Gordon Ramsay to launch UK chef academy

Gordon Ramsay is planning to set up a catering academy in the UK to combat what he sees as the poor standard of catering colleges, Caterersearch can reveal.

Speaking at the official launch of Maze Prague last week, Ramsay said the cookery school would be his “next big thing”.

“I’m fed up not just with the NVQ standards, but at what’s coming out of our catering schools,” Ramsay said. “I want to set up my own modern day apprentice scheme, where students will experience everything from a most amazing pub, to a one, two, or three Michelin starred establishment.

“And if they want to spend three months in a florist, followed by a two-month stint with one of our bakers, or a stint in New York, then we will arrange it,” the chef added.

Asked whether the college would be based in London, Ramsay replied: “It’s going to central – that’s all I can say. And I’m not talking about fast track courses here - I’m talking about six months, to 18 months to two year courses, issuing our own diplomas.”

Fellow chefs Marco Pierre White and Oliver Peyton caused a storm last year when they described catering colleges as “the biggest waste of time” and “a stop-off before you're sent to prison” respectively.

Jason Atherton to open in Prague>>

By Fiona Sims

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