Pioneering the way for personal development in the hospitality industry, The Tommy Banks Group and The Ainsworth Collection are delighted to launch the sector’s first exclusive employee exchange programme.

The initiative allows people from both teams – whether front of house, back of house, office and/or operational – to swap companies for a week, enabling them to experience first-hand the workings of another restaurant group within a very different setting.

The initiative, which launched this month, has seen three successful exchanges take place with a further seven scheduled for 2022. We chose to work together as our businesses share the same family run feel and passion for the produce of their home counties. At the same time, we acknowledge our location and sites are unique enough to allow participants to discover new techniques, suppliers, and ways of working.

Modules at The Tommy Banks Group include foraging and preserving, farming and growing, housekeeping and e-commerce and operations. Down in Cornwall, employees can elect the likes of pastry at Paul Ainsworth at No6, guest relations, front of house at Caffè Rojano or social media.

Those taking part can choose to rotate through the business or home in on one particular restaurant within the organisation, and every visit includes travel, accommodation and extensive supplier visits.

Paul says, “I’m so excited to be partnering with the Banks family on this programme. You never stop learning in hospitality but we want to fast track this and give our team a more holistic view of the industry, which comes with experiencing other companies. I am so grateful to have worked across the UK and I want others to be able to do the same.”

Tommy adds, “Stage programmes are established for chefs but lacking for front of house and other roles. We want to change this and allow anyone within our business the opportunity to be able to join The Ainsworth Collection. We have much to learn from them and there are so many fantastic suppliers to visit in Cornwall.”