Arron chosen to represent Wales in National Junior Chef of Year contest

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Aaron Tye in action in the Junior National Chef of Wales final.

A talented North Wales chef has been selected to represent the Culinary Association of Wales in the National Junior Chef of the Year semi-final to be held at Sheffield College on June 11.

 

Arron Tye, 20, demi chef de partie at The Shared Olive Restaurant, Hawarden, was a finalist in the 2015 Junior Chef of Wales contest held at the Welsh International Culinary Championships at Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos-on-Sea in February.

 

His selection for the prestigious National Junior Chef of the Year competition is a direct result of his performance in the Wales final. Success in the semi-final heat will guarantee him a place in the final to be held at The Restaurant Show in Olympia, London in October.

 

Arron will be coached and mentored by his head chef Danny Burke, a member of the Culinary Team Wales who is the only chef to have won both the junior and senior National Chef of Wales titles in consecutive years.

 

In the National Junior Chef of Wales final, Arron revealed that his inspiration to do well in the competition came from his late granddad, George Reddicliffe, who died shortly before the North Wales heat.

 

“My granddad encouraged me to enter the competition and he’s my inspiration,” said Arron, who lives in Wrexham. “My cooking style is traditional with a modern influence and my ambition is to become a head chef.”

 

Arwyn Watkins, Culinary Association of Wales president, also revealed that the association had decided to hold both the junior and senior National Chef of Wales contests annually at the Welsh International Culinary Championships in future. In the past, the contests have been held on alternate years.

 

“We are delighted to have secured this opportunity for our membership to compete in the National Junior Chef of the Year,” he said. “To build on this progression pathway we have decided to hold the Junior and Senior National Chef of Wales competitions annually, with regional heats taking place this autumn and the finals being held at the Welsh International Culinary Championships next February.

 

“This new approach to raising the skills profile of our industry in Wales will result in the winners gaining direct access into the semi-final heats of both Junior and Senior National Chef of the Year.”