Beans means hired!

TRACY and Simon Vardy

A GROWING cafe franchise operator says it is to start recruiting apprentices on a monthly basis to support young people.

Sim Trava operates 25 Costa cafes in Greater Manchester including two in Oldham at Spindles Shopping Centre and the NHS Integrated Care Centre which together employ 19 staff.

Now Altrincham-based Sim Trava is planning to expand its current apprenticeship programme to take on apprentices monthly rather than quarterly. The expanded programme means its annual intake of apprentices will rise from 18 to 25.

The £10.1 million franchisee took the decision to begin more regular intakes of apprentices following the news of the fall in the North West's GCSE performance this year. The region's overall pass rate for grades A* to C dropped by three per cent to 65.5 per cent.

Sim Trava's 12-month apprenticeship scheme enables young people to earn as they learn, while also offering an NVQ qualification in customer service on completion. Training will be done through the recently-expanded Sim Trava Academy.

Speaking about the move toward monthly apprenticeship intakes, Tracy Vardy, director at Sim Trava, said: "One of the core values is to develop people with our business and delivering a bespoke apprenticeship programme allows us to do that.

"Over the past eight years, we've had the opportunity to welcome many talented, ambitious and enthusiastic young people at the very start of their careers. It's been great to watch them progress up through the ranks.

"The decision to move towards monthly apprenticeship intakes comes in light of the drop in the North West's GCSE pass rate this year. We want to support the young people by offering an alternative to the traditional formal education route. We want to ensure young people realise that regardless of exam results there are still many opportunities for them and they still have a pathway to success."

The business said it is constantly recruiting apprentices from all areas. At present, the Spindles outlet has 12 staff and Integrated care Centre has seven.