Apprentice chef Allen Miller is working his way towards opening his own restaurant, one kitchen at a time.
"I would love to have my own restaurant featuring dishes from my culture and native foods from around Australia," the 18-year-old told the Newcastle Herald.
For the past 12 months he has been doing on-the-job training at Scratchley's on the Wharf in Newcastle with support from the National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI).
Founded in 2012, NICI delivers training and mentor programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to develop the skills needed to succeed in the food service industry.
Miller started his culinary career at TAFE NSW after completing Year 10 at high school, which helped him to secure his first job in the hospitality industry: as a kitchenhand at Belmont 16s.
"I first started cooking when helping my grandfather with barbecues and family cook-outs. I was mainly inspired by my grandmother and mother, as they were the prominent cooks in my family," he said.
"I did not study cooking at school, so I began learning in my own way, watching my mother and grandmother cook and also researching YouTube videos and reading cookbooks."
He has been working at Scratchley's for one year and says the experience has taught him how to work in a fast-paced and sometimes stressful environment.
"I've learned different ways to adapt to the busy kitchen and achieve my goals as well as a lot of cooking techniques," he said.
"Being an apprentice chef has taught me so much about professional communication, culinary terminology, safe knife skills, work ethic and sustainable practices as well."
With his confidence building, Allen competed for the first time in the NSW regional cook-offs of the Nestle Golden Chef's Hat Award earlier this year.
"I wanted to test myself against my peers, improve my skills and get as much experience as I could," he explained.
"As a first-year apprentice, I was able to learn so much, working with new produce and refining my creativity when plating dishes.
"The judges gave me valuable feedback which has made an immense difference to my cooking. I was then able to implement this feedback and work on my skills, so when I recently entered the Hunter Culinary Association Cookery Competition Stage 1 Apprentice competition, I won.
"I would definitely encourage any apprentice or young chef to give it a try."
Earlier this month NICI announced a partnership with Nestle Professional.
"It was a natural connection for us, and the Golden Chef competition they run is a great opportunity for our young chefs to participate and learn," NICI chief executive officer Nathan Lovett said.
"We are looking to bring in new partners to help us deliver our programs not just here on the east coast, but the rest of the country. The goal for me is to have a long-term, sustainable program - which can be difficult as a not-for-profit."
NICI works with more than 100 hospitality providers along the east coast, from Queensland to Victoria. The objective is to forge long-term careers, not just jobs.
Lovett launched the NICI program in the Hunter Valley in 2020, and has since found work for apprentices at venues including Humbug, QT Newcastle, Roundhouse at Crystalbrook Kingsley, EXP. restaurant, Rydges Hunter Valley, Bistro Molines and Restaurant Botanica.
"Everything we do has an educational component to it. Our students are either completing a certificate III or II in barista training, front of house training, cookery, wine education training," Lovett, who grew up in Maitland, said.
"We don't just help them get a job or during their apprenticeship, it's a full-life concept. It's helping them move to the next stage of their career, and the next stage and the next stage."
The hospitality industry is, he says, not often viewed as a career by Australians. And that must change.
"It's seen more as a casual industry to use while you're studying at university or while you're young, not as something that you enter into with a long-term career focus," Lovett said.
"This is in comparison to European countries, where a chef or front-of-house profession is a really serious career.
"There are amazing jobs connected to this industry as a career, with so many opportunities both here and overseas, but Australia has too long a history of focusing on the university pathway, and holding that above other pathways as more valued."
NICI graduates and apprentices, he says, are employed all over the world.
"Australian chefs are very well regarded worldwide because of our training pathways here. If you finish an apprenticeship here in Australia, there are very big opportunities for you to travel," he said.
"We've got chefs who are working in Tokyo and London as part of our program, with Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay, too. One was a senior sous chef with Ramsay at The Savoy.
"Luke Bourke is one of our alumni, the senior sous chef at Rockpool Bar & Grill, and he just won the 2025 SMH Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year award.
"Hospitality is one of the largest industries in Australia and it continues to grow. You can learn, develop, start your own business, travel the world. The choice is yours."
