Jodi Gillespie, Executive Chef at Newmark Hotels & Reserves’ Waterfront Properties, has officially taken on the role of SA Chefs’ Chairwoman for the Western Cape region. This follows her election by a panel of executive chefs from diverse backgrounds in Cape Town—including the education sector, hotels, restaurants, and catering businesses—and an official inauguration at the SA Chefs’ Indaba, held recently in Johannesburg.
Chef Jodi, who has 20 years of experience as a chef, both locally and abroad, including 12 years as an executive pastry chef, has also previously held the position of Secretary between SA Chefs’ Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town committees over the last 10 years.
SA Chefs (formerly known as SACA—South African Chef’s Association), a non-profit organisation, represents the interests of chefs across South Africa and supports the art and science of cuisine in the country. It aims to educate, represent and connect those who work in the field and elevate the culinary industry to greater heights.
In line with this ethos, Chef Jodi plans to address skills shortages in the industry as a priority in the role, organising free developmental courses led by industry professionals in partnership with Makers Landing – a first-of-its-kind V&A Waterfront initiative, known as a “business-incubator and food-market space”.
These monthly courses will focus on different themes, centring around specific skills. Topics will include sanitation, composting, recycling, business skills for chefs, and plant-based culinary techniques, which will be covered in the lead-up to the annual SA Chefs’ Chef of the Year Competition; seafood skills and sustainability, to be hosted in collaboration with Makers Landing and Two Oceans Aquarium; and the fundamentals of foraging, which will be taught together with Chef Chris Erasmus, Chef Patron at Terrarium, at the Queen Victoria Hotel, a Newmark Hotels & Reserves property.
Chef Jodi shares: “In my role as Chairwoman of the Western Cape committee, I will lead a group of 10 culinary professionals from various backgrounds, who manage the Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Culinary, Education, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Youth Advisory, Women in Culinary and Transformation portfolios.”
The same passion, dedication and love for the culinary world is evident in each of the Newmark Hotels & Reserves restaurants under Chef Jodi’s leadership, including GINJA and Native Coffee Roasters at the Victoria & Alfred Hotel.
