The lack of professionals in specialties such as butchery and charcuterie has been a constant in the sector for years. To combat the loss of these professions and reclaim the trade of salesperson, Grup Ametller Origen has launched a training school, through which it plans to incorporate 1,300 people in one year.
However, the scope of the new school, called El Viver, will not stop there: it will train 5,000 people each year to become retail sales specialists, especially in fruit, vegetables, and butchery. But the center does not only look outside the group, but also inward, as it will also offer tools to its current staff. Thus, the more than 3,500 professionals currently working in its 148 stores will have access to a new career and internal promotion plan.
In this way, the group's training proposal has four different itineraries: one aimed at people without prior knowledge, and three others focused on fresh product specialization, specifically in fruit and vegetables; in butchery, and in store leadership.
"The project provides knowledge from scratch to people who are not familiar with the sector," while reinforcing that of professionals who are already part of the company, according to the General Director of Operations of Grup Ametller Origen, Fernando Oteiza. "Currently, in Ametller Origen establishments, at least one person is promoted per day," he assures.
The group, which closed 2024 with 680 million in sales and a growth of 23%, will invest 1.3 million euros annually in its new learning ecosystem, which includes both a face-to-face and online component. The physical space, located on Via Augusta in Barcelona, has training rooms, a streaming room, and a recreation of a store, from which it will also be possible to connect via streaming with establishments further away from the Catalan capital.
Through this dual in-person and digital approach, the group has deployed its training proposal to enhance the talent of its stores and train new professionals. "We want to combat the extinction of the specialist trade and reclaim it as an indispensable figure when advising and accompanying consumers, who are increasingly interested in healthy and conscious eating," defends the CEO and co-founder of the company, Josep Ametller.