About Steyns Culinary School

Steyns Culinary School was started by Maritha Steyn in 2003 with the aim of improving the basic culinary skills of kitchen staff in South Africa.

Over the past 20 years, Steyns Culinary School has endeavored to equip students with the fundamental skills needed to make a success in the cheffing industry. Through the years students from Steyns Culinary School have become successful chefs in their own right, establishing themselves in the industry, and often time as head chef. We have the honour of one of our alumni being awarded a Michelin star.

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At Steyns we focus on hands-on skills development. With this in mind, we focus on smaller classes with a bigger emphasis on individualised attention. This allows our chefs to ensure that the skills being taught is fully mastered by the students which ensures that our students enter the industry fully equipped, confident and able to perform well under industry expectations.

Our full-time professional chef course is registered in South Africa with the QCTO. Internationally, full-time qualification is registered with Highfield International. Our students are therefore ensured of both nationally and internationally recognised qualification.

Short courses at Steyns are also on offer at Steyns, and though these may not all be credit bearing, we are registered to offer the Highfield Level 2 award in safety for food catering. This is a safety certificate that can ensure hospitality establishments are in line with national legislation for their kitchen staff.

All the lecturers at Steyns are qualified chefs who have a passion for educating the next generation with the skills they will need in the kitchen. Chef Dominique Viljoen obtained her qualifications at Prue Leith Academy and is a qualified pastry chef. After completing her qualification, she discovered a love of teaching and also completed her Education Degree. Chef Jaen-Mari Breythenbach completed her qualification at Capsicum Culinary School and has spent most of her career in the industry before joining the Steyns team. Chef Reinate van den Berg-Lord is a Steyns Culinary School alumnus who has a degree in Archaeology as well. She spent time in the industry, working at catering companies before deciding that she wants to help guide young chefs into the same love of the kitchen that she has.

The school is managed by David Steyn, whose background in education ensures that all training meets the educational needs of students, as well as focusing on smooth business operations. He is assisted by Adele Bekker, who is in charge of administration, communication with regulatory bodies.