November 2022 saw South Bakels host an excursion for the year 2 pastry chef students from The Chefs Training and Innovation Academy (CTIA).

The students were from the Centurion Campus in Pretoria and the CTIA has 4 campuses around South Africa namely Centurion, Stellenbosch, Durban and Mbombela.  There were a total of 38 students and 2 lecturers that attended the excursion.

The day began with a Health & Safety presentation from Sister Anne Davis (South Bakels Occupational Health Nurse Practitioner) and Joshep Baloyi (South Bakels Health & Safety Officer) as well as a Food Safety presentation by Leigh Owen (South Bakels Food Safety Manager).

This was then followed by an Introduction to Bakels presented by Teresa Swanepoel (South Bakels Marketing Manager) which included an interactive Q&A session.

The students were then taken on a factory tour to experience South Bakels manufacturing in action and a look through the keyhole to large-scale bakery production.  The factory tour included the Chocolate plant as well as the Sugar Plant.

Following on was a Baking Presentation with Justin Mahlangu (South Bakels National Training Manager) with a puff pastry demonstration to make Cream and Custard Puffs.

Some of the South Bakels products that the students were introduced to on the excursion like Chockex, Sprink and Pettinice are products that they use on a daily basis in their training kitchens on campus.

After a full morning of fun and learning, the excursion was rounded-off with a light lunch enjoyed by all.

Bakels supports student excursions like these across the Group and as it gives  students like those from CTIA a glimpse into the world of becoming professional Bakers /Pastry Chefs. It also exposes these future professionals to quality Bakels products as they begin their journey into the commercial bakery world.