Fiona Burrell founded the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School (ENTCS) in 2009, offering a selection of training courses that Burrell says often lead to rewarding careers.
She said: "While university is a rewarding route for many, it is not the only way to forge a successful career, and even students who have worked hard to win a place at university sometimes find after a year or so that it isn’t what they want to do.
“Many students have come to us as an alternative and in as little as three or six months we have prepared them for a career in the food industry and they are set up for life.
“We have seen our graduates go on to a wide range of careers once they have completed a course with us.”
Courses on offer at the school include a six-month practical cookery diploma, a three-month intermediate certificate course, and a basic one-month course.
ENTCS graduates include Peter Simpson, owner of the Pennan Inn restaurant in Aberdeenshire, and Emma Louis McGettrick, who works under head chef Robin Gill at The Dairy in London.
“Many young graduates quickly find work with prestigious restaurants and catering companies or use the skills they’ve acquired to work as private chefs both in the UK and overseas,” added Burrell. “Others may go on to become the food stylists or writers of the future.”