Entries open for A Passion To Inspire 2015

Entry is now open for Passion to Inspire 2015, aimed at full and part time students, the competition seeks to bring added benefits to students and colleges by creating links between professional chefs, suppliers of local produce and further education.

This years competition took place in June and saw over 90 students taking part, with Cambridge Regional College winning outright in a fierce competition between four teams from the East of England; the other three consisting of City College Norwich, Colchester Institute and West Suffolk College.

Mark Poynton, chef patron, Restaurant Alimentum, one of the judges, said: “It is always a pleasure to work with young inspired people, it gives you faith that our industry has a great future.”

Mark was joined on the judging panel by Shara Ross, Director and General Manager of Hotel Felix and Nick Mills, Managing Director of Brasted’s. They scored the students on all aspects of the service of the dishes, including working methods and hygiene, seasonality and flavour, and the students’ timing and presentation at the table.

Nick Mills said: “The standard of competition was immensely high this year. All of the teams demonstrated excellent service front of house and attention to detail”.

Teams consisted of two chefs and one waiter, each group had two hours during the heats to produce a main course and dessert for four covers.

Alice Kingham, from the winning Cambridge Regional College team said: “My favourite part of the day was meeting everybody else and finding out what they do and I’ve also learned to be more confident in myself.”

Details for next year's heats have been announced with further details on the final to be given in April with the final taking place in the second week of May:

• Teams to consist of 2 chefs and 1 waiter.


• At the heat stage working in a team of 3 over 2 hours will give the students a better structure to show their skills.


• Each group will have two hours during the heats to produce a main course and dessert for four covers, (The teams are open to ANY ingredients as long as it fits with their budgets, foraged or self grown are exempt as a garnish from costings, shot, donated or if the foraged product is the main part of the dish it must be costed in at market price) 2 covers to be served to customers, 1 to the Judges and 1 to be photographed.


• Students are required to produce costings for their menu. Students will have half an hour beforehand to prepare their section and must organise themselves by writing a list of ingredients and utensils required before the day.

Murray Chapman, co-ordinator of A Passion to Inspire, said: “This competition is all about bringing together those in the industry, chefs and suppliers, with college lecturers and their students in order to inspire the next generation of hospitality and catering professionals.”

To take part in next year’s competition and for further information email Murray Chapman here.