The National Apprentice Competition was held on Wednesday 10th October in Canberra, with the Australian Culinary Federation hosting two culinary competitions – apprentices and secondary school students aspiring to become chefs.
The program is designed to help create tomorrow’s chef’s through the recognition, professional development and industry support. The competition focuses on identifying and developing the talent of passionate young chefs who want to excel in the industry, and the raw talent of up and coming high school students.
In total, 16 apprentice chefs and culinary students represented their state at the highest level competing against their peers. Each category had to prepare, cook and serve meals using various sponsored products, including the Sandhurst Fine Foods range.
The overall Gold Medal Winners were Allesia Vitagliano from South Australia, and Yasmine Yianni from Western Australia. Yasmine also won Apprentice of the Year 2019.
Each State was well represented with Queensland duo Ethan Hobbs and Michael Bae winning Gold Medal and Champion Team 2019.
“The Sandhurst family enjoys supporting initiatives such as The National Apprentice Competition as it provides young chefs with experience, support and mentoring. Our aim is to ensure emerging culinary talent stays engaged and inspired about a career in the kitchen”, said Mimmo Lubrano, CEO of Sandhurst Fine Foods.
“The young chefs were very engaged and demonstrated dedication, commitment and passion to their cooking, and each others success. With each industry competition, we are seeing the quality cooking and skills are getting better and better. The country’s foodservice industry is in safe hands” said Mimmo.
Arriving Friday, the young chefs attended a presentation from Sandhurst Fine Foods executive chef Fiorella Boretti and State Manager Brett discussing what the industry has to offer to young chefs as a career path, then the competitors were wowed with a chocolate Masterclass with Dammika Hatharasinghe.
All competitors were presented with a Robot Coupe Mini Immersion Blenders and the Apprentice of the year won a Robot Coupe R211XL Ultra Food Processor.