Catering Apprentice

Wigan & Leigh College and University Centre; Greater Manchester; On-site; GBP 14,000 - 17,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

Medicash healthcare plan

Occupational health support

Confidential counselling

Specsavers eye test vouchers

Pension

Job summary

Wigan & Leigh College is offering a Catering Apprentice role where you will learn hands-on across food preparation, cooking, serving, and customer service while supporting college events and refectories.

You'll work with experienced colleagues who will help you develop skills and understand the standards of professional catering, with a focus on food safety and hygiene and practical, on-the-job learning.

Qualifications

• No years of experience required; reliability and willingness to learn are valued.
• Hands-on experience across food preparation, cooking, serving, customer service, tills, stock and kitchen activity.
• Colleagues will help you develop skills and understand standards in professional catering.

Responsibilities

• Help prepare, cook and serve hot and cold food.
• Support food service across refectories, hospitality, bookings and college events.
• Serve students, staff and visitors in a friendly and professional way.
• Operate the till and support basic cash handling.
• Help with stock ordering, replenishment and storage.
• Maintain food hygiene and temperature records.
• Keep kitchens, counters and preparation areas clean and organised.
• Follow health and safety and food hygiene procedures.
• Learn how to use catering equipment safely.
• Complete the learning and development required as part of your apprenticeship.

Skills

Interest in catering

Good communication

Numeracy & money handling

Willingness to learn

Teamwork

Reliability & punctuality

Professional attitude

Food hygiene knowledge (helpful)

Job description

Description

37 hours per week | 38 Weeks per Year | Apprentice pay

Application Deadline: 23 October 2026

Department: Catering Services

Location: Wigan & Leigh College

Compensation: £15,434 / year

Learn the skills. Support the service. Build your future in catering.

A career in catering starts with learning how a good service works.

Food needs to be prepared safely. Counters need to be ready. Customers need a friendly welcome. Stock needs to be organised and kitchens need to stay clean, safe and well run.

As our Catering Apprentice, you’ll learn all of that while working as part of our Catering and Hospitality team.

You’ll get hands‑on experience across food preparation, cooking, serving, customer service, tills, stock and kitchen activity. You’ll work alongside experienced colleagues who will help you develop your skills and understand the standards expected in a professional catering environment.

You don’t need years of experience. What matters is that you’re reliable, willing to learn and interested in catering and hospitality.

What you’ll do

• Help prepare, cook and serve hot and cold food.
• Support food service across refectories, hospitality, bookings and college events.
• Serve students, staff and visitors in a friendly and professional way.
• Operate the till and support basic cash handling.
• Help with stock ordering, replenishment and storage.
• Maintain food hygiene and temperature records.
• Keep kitchens, counters and preparation areas clean and organised.
• Follow health and safety and food hygiene procedures.
• Learn how to use catering equipment safely.
• Complete the learning and development required as part of your apprenticeship.

What you’ll bring

• An interest in catering, hospitality or food service.
• Good communication skills.
• Basic numeracy and confidence handling money.
• A willingness to learn and take feedback.
• The ability to work well as part of a team.
• A reliable and punctual approach.
• A professional attitude to work and presentation.
• Some knowledge of catering, kitchens or food hygiene would be helpful, but isn’t essential.

What you’re like

• Reliable. You turn up, get involved and follow things through.
• Willing to learn. You want to build practical catering skills.
• Team-minded. You support colleagues and work well with others.
• Customer-focused. You want people to have a good experience.
• Practical. You enjoy hands‑on work and learning by doing.
• Organised. You keep your area tidy and follow instructions carefully.
• Positive. You bring a helpful attitude to the team.
• Professional. You understand that hygiene, presentation and good behaviour matter.

Essentials

• You’re committed to safeguarding and inclusion.
• You can work across college sites when required.
• You’re willing to complete the learning and training required as part of your apprenticeship.
• You’re flexible and happy to support events and busy service periods.
• You’ll follow college food hygiene, health and safety and other workplace procedures.

Why work with us?

At Wigan & Leigh College, you’ll be part of a busy Catering and Hospitality team serving students, staff and visitors across the college. You’ll build practical skills, learn how a professional service operates and gain experience that can help you progress in catering or hospitality.

You’ll have experienced colleagues around you, opportunities to learn different parts of the service and the chance to develop confidence as your skills grow.

Great people. Change lives.

Time to recharge

Wellbeing as well as work

• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme
• Medicash healthcare plan
• Occupational health support
• Confidential counselling
• Specsavers eye test vouchers
• A culture where people look out for each other

Financial peace of mind

• Workplace pension where eligible
• Salary sacrifice schemes where eligible
• Local and national discount schemes

Clear progression routes

• Structured apprenticeship learning and development
• Practical experience across catering and hospitality
• Opportunities to build confidence and broaden your skills
• Potential progression into future catering roles

This role involves working with children in a regulated activity (which means any activity with close or unsupervised contact with children on a frequent or intensive basis). This covers things like teaching, training, supervising and advising children. It's a criminal offence to apply for this post if you're barred from engaging in regulated activity with children.

Before you apply, please read our policies on child protection policy and employing people with criminal convictions. You'll find both on our website.

We can interview and appoint before the closing date if we receive suitable applications.

If you’re offered the role, we’ll need to do some checks before you start, including verifying any qualifications, a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) and a medical questionnaire. We use Protocol National Ltd & E‑Safeguarding Ltd, so they may contact you.