Food technicians, butchers, cooks, even electricians: At Hochreiter in Bad Leonfelden, inquisitive apprentices can pursue a career in many areas. “They just have to want to,” warned Wolfgang Hochreiter from the group of companies of the same name at the opening of the new company campus in Bad Leonfelden. In the future, it will no longer be possible to fail there due to the general conditions of teaching. The campus building not only contains a teaching butcher’s shop, where many a seasoned butcher’s owner would envy the color of his meat loaf; 17 rooms have also been set up that can be used by apprentices free of charge – in a four-star standard, of course. There is also a parlor and a cozy dining room, which is also available to the apprentices.
With the commissioning of the seven million euro training facility for 40 prospective skilled workers, the apprenticeship training at Hochreiter Lebensmittelbetriebe has reached a new dimension that is unique in Upper Austria. Wolfgang Hochreiter – once a butcher’s apprentice himself – has realized a long-standing vision with the building and made the diversity of the company clear: “We have a great need for specialists in international competition. In the new campus, we can recruit future specialists and managers exactly according to our needs in the new small business environment from scratch”, he referred to an important step towards a successful future for his company. Over the past 30 years he has expanded this from a five-man butcher’s shop to a 1000-employee company universe.
Experts in good taste
In addition to meat processors, the focus of training on the new campus is currently on the apprenticeship as a food technician, whom the company boss describes as “experts in good taste”: “Customers and consumers expect high quality when it comes to the origin and processing of their food Status.” “Food technicians are also technology experts,” adds Peter Weidinger, Managing Director of Hochreiter Lebensmittelbetriebe, who, because of the importance of the apprenticeship in the group of companies, did not reveal his academic title at the opening: “The knowledge of production processes and ultra-modern production facilities with high-tech robots in our industrial production lines make food technicians sought-after employees in the areas of production, product development, plant management and quality assurance.” Due to the high export rate of over 85 percent, spread across 23 countries worldwide, it is very important to convey the high demands of international customers to the apprentices during their training.
The new campus enables Hochreiter to accept apprentices from all over Austria, but also from abroad. The language skills, especially in German and maybe also a little in the Mühlviertler dialect, are specifically promoted in the new, in-house language center.
The head of the company is very concerned about further training opportunities for apprentices and the promotion of social skills through support when joining a local club such as the Musikverein Bad Leonfelden or the soccer section of the Sportunion. However, the apprentices are also made aware that after their training they can pursue a career in the diverse group of companies.
Source: Nachrichten
