The students of the 2022 intake at The SA Academy of Culinary Arts will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in the Fifa World Cup in Doha.
This, according to academy founder Ralph Gottschalk, will open the students’ eyes to culinary cultures beyond SA over 10 months.
Gottschalk, a seasoned chef who has headed culinary departments across the country, said the aim was to take about 10 culinary and 10 pastry students who would work during the World Cup in December as interns, among teams of experienced chefs.
Gottschalk will be the culinary director during the World Cup.
“We would rather have 10 culinary and 10 pastry students who we can take care of properly, rather than have 30 in a class,” he said.
“This would make no sense. Also, Covid-19 obviously played a big role.
“However, we would like to have a total of 12 to 16 students to have a good compact group.
“This will help to train and teach better and will also create the right size support group for Qatar.”
The culinary school is taking applications for enrolment in March.
This is after programmes were disrupted and the school closed for six months in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gottschalk said the school had already registered some students from SA, while others from countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya and Nigeria had also shown a keen interest.
Gottschalk has been in Qatar since 2021, when he worked at the November Fifa Arab Cup.
While in Qatar, he also secured a partnership to open an international agency in SA, offering South Africans the opportunity to work overseas in the hospitality environment.
Gottschalk has already begun recruiting and screening candidates to join him in Doha through the Africa & International Hospitality Agency.
The opportunity is open to candidates across the hospitality sector, including experienced service managers, catering, restaurant and hotel staff, as well as chefs across various specialities.
“All food handlers and chefs, as well as service staff, will need to have experience and must have an international HACCP certificate; this is required by the health office in Qatar.
“Normally chefs should have this in any case, but we are offering assistance to all interested candidates, service staff and chefs to do this certificate online.
“We register them, give them training material and they then complete a multiple-choice online test of 20 questions,” he said.
The agency recruits qualified and experienced candidates for short- and long-term employment opportunities.
Gottschalk said candidates who wished to extend their stay through work after the World Cup would be given an opportunity should there be vacancies.
He said appointed workers would need to travel to Qatar in November.
“There will not be much time for training and individual attention, but they will all be given enough information about what the job entails and what is expected.
“In addition to this, there will be the on-site basic training and introduction,” he said.
Interested candidates can send their detailed CVs and supporting documents to AfricaInternatioanHA@gmail.com.
For information about SAACA courses and the school’s upcoming open days, email: info@saaca.co.za.
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