Northland Hospitality students are celebrating their recent success at the New Zealand Culinary Fare held in Auckland from 22-24th of August.

The group of 12 students from NorthTec, along with Northland HSI Junior Hospitality Challenge regional winners from Whangarei Girls High School and Kamo High School competed in a series of live cooking and front-of-house events, coming away with medals for each of their competition classes. 

The front-of-house students who are studying towards their National Diploma in Hospitality Operations Management with a stream in Food & Beverage picked up 4 bronze and 4 silver medals while the HSI Training Team of the Year trio which comprised of two chefs studying Professional Cookery Level 4 and one front-of-house member all took home silver medals. 

NorthTec proudly supports the regions secondary schools that have students studying hospitality and this year Kamo High School student Matt Genefaas took out a national title, winning gold in the final of the HSI Junior Hospitality Challenge.

“Northland can be very proud of these young hospitality stars and rest assured that the future of Northland’s hospitality industry is bright” says NorthTec part time Front-of-house hospitality tutor Kate Claydon.  “This competition allows us to showcase the immense talent we have in Northland and reassures us that our hospitality students are achieving at outstanding levels” Kate says.

The team’s successes are largely contributed to the dedication of the students and mentoring from industry professionals such as Jason Hall of Vinyl Restaurant & Bar / Copthorne Hotel & Resort Bay of Islands and Brenton Low of a’ Deco who have worked in conjunction with NorthTec tutors to nurture and develop the future talent of the Northland hospitality industry.