A temporary restaurant is being opened in the Maagdenhuis or Virgins’ House up in Antwerp. Staff will include newcomers as well as vulnerable people, who have to get by on minimum subsistence allowance. Davy Schellemans, the top-notch chef from Restaurant Veranda, will supervise the people at work in the kitchen.
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Newcomers and asylum seekers get support to enter the labour market at Antwerp’s Virgins’ House
Colin Clapson
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Centuries ago the Virgins’ House served as an orphanage for girls and until last summer was a museum on Antwerp's foundlings, orphans and the care of the poor. On Friday 14 February, not-for-profit organisation GATAM will open a new hospitality outlet here. For the past 25 years, the organisation has been training people who have failed to enter or have lost touch with the labour market
‘In the kitchen and restaurant you will find newcomers, asylum seekers, people on minimum subsistence allowance as well as pupils, who combine a job with school,’ explains GATAM’s Chris Bryssinckx. ‘They are trained to cook in the ‘Samenloop’ restaurant. The aim is for them to move on to the labour market after about 12 weeks.’
Majority move on to a job in hospitality
Chris Bryssinckx has seen how this way of training gives good results. ‘On average, 70 per cent of the people who work with us end up in permanent employment thanks to projects like this. It’s remarkable, but even for asylum seekers, who have a very uncertain future, we often find open-ended contracts.’
The project at the Virgins’ House is a relaunch of the one that previously ran at Stormkop and the Rubens House. There, top chef Seppe Nobels opened his ‘Instroom Academy’ (or Inflow Academy) where refugees were trained as chefs.
Support from top-notch chefs
Luis Mavo is working as the chef’s assistant at the new Samenloop restaurant. ‘I have been out of work for several months,’ says Mavo. ‘So I am extremely happy to start here. My dream is to become a good chef.’
Over the next few months, chef Davy Schellemans, from the Veranda restaurant, will supervise the staff. ‘I won’t be in the kitchen every day, but will mainly have a supporting role,’ explains Schellemans. ‘During a trial dinner, I am going to monitor everything carefully, but it is especially important that the trainees can take the lead.’ After three months, the next chef, Victor Avonds, will take over from Davy Schellemans.
‘I am very happy that about 15 people, with a challenging relationship to the labour market, will start working here and that the Virgins’ House will once again be an open house for the neighbourhood,’ says alderman Lien Van de Kelder. The project is currently planned to last for about two years. It is still unclear what will happen to the Virgins’ House after that.