With three events, including a sponsors lunch and a chance for friends and family of the trainees to see them in action for the first time, everyone deserved a rest at the end!

The big finale was a fabulous Fifteen cocktail event which saw Steve Bracks and John So rubbing shoulders with Jamie and the Fifteen trainees.

With beautiful food prepared by Tobie Puttock, his new crew and the Fifteen trainees, the night was a fantastic success and a great celebration of months of hard work and the amazing journey of our trainees so far.

Along with Glenn, our Training and Development Chef, Vanessa and Chase headed over to London for a ten day whirlwind - cooking with Jamie Oliver, seeing the sites and doing their work experience in the original Fifteen restaurant in London.

"When I was selected to go to the UK, that’s when it hit me that I am part of something pretty special.  It made all my hard work really worth while.  I love being apart of the ‘Fifteen’ family and the crew in the UK are grouse”
  -Fifteen Trainee Chase

With Fifteen Melbourne still under construction at the time, Frank Van Handel generously opened the private dining room of his new restaurant Comme to host the event which saw some of Melbourne's most influential people mixing with the Fifteen trainees and hearing about how this opportunity is changing their lives.

It was not at all what an exclusive group of clients were expecting. Instead of presentations and meeting minutes, clients were given aprons and wooden spoons and set to work pitting olives and rolling pastry alongside a group of Fifteen trainees.

This event was a great opportunity for the corporate world to be exposed to the essence of Fifteen and to meet some of the trainees in which the Foundation was developed to support.

“We are thrilled with the outcome of KPMG’s client cook off. This event is testament to KPMG’s values that we are committed to our communities, and offered our clients a unique ‘money can’t buy’ experience at the same time”
  - Sally Freeman, KPMG Partner.

The lovely people at Quit Victoria were kind enough to donate their time and come out to visit the Trainees to run a workshop, giving them valuable skills to beat their habit.

In conjunction with Quit Victoria, Nicorette donated patches and Freshmint gum to help beat the cravings. As a result, 3 Trainees are in the process of quitting with positive results so far. Thank you to Quit Victoria and Nicorette for their support.

Thanks to the generosity (and tolerance) of Chef Owner Adrian Richardson and his team at La Luna Bistro, the young people have also had an opportunity to experience the front of house side of the restaurant business.  For two Monday lunches, the Fifteen trainees were waiters, runners, bar staff, dish washers and general managers serving food to 20+ hungry guests – a great success and a fantastic experience all round.  Thanks to La Luna Bistro in Carlton.

The Team have had a great run so far with sourcing trips to local Melbourne markets, Oliveria in Prahran and cook offs that have fed the restaurant construction workers, friends and supporters of Fifteen as well as members of the general public. 

At Fernleigh Farms of Bullarto, we tasted fresh organic produce, clipped the ears of Fiona Chambers’ rare breed Wessex Saddleback piglets AND saw a lamb being born.  He has since been tagged with the number 15!

For the past few weeks they've been studying at the Box Hill Institute of TAFE.  Soon they’ll be taking their first steps into their new careers by doing work experience in restaurants around Melbourne before they enter 'Fifteen' Melbourne for twelve months.