DINE Academy – Empowering Future Industry Leaders

03 July 2018

Social enterprise DINE Academy is a passionate team of hospitality and tourism professionals with a mission to “Delight, Inspire, Nourish and Enrich the lives and careers of young people, so they are empowered to become the industry leaders of tomorrow”.

Dine Academy Big Group

DINE Academy offers “pre-employment training programmes to young people in communities and youth programmes; senior high school students striving for or interested in a career in tourism and the hospitality industry; 'Nurture Youth' not in employment, education or training; and unemployed jobseekers seeking support into the workforce. The intensive week-long boot camp involves hands-on practical training within the commercial workplace of a local stadium or hospitality venue and culminates with the trainees preparing to ‘go live’ with a shift at the stadium corporate food and beverage departments”.

Dine Academy - Flowers

We asked Founder, Sonia Tiatia, what the biggest wins have been for DINE Academy so far:

“Our biggest blessings have been our foundation family members: Spotless Ltd, Epicure, Westpac Stadium, invested teachers and each of our DINE graduates that enabled us to scale from Wellington to Auckland’s Eden Park and VBase in Christchurch.

Other wins have been the growth of our annual DINE Showcase Dinner events and the fantastic industry spirit of our sponsors; being mentored by Ākina Foundation;  taking the leap of faith to drive DINE Academy full time; and our new partnerships with MYD, the Hospitality Training Trust, Auckland Council’s Youth Connections and Sky City.”  

Dine Academy - Meals

Sonia has high hopes for the future:

“We hope to expand and share DINE with thousands of young people in schools and communities across Aotearoa and the Pacific. We hope to extend our partnerships to draft a new social collaborative solution and mission to re-engage young people not in employment, education or training.

We will also focus on accelerating our DINE Culinary and Tourism graduate students directly into great career opportunities to assist with the skills shortage and industry demand throughout New Zealand and abroad.”

Dine Academy - Certificates

This innovative initiative is a win-win for young people, schools, families, industry and communities.