Cateys 2023: Special Award: Jeremy Goring

Jeremy Goring wins the Special Award, sponsored by CH&Co

The winner of the Special Award spearheaded a project that has helped people who have experienced homelessness, displacement and disadvantage into employment. It has and continues to transform lives and provide support for people to build a better future.

Jeremy Goring developed the plan for the Hotel School with Mick Clarke, chief executive of the Passage homelessness charity, with the aim of helping people overcome their challenges and provide a route into jobs in hospitality.

The chief executive of London’s five-red-AA-star Goring hotel recognised that hospitality could not only offer a myriad of opportunities but also a supportive environment that would allow people to flourish.

The success of the scheme, which accepted its first cohort of students in 2017, has not simply been in providing basic training as a route to employment, but in taking the time to understand students and give holistic support into a job and beyond.

It stands by every one of those enrolled on its courses, providing practical help with challenges such as securing accommodation, navigating the benefit system, providing travelcards and ensuring they are fit and able to enter the workplace.

The hospitality training provided by the Hotel School, delivered in Westminster Kingsway College, is hands-on and aims not just to provide skills but to excite and inspire, whether by flambéeing crepes Suzette or learning barista skills.

When it comes to finding employment armed with the skills learned during the course, students are given help to write a CV, fill out an application form and prepare for interview. When they are in position the support continues for both employee and employer, helping graduates to thrive in their new careers.

Goring’s work has inspired both the students enrolled on courses and his peers in the industry, encouraging them to get involved. Thanks to this, graduates have gone on to take up roles as receptionists, porters, goods receivers, waitresses, painters, chefs and much more.

A former graduate, now working as a chef de partie at a London hotel, told The Caterer: “Hotel School changed my life, my life is totally different. The confidence I now have is down to Hotel School. Before, I didn’t know how to face an interview – I would shake – but I learned from them how to speak, how to make eye contact and that’s why I’m here. Now my family is here and I’m in a good position. My past life is totally negative and now it has changed and I’m happy. Thank you Hotel School.”

Another said: “They always have time for me when I need support. I can call and after speaking to them I feel like I can do anything.”

Six years since its launch, Hotel School has supported people from hardships that are, thankfully, unimaginable to most. Now alumni events see groups of friends gather to discuss the journeys hospitality has taken them on, thanks to the opportunities granted to them from the dedicated team at the school, for whom no problem is too trivial to be worthy of assistance, or too large to overcome.