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AUG. SEP. 2021 VIII The trend of enrolments in the courses organised by the school he runs confirms this. “Until about ten years ago, out of every 100 people enrolled,” he says, “95- 97 were already established chefs and the rest were young people just starting out in the profession. Today it is the exact opposite: young people are aware that they need to learn, while those who are already professionals are convinced that they know everything, while there is always so much more to learn. I believe that the subject on which colleagues would need to be better trained is the management aspect: designing the kitchen activity on financial data, not gastronomic data. These are the skills that a chef must have in order to make strategic decisions for the continuation of his business”. The pandemic has not stopped Congusto’s activities. We haven’t seen a drop in enrolments in the professional courses,” he says, “only in the evening courses for enthusiasts. By the end of this year and next year, we expect to maintain current enrolment levels, and we work with small classes of 12-13 students, so it is easy to comply with safety procedures”. ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES The web can be a source of agile, accessible training that can adapt flexibly to the needs of operators. “Online training,’ says Francesca De Vecchi, food technologist and owner of the Formalimenti training platform, dedicated to operators in the food sector, ‘certainly has operational advantages, such as the possibility of taking courses wherever you are, without transport or food costs. It lends itself more to theoretical topics than to those requiring practical exercise, but because it is so easy to manage, it can allow you to quickly organise a course on a topical issue, such as a new regulation”. This is demonstrated by last year’s experience, when Formalimenti, in the first months of lockdown, organised some free webinars dedicated to delivery. We did it in order to support restaurateurs in a very complex moment for them,” recalls Francesca De Vecchi. “We had a great response: access to our platform was sold out in a few days and during the events many questions were asked to the teachers of the various courses. AT PAGE 22 COVER STORY Training 2: Here’s where to learn Throughout Italy there are schools that teach the professions of cooking and hospitality: they are open to everyone, even those who did not attend Hotel Management Schools. by Elena Consonni Not everyone discovers a passion for cooking when choosing a high school, but even those who don’t have a diploma from a Hotel Management School have plenty of opportunities to learn the profession of catering and hospitality. The offer of professional cooking schools nationally is very wide: they are also aimed at those who do not have previous training and welcoming those who want to approach the food professions even in adulthood. There is also no lack of refresher courses for those who already work in the profession but wish to study specific topics in greater depth. The costs are not insignificant: taking the professional courses requires an investment of a few thousand euros and many structures have entered into agreements with credit institutions to offer subsidized loans, to be repaid only upon completion of the course of study. The expense, however, is worth the effort because schools also represent a link with the world of work. And it seems that never before has the demand for qualified personnel in this area been so high. In order to get to know the Italian training panorama, we contacted schools operating in different regions. PIEDMONT I.F.S.E. ITALIAN FOOD STYLE EDUCATION I.F.S.E. Italian Food Style Education is a school of Haute Cuisine and Pastry that operates nationally and internationally: “Our headquarters,” explains Raffaella Bottalo, marketing manager of the school, “is in Piobesi Torinese, but we have representative offices and partner universities around the world. From September, the training offer will be expanded with a course dedicated to the management of the Bar Room and one to the art of fresh pasta. The courses alternate theoretical and practical training, with a prevalence of the latter, and conclude with an internship. Thanks to collaboration with partner companies, we are able to keep enrolment costs down”. Most courses start from the basics and anyone can access them, even if the students often already come from the sector or from hotel management schools; other courses are dedicated to professionals who want to make the “quantum leap”, with longer highly specialized courses or shorter monographic seminars. “In the first lockdown,” she tells us, “we had to interrupt the activities, but in June 2020 we reopened, then the regulations allowed us to carry out the workshops in attendance. Since we carried out almost MAGAZINE