ACF focusing on education, networking and helping to rebuild for the year ahead

The ACF has an event-packed calendar planned for 2022. We kick off at the end of February with ACF Restaurant Challenge hosted at the Foodservice Australia show – eight teams competing across two days from February 28th in Melbourne.

Unfortunately Fine Food in Sydney has been cancelled but we already preparing for the next show in Melbourne in September. The new competition line up is set to be bigger and better and includes the Tabasco two chef team Challenge; Burger, Paella and Pasta Challenges; and also at Fine Food will be our ACF Demo Kitchen hosting a series of free 30 minute demonstrations relevant to the culinary industry from industry professionals. The ACF Moffat Chef’s Lounge in the centre of the culinary arena will be the best place to view all the competitions and will provide a fantastic opportunity for chefs to get together and network. After a long spell of being able to communicate only via online platforms such as Zoom and social media, no doubt everyone will be excited to be able to get together in person again!

The middle of the year will see the regional finals for Nestlé Golden Chefs Hat Award 2022 along with the next round of heats for the National Secondary Schools Competition and Apprentice of the Year.

Another highlight of the year will be the ACF National Conference, postponed for the past few years due to Covid and now rescheduled for 9-12 May at the Crown Plaza, Hunter Valley NSW. One of the features of the conference program will be a regional food tour and it will also host our AGM and gala dinner. We have some exciting keynote speakers in the works and will be highlighting all the developments in education over the past six months – a big turnout is expected so be sure to book your place in plenty of time!

The World Chefs Congress will be held in Abu Dhabi on 30 May and we’ll be sending a contingent to attend and represent both Australia and the Pacific Region in the Global Chefs Competition. Matthew Lee from Queensland will be our representative with Amber Heaton acting as his assistant, which is very exciting for us. The competition itself has been postponed from 2020, having been originally scheduled to be held in Russia.

The major focus for the ACF this year will be on education, networking, bringing people together and working to reconsolidate and rebuild, helping to support our industry as it works to regain its former strength.

None of this would be possible without our fantastic sponsors who have supported us over the last two years. We’re so appreciative that they’ve stuck by us even in the hard times, so I’d like to make a special mention of them and encourage all ACF members and the broader industry to show support for their products and services in return.

We look forward to a fantastic year and a return to face to face interaction and ‘live in person’ events!