From HelloFresh to The River Cafe: a Diploma work experience roundup

Our Culinary Diploma students often swap the classroom for professional kitchens – and our most recent placements have been as varied as ever. Read on the highlights, including first-hand accounts from student Joe and Leiths List Manager Sarah Keene.

The Easter break is always a busy time for our Culinary Diploma students. Having completed their Intermediate Term, it’s the optimum time for work experience – and this year was no exception.

The Leiths List Connect Careers Day in January gave students direct access to a range of restaurant and hotel groups, leading to placements at The Wolseley Hospitality Group, Acqua Restaurants, Bvlgari Hotel London, Corinthia Hotel and the Woodhead Restaurant Group. Further placements were secured at Spring, Noble Rot, the River Café, Kricket, Toklas, Kitchen W8 and The Seafood Restaurant Padstow – a tradition now spanning more than 25 years. Both Toklas and Kitchen W8 are examples of work experience leading to employment upon graduation.

Sarah Keene, Manager of Leiths List, coordinates these placements and sees their value first-hand. ‘Work experience during the Easter break can often lead to employment upon graduation,’ she says, ‘and the diverse range of settings on offer means every student finds something that suits their interests.’

That breadth was clear this year. Beyond restaurants, students spent time at sustainability-led Lettice Events, female-led catering company Dinner Ladies, and rewilding pioneers The Knepp Estate in West Sussex. Others explored recipe development at HelloFresh and GreenChef, while two students were offered a ten-day placement at food consultancy Egg Soldiers – one with the Trends & Insights team, one in the Development Kitchen.

Current Diploma student Joe experienced two contrasting placements back to back. At Corinthia Hotel, he worked in the pastry kitchen: ‘I helped with preparing lots of petits gâteaux and scones for afternoon tea in their Crystal Moon Lounge. I prepared and baked hundreds of madeleines – it was great to see the production process and work on large quantities.’

The following week, at Spring, the focus shifted to restaurant service. ‘I got to see more of how a restaurant operates,’ he says. ‘I helped with lots of prep tasks – poaching rhubarb, shaping chocolate truffles, lining tart cases – and also got to experience lunch service. It was so interesting to see how this kitchen differs from the hotel kitchen I was in a week earlier.’

With (we hope) a little bit of down-time too, it’s now onto the final push to graduation.