Founded in 1928, Worldchefs is a federation of national chef associations that represents the culinary industry in over 100 countries.
With persistent recruitment and retention challenges in the sector, employers approached Worldchefs for help addressing current skills gaps within their workforce and identifying future skills shortages.
To support the industry, Worldchefs set out a vision for something that didn’t exist before – a global skills framework that clearly maps out career pathways for chefs, and recognises skills and experience gained on the job.
But Worldchefs needed a partner who shared their vision and could help them achieve their goals. Enter City & Guilds, with global reach and a long legacy of expertise in certifying skills. Together, we created the Worldchefs Global Culinary Certification.
City & Guilds helped Worldchefs map out the career paths for chefs and define the standards for nine professional certification levels. From Commis Chef all the way to Master Chef, the Worldchefs Certification makes skills within the culinary industry visible, showing aspiring and experienced chefs alike that a career in hospitality offers real progression opportunities.
To ensure the credibility and longevity of the Certification, we also supported Worldchefs with creating systems and processes for ongoing quality assurance.
“We would learn by doing, together with City & Guilds, while putting in place these processes. We were able to build our own organisational structure to be able to maintain that same professionalism and quality assurance.”
Ragnar Fridriksson, Managing Director, Worldchefs
With greater confidence, knowledge and internal capability, Worldchefs were ready to deliver the Global Culinary Certification on their own, embedding the framework as a key part of their offer for individuals, education partners and employers around the world.
“What defined our collaboration with City & Guilds was a very personal approach. There were a lot of points of interaction, so it was a very open and collaborative partnership.”
Ragnar Fridriksson, Managing Director, Worldchefs
Through this close partnership, Worldchefs and City & Guilds created a framework that strengthens professional standards and supports the long-term development of the global culinary workforce.