Bradford College has opened a suite of newly modernised training kitchens after securing significant backing from one of the city’s major food manufacturers, Regal Foods.
The investment marks a deepened partnership between the two organisations and will create new learning routes for young chefs hoping to break into the region’s fast-growing hospitality sector.
The funding has enabled the launch of a Level 3 Professional Cooking, Patisserie, and Confectionery course, alongside expanded Level 2 hospitality modules.
Together, they form a more robust training pipeline that college leaders say will better prepare students for the realities of the commercial culinary world.
The upgraded facilities include professional-grade induction hobs, refrigeration units, and a broad range of specialist baking and cooking equipment. The college says the new kit mirrors what students will encounter in modern restaurant kitchens, ensuring they can transition more smoothly from the classroom to the workplace.
The new programmes will train students in breads and doughs, pastries, hot and cold desserts, and core professional cooking techniques, blending hands-on practice with industry insight.
The aim is to equip learners with the skills required across the baking, catering, and wider food production industries at a time when hospitality employers continue to report acute staffing shortages.
Faz Ali, sales and marketing director at Regal Food Products Group, said the company wanted to help develop the next generation of culinary talent.
“Building on our ongoing partnership with Bradford College, we are thrilled to expand the opportunities available to students,” he said.
“By enhancing the curriculum and providing access to modern, professional equipment, we hope to inspire the next generation of chefs and bakers to reach their full potential.”
Janice Flude, chef lecturer at Bradford College, said the partnership was already shaping the college’s curriculum for the better.
“When colleges can work with industry, it brings in new perspectives and ideas,” she said.
“It allows our learners to grow and gives them a stronger chance of progressing into employment. Regal and the college are building a partnership with genuine mutual understanding, and that creates real value for the future.”
The college expects demand for the new courses to rise as students see the impact of the upgraded kitchens and employers look for job-ready recruits. For many of those enrolling this year, the investment marks their first steps into an industry undergoing rapid change but rich with opportunity.
