From Wednesday, March 19 to Friday, March 21, 2025, students competed for gold, silver, or bronze medals across four competitions—and for coveted tickets to the international event in Sweden.
Thirty-six students from eleven Belgian hotel and tourism schools took part in the 13th edition of the AEHT Cornet Trophy, held on March 19, 20, and 21, 2025. This year’s edition was organized by COLOMAplus (Mechelen), which hosted the prestigious event for the second time in ten years. Students from the participating schools competed in four disciplines: Culinary Arts (Kitchen), Restaurant Service (Dining Room), Pastry (Bakery), and Tourist Destination. The AEHT Cornet Trophy serves as the Belgian preselection for the European competition and conference, which will take place from November 3 to 8, 2025, in Västerås, Sweden.
On Wednesday, March 19, the team draw took place at Hotel Van der Valk Mechelen. Two teams were drawn per competition. For the Culinary Arts, Restaurant Service, and Pastry categories, five teams were formed in total. Together, each team created a combined service team that, on Friday, March 21, delivered a unique competition lunch served at five individual tables. Participants used pre-selected ingredients (Swinkels beers, a Breton shortcrust pastry, dogfish, and veal small head cut) and had to focus on proper food and beer pairing. Preparation efforts were also evaluated, as well as teamwork and creativity, including a beer tasting and pouring challenge as part of the Restaurant Service discipline. This year, the competition placed additional emphasis on working with alcohol-free alternatives, an important focus for the students’ training.
Tourism students worked around the central theme: “Mechelen with a Burgundian touch—for and by young people/young adults.” They explored how to captivate young audiences with what Mechelen has to offer. With support from Visit Mechelen and Meet in Mechelen, they promoted the city through social media posts and promotional videos aimed at their peers, highlighting Mechelen in a unique and engaging way.
This year, COLOMAplus introduced a special award for the culinary team that demonstrated the best collaboration between the dining room (Restaurant Service), the kitchen (Culinary Arts), and the bakery (Pastry), which provided the dessert.
De winnaars op een rijtje.
| TEAM Award: Best Collaboration | ||
| Team 5 – Culinary Art | Team 5 – Restaurant Service | Team 5 – Pastry |
| Raikon De Backer | Marie Verhavert | Amine Ammettouch |
| Hotelschool Gent | COLOMAplus | COOVI Anderlecht |
| Roos Raskin | Olivier Girardin | Flavy Thermote |
| Hotelschool Hasselt | PIVA | Hotelschool Wemmel |
| Restaurant Service | ||
| BRONZE | SILVER | GOLD |
| Team 4 | Team 3 | Team 5 |
| Andreas Van Buggenhout | Tess Schrauwen | Marie Verhavert |
| Hotelschool Aalst | Hotelschool Turnhout | COLOMAplus |
| Patricia Stroek | Lleyton Tondeur | Olivier Girardin |
| VTI Sijker | Ensor Oostende | PIVA |
| Tourist Destination | ||
| BRONZE | SILVER | GOLD |
| Team 2 | Team 3 | Team 1 |
| Nina Vereecken | Lieke Le Clef | Patty Homprasop |
| GO! Atheneum Geraardsbergen | VTI Spijker | COLOMAplus |
| Sienna Cluydts | Caitlin Steyaert | Myrthe Timmermans |
| COLOMAplus | Ensor Oostende | Hotelschool Hasselt |
| Pastry | ||
| BRONZE | SILVER | GOLD |
| Team 2 | Team 4 | Team 3 |
| Stacey Danielle Verbinnen | Joran Godefridi | Famke Rits |
| COLOMAplus | COLOMAplus | COLOMAplus |
| Paulina Sakhnenko | Zihao Zhao | Yasmina Vlerick |
| Hotelschool Hasselt | PIVA | Hotelschool Aalst |
| Culinary Arts | ||
| BRONZE | SILVER | GOLD |
| Team 3 | Team 1 | Team 5 |
| Tenzin Oste | Isa Vandenhoeck | Raikon De Backer |
| Hotelschool Wemmel | COLOMAplus | Hotelschool Gent |
| Yana Strijbos | Robin Renard | Roos Raskin |
| VTI Spijker | Ensor Oostende | Hotelschool Hasselt |
