Three St Austell Brewery apprentices have scooped awards for their commitment to brewing and the hospitality industry in the South West.
St Austell apprentices (left to right) Harry Dupi, Jak Yelland-Hill, and Matthew Hawkey
Around 80 people from across the business attended a lunch ceremony at the brewery’s visitor centre to celebrate the achievements of its apprentices.
Apprentice Jak Yelland-Hill, who works as a procurement manager, was given a recognition award after she was nominated by her line manager, Paul Hine, for her work on her commercial procurement and supply level 4 course.
Paul said: “Jak has put in a lot of her own time to succeed and has done so with an excellent plus-80% average pass rate. Having done the same diploma many years ago, I can vouch for the difficulty of some of the areas, so hats off to her!”
Jak has already committed herself to stepping up to degree level once her Higher National Certificate is complete – an example of how apprenticeship programmes can accelerate learning and progress people within their existing career.
Also recognised for outstanding performance was brewing apprentice Matthew Hawkey, who is two-thirds of the way through his Level 4 course and who was nominated by the brewery’s three most experienced brewers.
His team said: “Matt has managed to learn all relevant roles across the production cycle with great speed and proactivity. Matt also brings a positive impact to the team around him – not just in terms of workload or setting positive examples of high standards, but socially, bonding well with everyone and improving team spirit. He is progressing very well indeed and thoroughly deserves this award as recognition for his continued hard work.”
Harry Dupi, team leader at the Royal Castle, received the final award and was nominated by his general manager, Matthew McKinley-Booton.
Matthew said: “I am delighted to have Harry as a part of my team. He is an absolute legend, with an amazing level of knowledge, and an amazing work ethic. Harry is a definite general manager in the making, who really deserves this award for his consistent reliability and amazing work ethic.”
Brewing apprentice Joe Baker, creator of the successful Average Joe beer
Joe Baker, who graduated from a brewing apprenticeship last year, has also been recognised by HIT Training, has awarded Joe its apprentice brewer of the year award for 2023. HIT specialises in hospitality-related training programs, has national reach, and has worked closely with St Austell and other leading brewers at Nottingham University over the past decade, to build its Level 4 apprentice brewer programme.
Joe has had a phenomenal year, after passing his course with high marks and producing his own beer, Average Joe, which was picked up by a large national pub chain and sold through 480 of their pubs across the country.
St Austell Brewery currently employees 94 apprentices on a total of 26 courses, in various different functions of the business. This equates to around 5% of its total full-time headcount of employees. It’s also double the number of total apprentices St Austell has had on courses at any one time prior to 2023.
