HTA School of Culinary Art together with Tsebo Solutions made young chefs dream a reality when then they held a graduation ceremony for their Class of 2019.
This auspicious occasion was held at the Apollo Hotel and saw family members and staff gather to witness the success of 33 students who realised a dream that once seemed unattainable. The Tsebo Programme has run at the school for some years and it trains aspirant chefs who face some form of disability.
Managing director of the school, chef Stephen Billingham said Tsebo Solutions generously invested in changing the lives of these chefs. “All these students are still very capable to contribute to society by adding to the country’s various kitchens, doing basic food preparation to assist other chefs in their unit,” he said. The students have been trained in the fundamentals of professional cookery, nutrition, health and safety and sanitation.
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“It will be these chefs who will go into the industry and start nourishing the nation.” He added that the current group of chefs was very successful with a very high pass rate which the school was proud of. Billingham was also very proud to reveal that 99 per cent of the graduates have been placed into full-time employment.
“As a job creation initiative, it has certainly worked. These young chefs will now play a role in the industry and contribute to the economy and quality nutritional cooking throughout the community.”
Nonhlanhla Matshidiso, who runs the Tsebo Programme, said eight years ago she too studied at HTA. She added that to graduate the chefs participated in a year-long programme that had them learn professional cookery. “This year they will have completed a course in food and beverages which will encompass aspects such as being a waiter/waitress,” she said.
Matshidiso concluded that she was proud of the graduating class who, through the course, learned about how to be a chef, a skill they never thought they would end up acquiring.
