A Clonakilty woman has used a €3000 bursary win to further her dream of becoming a ‘culinary entrepreneur.'
A CLONAKILTY woman has used a €3000 bursary win to further her dream of becoming a ‘culinary entrepreneur.’
Cait Healy was the winner of the inaugural annual Market Lane Group’s 2018/19 scholarship with the Cork Institute of Technology’s (CIT) Culinary Arts Department.
She recently showed Dr Noel Murray, Head of Department of Tourism & Hospitality at CIT and Conrad Howard of the Market Lane Restaurant Group around the impressive Kingston dairy farm in Maulnageragh, Clonakilty. Cait’s dad and uncle also farm large dairy herds in the locality.
The theme of this year’s Scholarship is ‘Provenance, Partnership and Promotion; How can restaurants do a better job of promoting their key local suppliers and what are the mutual benefits of doing so?.
It’s worth €3,000 again and the successful candidate will be announced in January.
The Market Lane Group, which comprises Market Lane Restaurant, ORSO, Castle Café Blackrock and Elbow Lane Smokehouse and Brewery, teamed up with the Department of Tourism & Hospitality at CIT to create this annual bursary to help existing culinary students fund future studies.
This is the only culinary scholarship in Ireland to be offered by a restaurant group and it underlines Market Lane’s belief that working more closely with colleges and investing in student learning is key.
Cait used her bursary to fund her progression from a degree in Culinary Arts to the Bachelor of Business (Hons) course in Culinary Entrepreneurship at CIT. This is with a view to ultimately realising her dream of becoming one of Ireland’s young culinary entrepreneurs.
Dr Noel Murray: ‘While the hospitality industry continues to struggle with staff shortages, we believe that it is those candidates who have a good academic background as well as solid work experience who will continue to raise standards in our industry. These professionals will also help highlight the attractiveness of a career in the hospitality sector to students and to emphasise the excellent career progression that is possible for the right candidates here in Ireland.’
