Swiss Culinary Academy
Lucerne
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BHMS chef instructor cooking side by side with a student at the stove

Faculty & Competitions

Medal-winning chefs who chose to teach

Your instructors have medalled at the Culinary World Cup and the Culinary Olympics, judged for Worldchefs, and led kitchens for Hilton and Kempinski across 16 countries. Now they stand at the station next to yours.

Your chefs

Learn the craft from people who competed at its peak

Great chefs are not always great teachers. At the Swiss Culinary Academy by BHMS, they are both: instructors with international medals and decades of five-star experience who now dedicate their careers to the next generation.

Small-to-medium class sizes keep it personal: your chef knows your name, your station, and your sauce. That closeness is the point — feedback arrives while the pan is still hot, not at the end of term.

Faculty

The brigade behind the programmes

Culinary Programme Leader

Chef Shaun Leonard

United Kingdom

Gold and silver medallist at the Culinary World Cup (Luxembourg) and the Culinary Olympics (Erfurt & Stuttgart), and an official Worldchefs judge. Over 30 years in the industry and 20+ years teaching across 16 countries — he opened kitchens for Hilton and Kempinski, including the Paddington Hilton London.

Pastry Modules Lead

Chef Fotis Kefalakis

Greece

27 years as a pastry chef and educator in hotels, restaurants and cruise ships worldwide. He leads the pastry modules — from cakes and creams to advanced chocolate work.

Chef Instructor

Chef Michael Meier

USA

Former Sous Chef at the Four Seasons Maui, with a career that runs from North Carolina’s Grove Park Inn to Swiss mountain hotels.

Chef Instructor

Chef Balazs Györgyi

Hungary

Classical European training and fine-dining experience across Europe and Miami.

On the world stage

Where our students compete — and place

Competition is part of the curriculum culture: students test their craft against the world, and the results follow them onto their CVs.

  • Young Chef Olympiad 2026, Kolkata A BHMS student representing Switzerland reached the Top-10 grand finale among 40 nations.
  • World Culinary Awards Nominated for Europe's Best Culinary Training Institution four years running — 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
  • BHMS Culinary Cup The Academy's own annual competition: juried live cooking, a trophy, and a line on the winner's CV.
  • Faculty pedigree Our programme leader holds Culinary World Cup and Culinary Olympics medals and judges for Worldchefs.
BHMS Culinary Cup winner receiving the trophy at the award ceremony BHMS chef instructor demonstrating chocolate work to students in the lab

How we teach

You don't watch cooking. You cook.

In the application kitchens, every student works at an individual workstation while instructor demonstrations are relayed to overhead screens — no crowding around one stove, no missed steps. Then it's your turn, at your own station, with your chef beside you.

Across each practical year you log 270–335 assessed kitchen hours that go straight onto your CV. Knife set and uniforms are included on the culinary programmes — and the school launders your whites at no extra cost.

Explore the programmes Then get paid to cook
Close-up of a student placing microgreens on a plated dish with tweezers

Watch

See it for yourself

Next step

Three intakes a year. One decision that pays you back.

Next intakes: 16 November 2026 · 22 February 2027 · 16 August 2027 · Lucerne, Switzerland

Start your application Fees

Every bachelor year pairs six months of study with a six-month paid internship — a guaranteed gross minimum of CHF 2'390/month in Switzerland. How the internship model works →

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