Roberto Costa of Macellaio RC to launch hospitality academy in London

Roberto Costa, owner of Italian steakhouse brand Macellaio RC, has announced that he will be launching a hospitality academy in London this month to show young people how to become “future managers and future CEOs”.

Eight students from Bangladesh will take on the six-month course at Matooro Academy in two weeks’ time. From May, they will be joined by 20 students from Italy.

Before Brexit, Costa used to run a similar training academy, and over the course of three years, he had supported 250 people from Europe aged between 18 to 35 who wanted experience in hospitality.

He told The Caterer: “I wanted to keep growing our academy, but it has been complicated to go ahead with it since Brexit. For one year we tried to find a solution.”

Costa added that visas currently pose the “biggest barrier” to attracting new talent in hospitality. He said: “I’ve got plenty of people that ask me [if they can] come [to London] and they don’t even know about the visa. We need to start somewhere.”

The Matooro Academy has since received sponsorship from the Italian Chamber of Commerce, the Consulate General of Italy in London, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the FIPE (Federazione Italiana Pubblici Esercizi).

Its partnership with the European School of Economics in London’s Marylebone, which is an accredited institution, enables the Academy to invite overseas students to participate in the hospitality course without a visa.

Students will be joined by Costa, Giorgio Locatelli of the Michelin-starred Locanda Locatelli in London, who is also a judge on MasterChef Italia, and 12 other industry professionals for 20 hours of theory classes and 20 hours training on the restaurant floor each week.

They will be offered classes on Wine & Spirit Education (WSET) Level 2, food alert certificates, sessions in English Language (B1 Level) and financial literacy.

Students will also receive central London accommodation, a monthly travel pass, and invitations to interview at partnered restaurants, including Macellaio RC and Miscusi in Covent Garden, upon completion of the 22-week programme.

Costa said: “The important thing now is to train young people and let them understand that our job is amazing, that to be a waiter doesn’t mean to be a waiter for life, but that a waiter can become general manager and later CEO of the company. We want to teach them to become future managers and future CEOs.”

He admitted that funding for projects like these has become more “difficult” due to the rising cost of living, but he pointed out that “there is even more people – you can imagine – that want to learn more and understand more”.