Budding Chefs Across Texas Created Breakfasts Worthy of Bragging Rights—and Scholarships
Thirty-six student chefs. A market basket of ingredients. Mystery items. A panel of judges. Only 30 minutes to prepare and plate.
On March 25, 2022, Aramark Education K-12 hosted teams of high school culinary students—along with educators, parents and friends—during the ninth annual Lone Star Chef Competition at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
This year’s theme, Breakfast of Champions, challenged the young cooks to create breakfast entrées their fellow students would enjoy while also meeting USDA Nutrition Standards for School Meals.
Each year, the competition is fierce. Winning dishes may inspire new items on school lunch menus, and the winning team is awarded a scholarship sponsored by Chrane Foodservice Solutions and Mod-U-Serve.
“I was absolutely amazed at the level of culinary skills displayed by the competitors from each school district,” said Dave Parsonage, Regional Vice President, Aramark Education K-12. “They showcased many exciting and on-trend recipes that we look forward to incorporating into our menus next school year. The energy level of those competing was very high; to them this was their ‘state championship.’”
2022 Winners
This year’s challenge to student chefs: Create dishes with the flavors that students are most interested in for breakfast at school. After winning their local school chef competitions, 12 teams from school districts throughout Texas advanced to the final cook-off at Minute Maid Park on March 25.
Congratulations to this year’s winning teams.
- Winners: Lewisville ISD’s Three Amigas (pictured), with their Eggless Banana Croissant Pudding. The team walked away with the grand prize trophy and a $6,000 scholarship from Chrane Foodservice Solutions and Mod-U-Serve.
- Second place: Midway ISD’s Soccer Moms team with their Savory Waffle Nachos.
- Third place: Fort Worth ISD’s Poly Pit Masters, who created Cheesy FaWaffles (falafel waffles) with Tropical Fruit Salad and Sweet Berry Salsa.
Other Texas school districts that competed included Goose Creek, Lubbock, Mathis, Midlothian, Northwest, Pflugerville, San Diego, Sherman and Tuloso-Midway. Judges for the 2022 competition included Chef Ed Nguyen of Potente Restaurant in Houston; Aramark Executive Chef Scott Strickland from Minute Maid Park; and Lindsay Clark, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Mod-U-Serve.
Rules of Engagement
For the Aramark Lone Star Chef Competition, teams consist of no more than three culinary arts students from mostly the 11th and 12th grades. Teams are selected based on their creativity and participation by their culinary class teachers or their school’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program director.
Students prepare four plates of their original recipes—three for judges’ tasting samples and one for presentation. They pick from an approved market basket of ingredients, following guidelines that will help them meet USDA School Nutrition standards.
The young chefs must use at least two mystery ingredients unveiled to them on the day of competition—and have only 30 minutes to prepare, plate and garnish their recipes.
This year’s competition highlighted farm-to-table dining with an opportunity for students to harvest ingredients from a hydroponic garden supplied by Frontier Urban Farm.
Students are monitored by a floor chef or culinary teacher to maintain sanitation and food safety standards.
History of the Competition
In 2013, two Food Service Directors at Aramark school districts in Texas had a vision to engage students and get them more excited about school lunch. The Lone Star Chef Competition was born.
Excitement and participation in the program grew each year as more Aramark client school districts got involved. The venues needed to hold everyone grew bigger, as well, moving from school cafeterias to Baylor University to Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.
About 100 people attended the 2022 Lone Star Chef Competition, now in its ninth year. The event was paused in 2021 due to COVID.
