Culinary Sector

A career built in the kitchen.

From the moment the brigade arrives to the final dish leaving the pass, our culinary apprenticeships develop chefs who can hold their own in any professional kitchen. Three levels of training and one ambition: craft you can be proud of.

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  • 3Levels offered
  • 12 mo+ EPA each
  • The Academy of Culinary ExcellenceInspired by Marco Pierre White
A chef finishing a plated dish

Why train with TLC

Apprenticeships built around the real rhythm of service.

Our culinary programmes follow the published Skills England occupational standards in full, and they are taught by chefs. You’ll learn to respect the craft from the knife in your hand to the heat of the pass and the rhythm of service.

01

Taught by professional chefs

Coaches who’ve run sections, opened pubs and managed brigades. They teach the realities of a kitchen, not the theory of one.

02

Aligned to the published standard

Every TLC programme is mapped to the live Skills England apprenticeship standard, with end-point assessment delivered by an approved EPAO. You get the qualification employers recognise.

03

Marco Pierre White Academy

For employers and apprentices looking for the gold standard, we also deliver culinary apprenticeships in partnership with Marco Pierre White’s Culinary Academy: discipline, technique, respect.

04

A clear progression path

Start as a Production Chef and progress all the way to Senior Culinary Chef without leaving the programme. We support your apprentices through every step of their career.

Your career, mapped

From production line to head chef.

Three apprenticeships, one continuous pathway. Move up as fast as your apprentices grow; each level builds on the last.

  1. L2

    Production Chef

    Foundations: prep, cook, plate, hygiene. 12 months + EPA.

  2. L3

    Senior Production Chef

    Lead a section, manage standards, develop juniors. 12 months + EPA.

  3. L4

    Senior Culinary Chef

    Run the kitchen, develop menus, grow a team. 12 months + EPA.

Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White
Marco, in the kitchen
Marco, in the kitchen
In conversation
In conversation
Plating up
Plating up

The Learning Collection · Sonoro Publishing

Eight volumes. Eighty-one chapters. Every page in his voice.

Written for the chef who cooks for people who cannot send the plate back. Learners keep their volumes for life: three at Level 2, five at Level 3, the complete Collection at Level 4.

  1. I

    The Seven Principles

    The standard the rest is built on.

  2. II

    The Art of Care

    Dignity, flavour and safety designed in.

  3. III

    The 12 Movements of the Chef

    A commis’s first year, learned by hand.

  4. IV

    The Science of Cooking

    The physical truths behind every recipe.

  5. V

    The Art of Cooking

    The practical core: a manual of judgement.

  6. VI

    The Development of the Chef

    From belonging to the brigade to carrying the standard.

  7. VII

    Hold The Line

    The leadership manual. Forty-two Kitchen Laws.

  8. VIII

    The Clinical Kitchen

    Every plate as an intervention: dysphagia, allergens, safeguarding.

The Foundation TierLevel 2 · Production Chef

The chef who feeds at volume, every day. Three volumes.

The Development TierLevel 3 · Senior Production Chef

Where a cook becomes a leader, answerable for work done by other hands. Five volumes.

The Mastery TierLevel 4 · Senior Culinary Chef

The head chef in development: menu, margin, people. The complete Collection, and an audience with Marco.

A learner’s story

What it changes.

One person, and the moment it turned.

A chef plating a dish
Kieran

A learner’s story · Culinary

Kieran, from kitchen porter to the pass

Where it started
Washing pans in a care home kitchen at nineteen, with no plan beyond the end of the shift. His head chef put him on the Production Chef apprenticeship because he was always asking questions.
The turn
A Saturday lunch service, eight weeks in. A resident who rarely finished a meal asked for seconds. The same week, his first session on the seven principles with the Academy. Two things clicked at once: the standard, and who it was for.
Now
Runs the lunch service for sixty residents, has started the Senior Production Chef at Level 3, and has his Learning Collection on the shelf at home.

“Nobody had ever told me the food in a care home could be cooked like food in a restaurant. Now I cannot cook it any other way.”

Names and details are illustrative while we gather our learners’ and employers’ own stories, in their own words.

Programmes

The three levels we offer

Every TLC culinary apprenticeship is delivered to the published Skills England standard. Choose the level that matches where your apprentice is in their career.

2 Level

Standard ST0589 · 12 months + 3-month EPA · Apprenticeship

Production Chef

The foundation. Step into a working brigade and learn the craft from the floor up.

Production chefs work in fast-moving, high-volume kitchens (pubs, schools, hospitals, care settings and branded restaurants), preparing standardised dishes to a consistent quality. This Level 2 programme builds the discipline, knife skills and food-safety habits your apprentices will rely on for the rest of their career.

What apprentices will learn

  • Food preparation, cooking, plating and presentation
  • Safe and confident use of kitchen tools and equipment
  • Allergen, dietary and nutritional requirements
  • Food safety, hygiene and HACCP compliance
  • Portion, yield and waste control
  • Working as part of a brigade: communication and service

Typical job titles

  • Production Chef
  • Trainee Chef / Commis Chef
  • Kitchen Operative
  • Food Production Assistant

Entry requirements

Set by the employer. Apprentices under 19 need English and maths at Level 1 (with Level 2 attempted) before end-point assessment; for adults this is at the employer's discretion, and we build functional skills in where they help.

Enquire about Level 2 View official standard
3 Level

Standard ST0232 · 12 months + 3-month EPA · Advanced Apprenticeship

Senior Production Chef

The step into leadership. Run a section, set the standard, develop the team behind you.

Senior production chefs lead a brigade or support a head chef across settings like schools, hospitals, care homes and brand-led restaurants. This Level 3 programme prepares your apprentices to take ownership of a section: people, plates and process.

What apprentices will learn

  • Supervising the production of standardised menus and dishes
  • Implementing and monitoring full food-safety systems
  • Briefing, coaching and motivating a kitchen team
  • Cost, yield and waste management to protect margin
  • Nutritional compliance and specialist dietary needs
  • Risk assessment and incident response under pressure

Typical job titles

  • Senior Production Chef
  • Second Chef
  • Kitchen Supervisor / Manager
  • Head Cook

Entry requirements

Level 2 Production Chef qualification, or a minimum of 12 months' relevant industry experience.

Enquire about Level 3 View official standard
4 Level

Standard ST0864 · 12 months + 6-month EPA · Higher Apprenticeship

Senior Culinary Chef

The kitchen leader. Develop menus, grow a team, own the food offer from concept to service.

Senior culinary chefs lead culinary teams and develop new recipes, products and menus across hospitality, aviation, care and hospital sectors. This Level 4 higher apprenticeship is the route to head chef, development chef, executive chef and chef patron roles.

What apprentices will learn

  • Advanced food preparation, knife and cooking techniques
  • Designing standardised menu items and dish specifications
  • Leading, motivating and developing culinary teams
  • Financial management: cost, margin and resource control
  • Supply chain and procurement: quality and traceability
  • Presenting culinary offers to stakeholders, boards and clients

Typical job titles

  • Head Chef
  • Executive Chef
  • Development Chef
  • Chef Patron
  • Culinary Team Leader

Entry requirements

Typically a Level 3 chef apprenticeship or equivalent industry experience at chef de partie / sous chef level.

Enquire about Level 4 View official standard

For employers

Ready to invest in your kitchen?

Whether you're hiring your first apprentice or growing an entire brigade, our team will guide you through funding, recruitment, on-programme training and end-point assessment.

Get in touch How funding works