19 Aug 2022
It’s not just the students who benefit from the unique training program – bakery, patisserie and chocolate businesses gain in ways you might not have thought of…
It’s almost exactly a decade since we broke ground in Mumbai, India, as construction began of the first of our Bakery Schools. Since then, we’ve officially founded the Bakery Schools Foundation, opened a total of seven schools all over the world and watched almost 200 students graduate with numerous new skills that benefit not only them personally, but also the people around them. The Foundation’s mission, which remains our guiding star to this day, is to make a significant impact on the lives of youngsters through our unique training program. It’s one of the most important aspects of our commitment to the communities in which we operate.
Turning an issue…
But the Bakery School Foundation doesn’t enhance only those local communities. Equally important are the advantages it offers our customers and the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors more widely. One of the triggers for the Foundation’s creation was our observation that skilled labor was in short supply – a fact that was undermining our customers’ ability to grow and thrive. As a result, the Bakery Schools aim to provide the talent and creativity that these areas of the food industry really need.
…into an opportunity
In practice, this means finding well-suited roles with our graduates quickly after their studies end. Some choose to take on apprenticeships within Puratos itself, but many more start careers with customers, or even look to launch their own businesses. For the bakeries and patisseries that Puratos already works with, there are several advantages to taking on a Bakery School graduate. Not only have they acquired relevant and up-to-date theoretical knowledge, they also come armed with a wealth of hands-on experience, creativity, ambition and potential. After all, to have been accepted into a Bakery School in the first place, they had to demonstrate many of these characteristics.
In addition, during their two years with us, many students also obtain additional transferable knowledge that’s useful to their future employers, including business studies, IT, language skills and communications, for example. So our customers gain both inside the kitchen and outside of it!
Finally, of course, during their time at Bakery School, our students get to know Puratos products and people, meaning they can also use these to the benefit of the bakers, patissiers and chocolatiers that recruit them after graduation.
Benefitting more people
The ability of our Bakery Schools to deliver value in so many ways: to students, their families and communities, our customers and beyond, is quite unique. And also something we take great pride in – which is why the Foundation has accelerated its Bakery School program. In fact, we have only recently opened the Bakery School in the United States and plan to open two more schools in the nearest future. Watch this space!
Interested in hiring one of our seven Bakery Schools graduates? Get in touch with us!
