The Visa NZ Hospitality scholarship is taking applications now, and is open to hospitality workers who are aged 22-35 and have been working in hospitality for more than two years. The prize is worth $30,000, and includes mentorship, an international work experience placement, business and wellbeing support, social media training and the opportunity to participate in next year’s Visa Wellington On a Plate. The scholarship is being judged by three renowned industry professionals - Hayley Scott (general manager of Sherwood Queenstown), Chef Michael Meredith (Metita, Mr Morris) and master of wine, Stephen Wong (Wine Sentience).

Applications close on 22 July, and more information is here.

You can see four ‘young chefs to watch’ in action at Next Gen Cook Off as part of Welly On a Plate in August.  This is the third year we’ve run the Next Gen Cook Off, and we have been consistently blown away by the talent and skill the chefs bring to the event.

Lewis Heath (Graze), Aoife Gallagher-Forbes (Concord), Chandrika Khullar (Floriditas) and Byron Bunny (Neo Cafe) will be preparing a three-course dinner using food that would otherwise go to waste. Their efforts will be judged by an industry panel and one chef will be crowned as the winner.

The Next Gen Cook Off is at LTD every Monday in August and is a non-ticketed event, pay by koha. More info here.

We’ve partnered with Lumina Lamb to support promising young chefs in Wellington with the Rising Stars Award. The award is specifically for chefs in the early stages of their career, and winners receive a year long training and mentorship programme, including masterclasses, a visit to a Lumina Lamb farm and a $500 cash prize. The Lumina Rising Stars Award has been going for three years, and previous winners Lizzie Rogers, Courtenay Charles, and Sian Davies have gone on to work internationally. The winners of Lumina Rising Stars 2024 were Izel Tijerina from Ortega Fish Shack, Lulu Temmuyin from Mr Go’s, and Phillippe Fortin from Concord. We encourage you to take a seat at the tables of these young hospo super stars and see what the future of Wellington hospitality looks like.