After nearly 20 years at the forefront of professional culinary training, the Prue Leith Chefs Academy has invested R10.5 million in new kitchen and lecture facilities, confirming its place at the leading edge of culinary tuition in South Africa and Africa.
This investment was not an expansion effort to accommodate more students, but rather aimed at enhancing the quality of the training offered for the same number of students, and allowing the Academy to offer more specialist courses.
“Prue Leith Chefs Academy has long been a brand that is associated with excellence. The new facilities will undoubtedly contribute towards producing an even higher quality graduate, the net result of which will ensure that the South African hospitality industry receives a steady supply of the chefs who will become the culinary leaders of tomorrow,” says Anthony Roberts, Prue Leith Chefs Academy CEO.
“The Teaching Kitchens are as good as the best in Europe and the great atmosphere of dedication and enjoyment hasn’t changed” says Prue Leith CBE, patron of Prue Leith Chefs Academy who unveiled the new facilities with Academy Chairman Tiny Barnetson during a week celebrating the progress of the Academy and that of South African cuisine.
“Our hopes and aspirations for the new development are for it to be recognized as the centre of culinary education in South Africa, aimed both at students and industry alike” says Barnetson, motivating the Academy’s investment.
On viewing the new facilities recently Chef Patron of Overture Restaurant Bertus Basson stated that these new facilities make Prue Leith Chefs Academy “the best equipped training facility in the country.”
The new TINY BARNETSON CULINARY CENTRE features the following:
Phase two of this project which will be completed by December 2014 and includes the upgrade of the previous training kitchen to a dedicated patisserie kitchen with 10 individual teaching stations and a lecture station, all equipped with Technistone tops, gas hobs, KitchenAids and specialised patisserie equipment.
South Africa has a booming tourism industry and plays host to countless well-heeled international travelers every year. These visitors expect the very best we can offer. Prue Leith Chefs Academy has invested in our industry to ensure that this demand for the highest standards in the kitchen can be met.