Fred Siriex calls for more restaurants in prisons

Fred Siriex, the maitre d’ of hit show First Dates, has said that the “goal” of his charity is to “open a restaurant in every prison in the UK”.

Siriex founded The Right Course in 2015 in order to show prisoners that they could have a career in hospitality after they are released.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, Siriex said: “The goal of sending people to prison is obviously to protect society, but also to rehabilitate people and make sure that they are ready to be released in society and to play their part.”

According to data provided by The Right Course, as of last year 74% of those who have been through the training programme have received at least one qualification, and more than half (57%) of those who have been released have secured employment.

The UK’s hospitality industry has been plagued with labour shortages in recent years, with Brexit and the Pandemic playing a role in the crisis. According to industry body UKHospitality, there are 132,000 vacancies in the sector – 48% above the level of 2019.

Part of what The Right Course does is to open restaurants in prisons in order to teach inmates about the ins and outs of working in a restaurant, with four UK prisons already having one thanks to the charity. Among these is the amusingly-named ‘The Escape’ at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, which was opened in 2021 – this site was closed for a month with 15 of the prisoners taking part dismissed due to “security issues”. Another, The Cookout at HMP Isis, produces 250 meals for those in need in the local community each month.

“We are opening another five this year, and our goal is to open a restaurant in every prison in the UK, because every prison needs to feed their staff,” said Siriex. “We want to be the best in class. We want to be the best at training and developing and creating opportunities for these young men.”

“Instead of staying in their cells doing nothing, they go to the restaurant and they learn, and it’s about for them to get that sense of satisfaction and knowing that they can to do something incredible with their lives,” he added.

Siriex’s old Road Trip co-star Gordon Ramsay has also made similar efforts to rehabilitate prisoners, with his 2012 series Gordon Behind Bars documenting his efforts to teach the inmates of HMP Brixton how to cook – it resulted in a deal where cakes baked by the prisoners (operating under the name ‘Bad Boys’ Bakery’) were sold at various Caffè Nero sites.

The wine industry has also been known to train prisoners in an effort to rehabilitate them. Tuscan wine giant Frescobaldi has a long-running project on the prison island of Gorgona, teaching the incarcerated about winemaking, as well as the production of olive oil.

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