and Tasmania.
“We’ve got paying customers that come in every week, so the teachers, we sell food to them. That provides students that interaction with customers, interaction with EFTPOS machines and learning how to use cash and non-cash transactions. It has to be broad, because I wanted them to understand it’s not just about cooking the food and going, ‘Oh, we’re done now’, and just push that to the side. “The younger kids... they don’t realise what hospitality is and what it has to offer. There’s so many opportunities available” - Pete Handy “There’s also the cleaning side of things, making sure that everything is spick and span to industry standards. Ultimately, I want these kids to be able to walk into a workplace and the workplace go, ‘Ah, you got trained properly.” Beyond the technical skills, Pete is equally focused on changing perceptions. Too often, he believes, hospitality is viewed as a fallback option rather than a career of choice. In his classroom, that
“I wanted to see what I could do with younger adults, so 15, 16, 17-year-olds, and getting them inspired to get into the industry, rather than training people that were already in the industry. So when I got an opportunity to go into Elizabeth College, I took it up.” At Elizabeth College, the approach is deliberately practical and grounded in real-world expectations. The course mirrors the structure of a registered training organisation, delivering nationally recognised qualifications while immersing students in a working kitchen environment. From commercial-grade equipment to real customer interactions, students are exposed to the full scope of hospitality operations. It is not simply about learning recipes, it is about understanding standards, systems and the discipline required to succeed in industry. “We try to make it as real world as possible. We’ve got a combi oven, we’ve got six burner gas stoves, we’ve got commercial deep fryers, we’ve got a commercial walk in cool room. Everything is as commercial as possible.
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review April/May Edition
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