YUTE and MYF collaborated with Restaurant Week for nine years, a partnership fueled by the vision and dedication of Stephanie Scott, the festival’s conceptualiser and founder of SSCO Event Management. Through her support, our proteges found opportunities at various restaurants during the annual event held in November. Many of these proteges were graduates of our culinary arts courses or passionate food enthusiasts who received additional training through preparatory workshops conducted jointly by MYF and HEART NSTA. These workshops provided intensive refresher courses on relevant topics and offered a platform for restaurant owners to interact with and select potential proteges based on their performance during Restaurant Week.
This initiative provided valuable professional experience to young professionals, benefiting both employers and patrons. In 2019, 25 proteges were placed at six restaurants, with five securing full-time jobs based on their performance. Stephanie Scott’s passing in 2021 was a profound loss, but her legacy lives on through Restaurant Week, continuing as Jamaica’s favourite food festival.
