The award winning country house hotel, Llangoed Hall, has received another accolade after being named as one of twenty five dedicated food and drink ambassadors who can be held up as shining examples of the direct benefits of training employees and providing opportunities for continued, practical learning.
The ambassadors, recruited as part of the ‘Future Skills… food for thought’ campaign will also highlight the importance of key workplace skills across the entire food and drink supply chain, from agriculture through to manufacturing, retail and hospitality.
Set amongst the beautiful countryside of Mid-Wales, Llangoed Hall is a hotel with a history. Believed to be the site of the first Welsh Parliament in 560AD, it was lost in a card game during the 19th century and was the first major commission for Portmeirion architect Clough Williams Ellis, who redesigned it as a mansion in 1912. It was bought by Sir Bernard Ashley, husband of fashion designer Laura Ashley in 1987 and opened as a hotel three years later.
Today it’s a luxury award-winning country house hotel with 23 bedrooms and managing director Calum Milne says they owe their success to hard work and well-trained staff:
“I’m fortunate to have a wonderful team and our success is a credit to them. I really believe in investing in the workforce because it is they who can truly reflect our ethos and aspiration to delivering a first class service.
“I am concerned that Wales is facing a crisis with regards to the hospitality sector and we are playing catch up with the rest of the countries in the United Kingdom and definitely with Europe. It’s still an area of work that is not fully appreciated as a long term career choice despite the food and drink sector being Wales’s largest collective employer, employing over 200,000 people and generating £6.5 billion a year. I hope as ambassadors for this campaign we can positively change that perception.”
The hard work and training seems to be paying off already – Llangoed Hall has won 4 awards in less than 18 months, including AA Hotel of the Year 2014, AA Four Red Stars, Conde Nast Johansens Restaurant of the Year 2014 for GB & Ireland, Visit Wales Gold award 2014 and the guest book is full of glowing praise.
The Welsh Food and Drinks Skills Project has found, through its research, that there is a shortage of key skills to drive the food industry forward in the coming years and Wales National Director Kevin Thomas believes the training elements provided by the Project will contribute to rectifying the situation:
“As part of this project our aim has been to consider the significant demands of the industry and how we can best respond to that demand. From training to marketing needs as well as keeping the industry informed of changing legislation we attempt to keep abreast of all developments. We hope the rewards for the sector will be significant, and this is certainly reflected in the success story that is Llangoed Hall.
“We see the hotel’s development as a shining example of what can be achieved and that’s what the ‘Future Skills… food for thought’ campaign wants to encourage. The accredited courses on offer with our providers aim to ensure that an increasing number of food and drink companies in Wales can be equipped with the proper training and skills needed to replicate Llangoed Hall’s success.”
To see more of Llangoed Hall and hear about its story visit the Welsh Food and Drink Skills http://www.foodanddrinkskills.co.uk where you can watch a short video highlighting the hotel’s work as well as some other Welsh food and drink success stories.
To grow your business and learn more about getting your employees trained with one of our accredited providers either by attending a course or by in-house training, please contact The Welsh Food & Drink Skills team on 01982 552646 or visit http://www.foodanddrinkskills.co.uk.
The Welsh Food & Drink Skills Project is supported by the Sector Priorities Fund Pilot programme with funding from the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government, and delivered in partnership between Lantra, the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the Land-based and environmental industries, Improve – the SSC for food and drink manufacturing and People 1st Cymru, the SSC for Hospitality and Tourism.
