New Zealand School of Food & Wine

The New Zealand School of Food & Wine grew from an initiative in Christchurch into a specialist school whose campus is now in Auckland’s Viaduct. Celia Hay founded it in 1995; after the Christchurch earthquakes, she moved its teaching to Auckland in 2012. The move also changed the learning setting: the current campus sits in a waterfront district surrounded by restaurants and city services.

The school combines career-focused education with classes for people who want to learn for personal interest. Cooking, baking, pastry, hospitality, tourism, food and beverage, barista skills, cocktails, and wine appear in a catalog that spans micro-credentials and certificates through diplomas. It is more than a cooking school: its stated aim also includes preparing people for work in cafés, restaurants, events, and beverage service.

Hands-on practice is central to its cookery and baking programs. The published catalog includes foundation and advanced cookery training, diplomas in cookery and kitchen management, and micro-credentials in baking and patisserie. Classes use equipped practical and demonstration kitchens, with work areas for preparing food, observing techniques, and developing skills that can be applied in a professional kitchen.

Hospitality training connects cooking with service. Courses cover tourism, food and beverage preparation and service, barista skills, wine, and spirits. In wine education, the path includes New Zealand wine courses and WSET qualifications; the school also lists a professional wine knowledge certificate and training focused on beverage management and sommelier work.

People who do not want a full-time program can choose short courses in artisan bread, croissants, macarons, chocolate, cooking, barista skills, cocktails, and mixology. Food safety and the Licence Controller Qualification, related to alcohol sales in New Zealand, are also offered. For international students, the school publishes enrollment procedures and study options; requirements depend on the course and its length.

Campus facilities include practical and demonstration kitchens, a dining room, cocktail bar, wine-tasting and barista-training rooms, plus seminar and reception areas. That layout allows a cooking class, tasting, and service activity to take place in a learning environment connected to real hospitality work. The school says it is registered and accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

Celia Hay’s background is part of the school’s approach: she is a qualified chef and holds the WSET Diploma in Wine from London, along with university degrees in history, education, and business administration. The school says it has trained thousands of students, some of whom have become chefs, food writers, educators, sommeliers, and restaurant owners. The campus is at Level 3, 104 Customs Street West, Viaduct, Auckland 1010; classes may meet outside office hours.