Mitchells & Butlers and the Beer Academy have announced a major training programme that will see 600 of Mitchells & Butlers' retail staff undertake a 'Beer Excellence' training event delivered by the Beer Academy's renowned tutors.

The programme has been designed to a specification set by Mitchells & Butlers and will provide staff with the tools and knowledge that they need to serve a perfect pint every time. The Beer Academy has also created training tools that the 'Beer Ambassadors' can use in their individual businesses to cascade the training

Rachel Evans, Drinks Quality Manager for Mitchells & Butlers, said: "This initiative has been designed to ensure that Mitchells & Butlers remains at the forefront of industry excellence in service. We have worked with the Beer Academy to create a bespoke programme for our staff. Each ambassador will continue to champion beer within our pubs and amongst their teams thereby enhancing both the customer experience and our service and standards."

The programme will also be supported by in pub audits carried out by Cask Marque auditors who will assess learning outcomes in the workplace using an assessment process specified by Mitchells & Butlers.

The assessment results will be used to determine the awarding of the Mitchells & Butlers 'Master Serve' award to pubs which meet the Perfect Serve criteria.