Bethany Ellis – Alumni Hospitality

Name: Bethany Ellis - Alumni Hospitality

Course Name: Level 2 Hospitality

Course Type: College Courses

Image caption: NWSLC alumni student Bethany Ellis.

Bethany, from Hinckley, originally joined the College with the intention of becoming a chef but an opportunity to help in the restaurant made her realise that she had the potential to excel in a front-of-house environment.

Bethany switched to focusing on food and beverage supervisory qualifications and spent four years in total at the College honing her skills. During her college career, Bethany took advantage of work experience opportunities arranged for her by lecturer Jon Starns at The Woodspeen restaurant in Newbury and at Raymond Blanc’s Belmond Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire. After qualifying, Bethany applied for a permanent post at Le Manoir and her experience helped her to succeed at interview and secure a role as a commis de rang.

Bethany has worked her way up to the position of assistant head waiter at Le Manoir and has the ambition to become a head waiter in the future. Bethany said, “I have always enjoyed working in a customer-facing role and quickly realised that I preferred this to a professional chef route. Waiters need so many skills including knowledge of cheese and wine, and the ability to manage a gueridon service in which food is prepared, finished and served at the table.”

Bethany returns to the College from time to time to help inspire current catering and hospitality students and helped to judge the Salon Culinaire event in January 2019.