Experienced chef and co-owner of successful Taupō eatery Ploughmans Restaurant, Louisa Redward-Keehan knows creating and keeping the ideal chefs builds a thriving business.

She and her husband have owned the popular restaurant for ten years. In that time, they’ve hired graduates from tertiary institutions, and upskilled unskilled kitchen hands on-job with a Cookery Apprenticeship.

It’s not a Masterchef contest, but it’s as clear as consommé for Louisa who the best choice is for their business.

“We generally find that apprentices are keen and eager to learn, work hard and develop their skills to a high standard to please our customers.”

Louisa started her culinary career as a teenager, starting out in catering and going on to complete hospitality qualifications and chef training on-job at the majestic Chateau Tongariro hotel on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. Overseas, she further developed her skills with stints in restaurants and hotels in Canada.

Her Taupō eatery serves between 100 to 150 on weekends, and over 200 on really busy nights.

This year, she has a new head chef with 24 years’ international experience, and her “superstar kitchen hand” is moving up in the world with a ServiceIQ apprentice chef training programme.

From her experience, it takes a special kind of person to perform well in the heat of a frantic restaurant kitchen, where dozens of hungry diners await quick-service of quality dishes. With high stakes, failure isn’t an option and any waste from mistakes is a cost to the business.

“You’re going to learn to cook faster and to a higher standard when you train on-job with one-on-one mentoring from a head chef,” says Louisa.

“In a commercial kitchen, there’s a hierarchy with people shouting at you to get things done. It can seem like craziness but that’s just how it works. You are serving paying customers who rightly expect high quality service.”

In Taupō, it can be hard to attract and retain staff says Louisa, “even though we train well and pay fairly”. Upskilling talented employees on a 36 month ServiceIQ Cookery Apprenticeship gives her security that they’re going to be around for a decent length of time.

Happy customers and a growing business is proof that workplace training is a ready-made recipe for success, with benefits all round, says Louisa.

“People are coming through the door, and the figures say it all. It’s going really well. In fact, we went on holiday in April thinking it would be quiet at the restaurant, but it turned out to be madly busy. It was a strong start to winter for the business, our new head chef, and our new apprentice.”

For more information, please contact ServiceIQ on 0800 863 693 or email intel@ServiceIQ.org.nz