BVTB doubles down on culinary training

Demand for culinary training remains strong at the Barbados Vocational Training Board, with its international cuisine programme expanding from two to six classes and the possibility of doubling that number, Director of Training Gerard Prescod has disclosed

At the BVTB’s 2026 orientation rally, where more than 350 prospective trainees registered for programmes this semester, Prescod said the response to culinary training, particularly cooking and pastry-making, has been overwhelming.

He said: “The international cuisine, we started off initially with two classes. Now we’re running six classes, so everybody wants to learn to cook, bake, do pastry making. So the response to some of those courses are very overwhelming. We’ll be glad to get that expansion finished because then we’ll probably be able to move from six to 12.”

Assistant Director of Training Operations Sophia Moore also pointed to strong demand for culinary programmes, particularly among more mature trainees.

“We also have an evening programme class again which just caters to the more mature person, and we run those three sessions a year, and they’re usually maxed out. We get high applicants for things like international cuisine, cooking, baking, those types of trade areas. It seems to have a very high demand as well.”

Prescod said the BVTB is also seeking to expand opportunities for trainees through partnerships with businesses, including a proposed three-year apprenticeship programme.

“I’m trying to get our trainees into corporate Barbados on a three-year apprenticeship programme. We also do something called implant training where we send our demonstrators into your organisation to do training, so we’re trying to expand all those things.”

He said BVTB trainees are already gaining exposure to the hotel industry.

“Our trainees are being accepted by a lot of the major hotels in Barbados. I went to, I think it was Girlfriend’s Expo, and we had about six trainees working in the kitchen; after that, Wyndham [Sam Lord’s Castle Resort] was glad to have them back. So we’re getting exposure, and our two chefs are very well known, so they bring that experience, and they get the connections.”

(LG)