Are you looking for a future that offers a fun and fulfilling learning experience in an industry that’s flourishing and bursting with fresh ideas and opportunities? Then the fast-paced, multi-billion-pound hospitality and catering industry could offer the perfect fit.
And if you’re looking for a five-star Hospitality and Catering curriculum experience to help get you there then look no further than The Manchester College – the no.1 College in Greater Manchester for achievement*.
This unique academy for young, aspiring chefs in Greater Manchester and the North of England, offers you unrivalled access to the UK’s most inspirational culinary experts thanks to our fantastic partnership with The Chefs’ Forum.
Through the Industry Excellence Academy you’ll have access to weekly, three-hour long academy sessions – where you’ll create dishes under the guidance of critically acclaimed and rosette awarded chefs, participation in open question and answer sessions with industry leaders, work placements in prestigious hotels and restaurants and visits to restaurants to see best practice in action
Working together in a focused and fun environment we will provide you with the knowledge, skills, experience and employability to start to shape your future and take the first steps into this fresh and exciting industry and towards your dream.
Whichever level you start at, we offer qualifications focused on cooking, baking and patisserie and catering services from Level 1 to Level 3 that can enable you to create a successful future in the fast-growing hospitality and catering industry.
Cookery Skills
If you want to become a chef or work in a kitchen in a café or restaurant, one of our Cookery Studies or Professional Cookery Studies could be the perfect choice to build on your home-grown passion and start your valuable preparation to a future within the industry.
Food and Beverage Service
A career in the hospitality and catering industry isn’t confined to the kitchen. If you’re organised, flexible, a great team player and love talking to people, you might find that one of our Food and Beverage Service qualifications is a perfect fit. Whether the dream is to become a restaurant manager, run your own cafe or work in a customer orientated role serving food and drink, this is a great place to explore this dynamic industry sector.
Patisserie and Confectionery
Our Patisserie and Confectionery qualifications are perfect if you you’ve got a passion for baking and want to become a pastry chef, baker or cake-maker and produce perfect profiteroles, excellent éclairs, delicious desserts or beautiful bread.
Are you looking to perfect your passion for pastry, channel your love of baking or do you just want to try something new?
We have a range of low-cost evening courses available to adults of any ability and experience.
Whether you want to brush up on cake decoration, create perfect cupcakes, or learn about vegan or gluten free baking, our industry focused courses and expert tutors will help you to impress with a wide range of custom-made creations.
With a wealth of experience across the hospitality and catering industry, our team is perfectly placed to support and guide you to a successful career.
You’ll learn from their experiences managing, running and training staff at successful luxury hotels and restaurants, specialised bakeries and patisseries.
Passionate about teaching the next generation of hospitality and catering professionals, they are constantly ensuring their knowledge and skills are up-to-date by regularly attending skills sessions and continuing to work in industry.
Get to know some of our tutors:
Sue Hadfield - Assistant Principal
Sue possesses more than 25 years’ experience working in the further education sector and 35 years in the hospitality and catering industry, where she started her career becoming the first female sous chef employed in The French at the Midland Hotel Restaurant at the age of 24.
In October 2020, she was nominated by the Conseil Culinaire Francaise and the Association Culinaire Francaise to become a Disciple of Escoffier in recognition of her vast contribution to the hospitality industry and to education and training.
She is passionate about making a difference to students’ lives across the Service and Retail Industries department, enabling them to realise their dreams through high quality aspirational training and education.
Maxine Gunning - Head of Department
Maxine has a wealth of experience in the hospitality industry with specialist knowledge of food and beverage service and has worked as a Deputy Assistant Manager at a Manchester hotel. It was Maxine’s passion for training staff that brought her to The Manchester College, where she has taught a curriculum that she loves for almost fifteen years.
Mark Cooper - Hospitality and Catering Tutor
Mark Cooper is a Swiss trained baker and confectioner and a Master Patissier. After gaining this accolade whilst working in Germany, Mark gained over 30 years’ experience in luxury 5* hotels as an Executive Pastry Chef working across the globe. He has also been a manager in specialist bakeries and patisseries and has led new product development teams both nationally and internationally. Mark has been teaching in further education for five years, where he delivers full time and part time courses in bakery, patisserie and cake decorating.
Andrew Foster - Food and Beverage Service Tutor and College Restaurant Manager
Andrew has 30 years’ teaching experience following a period managing a successful hotel restaurant in Lancashire. He has taught at a diverse range of organisations including McVities, Lancaster Royal Infirmary and Manchester City Council. Andrew has also trained staff at the Lowry Hotel, Co-operative Retail Society, Royal Northern College of Music and has worked with Oliver Peyton’s Mash and Air in Manchester, training staff in wines and spirits and food and beverage service.
Our Hospitality and Catering courses are taught at our Harpurhey and Wythenshawe campuses with brand new industry standard facilities coming in September 2022 when our state-of-the-art City Campus Manchester opens.
In summer 2022 we will open the doors to our brand new City Campus Manchester, located just a two-minute walk from Manchester Victoria Station.
Here you’ll find brand new industry-standard hospitality and catering facilities developed specifically for you and your course.
This will include a 40 seat restaurant and bar run by the students with a live stream of the kitchen into the restaurant training kitchen, a bakery, a facility for recording our masterclasses with The Chefs’ Forum with live TV streaming and recording for playback, and a chocolate workstation with window overlooking the restaurant.
Harpurhey
Our Harpurhey Campus is equipped with two brand new training kitchens and a technical training facility, so students on our Culinary Skills and Professional Cookery courses can hone their skills in industry-standard facilities.
We’ve also got a new baking kitchen for our Bakery, Confectionary and Patisserie courses and all our facilities at Harpurhey are equipped with all the latest kitchen equipment.
The comfortable, environmentally-friendly site is made up of a bright modern building and the restored Harpurhey Baths, a Grade II listed building which the College has transformed into an award-winning exhibition space for students and the community.
Wythenshawe
At our Wythenshawe campus in south Manchester you’ll find another of our amazing training restaurants.
Our 3rd Floor Restaurant is more relaxed and contemporary but gives you the opportunity to put what you have learnt to practice in a fast-paced restaurant environment with real paying customers.
You’ll serve and cook a range of traditional bistro style seasonal dishes to reflect the time of year and to help vary the range of techniques and foods you cook with.
The 3rd Floor Restaurant is open to students and staff for lunch during term time.
Take a trip to our relaxed and friendly Third Floor Restaurant at our Wythenshawe campus.
Dive into a classic dish or explore the new and innovative, experience the flavours of sustainably sourced, local and seasonal produce, professionally prepared and served to make a memory not just a meal.
Food IS an adventure…just sit back and enjoy!
For bookings please call 0161 674 3409 or alternatively email afoster@tmc.ac.uk
All of the tutors are helpful and make me feel comfortable. The course has helped me interact with people. I like working in different environments and plan to complete a level 3 course then go into employment.
The learners we have are very committed and passionate about the industry, also ask lots of questions and have a hunger for learning … Having The Manchester College within our business is a pleasure and key to the development of the next generation of Chefs.
In one of The Manchester College’s 19 Centres of Excellence you’ll develop the skills and gain the qualifications that you need to take the next steps towards your dream career.
In our unique Industry Excellence Academy you’ll benefit from a programme of study that has been co-developed, and is co-delivered, with one of our industry partners.
