Caterers in Gauteng

Gauteng is a Province of South Africa rich in corporate offices, especially in the heart of Johannesburg. Corporate functions, wedding receptions and sports dinners occur with great regularity, and most of these functions call for an outside caterer, since only a few corporates have their own in-house caterers. There are plenty of caterers in Gauteng, some large and some small companies that cater for the smaller, intimate functions. Using as an example a wedding with a hundred guests, caterers can be expected to organize the entire function for you. They will cater for the food, the beverages, floral arrangements, draping and décor, wedding cake, photographs, music, invitations, child-care and parking attendants. Add to this list the venue for the reception, be it a hall or a garden and, yes, even the chapel. Now it is very easy for anyone to become a caterer you might think. All you have to do is to purchase a few pots and pans, some cutlery, crockery and you’re in business. But it is not quite as easy as that. You also have to have the knowledge – you have to know exactly what you’re doing, and for that you need to go to a catering college, particularly one that covers the entire catering curriculum.

Tucked away in a quaint little garden suburb in Centurion is the Prue Leith Catering College. This college offers the most comprehensive catering course in Gauteng, South Africa. Students can start at the college after they leave school, and should possess at least a standard grade Matric pass and be eighteen years of age. This catering course starts twice a year, in January and in July, and the course lasts eighteen months over three semesters. One of the unique features of this college is that it is the only chef’s college in the country that has an on-site fine dining restaurant. Rated in Gauteng’s top-ten restaurants and the top-twenty in South Africa, this restaurant is not marketed as a student training ground but as a top-quality stand-alone utility that must compete head-on with the best South Africa has to offer. The restaurant has also been awarded its Blaizon from the Chaîne des Rotisseurs. Significantly, the food is prepared, cooked and served by students of the college. The students begin working in the Prue Leith’s in their second semester, and the proof of their ability lies in the accolades won by the restaurant. In addition to the normal lectures and practical work, students spend time cooking in the college Boma, where they are trained in the arts of bush cooking and Pan-African cuisine. Part of the course is taken up with the Cape Wine Academy Certificate, and students must complete this course within a course in order to graduate from the college.

On graduating from the college students are presented with a Diploma that is recognized throughout the world. These are the caterers of the future. They will have already spent a six-month period working in the on-site restaurant, Prue Leith’s, as well as a further six months period working in prestigious game lodges, restaurants and hotels from Cape Town to the Cotswolds.

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