applications are OPEN

Are you passionate about cooking with New Zealand’s finest produce and eager to deepen your connection to the beef and lamb industry? Do you have the creativity, leadership, and appetite to help shape New Zealand’s evolving food culture? If so, you may have what it takes to become a Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chef.

This prestigious role is an opportunity to elevate your career, join the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Hall of Fame, and play an influential part in validating the beef and lamb production story through your restaurant menu. Over recent years, the Ambassador Chef role has grown to include using your voice and expertise to guide home cooks by helping them get the best eating experience from New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb through engaging and authentic content.

If you’re ready for the next step in your culinary journey, read on to learn more about applying to be an Ambassador Chef. Applications are open from 14th January to 23rd Februay 2026.

THE PROCESS

Step One:  Online Applications Open

To enter you must be 27 years or over as at 1st May 2026 and working
as a senior chef (head chef or executive chef) for at least two years. You must be a New Zealand resident or have a long term working visa.

You need to submit two main course dishes (one beef and one lamb). You can use one or more cuts of beef and lamb to showcase your creativity and cooking skill. The cuts you use can be prime cuts, secondary cuts or offal.

For each dish you will need to upload the following:
Dish description
Full recipe
Photo (mobile phone photo will be sufficient)
Your bio or current CV
A paragraph on why you like cooking with New Zealand beef and lamb
Why you would like to be a Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chef

 Step Two: Applications Close

Once applications close, they will be reviewed by Beef + Lamb New Zealand along with their Food Service Advisory Chef. From here, a shortlist of chefs will be selected to move to the next stage which is the anonymous restaurant assessment process. There will be no more than five chefs going through to the assessment round.

 Step Three: Restaurant Assessments

You will be notified by Beef + Lamb New Zealand whether or not your application has made it to the final assessment stage.  If you are listed as a finalist, we will send culinary trained restaurant assessors into your restaurant to assess your beef and lamb dishes.  All restaurant assessments will be anonymous and the restaurant assessors’ costs will be covered by Beef + Lamb New Zealand. The restaurant assessments will be undertaken in early March and we suggest that you prepare your staff and menu to ensure that if you are selected you have a beef and lamb main course dish on your menu ready to go.

Please note:  It’s not necessary to have your application dishes on your menu for the assessment process.  As long as you have at least one beef main course and one lamb main course on your menu, these dishes can be assessed.

 From these assessments Beef + Lamb New Zealand and their Food Service Advisory Chef will choose two of the most outstanding entries from a geographical spread across New Zealand, and these chefs will be invited to become our next Ambassadors and take up a term for 2026/2027.

 Step Four: Notification

Beef + Lamb New Zealand will notify you if your application has been successful or not. The successful chefs must be available to come to Auckland for an onboarding and photo/video shoot to be held in Auckland and the Waikato on April 13th and 14th 2026. Following this the successful applicants will be embargoed until early May 2026 (while we produce the creative content) when we will officially announce the 2026/2027 Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chefs.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Applications will initially be judged on the visual presentation and creativity of the dish. We will be looking at your dish description, recipe, dish inspiration and the images you send through to see how you have showcased the beef and lamb as the hero on the plate. We will be looking at your inspiration and thought processes behind the dish as well as looking for innovation with the cuts you have used and how well they are matched with the dish accompaniments to create an overall harmony of flavours and textures.

 The finalists who go on to have a restaurant assessment, will be judged on the overall execution of the beef and lamb dishes on their menu including the preparation and cooking of the beef and lamb, taste, flavour harmony, composition and overall appeal of the dish.

Finalists may also be invited to an online interview with the Beef + Lamb New Zealand marketing team before the final selection is made.

TIMELINE

Applications open - Wednesday 14 January 2026
Applications close - midnight on Monday 23rd February 2026
Restaurant assessing - 2nd to 21st March 2026
Ambassador Chef onboarding and content creation days in Auckland and Waikato - 13th and 14th April 2026
Ambassador Chef Announcement - early May 2026

If you have any questions, please get in touch here.