Suffolk New College believes new industry partnership deal with hotel group is a recipe for success

Suffolk New College (@suffolknewcoll) has cooked up a storm by teaming up with a hospitality powerhouse, Gough Hotels.

A memorandum of understanding was signed at Chefs’ Whites restaurant between college staff and hotel bosses.

Marianne Flack, Deputy Principal of Suffolk New College and Dani Abreu the Group HR Manager and Marketing Co-ordinator for Gough Hotels signed the deal.

Gough Hotels run the Salthouse Harbour Hotel in Ipswich and The Angel Hotel in Bury St Edmunds. The partnership is one of many the college has with external organisations to help give students work experience opportunities and networking contacts.

Dani (Abreu) from Gough Hotels said: “We have been working with the college for quite a long time so an official partnership was the next natural step – our head chef Luke has hosted a number of events at Chefs’ Whites – helping students on their professional journey. We need to ensure that we have the right skills for the future in terms of our staff and that is why we wanted to make our partnership official so we can continue our great working relationship with the college for many years to come.

“We also want to support the local community and help the talent we that have in this region really excel themselves in terms of their personal and professional development, especially those who are keen to enter the hospitality industry. We want them to view a career in hospitality as a true profession

“My message to others is that whatever industry you are in, as your business grows and develops you need to change and adapt quickly to an ever-changing business environment, So, work with your local college so that your business, and your teams, can evolve and adapt quickly.

“By signing this we believe that we will collectively bring hospitality forward in this county and the region.

Marianne (Flack) from Suffolk New College said: “The deal will broaden our relationship – it will enable Gough Hotels to engage with other parts of the college across our curriculum.

“The first big project since signing the deal will see us develop a higher technical qualification in hotel management and Dani and her team at Gough Hotels are going to help us with this.

“More generally, this is going to be groundbreaking and allow our learners to develop high level industry skills.

“A big thank you to Gough Hotels – they have been amazing and the enthusiasm and commitment they have shown has been fantastic.”                                                                        

The current head chef at The Salthouse Harbour Hotel is Luke Bailey. Luke is planning on working more closely with the college by starting a teaching qualification later in the year.

On the partnership as a whole – Luke said: “I’m a local lad and came to the original Suffolk New College (known as Suffolk College). I’ve worked for various companies and joined Gough Hotels six years ago.

“Gradually I started forging a relationship with the college by hosting cooking demonstrations, restaurant takeovers and overseeing work placements and currently, around 60 percent of my staff in the kitchen have a connection to the college.

“The relationship is really prospering and now we want to take it to a new level. I’m going to start a part time teacher training programme at the college with the aim of becoming a chef lecturer in the future whilst continuing to work for Gough Hotels.

“As a former student this relationship means a lot to me and its very nice to be helping the next generation develop their skills and move from education to employment.”