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# Local students cook up dream jobs at Michelin-starred restaurants
- URL: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/local-students-cook-up-dream-jobs-at-michelin-starred-restaurants/
- Published: 2025-06-19T07:13:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-16T15:09:50.000Z
- Description: Suffolk New College students from Kesgrave and Ipswich are joining the ranks at some of Britain's most prestigious restaurants after catching the eye of Tom Kerridge's team.
- Author: Oliver Rouane-Williams
- Tags: News, Good News, Food & Drink, Further Education, #article, Suffolk New College, #Import 2026-03-16 14:45

**Why it matters:** Two [Suffolk New College](https://www.ipswich.co.uk/tag/suffolk-new-college/) students have secured positions at celebrity chef Tom Kerridge's award-winning restaurants, highlighting the college's ever-growing credentials in the hospitality sector and providing inspiration for aspiring chefs in the region.

**The details:** Lilly Popplewell, 19, from Kesgrave, and Saskia Stannard, 23, from Ipswich, both studying level two professional cookery courses, will start as commis chefs at the end of June.

- Popplewell will work at The Coach, which holds one Michelin star
- Stannard joins The Hand and Flowers, a two-Michelin-starred establishment

The pair secured their positions after meeting Sarah Hayward from the Tom Kerridge Group at Pub in the Park, a London food event. They attended through connections made via The Unruly Pig restaurant.

**What they're saying:** "The Tom Kerridge Group have been incredibly helpful and I'm very excited by this opportunity," said Popplewell. "I walked into this course being so apprehensive, but I'm glad I did it. I've enjoyed it, met so many people, made friends, and now I've been given this amazing opportunity."

Stannard added: "I'm going to be working with Sarah Hayward, who won young Michelin chef of the year in 2023\. I'm so excited. It doesn't feel real. To work in a Michelin Star restaurant is a dream come true."

**The bigger picture:** The students trained at Suffolk New College's in-house restaurant, Chefs' Whites. Daniel Russell-Poole, chef lecturer at the college, said: "It shows you the standard of talent that Chefs' Whites is able to produce. Our aim is to help all of our students get the job of their dreams."

**The bottom line:** Two Suffolk students have turned their culinary dreams into reality, proving that talent and determination can open doors to the country's most prestigious kitchens.

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