The Pemberton Community Resource Centre has launch a Community-Private Partnership aimed at solving the problem of providing high quality barista training in the Southern Forests region.
Throughout 2016 the CRC identified issues of training availability, recruitment and retention of staff as issues for hospitality venues within our community.
Aiming to address this, the CRC has partnered with Lost Lake Wines to design, facilitate and deliver courses under the umbrella of The Coffee Mill, Pemberton’s first barista training school.
Monday’s official opening of The Coffee Mill marks the start of an exciting project to increase locally available training opportunities, improve hospitality staff retention and encourage unique groups of tourists to choose our region for their trip.
The Coffee Mill will provide comprehensive barista training, creating legitimate and sustainable pathways to employment for people within our region.
Focusing on producing job ready baristas, employers will now have the ability of securing training for their staff within the region, be able to have input into the design of courses to ensure they meet their needs and encourage career progression within the hospitality sector.
Plans for 2017 include expanding the delivery of training to include development of group tourism packages, combining coffee appreciation training with agri-tourism opportunities, and the creation of WA’s first regionally based Mandarin and Cantonese language barista course.
Sarah-Jayne Griffiths, Pemberton CRC manager, said the project was an example of how private business, community groups and government could work together to develop initiatives that plug real community gaps.
“It was only made possible by the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program providing support to the Pemberton CRC and could not have been developed without the amazing generosity and spirit of collaboration shown by the businesses involved,” she said.
