Chef Andy Cordier Announced as President of the New Zealand Chefs Association
Chef Andy Cordier, co-founder of Christchurch’s International Culinary Studio, has been announced as President of the New Zealand Chefs Association, taking on leadership of the country’s peak body for professional chefs.
Chef Andy co-founded International Culinary Studio with Cheryl Cordier in 2015 and serves as the school’s Group Executive Chef, shaping its culinary curriculum and mentoring students toward industry-ready careers. Appointed to the NZChefs Board in 2025, he now steps into the presidency with a bold ambition: to lift New Zealand’s culinary profession onto the international stage and grow the New Zealand Chefs Association into a globally recognised force for the industry.
“To take on the presidency of the New Zealand Chefs Association is a tremendous honour,” said Chef Andy Cordier. “New Zealand has extraordinary culinary talent, and my goal is to help put it firmly on the global map, building an association that champions our chefs.”
Chef Andy brings to the role a career that spans continents and decades at the highest levels of the profession. He began, as so many great chefs do, with an apprenticeship, learning the discipline and craft of the kitchen from the ground up. That grounding took him into several large corporate catering operations and, notably, into service as private chef to the Ambassador of Germany, where he cooked for many influential dignitaries and developed the precision and poise that fine diplomatic dining demands.
His path was never confined to the kitchen line alone. Chef Andy spent several years in food product development for cheese and food manufacturers, an experience that gave him a rare understanding of food from both sides of the industry: the artistry of the plate and the science and scale of production. That breadth would come to define his approach as an educator and leader.
It was in Cape Town, South Africa, that Chef Andy’s leadership came fully into its own. He joined one of the largest catering operations in the city as Executive Chef, managing more than eighty food outlets and a large team of chefs, a role that demanded not only culinary excellence but the ability to lead, organise and inspire at real scale. During this time he served as Chairperson of the South African Chefs Association in Cape Town, stepping into exactly the kind of industry leadership role he now takes up in New Zealand. It was also in this world that he met Cheryl, the beginning of a partnership that would go on to shape International Culinary Studio.
His reputation opened doors to some of the most demanding and high-profile work in the industry. He went on to run one of Cape Town’s top private catering companies, operating from the city’s International Cricket grounds and catering to leading corporate clients. Among the career highlights Chef Andy recalls with pride, he served as a preliminary judge for MasterChef South Africa and catered for Nelson Mandela on several historic occasions, including Mandela’s release from prison, his 90th birthday, and his funeral. Andy remembers one moment above all, when Madiba shook his hand and told him, “You are the most important person here today,” a memory he still counts among the greatest honours of his career.
That journey, from apprentice to executive chef running eighty outlets, from association chairman in Cape Town to co-founder of a Worldchefs recognised school in Christchurch, is what Chef Andy now brings to the New Zealand Chefs Association. His experience sits at the meeting point of hands-on craft, large-scale leadership and international perspective, and it shapes a clear vision for his presidency: to raise the standing of New Zealand’s chefs on the world stage, to strengthen the pathways that carry young talent into the profession, and to build an association with genuine international reach.
