News and blog
Articles, updates, and back issues of the HWTC newsletter.
August 26, 2026
BEACON Is Back: Help a Woman on Your Team Prepare for Leadership
The Hospitality Workers Training Centre is preparing to welcome a new group of women to BEACON, our leadership development program for women working in the hospitality sector. Spots are still available for the upcoming cohort, beginning September 14, 2026. BEACON is designed to help women move into open supervisory and management roles. The program also…
August 26, 2026
Your Next Great Manager May Already Work for You
When hospitality employers need a new supervisor or manager, the search often begins outside the organization. A job is posted, applications are reviewed and interviews are scheduled. Eventually, someone new is hired and introduced to a workplace, team and operation they are still learning. Meanwhile, a promising future manager may already be working there. She…
August 26, 2026
What is a hiring event? A guide for Toronto hospitality employers
Most employers who ask us that question are picturing a job fair. A convention hall, and a stack of resumes that goes into a drawer and gets opened three weeks later, by which point half those people have taken other jobs. A hiring event is a smaller room, a shorter distance between meeting someone and…
August 26, 2026
Ontario workplace rules in 2026: what’s changed, and what’s coming on October 1st
A lot of this took effect quietly in January and still hasn’t reached the floor of most restaurants and hotels. Here’s where things stand at the end of August, for both sides of the pass. What changed on 1 January The job posting rules are the big one, and they apply to employers with 25…
July 30, 2026
Where to Send Someone Who Just Lost Their Job
Losing a job is disorienting even when you saw it coming. In hospitality, it happens fast. A restaurant cuts back after a busy season ends, a hotel trims staff once the rush slows, and someone who was working a full schedule last week is suddenly not. If you know someone going through that right now,…
July 30, 2026
The World Cup Rush Is Over. Your Next Move Isn’t
If you picked up shifts this summer because of the World Cup, serving, hosting, working events, staffing hotels, you just got a crash course in high volume hospitality. That is not nothing. That is exactly the kind of experience employers want to see, and it does not have to end when the season does. Late…
July 30, 2026
The Sandwich That Never Left: St. Lawrence Market’s Peameal Bacon Story
Every city claims a food. Philadelphia has its cheesesteak. Montreal has smoked meat. Toronto has a bacon sandwich from a market stall, and the story behind it is older than most people think. It starts with William Davies, who came to Toronto from England in 1854 and started selling cured pork at St. Lawrence Market.…
July 30, 2026
Toronto’s World Cup, By the Numbers
The FIFA Fan Festival at Fort York and The Bentway closed on July 19, the same day Spain beat Argentina in the final. Over 23 event days, more than 350,000 people came through the gates, according to the City of Toronto’s own tournament recap. On closing day, 263,972 fans watched the final across the festival…
June 26, 2026
Free Job Training in Toronto: Yes, It Exists
If you’ve been laid off, had your hours cut, or you’re just trying to get back on your feet, paid courses can feel out of reach. The good news is that support exists. Some programs are free depending on your situation. Others are low-cost. The trick is figuring out what you actually qualify for. HWTC…
June 26, 2026
Are Hiring Fairs Worth It? What Employers Should Know
You have a stack of resumes and not enough hours. Sound familiar? A hiring fair can fix that, if it is run well. A hiring fair brings job seekers and employers into one room, or one virtual session, on the same day. Instead of screening applications for weeks, you meet candidates face to face and…
June 26, 2026
Need to Hire a Cook or Bartender This Week? You’re Not Alone
It’s July. Your patio is packed. Your kitchen is slammed. And you just realized you’re down two people for Saturday. If you’re an employer in the middle of the summer rush and suddenly short-staffed, you’re in a tough spot. The normal hiring timeline doesn’t exist anymore. You need someone who can walk in Monday and…
June 26, 2026
Inside Toronto’s FIFA Fan Festival: The World in a City
The matches are happening inside BMO Stadium, but that’s not where you’ll find everyone watching. Right now, Toronto’s claim as one of the world’s most multicultural cities is visible in its streets. At Nathan Phillip Square, Harborfront, bars, patios, living rooms, and outdoor screens in neighborhoods across the city, locals and visitors are shoulder to…