FACT SHEET MARCH 2004 SACA – PROMOTING THE ART AND SCIENCE OF COOKERY IN SOUTH AFRICA
It has been 30 years since a small group of chefs dreamed of an Association that would promote the art and science of cookery in South Africa.
Today, the South African Chefs Association (SACA) is recognised as the authority on food in South Africa. SACA is a professional culinary association of in excess of 2 000 members, with five established branches throughout the country. Its members include catering and hotel company directors, restaurateurs, chefs, cooks, culinary educators, apprentices and trainees and can be found in every type of catering activity, from staff restaurants to fine dining and inflight catering.
The governing body of SACA is a board of directors – 10 leaders in the catering world, elected to serve the interests of the Association in a voluntary capacity. Each region has its own decentralised organisation structure.
The current patrons of SACA are The Fedics Group, Southern Sun, Nestle Food Services, Tiger Brands, Royal Foods Services and McCain Foods. permanent representation on the THETA Board.
The South African Chefs Association plays an integral role in the training and continuous improvement of standards in the hospitality industry. With the predicted growth in tourism, this role is becoming more and more important and through the SACA Seal of Approval, recognised standards for the industry are being set. SACA has
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Product development is also an important service that SACA provides to the industry.
The Association continues to work closely with THETA to identify and define the training needs of industry. SACA also holds regular seminars and workshops, both nationally and regionally, in the constant drive to improve knowledge and standards. Competitions are held every year at events within the South African borders, to identify the new and rising culinary stars. Participation in international events and food promotions ensures the continuous development of young, aspiring chefs and raises the profile of South Africa’s diverse cuisine in countries across the globe.
Team South Africa, our national culinary team, is selected by the South African Chefs Association every four years, culminating in our participation in the IKA Culinary Olympics. Through a process of skills transference and training, the best of the chefs on the squad will be selected to represent South Africa in the Culinary Olympics in 2004. Team South Africa has been structured in such a way that it will provide for the deve lopment and training of young chefs by more experienced chefs who have previously served on the National Team, with the emphasis being on a mentorship programme for the next generation of chefs.
On an international level, the Association has always active ly participated in the activities of the World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS) and in 1996 was unanimously voted to hold the offices of president, vice president and secretary general from 1996 to 2000. Not only was this a great honour but also a strong vote of confidence in the ability of the South African Chefs Association by the more than
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60 member countries of WACS, which represents over 1,5 million chefs around the world.
In December 2003, chairman Bill Gallagher and president Heinz Brunner stepped down after a collective 50 years at the helm of the Association. A dynamic new board of directors was appointed, representing every sphere of industry and an unsurpassed passion for the profession:
The structure of the board is as follows:
President Martin Kobald
President’s Council Bill Gallagher Heinz Brunner Gordon Tuckett
Vice presidents Bruce Burns Arnold Tanzer
Board of directors Stefano Strafella Stephen Billingham Peter Hallmanns Anto nette Kennedy Jeff Schueremans Owen Julles Peter Brown
Regional committees Eugene van Wyk (Gauteng) Pete Goffe-Wood (Western Cape) Christina Martin (Kwazulu/Natal) Corné Levitan (Garden Route) Kevin Gericke (Free State)
Junior committee
To be appointe d
