“Ingredients for Serendipity Soup” – cooked up by R2W ‘s very own Grant Huck -provider of handy bite size chunks of positivity
Please note – you may need to pull up a chair as this is quite a tasty tale…

“Take 1 Student with a Dream to be a Commis Chef, mix him together with an amazing R2W team, Teach him a grounding of basic job skills, stir him around for a little while with a supportive Internship Employer and then almost ruin the whole pan of broth with an incurable Virus and just when you think its completely overcooked and spoiled, throw in a little extra sprinkling of tenacity and a second supportive employer to really bring out the flavours and bake for about 3 weeks and you will then have the makings of a perfect Commis Chef.
We might make light of the situation, but this is pretty much exactly how Jenssen went from College to Commis Chef in the worst year this country has ever known.
Despite all the odds being against him, he is now working full time as a trainee Commis Chef at one of the most successful Pub/Restaurants in Ulverston, The Rose & Crown. But the journey there, has not been straight forward. Jenssen started his journey with the Work & Learn team in Furness in September 2019, having joined up on the Supported Internship programme they run with Furness College. As a successful graduate of the Catering Department at Furness College, Jenssen dreamt of becoming a Commis Chef or Pastry Chef and needed the extra support of our team to help him get there. After 6 weeks in college, focussed on Job Skills training to prepare all the students for the world of work, Jenssen was introduced to Elaine and Matt from the team at The Round House Cafe & Hub on Walney Island near Barrow In Furness. As a brand new venture for Elaine and her team, they were keen to take on Jenssen as an Intern. Here he would have the opportunity to learn the running of a popular cafe from the ground up in a business that was just in the process of opening. Very quickly, with the guidance and support of Elaine and her team, Jenssen quickly became a shining star, working his way from counter assistant, to front of house support and ultimately ending up in the kitchen were his skills really shone out. Sadly only two months into his kitchen role the whole world was struck down by COVID-19 and we all know what happened next. The Cafe was soon forced to close and Jenssen had to isolate at home with his family for safety.”
Oh no…tell me there’s a positive ending…

“But this is not where the story ends for Jenssen. Several months had passed in the UK Lockdown and Claire Round, the R2W Furness Employment Advisor, bumped into an old friend of the Furness Work & Learn team while out shopping, notably John Horton, the previous General Manager of the Abbey House Hotel. He explained to Claire that he was taking on a new venture running a Group of Public Houses and Restaurants in the Ulverston area.”
So to cut an extensive menu short…..
“We cooked up and agreed on an opportunity for Jenssen to try out as a Commis Chef, at one of their Pub/Restaurants. Jenssen then spent 3 weeks working voluntarily to prove his worth with the Head Chef David Doyle (above) at the Rose & Crown in Ulverston. The rest as they say, is history. Jenssen clearly made an impact and did himself immensely proud, because he went on to secure a full time Trainee Commis Chef position and started paid work in September 2020, 12 months after starting his journey with the Furness Right 2 Work team.

Chop chop – serendipity to go!
So despite all the recent bad news and the almost impossible working climate, good things can happen when you mix together the right ingredients. Well done Jenssen from us all at R2W and a big thank you to both Elaine at The Roundhouse on Walney and John Horton from the Rose & Crown and The Farmers in Ulverston, for giving Jenssen the opportunity to achieve his dream. It is forward thinking and socially responsible employers like this that allow us to really make dreams come true.”
Grant Huck, Job Coach, R2W Team in Furness (other recipes are available -just ask!)