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Sir Richard Branson has visited Australian restaurateur, Luke Mangan’s Sydney-based Global Head Office, to celebrate the five-year partnership between Virgin Australia and Luke Mangan as well as the evolvement of Mangan’s entrepreneurial hospitality initiative ‘The Inspired Series’ into a nationwide program.

Over the next 12 months The Inspired Series will be expanding throughout Australia with the sole focus of inspiring and enabling entrepreneurship, leadership and knowledge throughout the next generation of the hospitality industry.

“The most successful people have fallen over… it’s all about learning from that and not giving up,” Branson said at the launch. “You have continuously re-invent yourself to ultimately come through the other end.”

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With TAFE NSW as an official partner, the program will give students and young talent access to the relationships The Luke Mangan Group holds with leading national and international hospitality professionals as well as the group’s major brand partners.

“The goal of the Inspired Series is to help shift how the hospitality industry is perceived. We want to stop people seeing it as just a vocation and more of a rewarding and varied career path,” Mangan said.

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“These days, it’s no longer just about the chef. From Sommeliers, to suppliers, to General Managers, accountants, F&B directors and marketers, there are a number of moving parts and positions that work together as a team to create a successful restaurant or hospitality business.

“There is a huge amount of choice within the hospitality industry and I want to provide young people the opportunity and access to learn about this and be inspired

“With 17 restaurants across five countries, the Luke Mangan Group prides itself in fostering and nurturing relationships with new talent to help not only ensure the future of the hospitality industry but also deliver and maintain a premium hospitality experience whether it be on ground or in the air on Virgin Australia Business Class,” he said.

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The Inspired Series also sees Luke Mangan launching a community vegetable garden at Sydney TAFE to promote understanding and knowledge surrounding fresh Australian produce and local suppliers.

The Inspired Series was initially developed in collaboration between Luke Mangan and Sydney TAFE in 2015 in order to provide kitchen skill sessions for commercial cookery students by some of Australia’s most renowned chefs including Peter Gilmore, Dan Hong and Mark Best.

James Wilkinson

Editor-In-Chief, Hotel Management