Exeter restaurant Crave is celebrating one of its student kitchen team reaching a national cooking final and is calling on other local hospitality businesses to follow suit.
Tansi Williams, 18, an Exeter College hospitality student who joined Crave as a work placement just over a year ago, has won the South West heat of the Riso Gallo UK & Ireland Young Risotto Chef of the Year 2026 and competed in the Grand Final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London at the start of June, cooking live in front of a panel that included Paul Gayler MBE and Michelin-starred chef Fabio Pisani.
Her winning dish from the regional heat was a Heritage Carrot Risotto that impressed judges with its creativity, technique, and commitment to sustainability. It is a fitting reflection of the talent she brings to Crave’s kitchen every week, where she now creates the restaurant’s ever-changing dessert menu as newly appointed Pastry Chef; a role that marks a full-circle moment from her first nervous shift as a placement student just twelve months ago.
“Seeing Tansi go from someone just finding her feet to someone driving her own career, that’s what this is all about,” said Sameer Shetty, owner of Crave. “We all started somewhere. If we can play a small part in helping young people get there faster, that’s a good use of our time.”
Ian Biggar, Tutorial Area Manager at Exeter College, said: “Partnerships with local businesses like Crave play a vital role in preparing our students for careers in hospitality. Alongside gaining experience in our AA Award-Winning @34 Restaurant, opportunities to work in live commercial environments help students build confidence, develop industry-ready skills, and understand the standards expected by employers.
“Seeing students like Tansi take these opportunities to grow their skills and confidence makes us all incredibly proud. We’re confident Tansi will flourish as a pastry chef at Crave and will go on to have a successful career in the hospitality industry.
We are incredibly grateful to businesses that support our learners and would encourage others to get involved in helping develop the next generation of hospitality talent.”
Crave has been welcoming Exeter College students into a working kitchen serving up to 300 covers a day. Tansi started with a six-week placement before returning as a part-time team member alongside her studies, and has since made the role her own. Her weekly dessert menu reflects the same curiosity and creativity that took her all the way to a national final, with recent creations including: Chili Chocolate Cremeux with a lime gel and fresh fruit; Lime curd and white rum tart with a vanilla creme diplomate topping inspired by a mojito, perfect as we come into summertime, and a vanilla panna cotta with a zingy rhubarb compote.
Tansi’s inspiration has always come from family. Growing up, her household would cook a dish from a different country every week, a tradition that sparked a curiosity for flavour and technique that has stayed with her ever since.
For Tansi, the progression from placement to permanent team member has been built on the freedom Crave gave her from the start. “It’s so much more fast-paced than college,” she said. “You have to learn on the spot and take things in quickly. At Crave, they go outside the box – different ingredients, different ways of doing things. Every day is a learning day.”
Fellow Exeter College student Maisie Routledge, approaching her one-year mark at Crave, says the scale of the operation changes how you think about the job entirely. “You’re representing the reputation of the restaurant, not just yourself,” she said. “That pressure is different to anything you experience in college. It changes how you approach everything.”
For Reuben Colwill-Parker, just a month into his placement, the learning curve has already been steep. “In college, if something goes wrong you can do it again,” he said. “In a real kitchen there’s not much room for error. Getting this kind of hands-on experience is essential, it’s just completely different.”
Students at Crave aren’t just observing. They’re expected to contribute ideas to the menu and take creative ownership of their work. It’s the kind of environment that shaped Tansi’s award-winning dish and the dessert menu she now leads.
“It’s not just washing up and watching,” said Sameer. “They get to be creative, put their own spin on things, and genuinely contribute. The majority of students we want to offer a job to afterwards. Watching someone grow and then offering them a future here, that feels like exactly what we should be doing.”
With hospitality facing well-documented pressures around recruitment and skills, Sameer is keen to push back on the idea that taking on students is a burden for smaller independents.
“There is support in place, and the benefits far outweigh any concerns,” he said. “If local businesses made more of an effort to open their doors, students would learn more and the industry would be stronger for it. You get to see people grow, for a small independent, that’s not a burden. That’s a privilege.”
Follow CRAVE through their website and Instagram.
