Chef of the Year finalists announced

The Chef of the Year competition categories include: Senior Chef of the Year; Junior Chef of the Year; Creative Canapés and Confectionary Showcase; and Team of Four.

Senior finalists:

• Jade van der Spuy from 1000 Hills Chefs School (Durban)
• Deon Kemp from Durban Country Club (Durban)
• Darcy Els Saxon Boutique Hotel Villas and Spa (Joburg)
• Hanno van Eeden from Diep in die Berg (Pretoria)
• Henrico Johan Grobbelaar from Southern Sun Waterfront Cape Town (Cape Town)
• Shaun Bruce from Sun Square Hotel (Cape Town)

Junior finalists:

• Dominique Hobson from La Petite Chef (Joburg)
• Terro Lekopa from Saxon Boutique Hotel Villas and Spa (Joburg)
• Michaela van der Merwe from Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa (Cape Town)
• Emma Mccullough from 1000 Hills Chefs School (Durban)
• Kayla-Ann Osborn from Traffords (Pietermaritzburg)

Creative Canapés finalists:

• Candice Jordaan from Fusion World Food Café (Durban)
• Peter Venter from Diakonia Council of Churches (Durban)
• Yatish Bipulprasad from FEDICS Toyota (Durban)
• Richard Alexander from Ellis 1000 Hills Chefs School (Durban)
• Sibanda Lesego from Zacharia Leriba Hotel and Spa (Cape Town)
• Edward Marcus from Hamman Hilton Hotel Sandton (Joburg)

Confectionary showcase finalists:

• Michael Mthembu from Fairmont Zimbali Resort (Durban)
• Zandria De Nobrega from Fusion World Food Café (Durban)
• Belinda Juanita from Moolman Protea Hotel Centrurion (Pretoria)
• Cherry Pin from Sandton Hotel Hilton (Joburg)
• Melicia Danielle Naicker from College of Cape Town (Cape Town)
• Ayesha Bibi Juwaley from One and Only Hotel (Cape Town)

The Team of Four finalists

• From Umdoni Village Hibiscus Retirement Village - Virginia Dougherty, Victoria Shozi, Kim Bagshaw, Sety Dhlomo (Durban)
• From Capitol Caterers - Niki Doman, Laura Morton, Paula Heuff and Jo Harper (Durban)
• From Elangeni Maharani Hotel - Shaun Munro, Prenolan Naidoo, Clinton Bonhomme and Justin Sewpershad (Durban)
• From The Table Bay Hotel Stelios - Kenneth Clive Barnard, Amari de Jager, Zane Josephus and Samantha Swartz (Cape Town)
• From Western Province Caterers - Siyolo Vokwana, James Thomas, Malcom Mitchelson and Michael Nicholas (Cape Town)
• From The Capital Hotel School and Training Academy - Liza Strauss, Jerusha Foster, Charlene Makasane and Michael Knight (Pretoria)
• From Waterfront Country Lodge - Lesley Leijdekkers, Mpati Mofokeng, Sophie Hlobo and Tumi Morabe (Johannesburg)

Prizes for the categories are R15,000 for first place, R10,000 for second place and R5000 for third place in Senior Chef of the Year: R10,000 for first, R 6000 for second, and R4000 for third in Junior Chef of the Year: R20,000 for first, R12,000 for second, and R8000 for third in Team of Four: R10,000 for first, R4000 for second, and R2000 for third in Creative Canapés: and R10,000 for first, R4000 for second, and R2000 for third in the Confectionary Showcase category.

This year, for the first time, the competition was endorsed by the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) and a WACS-accredited judge are overseeing the judging delegation as well as the overall judging procedure.