and nailed it.

With encouragement and support from Luis, Stuart, Antony, Darryl, Georgina and Jackie, Kelly has been promoted to Chef de Partie and is loving her new role. “People that I have worked with at bartlett mitchell have always shown me their support and really believed in me, even if I didn’t always believe in myself. They have mentored me and encouraged me to ask questions and develop at my own pace.  Through the NVQ process, I have not only gained a new qualification, I’ve also been promoted and found a fantastic team to work with in Reading. This is a dream come true. It’s teamwork that makes the dream work. Thank you #bmFamily💜💚”