Leading social enterprise New Start Highland is celebrating the official opening of its new training kitchen with the launch of its first Highland Hospitality and Cookery School.
The school offers people of all ages the opportunity to develop their culinary skills, gain practical experience and discover pathways into employment within the hospitality industry.
The training kitchen is part of Scotland’s first innovative Training and Reuse Village on Carsegate Road, which brings together a range of community, educational and reuse activities alongside its busy café The Yard. The £500,000 project opened last year and has welcomed over 32,000 shoppers over the past 12 months. 21,000 coffees have been served and almost 250 volunteers and learners have received support.
New Start Highland’s Training Manager, Nicola Maclennan, said, “Open to all ages and abilities, our Highland Hospitality and Cookery School in our new training kitchen aims to make cooking accessible to everyone, whether they are complete beginners looking to build confidence in the kitchen, keen home cooks keen to develop their skills, or those interested in exploring cookery as a potential career.
“The new facility forms part of our ongoing commitment to creating opportunities, developing skills and supporting people across the Highlands. We are so excited to welcome our first students and have already developed partnerships with some of the Highlands’ most highly regarded businesses who will provide participants with valuable hands-on experience.”
New Start Highland will work with Café 1, Good Highland Good and River House Restaurant to expose students to different hospitality settings. These experienced teams will provide excellent opportunities to develop students’ skills and confidence within the industry.
New Start Highland was the first social enterprise in Scotland to launch a dedicated space specifically for Training and Reuse. Its Village in Carsegate Road, Inverness, is home to ILM Highland, Inverness Tool Library, Unique Ness, two pre-loved retail outlets, a bike repair and refurbishment hut, The Yard Café and now the training kitchen.
It’s been an exceptionally busy year for the thriving charity, with chief executive James Dunbar recently collecting the Prosper Highlands and Islands Business Excellence Award for outstanding contribution to the local economy, and most recently the launch of its newest venture, a website dedicated to selling pre-loved office furniture. Just last month, it announced the acquisition of local young people services charity, Calman Trust.
For more information about the training kitchen, or to find out how to get involved, please contact nicolamaclennan@newstarthighland.org
For more information about New Start Highland, please visit www.newstarthighland.org.
