Shaping the culinary landscape for young talent in Central Eastern Europe

By offering young chefs opportunities to upskill and be entrepreneurial, this in turn will help to build a resilient and dynamic food service industry for years to come.

Nestlé Professional is committed to supporting students and the sector through its YOCUTA program in the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) region.

First launched in Latin America in 2015 to boost YOuth CUlinary TAlents, the program underpins Nestlé’s ambition to help ten million young people worldwide access economic opportunities by 2030 through skills, career and entrepreneurship training, as part of the Nestlé Needs YOUth program.

YOCUTA was created to upskill young chefs aged 16-30 and has been up and running since 2021 in the CEE region, covering 17 countries.

They are exposed to in-person cooking workshops in gastro schools, contests and educational seminars via online and onsite training.

Since its launch, over 3,000 young people have taken part in the program. 

“Our YOCUTA approach goes beyond mentorship – it is helping to build long-term relationships and increase the expertise of young chefs, who are becoming loyal ambassadors of Nestlé’s mission and portfolio,” explained Kamil Ezzat, Food Category Lead for the CESE region. “As well as supporting the industry, we are also aiming to inspire and nurture the next generation of talent,” he added.

The program features three pillars to support young chefs at every stage of their journey.

1. Employed youth

This introduces aspiring chefs to careers in food service by reinforcing their network and interview skills. In collaboration with trusted partners, it supports young professionals with the creation of their CV, interview skills training and features sessions on personal nutrition. 

2. Skilled food service professionals

Using Nestlé Professional know-how with Chef2Chef, this pillar is aimed at young food service professionals, and offers a culinary certification with hygiene, safety and practical skills training to up-skill their qualifications. 

3. Engaged and mindful chefs

Designed for experienced industry professionals, this pillar works with credible industry partners to offer advanced culinary skills training and career coaching to shape the next generation of chefs.

As part of the program in CEE region, the second edition of the Garden Gourmet Young Culinary Cup competition for gastro school students in Poland took place last year. Applicants battled it out in the initial cooking workshops, then during four semi-finals heats at locations across the country.

The young competitors created innovative and sustainable dishes using products from Nestlé Professional’s plant-based Garden Gourmet brand, before two talented winners were crowned at the finals in November 2024 in Rzeszow.