Sophie Roberts

Sophie Roberts, Studied Hospitality & Catering Levels 1, 2 and 3

“From an early age I knew I wanted to be a chef and when I was younger, I was always baking with my mum, so when I finished school I knew I wanted to study catering. I started on the Level 1 course, before continuing through Levels 2 and 3. I chose to study at Hereford not only because it was local to me, but also for the great reputation that the hospitality courses had. As the College’s onsite restaurant, The Cider Orchard, serves the general public, it almost doesn’t feel like a teaching environment at all. You get plenty of hands-on experience, serving real customers and it’s not an artificial environment to learn in.

After I completed my studies I had some great job opportunities; The Waterside Inn at Bray, a 3 Michelin Star restaurant, and also 1 Michelin Star restaurant L’Ortolan as a Pastry chef in Reading. Moving back to Herefordshire I worked at The Verzon House Hotel in Ledbury, and I’ve now started to teach on the Hospitality courses here at the College too.

For me the hospitality courses were a great way to learn to be a chef, you learn a lot more skill-based abilities from the tutors, whereas if you were learning out in the industry you could easily pick up bad habits from other chefs, for me I’d highly recommend these courses if you have an interest in catering.”