Member Article

Free training makes promotion a pizza cake for employees

Young employees at a Gateshead pizza restaurant are quickly climbing the career ladder after completing free skills training being rolled out to support local people and business.

Team members at MOD Pizza, one of the newest restaurant additions to the £17m Qube development within intu Metrocentre, have all gained promotion on the back of the Gateshead College courses.

The training was delivered as part Go>Grow, a regional skills and enterprise programme, which has been launched by the college in partnership with 30 local training providers. The programme was launched following £15m of funding being secured by Gateshead College from the European Social Fund through the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

MOD Pizza trainees took part in specially designed mentoring, customer service and sales courses delivered by the college at intu Metrocentre.

All participants have experienced impressive progression in their careers thanks to the Go>Grow courses. Ben Meynell, who is 23 and from Newcastle, has since earned a promotion to assistant manager at the store, and was chosen to launch the company’s London restaurant earlier this month.

Kayleigh Cowie, 23, is currently in the running to become north marketing manager for the business, while Rickiah Quinn, 22, has become an ‘All Star Captain’, a supervisor level role, at the Newcastle branch.

Ben said: “The training has given me so much confidence and allowed me to quickly progress in my career. It was interesting and relevant and provided us with knowledge which we wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.

“I really enjoyed the experience, which led to me going on to open the London MOD Pizza store and a recent promotion to assistant manager. The sky’s the limit now and I am excited about my future within MOD Pizza and the hospitality industry.”

Katie Miller, national training manager for MOD Pizza, said: “The Go>Grow programme benefitted both our employees and the business by providing us with an upskilled and confident workforce.

“We met with the trainer and talked through exactly what we wanted to gain from it as well as our company values and our business plan. The excellent programme was specifically designed to meet our needs and I would certainly recommend it to other businesses.

“Ben especially has really thrived since completing the training. Since the workshops he has been promoted to assistant manager, with an increased level of responsibility alongside a subsequent pay rise.

“His strengths lie in his ability to mentor the team through leadership and Ben has also improved significantly on his customer engagement whilst working and coaching the team. He’s an asset to the team and has a bright future with MOD.”

Go>Grow has the backing of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and North East England Chamber of Commerce.

Experts will work to develop training that meets the individual needs of businesses, or offer those who wouldn’t ordinarily undertake training programmes, the opportunity to access bespoke packages specific to their needs.

A tailormade programme is then developed and delivered at any of the Go>Grow training provider sites, or within the premises of the individual businesses.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Go>Grow .