Insider Media Limited

Aston Villa Football Club is opening a new restaurant. Villa Midlands Food (VMF), which is due to open on 7 October, will employ 12 trainee hospitality students to cook and serve the cuisine.

VMF will be based in the Directors area of Trinity Road.

The club have partnered with the city council’s Birmingham Apprenticeship Scheme and taken on the trainee hospitality students, all of whom live within a ten-mile radius of Villa Park.

The apprentices, who were recruited after support and consultation with cluster groups from the area, will spend two years with Aston Villa Hospitality and Events.

The students will take a Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Hospitality Services qualification, with the club working with Walsall College as its training provider.

Villa are also training staff to be mentors to help out the trainees, as well as recruiting a restaurant manager and expert chef to run the restaurant.

The club, which works closely with its surrounding area and the people within it, will also be sourcing 80 per cent of the food used from within a 40 mile radius of Villa Park.

Alison Plant, head of hospitality and events, said: “VMF is a truly unique scheme.

“It is a restaurant which is different from anything else and we are delighted to get this initiative up and running. VMF offers youngsters a career opportunity in the hospitality industry.

“Villa is renowned for outstanding hospitality and service levels and we are aiming to build on this success for generations to come.”