Date Published: 25 Jun 2007
1. More than 40 Professionals, Managers, Executives (PMEs) have left well-paying jobs to made a career switch to the F&B industry. These PMEs who hailed from IT, retail, banking sectors, are among more than 100 Singaporeans and PRs who have signed up for the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) culinary scholarship offered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and at-sunrice to help adults to embark on professional careers in F&B industry.
2. 27-year old Mr Lee Sheng Yu is one such PME. Mr Lee graduated with a bachelor degree from the Queensland University of Technology and worked as a software developer. While well-paid as a software developer, spending 10 to 12 hours in front of a computer was just not satisfying. He decided to pursue his passion in culinary through the WSQ scholarship. So far, WDA has invested about $1.5million to train pool of chefs to meet industry demand.
3. With 23 new hotels and the two Integrated Resorts to be opened in the next 3 years, demand for skilled F&B workforce is likely to grow from current workforce of 69,000 to 75,000. Welcoming the need to train a ready pool of skilled labour is Mr Douglas Foo, Chief Executive Officer, Apex-Pal International, “These are exciting times for the F&B industry in Singapore. To ensure that we can grow and sustain our competitive edge, we need to ensure that our workforce has the right skills and right service mindset, so that Singapore can become a world class tourism hub. It is never too early to prepare and train our workforce for this challenge.”
4. As Singapore’s only culinary academy, at-sunrice has designed a unique work-study programme where trainees can also learn from world class chefs from both the school and industry itself. Says it’s CEO Christophe Megel, “The most challenging but also most valuable part of the training programme is harnessing established chefs from industry to participate in the education and nurturing of Singapore’s aspiring chefs. These include Chef Otto Weibel from Swissotel, Chef Angelo Sanelli from Michelangelo’s and Chef John Sloane from Sats Catering. Our graduates are industry savvy and almost all of them found jobs within 3 months of graduation.” Since it is founded in 2001, the school has enrolled close to 500 students from 25 countries. Since its collaboration with WDA to offer the WSQ scholarship, the school has seen a strong interest from Singaporeans on careers in F&B industry.
5. To help Singaporeans find out more about career opportunities in F&B, at-sunrice has organised TalentMatch –Singapore’s only culinary career fair. The event includes a graduation ceremony to showcase the graduating class of aspiring chefs from the school; as well as a platform for CEOs, General Managers, Executive HR directors from hotels and restaurants to share about trends and job opportunities in the F&B industry.
About At-sunrice The Singapore Culinary Academy & Spice Garden
At-sunrice has a global vision to lead the way in maintaining the integrity of food and cuisine by delivering the best professional culinary arts education. As the Singapore brand of culinary arts education, we lead our students towards the GlobalChef© path by delivering formal education in East and West, Herbs and Spices, Old and New World cuisines; providing Work and Study rotations at top hotels, restaurants and luxury homes; providing sensory experiences for enjoyment and education; and selecting partners who actively endorse our vision and champion our students’ success.
