An organisation, representing about 150 restaurants in the Stellenbosch region, has launched a campaign to up-skill and develop local communities.
Stellenbosch Wine Routes announced earlier this month that the umbrella organization, Tasting Stellenbosch, will for the first time, represent all these eateries.
Chairperson of Stellenbosch Wine Routes, Michael Ratcliffe says their focus is to up-skill the community by providing hospitality training.
Excited to launch TASTING STELLENBOSCH.
Chairman Chef George Jardine & deputy Bertus Basson driving an ambitious Stellenbosch Wine Routes social development initiative and uniting our local restaurant community around this noble initiative. https://t.co/wyKAX0qh90 pic.twitter.com/8kxA7ref4S
— FarmerMike™ 👨🌾 (@mikeratcliffe) February 2, 2019
Ratcliffe says they have a number of programmes to achieve their aim, and ultimately, lots more jobs will be created.
“Stellenbosch has long been a culinary leader on the South African gastronomic scene. Many decades of awards and recognition culminated in the 2018 Eat Out Awards recognizing that an extraordinary one in five of the top 30 restaurants in South Africa are based in the Stellenbosch Winelands. The Stellenbosch Wine & Food Tourism renaissance continues apace with exciting developments in planning for the past six months. There is an immense skill in this sector and our chefs are looking forward to plough it back into the Stellenbosch communities to add to a long-term foundation for greatness.”
The next step is to reach out to communities and identify people who will be interested in joining the industry, and providing training on the job.
Driven by a mandate to affect real change, @StellWineRoute officially introduced 'Tasting Stellenbosch' – chaired by Stellies chefs @GeorgeJardine & @BertusBasson – which will be upskilling the community by providing hospitality training: https://t.co/rjXhMfAG5D @mikeratcliffe pic.twitter.com/R6aVVKfrIq
— WineLand Media (@WineLandSA) February 4, 2019
