Looking sharp – this year’s Toque d’Or team. Front of house student Ashleigh Butler (centre) scored a silver medal while culinary students Sabrina Faes (left) and Kayla Hughes each picked up a bronze medal.

EIT is offering a suite of new hospitality programmes covering everything from café service and restaurant skills through to a two-year diploma in cookery or patisserie.

Students increasingly team up to work across programmes within the learning environment itself and at events like Toque d’Or, the national competition for hospitality industry trainees.

EIT’s large modern training production kitchens are complemented by the fully licensed Scholars training restaurant and café, providing ongoing opportunities for students to hone their skills, preparing and serving food to the public.

Scholars is the venue for café lunches, a la carte dinners, mid-winter Christmas lunches, 10-course degustation dinners and pub quiz nights.

Every year, cookery, front of house, café, tourism and wine students come together for the Hawke’s Bay A & P Bayleys Wine Awards, dressing tables, preparing dishes, serving food and wine and cleaning up after the 480 guests attending the gala dinner.

Toque d’Or is another example of the cooperative approach, with a team comprising a front of house student and two culinary students representing EIT in the annual event.

The reshaped programme offering now includes a new-look Diploma in Professional Chef Practice which allows culinary students to specialise in cookery or patisserie.