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History 1974 The objective of starting the association was to see how chefs as a group of people with a common purpose could bond together for the betterment of the noble art of cookery. A group of six people had a vision, a preliminary meeting was held and the SA Association of Chef de Cuisine opened membership to Sous Chefs, Chef de Partie and junior positions 1975 A Constitution was drafted and a recruitment drive launched. The Association recognised one of its key objectives as the development of South African staff in the culinary arts and the need to introduce a wider public to the pleasures of fine dining 1976 A monthly magazine “The Gazette” was launched with Marc Guebert as Editor. The first attempt to send a national chefs team to the Culinary Olympics (IKA) failed due to lack of planning 1977 The Chefs de Cuisine changed its name to the South African Chefs Association The new body became an associate member of Fedhasa 1978 The WACS congress was held in Paris, Fra nce 1980 1st SA team sent to IKA – Germany The representatives were: Wolfgang Heiduck, Bill Gallagher, Manfred Muellers, Wolfgang Leyrer & Otto Schellhas Five individual gold medals; 4th overall place in hot competition 1982 Bill Gallagher was appointed vice president of SACA in March and took over as president in November Bill captained the Salon Culinaire International at London’s Hotelympia 1984 SACA’s 10th Anniversary 2nd Cape Salon Culinaire Culinary Olympics - 11 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. Bill Gallagher and Heinz Brunner represented SACA for the first time at a WACS congress WACS Orlando, Florida - SACA bid to host next WACS congress 1986 22nd WACS congress was held in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia Caterex 1986, the 6th National Salon Culinaire was held at Nasrec 10 international teams from Europe, America and Israel took part Paul Bocuse was guest of honour at a gala banquet at the Carlton Hotel Info Chef 86 - The role of food in the year 2000 1987 Garth Stroebel - 1st South African to compete for the Bocuse d’Or American Culinary Classics - silver medal in cold and gold in Hot SACA was converted to a Section 21 (non profit) limited company 1988 1988 WACS World Congress – 623 delegates attended The Diamond Jubilee Congress of the World Association of Cooks Societies was held in March 1988 in Johannesburg The objective of their presentation was to highlight the need to focus on nutrition throughout Southern Africa. It also emphasised the urgency of educating all our people to eat better. This is one of the South African Chefs Association’s projects “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime” Culinary Olympics (Garth Stroebel & Manfred Reinhard, Glynn Sinclair) 1989 S A competing at Food Asia held in Singapore Page 4 of 5
1991
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1995 1996
1997 1998
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2001 2002 2003
George Mazibuko represented SA at Bocuse d’Or and came 7th out of 22 countries SACA offices moved from Hillbrow to Fedics building in Rosebank Culinary Classic – Chicago (Durban regional team) IKA Culinary Olympics held in Frankfurt - SA received 18 gold medals Became World Champions in the hot kitchen at the Restaurant of Nations World Cooks Tour for Hunger raised R500 000,00 for Operation Hunger and Valley Trust of Zululand. 120 chefs from 24 countries participated Switzerland – entere d the hot section of Culinary Grand Prix Academy of Chefs was founded in October SACA celebrated its 20th anniversary WACS congress was held in Stavanger, Norway Luxembourg – Team Africa – Culinary World Cup 1995 American Culinary Classic On 13th March, in Jerusalem, the World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS) voted unanimously to give SA the Presidium to manage on their behalf The Presidium comprised of three positions: Bill Gallagher - President; Heinz Brunner - Vice President; Brian McCune - Secretary General Chef’s Showcase – Sandton SACA offices moved from Rosebank to Randburg Culinary Olympics - Berlin South African Team competed in Scotland at SCOTHOT 28th WACS Congress held in Melbourne - Steven Benson - World Championship winner against 20 other chefs Guinness Book of Records – Mpumalanga – longest Sosatie Culinary Team South Africa - Culinary World Cup – Luxembourg SACA celebrated 25 years Team South Africa competed Culinary Grand Prix Switzerland - Basel Longest cake in South Africa (a layered banana cake) 1198 metres long (in Kwa-Zulu Natal) Youth Team placed second in Holland Culinary Olympics – Erfurt, Germany Goldcrest Accolade Bruce Burns competed Bocuse d’Or WACS All Africa Challenge held in South Africa Team South Africa participated in the International Hotel & Gastro Competition in Austria and the American Culinary Classic in Chicago Stefano Strafella competed in Bocuse d’Or Tiger Brands World Cooks Tour for Hunger attracted 150 chefs from 30 countries and raised R1,5 million for needy charities
…ends ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CHEFS ASSOCIATION BY STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT VANESSA NAUDÉ ON 083 271-6000 OR vanessa@stratpr.co.za.
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