Aspiring cook lands apprenticeship downtown

Nathan Mickey is a recent College of New Caledonia Professional Cook graduate and already has a way of bringing home the bacon.

The 18-year-old is the first Brad Horen Memorial Scholarship recipient. He’s earned $500 and an apprenticeship at Betulla Burning.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” he says, “I think this is the place in town that I wanted to go to the most so it worked out pretty good for me.”

Betulla Burning chef Brian Quarmby created the scholarship in honour of his long-time mentor. Quarmby was 18-years-old when he began apprenticing under Horen in Victoria. Quarmby followed his mentor to Kelowna three years later, and the two stayed friends until Horen’s sudden in 2015.

“I’m just proud I can be able to do something for Brad and attempt to take on the role that he took on with me,” says Quarmby, “It’s tough to find the time to sit down and take on a young apprentice but it’s that dedication to want to better the cooking community that, I feel at the end of the day, is going to benefit the industry.”

CNC’s Professional Cook program requires serious “real life” experience. Students need 400 trade hours to complete level one, 720 to complete level two, and 2,000 hours for a third level (if they wish to pursue the highest level). The experience demand is why CNC instructor Tony Rechsteiner says opportunities like this are so important.

“We think it’s a win-win because then the employees are getting students that are committed to the trade and already have some training and have some knowledge of what’s expected of them.”

Mickey begins his apprenticeship Tuesday. He’ll work alongside two other, already-employed program grads.