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Brewing Skills and Opportunity at 2nd Shot Café
TAFE Queensland joins forces with BASE Services to deliver hands-on hospitality training at 2nd Shot Café in Toowoomba, supporting local workforce needs while creating life-changing employment pathways for people experiencing disadvantage.
Overview
- A collaborative initiative and the Queensland Training Awards ‘Community Training Initiative of the Year’, delivering paid Hospitality traineeships to jobseekers facing barriers to employment.
- Eighteen participants have successfully completed the pilot program, gained practical café experience and earnt a nationally recognised qualification.
- The program is helping meet Toowoomba’s hospitality workforce shortages, giving employers access to a pipeline of skilled, motivated team members.
BASE Services
BASE Services is a Toowoomba-based social enterprise dedicated to supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and disadvantage. Their on-campus café, 2nd Shot, provides hands-on hospitality training and employment opportunities to help people rebuild their futures.
Opportunity
Like many regions across Queensland, Toowoomba’s hospitality industry has faced workforce shortages. At the same time, many jobseekers have struggled to find meaningful employment due to barriers such as homelessness, disability, or cultural and linguistic differences.
BASE Services saw an opportunity to connect these two challenges: provide quality food and coffee to TAFE Queensland’s Toowoomba campus community while also creating a training ground for people who needed a second chance.
The organisation needed an experienced training partner to ensure participants could gain not only hands-on café skills like food preparation, customer service, and workplace safety, but also a nationally recognised qualification to boost long-term employability.
Solution
Through a partnership with TAFE Queensland and the Queensland Government’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work program, BASE Services offers paid hospitality traineeships delivered on-site at 2nd Shot Café.
Students complete a Hospitality qualification – a program consisting of 17 training sessions over 18 to 26 weeks – guided by TAFE Queensland’s industry-experienced educators. Training is outcomes-focused and delivered weekly on campus, with workplace visits to both 2nd Shot Café and the BASE Soup Kitchen for additional real-world practice.
The program is strengthened by wrap-around support – mentoring, on-the-job coaching, and job-readiness workshops – ensuring participants can successfully transition from training to sustainable employment.
“The support from TAFE Queensland will help us provide meaningful training and employment opportunities to people experiencing homelessness, and barriers to employment and training,” said Tiffany Spary, Co-Founder of BASE Services.
The support from TAFE Queensland helps us provide meaningful training and employment opportunities to people experiencing homelessness, and barriers to employment and training.
Results
The Queensland Training Awards award-winning initiative and partnership has transformed 2nd Shot into a ‘cuppa-with-a-cause’ destination for students and staff at TAFE Queensland’s Toowoomba campus, with every purchase supporting brighter futures for participants.
Graduates leave with real-world café experience and a nationally recognised qualification, increasing their employability in the local hospitality industry. The program also provides employers in the region with access to skilled, motivated team members ready to contribute immediately to their businesses. All 18 trainees in the first intake have successfully completed the program.
“We’re committed to ensuring our training aligns with current and emerging workforce needs in the Toowoomba region, and this partnership is a great example of turning that commitment into action,” said Kate Venables, TAFE Queensland General Manager - South West region.
Future plans
TAFE Queensland and BASE Services plan to continue strengthening the 2nd Shot Café model, exploring opportunities to expand the program’s reach and meet ongoing workforce needs in the region. Both partners remain focused on helping more individuals experiencing disadvantage gain the skills, confidence, and qualifications to enter long-term employment.