Fuel your culinary passion: Apply to Capsicum Culinary Studio

Capsicum Culinary Studio — which was recently voted one of the top 10 culinary schools in Africa by Awakening Africa magazine — is the largest chef school of its kind in SA, with six campuses throughout SA and graduates who work around the world. 

Capsicum has branches in Boksburg, Cape Town, Durban, Joburg, Nelson Mandela Bay and Pretoria, which collectively maintain a 95% pass rate. It also has more local and international accreditations and associations than most chef training institutes in SA. 

Qualifications on offer include the one-year professional cookery programme, the hugely popular one-year patisserie programme, the three-year chef programme and various masterclasses.

Since opening its doors 18 years ago, Capsicum Culinary Studio has produced more than 7,000 alumni who are now working all over the world and who have established themselves as leaders within various markets.

Employers range from boutique establishments to large multinational hotels and resorts. Others have taken the entrepreneurial route and established their own hospitality-inspired businesses and consultancies.

Capsicum Culinary Studio courses offer dual international certification through several industry bodies, including City & Guilds, and are nationally accredited with the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality & Sport Sector Education & Training Authority (Cathsseta) and the Quality Council For Trades & Occupations (QCTO) — attributing to their alumni making their mark throughout the world.

Capsicum also offers nationally-accredited qualifications through the QCTO and Cathsseta, with optional City & Guilds dual certifications linked to them.

Skills programmes and part qualifications also form part of their accreditation, with multiple programme articulation pathways to assist students in continued lifelong learning.

Capsicum Culinary Studio has partnerships with The Swiss Education Group, the American Hotel Academy and are members of The SA Chefs Association and, by extension, The World Association of Chefs’ Societies, exposing learners to international standards and opportunities. 

There are numerous successful Capsicum alumni around the world including:

• Chef Wandile Mabaso who was named the Chef of the Year at the 20222 Luxe Restaurant Awards. This award is special to the Les Créatifs head chef, it's his first culinary award in SA after spending over a decade overseas and in many top restaurants across the globe.
• Chef Marcus Modimokwane gained popularity during the national lockdown in SA, where he became a favourite chef thanks to his “easy to make at home meals” videos.  He has been featured in a number of publications and TV shows, such as the e.tv. Morning Show.

• Winning a bursary to study at Capsicum Culinary Studio changed Genghis San’s life. He is the executive chef at AKA Lead Kitchen at the Radisson Red Rosebank. This wasn’t Chef San’s only major achievement during his stellar career. He also reached the regionals for Unilever’s Junior Chef of the Year and achieved executive chef status at the age of 24.

• If you wander down Rua Braamcamp in Lisbon, Portugal, you'll come across one of the city's best coffee and pastry shops called Simpli. Reviewers on Trip Adviser give the venue five stars and rave about the freshly roasted coffee, breads and cakes that are made on the premises several times a day. If you sneak into Simpli's small kitchen, you are likely to bump into a tall, young South African by the name of Hendrik Pretorius, elbow deep in mixing bowls — creating delectable treats for his customers. Pretorius, 26, who hails from Heidelberg in Gauteng, is living the dream and doing what he loves to do — baking!

• Simphiwe Zondi’s Capsicum journey led him to become a chef and baker who has gone on to make special occasion cakes for a host of SA celebrities, including Thembi Nyandeni, Basetsana Kumalo and Bonang Mathebe.

If you want to join the legion of successful alumni and are looking to explore your study and career opportunities for 2023, then take part in the next Capsicum open day, which takes place at all of its campuses on Saturday, October 1 2022, from 8am to 12pm.

To apply on the day, a R1,000 application fee and presentation of an ID is required. Click here for more information or contact your local Capsicum campus.

Capsicum was established in 2003 and was acquired by AdvTech in 2016.

Further information can be found online at www.capsicumcooking.com. 

This article was paid for by Capsicum Culinary Studio.