Alumnus: Gugu Wanda

Gugu Wanda has always had a passion for food and cooking but did not consider it as a career and after matriculating she embarked on an LLB degree from the University of KwaZulu Natal. But after four years spent learning about the principles of law, she realised her heart wasn’t in it so she packed it in and enrolled at Capsicum Culinary Studio’s Durban campus for a three-year Food Safety and Culinary Arts Diploma (now the Advanced Professional Chef Programme). She graduated in 2016 and got her first job at Café La Plagè as a griller, quickly moving up to Sous Chef and eventually Head Chef. She then went on to work as a Sous Chef at Bloomsberry Café in Hillcrest and the 5-star Octavia Boutique Hotel in Inanda where she found herself cooking for the Zulu royals. Last year Wanda was invited to take part in The Creole Food Festival, an American food festival that showcases chefs from the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, Asia, South America and the South of the United States.

After returning she launched a private catering company called The Next Table, with the aim being to create a space where people, whose paths wouldn’t normally cross, come together and enjoy good food, good wine and good conversation. As if that wouldn’t be enough to exhaust any hardworking chef, she was also recently appointed Head Chef at St Mary’s DSG Kloof and Executive Chef at Little Havana. Both positions she says involve “a lot of work, including staying up to date with culinary trends and kitchen processes, dealing with suppliers and ensuring that they deliver quality goods at affordable prices, managing the inventory and leading a brigade that can put its best foot forward all the time.