First LACA School Chef of the Year 2023 reginal finalist announced

Sarah Robinson

Sarah Robinson

Other 17th April 2023
Sarah Robinson

First LACA School Chef of the Year 2023 reginal finalist announced

Jennifer Brown, of Sarum Academy, part of Atalian Servest has won the first regional heat of the 2023 LACA School Chef of the Year (SCOTY) competition.

She won the South West Region heat, which was held today at Weston College, Weston Super Mare and judged by Chair of Judges Louise Wagstaffe of Premier Foods, Sharon Armstrong of LACA UK and Stuart Brereton of MKN UK.

 Jennifer wowed the judges with her main course of ‘In fine fettle fish supper’, including a baked pollock and spinach fishcake, sweet potato fries and crushed minted peas with a tangy curry sauce dip. Her winning dessert was delicious golden banoffee profiteroles, for which her choux buns were filled with butterscotch and banana, drizzled with chocolate sauce and banana dust.

 LACA Chair Brad Pearce comments. “What a fantastic start to the 2023 SCOTY competition. Each year the standard gets higher and higher and its truly exciting to see the talent and skills of school chefs on show.”

 Sponsor Sarah Robb, marketing manager, Premier Foods Foodservice adds. “It’s great to see the regional finals get underway and we love this time of year as it gives us chance to shout about all the incredible talent that is out there in the education catering sector. With Bisto sponsoring the competition we love to see the innovative ways the chefs are using our products. Congratulations to Jennifer Brown, the first finalist who really impressed the judges today. Good luck to the chefs who are competing over the next few weeks.”

Jennifer will go on to join the other regional finalists at the National final which will be held at the LACA Main Event on Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th July at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. The overall winner will be announced on the evening of Thursday 6th July.

The prestigious school chef competition, School Chef of the Year (SCOTY), is run by LACA, the School Food People and sponsored by Bisto, from Premier Foods. The competition attracts some of the very best school chef talent from across the country.

LACA – the school food people, was established in 1990 and is the leading professional body representing over 1,000 members drawn from across the school food sector representing public sector and private contract caterers and suppliers to schools, academies, and MATs across the UK.

The LACA School Chef of the Year is now in its 29th year and has drawn national attention with the annual winners often appearing on TV to showcase school cooking.

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