Best practice selection on upskilling and reskilling from Bulgaria: Chef & Gastro

In today’s rapidly evolving tourism industry, developing a strategic approach on skills development within organisations is crucial for a futureproof sector and workforce to remain competitive and responsive to changing market demands. In this series of best practices we highlight key areas of skills development necessary for the digital and sustainable transformation and inclusive tourism growth. We discuss best practices that have been carefully selected in the PANTOUR project countries to get inspired. In this blog, we focus on Chef & Gastro, a great Bulgarian initiative.

 

Background information

Chef & Gastro is a distinctive platform, launched in 2020 by a team of passionate professionals. Its purpose is to aggregate and continually update a comprehensive database on the food and beverage industry, making it a centralized resource in Bulgaria. The platform aims to enhance and modernize existing educational materials, including textbooks, ensuring easy accessibility and alignment with contemporary teaching methodologies and the latest trends in professional culinary education. Chef & Gastro platform is still in a process of development and enriching its resource database.

Analysis and overview

Key principles
● Chef & Gastro focuses on creating and promoting a portfolio of shortterm courses and trainings to aid in restaurant industry education.
● The platform emphasizes innovative forms of learning, appealing to younger generations and covering the entire technological process.
● It demonstrates and utilizes modern kitchen and restaurant equipment, helping employees familiarize themselves with these tools.

Examples and case studies

The platform serves as a base for a variety of educational formats such as shortterm courses, seminars, and presentations, and also functions as a self-learning resource. This initiative enhances motivation and practical skills among individuals in the restaurant industry. Through its innovative approach, Chef & Gastro aspires to be a trusted source of knowledge and an effective tool in then training and re-skilling of industry employees. The platform’s educational program is holistic and well-structured, covering a broad spectrum of topics such as culinary techniques, food physiology, food safety, and menu planning. It employs a modular approach, blending video content, textual material, tests, and practical exercises. The long-term vision is to integrate the platform into the dual education systems of hospitality vocational schools. Moreover, Chef & Gastro incorporates elements of business management and marketing, designed to foster career advancement for chefs and restaurant managers. The platform places a significant focus on cultivating entrepreneurial skills and effective management of culinary and restaurant enterprises.

Potential pitfalls and challenges

The platform is currently in a developmental stage and still needs to add numerous resources. Additionally, the business model requires refinement. The platform strives to find the best balance between its social role and economic stability. It aims to aid in training as many people as possible, thereby elevating the entire sector’s standards, while also ensuring its own long-term viability and capability for self-financing and ongoing development.

Benefits and outcomes

Chef & Gastro platform provides current, easily accessible, and professional information, because of the implementation of the modular principle to bring systematic efficiency in personnel training. It strives to integrate dual education to improve staff skills. To do this, the platform takes a step-by-step approach to each skill, ensuring better focus rather than broad, general training. education to improve staff skills. To do this, the platform takes a step-by-step approach to each skill, ensuring better focus rather than broad, general training. Chef & Gastro offers opportunities for currently employed professionals to further develop and branch out within the restaurant industry. It emphasizes not just technical cooking skills but also key managerial and entrepreneurial skills, essential for every head chef. A special focus is given to the promotion of ecological and green skills in the Bulgarian F&B industry, which for now are lacking behind.

References and external resources

Website of the platform: https://chefandgastro.com