South Africa ’s next generation of caterers have started training at Tiger Brands’ Catering Incubator Programme which will assist in developing new and existing catering entrepreneurs.

The six month course, run in association with the South African Chefs Association (SACA), will provide 28 budding caterers with the skills to build a career in the challenging and globally competitive world of cuisine. Zin Mabaso, Managing Executive: Groceries at Tiger Brands will oversee the project.

The caterers will receive their training at the HTA School of Culinary Art, one of South Africa’s leading chef training providers run under the leadership of Stephen Billingham. Follow-up and mentoring will be conducted by the Culinary Arts Association of South Africa.

Business Management Skills and Business Administration Skills will be provided by the Institute for Enterprise Development (IED). The IED has designed Entrepreneurial Development Courses which will provide the caterers with the knowledge they need to understand, manage, operate and grow a business.

Bongiwe Njobe, Executive Director: Corporate Sustainability at Tiger Brands, said the programme aims to build capability in the cooking and catering sector among black-owned catering companies.

“Tiger Brands has always been interested in the evolution of food to suit the South African palate and we hope through this programme to build diverse capacity in the business areas in which we operate.”

According to Njobe one of the challenges that most caterers face is that they are either entrepreneurs and/or ‘cooks’. “Through this programme we will be able to provide them with not only the skills they need to be successful caterers but also the skills they need to be successful business people.”

The second group of trainee caterers will commence training in July, with the aim to identify potential caterers from the rural and outlying areas around the country.