The Cabildo de La Palma, through the public company Sodepal, is launching the Saborea La Palma Training Center, an initiative aimed at motivating and providing specialised training for professionals in the island's gastronomy sector.

This centre is starting out with the development of a specific training programme that aims to bring the country's most prestigious chefs, as well as representatives of renowned hotel companies, closer to the island's hotel and catering professionals. A programme in which participants will be able to improve their skills and knowledge in customer service, operations management and leadership, in the hope of increasing the profitability of the sector.

The island president, Sergio Rodríguez, presented the project together with the councillor for economic promotion and CEO of Sodepal, Miriam Perestelo; the CEO of the prestigious top f&b club, Juanjo Martínez; the head of operations of the Iberostar Group, Pepe Macías, and the best maitre d' 2023, Ana Clara Piñeyro, the latter responsible for delivering the first training programme, together with other professionals. The presentation was also attended by the Councillor for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty of the Cabildo, Alberto Paz, and the island's Director of Tourism, Beatriz Páez.

Sergio Rodríguez emphasised the Cabildo's commitment to promoting the talent of professionals in the sector, while highlighting the quality of Palmeran products through this programme, which will consist of four intensive courses, covering such important topics as customer experience, innovation and quality in service, the preparation of the menu and strategies for becoming a recognised professional.

Miriam Perestelo, for her part, stressed that this initiative stems from the need to respond to one of the basic pillars of the roadmap set out by the institution for the economic development of the gastronomic sector on the island, which is training. He also highlighted the joint and coordinated work being carried out by the areas of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and food sovereignty, tourism and economic promotion, consolidating the island of La Palma as a gastronomic tourist destination and supporting a sector that contributes to generating the economy and employment.

Juanjo Martínez highlighted the enthusiasm and surprise for the work being developed on the island. "Our profession requires time and professionalism and, above all, to be ambassadors of gastronomy, which gives La Palma its identity", he said, "gastronomy is sustainable and inclusive, allowing the development of the primary sector and we want to contribute our experience to these training activities".

The maitre d' Ana Piñeyro also stressed that this profession "allows us to be important in the development of tourism, promoting these trainings that give us the possibility to achieve it".

Pepe Macías emphasised that this initiative is an opportunity to train and awaken the talent that exists on La Palma with the resources available on the island.

These four training courses will be held on the 7th and 21st of October and the 11th and 25th of November, respectively, and will be repeated in the two main regions of the island at different times to make it easier for professionals to attend. This programme is aimed at professionals from the hotel and catering sector who are members of Saborea La Palma and interested in joining the project, who can consult the information on the Saborea La Palma website. https://saborealapalma.es.

In addition to Pepe Macías and Ana Piñeyro, the training project will have Michellin star chefs Erlantz Gorostiza, Quique Pérez and Dani Giganto as course teachers.