Press Statement: AEHT Cornet 0.3 Trophy
AEHT (Association Européenne des Écoles d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme) stands for the European Association of Hotel and Tourism Schools. It represents 400 affiliated schools and professionals and is active in over 80% of European countries.
In 2011, Brewery Palm committed to supporting the Belgian AEHT project. Due to a lack of resources, AEHT Belgium had become inactive, but thanks to the initiative and financial support of Brewery Palm, the Belgian branch was revived in 2011. The ‘AEHT Cornet 0.3 Trophy’, organized annually by a Belgian hotel or tourism school, serves as a pre-selection for participation in the European competition and conference. As main sponsor, the brewery funds the annual participation of the selected Belgian students and teachers in the European Hotel and Tourism Schools competition abroad, thus ensuring the presence of a Belgian delegation at this major European event.
“For Brewery Palm, supporting AEHT is both an educational and a social project. One of our objectives is to offer students in hospitality training the opportunity to sharpen their skills in beer and gastronomy, allowing young professionals to discover the rich Belgian beer culture. It’s no coincidence that product knowledge, beer & food pairing, and beer serving techniques are compulsory elements in the competition. The social component is also an important motivator for the brewery — the fact that teams are composed of students from different schools is one of the strengths of the organization. Not only is culinary knowledge of beer enhanced, but students also develop their social skills through teamwork,” says Peter Buelens, PR Manager & Communications Business Partner at Royal Swinkels.
Three-star chef Viki Geunes (Zilte***) is the proud patron of the AEHT Cornet 0.3 Trophy. Viki Geunes: “In Flanders, we have every reason to be proud of our top-quality local products — and, of course, of our beers. Belgian products are world-class. Many take that quality for granted, but it certainly isn’t. It’s also still too little known that beer has a richer aroma and flavor spectrum than wine, allowing for exciting food pairings. That’s why this initiative deserves my full support, and I hope that, through my patronage, I can inspire and motivate students in their career choices.”
For partner VLAM, the competition is a wonderful initiative to inspire talented future professionals with all the local delicacies that Flanders has to offer.
