Member Article

Huddersfield Caribbean restauranteur from Gordon Ramsay's F-Word encourages apprenticeships

Huddersfield chef and restaurateur Barrington Douglas quit his well-paid job at 40 years old, took his savings of 21 years and invested his money into a lifelong dream of opening a restaurant, Discovery Bay.

He is now expanding the business with a range of Caribbean-inspired products on sale in his town centre delicatessen.

He has developed the skills on offer to the business by taking on apprentices and is encouraging other businesses to see the benefits, and young people to see the opportunities of apprenticeships

He was also able to showcase one of his apprentices on national television when he appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s F-Word. La Shaun Price joined Barrington’s team as an apprentice but quickly rose through his team to be the head chef.

Barrington started out as the chef-owner of Discovery Bay but says apprentices have been key to him being able to take a step back from the restaurant on a day-to-day basis and branch out into more businesses.

Barrington thinks that apprenticeships should be considered for bringing in skills to the business you can’t get elsewhere: “The sort of food we specialise in at Discovery Bay is different so there is no ready-made chef that can come in and make the dishes we do.

“To make sure we have the skills we need we began to take on apprentices on day one and it has paid off hugely for us.

“With an excellent learning provider you get a lot of support which is vital for business owners who are already very busy. Our apprentices get the basic cooking skills and then by spending time in my kitchen they get the Caribbean training they need.”

“I’m not looking for people who want to come and work for me as a part-time job just to get through college and ultimately have some other career. I want people who want this to be their future, long-term.

“La Shaun Price joined me as an apprentice but now runs the kitchen team at Discovery Bay, which continues to include apprentices.

“When I started my business it controlled me and my life but now I can stand back, work on my plans for the future and run my business.

“My message is quite simply that apprenticeships are good. If you’re a small business, they can help take some of the pressure off you and you can teach them to be loyal to you, loyal to your business and pass your knowledge onto them. They can help your business grow because you can’t grow your business on your own.”

On Thursday 27 March, between 5.30pm and 8pm at The John Smith Stadium in Huddersfield, there will be a drop-in careers event promoting the benefits to young people and their parents with everyone interested invited to attend.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .