{"id":98589,"date":"2026-07-07T00:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/98589\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:39:26","slug":"theyre-truly-mastering-their-craft-elke-travers-on-the-industrys-emerging-chefs-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/98589\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re truly mastering their craft\u201d \u2013 Elke Travers on the industry\u2019s emerging chefs – hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now in its 61st year, the Nestl\u00e9 Golden Chef\u2019s Hat Awards is no stranger to nurturing emerging talent. This year will be no exception, according to Nestl\u00e9 Professional\u2019s Commercial Development Chef Elke Travers, who says the 2026 competition will be one to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year it just gets better and better. The chefs I\u2019ve already seen competing have been great,\u201d says Travers, who is currently travelling around the country for the metro and regional cookoffs.<\/p>\n

As the competition enters its 7th decade, the chef says it will be a standout year, not simply for the young chefs\u2019 talents \u2013 but also for the educators and partners that join the competition as it continuously expands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a team of people coming together in food service that are all keen to drive young chefs do their best. From the partners to the talent and the educators that come through: everyone\u2019s ramped up to give these opportunities to young chefs to stir up the industry and really help elevate their careers,\u201d says Travers. \u201cNestl\u00e9 is really passionate about giving future chefs opportunities to advance their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among these partners are Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), which is providing red meat to the competitors, alongside the National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI), which is providing native Australian ingredients.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s competition will see the young chefs work with a pantry list of Nestl\u00e9 ingredients, alongside items from MLA and NICI. As ever, the chefs will create a menu and serve two portions in a strict time limit.<\/p>\n

As Travers travels across the country for the cookoffs, watching young chefs vying for their place in the national finals, she\u2019s seeing an increase in creativity, sustainable practices, and thoughtfulness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very creative,\u201d says Travers. \u201cThey\u2019re thinking about how to incorporate sustainability hacks into their practices \u2013 from using up every part of the produce in different, creative ways, to using offcuts of lamb to make floss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re pushing themselves \u2013 and when you push yourself outside your comfort zone, you might not realise it at the time, but you definitely grow into a stronger, more positive, and able person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travers says that the chefs who compete in the competition grow in confidence, both in their personal and professional lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting themselves out there, growing their confidence, and meeting new people and contacts: it encourages that circular culinary career growth,\u201d says Travers.<\/p>\n

And the positive benefits aren\u2019t just for first timers. According to Travers, the competitors who return for multiple years are able to refine their vision and increase their confidence.<\/p>\n

She points to Emily Morgan<\/a>, the winner of last year\u2019s Nestl\u00e9 Golden Chef\u2019s Hat Award.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was just amazing. The first year I saw her, she was very quiet. But the next year she could have been running for parliament. When the competitors find something they\u2019re good at, like she did, that\u2019s going to fuel their confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"2025 winner Emily Morgan<\/p>\n

Many of the entrants have mentors in the industry who help them refine their ideas, such as Spirit House Head Chef Tom Hitchcock<\/a>, a former national finalist of the competition, who last year encouraged a young colleague Baxter Sanderson<\/a> to enter.<\/p>\n

This personalised training is another advantage of the competition, and it\u2019s given prior competitors like Sarah Jones the tools to succeed in her personal career as a chef.<\/p>\n

Jones says that her mentor, Chef Steven Clark, would tell her, \u201cThis doesn\u2019t define you\u201d, whenever she seemed nervous or stressed in her training \u2013 and it\u2019s a phrase which gave her the resilience to forge ahead in both the competition and in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cImposter syndrome is real, and it\u2019s completely normal to feel the emotions \u2026 but those words from my chef pushed me through it to keep going, and by the end I understood that it was all a learning opportunity and gave me reason to keep coming back year after year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this day he still says those words to me, and it helps level me back out, as a reminder that no matter what happens, I will be ok and I will continue grow,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n

Alongside the mentoring opportunities, Travers says the benefits of the competition are extensive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese young chefs are likely to gain mentor accolades for their CV, contacts around the world, and great prize opportunities. And it just gives them that accelerator once they enter the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she continues judging the cookoffs, Travers adds that she\u2019s incredibly excited to see the competition unfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to be part of the process again. I love to see the Nestl\u00e9 product get used in such innovative ways, and some of those young chefs are coming up with such great ideas,\u201d says Travers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese chefs are really mastering their craft, and I think we\u2019re in for a fantastic final. It\u2019s going to be neck and neck \u2013 they\u2019re so close in their skill sets, it\u2019s just going to come down to who can hold it together on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was produced in partnership with Nestl\u00e9 Professional.<\/p>\n

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