Northern Lights are Shining for Toque d’Or.
Mar 2006
From the intense regional heats of the Nestlé Toque d’Or, the UK’s most prestigious catering college competition, just four teams have made it through to the Grand Finals!
The Sheffield College with Restaurant Medici, Lancaster & Morecambe College with Rose Barn restaurant,
Kilmarnock College with Esteln’s and South Trafford College with its ‘British Classics’ Nineteen Sixty Six restaurant, will be competing Toque to Toque at the finals in April.
Martin Webster, events manager, Nestlé FoodServices comments: “It was a rollercoaster tour with heats from Croydon to Glasgow! We have seen some fantastic students showing determination in the kitchen and a passion for what they are doing – it says a lot for the future of hospitality! It was a hard task to choose just four finalists but we feel those selected deserved their place, illustrating real potential for a great future in catering.”
The Grand Finals...
This year, the Nestlé Toque d’Or restaurant will be hosted at The Home Show*, where each team will realise their dream as their restaurant concept is brought to life.
Each team of students will take ownership of their restaurant – front and back of house – to prepare, cook and serve 100 covers to members of the paying public. As chairman of the judges’ panel, celebrity chef James Martin will be attending the finals to oversee each team and pass his expert eye over the proceedings.
Commenting on the regional heats James says: “Firstly I would like to congratulate all those that entered; clearly a tremendous amount of hard work went into creating and delivering the concepts and the menus. Having entered the competition as a student myself and not getting through to the final, I know it is not easy!”
“One hundred covers is no easy task and they will need to be at the top of their game but I know they can do it and I look forward to seeing and tasting the results!” James concludes.
The Ultimate Accolade...
The winning team of students will receive a place on the renowned Nestlé Toque d’Or study trip… of which the location can be confirmed as Johnson & Wales University in North Carolina, USA! Internationally recognised as one of the leading culinary and state-of-the-art universities, the team of winning students will have the opportunity to meet some of USA’s leading catering professionals, as well as enjoying some fine dining!
In addition, the winning team’s college will receive £4,000 worth of catering equipment from Electrolux Foodservice; with each of the three runners up winning £2,000 worth of equipment too.
Nestlé FoodServices is committed to the foodservice industry and wholeheartedly supports the next generation of industry professionals. The company is hugely appreciative of the support of the 2006 industry mentors – Aramark, Compass Group UK & Ireland, De Vere Hotels and Quadrant Catering.
For further press information, please contact Iona Mountain at Splash Communications. Tel: 01225 348 002 email: imountain@splashcommunications.com
Notes to editor:
*The Home Show – held 20-23 April, in association with The Sunday Times and IPCMedia – will be at ExCel, London.
Each college in the regional heats had to prepare and serve a three-course lunch for 20 guests and the judges. In developing the menu, teams were asked to make best creative use of Nestlé FoodServices’ culinary aids from its Maggi, Chef and Nescafé ranges with one Nestlé product in the soup, two Nestlé products for the main course and one Nescafé product as a core dessert ingredient. They also had to present a business plan and concept for creating their own restaurant to the judging panel. Judged on a point system, the four highest scoring teams have been taken forth to the grand final. |
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