How industry is backing young Indigenous chefs

When members of the National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI) asked Nathan Lovett if he’d like to be CEO, he jumped at the opportunity.

“One of the biggest draw cards of the organisation to me is that we guarantee every single student an employment opportunity. That’s a really big thing for the organisation and we stand by it, we guarantee it, and it happens,” says Lovett.

“And the other draw card was that it was founded by the industry,” he says. “The owners of the restaurants – Neil Perry, Matt Moran, Luke Mangan – all guaranteed employment in their restaurants, and they still support us today. That’s a really significant thing: the industry identified the need to provide these opportunities, and they stand behind that.”

Nathan Lovett has been advising for the NICI since around 2016. He was a potential candidate to join the board in 2019, but when Lovett’s predecessor left, members of the board asked if he’d be interested in being CEO instead.

Lovett is a Yuin man from the New South Wales South Coast. Previously, he ran the Indigenous Careers Programs at Westpac, and he has a wealth of experience running Indigenous programs around education and employment.

The NICI offers apprenticeship training and industry experience for aspiring Indigenous chefs in Australia’s top restaurants across Sydney, Melbourne, and South East Queensland. Restaurants include the likes of Rockpool Bar and Grill, Margaret, Catalina, Aria, Australian Venue Co., Movida, The Dolphin Hotel, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, and more.

The restaurants take on apprentices in line with their employment needs. The NICI places between 30 and 40 apprentices each year into the partner restaurants. Currently two trainees are working at Aria, three in Luke’s Kitchen, and Rockpool takes between two and four candidates every year.

“Everybody’s preferences are different, backgrounds are different, their skills, their knowledge. Geography is also a big part of where we place people. So we don’t want students travelling unnecessarily. So we take all those things into account,” says Lovett.

Alumni include the likes of Rockpool Bar and Grill Sous Chef Luke Bourke. The chef is among the finalists in this year’s Good Food Young Chef of the Year Awards.

For young Indigenous chefs entering the industry, a large challenge comes from accessibility to knowledge, says Lovett.

“What we’re noticing is that a lot of students coming through school don’t have the knowledge or understanding of the pathway to becoming a chef. I think there’s a big downfall where schools have a much bigger focus on the university pathways and the VET training pathways have been left behind,” says Lovett.

Geography also poses a problem. For students coming from deep Western Sydney, accessing the restaurants in the CBD can be a challenge.

“A big barrier is accessibility to great employment. Some of the venues in the more casual level dining don’t have the ability to train people in the same way because they don’t use the same skills,” says Lovett.

The opportunities that the NICI provide give students the skill developments to allow them to travel the world and work in the best restaurants, become a head chef, or open their own venues.

Sam Bourke, Luke’s twin brother and another NICI alumnus “is a great example of that,” according to Lovette.

“He’s been head chef for Neil Perry. He’s worked in the great restaurants in Sydney and now because he wants to be closer to home in Penrith, he’s helping to run a café group in Western Sydney, because he’s got the skill set to be able to do that. Because he’s been trained.”

For Lovett and the NICI, the support of industry partners is particularly important. “Having the support of partners like Nestle allows us to continue the work that we do. We’re always looking to grow our relationships with our partners.