South West Chef of the year is marking its 20th anniversary in 2024!
Launched in 2004, the competition recognises the extraordinary talent among the professional chefs, student chefs, home cooks and junior cooks of the South West of England and highlights the exceptional standards in the region’s hospitality industry. Five entry categories are available, as outlined below.
The competition offers five entry categories:
Sponsored by Essential Cuisine
Aged 19-24, working in any role in the kitchen up to and including junior sous chef.
Sponsored by Nisbets
Aged 16-19 and at college or in an apprenticeship.
The competition enables you to receive the recognition you deserve for your skills, to gain valuable feedback from our judges, to meet other like-minded chefs/cooks.
Whether you win or not, the competition can provide you with an incredible platform upon which to further develop your career, raise your profile within the industry and demonstrate your skills to our panel of judges, some of the region’s finest chefs. How good would it look on your CV to be able to say you reached the semi-final or even the final of South West Chef of the Year?
If you are a keen home cook, taking part in South West Home Cook of the Year enables you to demonstrate your hidden talents, to test your abilities or to cement your reputation as the ultimate dinner party host. And who knows what else it could lead to? Perhaps a change of career? Take a look at the details of previous winners of the title to see what opportunities could come your way.
This is your opportunity to learn from some of the South West’s leading chefs. The Junior Chef competition opens doors to several highly-acclaimed kitchens, enabling you to gain valuable experience of a working kitchen whilst developing your skills. A chance to assess whether or not a career in hospitality is for you!
Our judging panel is made up of some of the South West’s finest chefs, bringing extensive knowledge and diverse experience to the judging process
At the first stage of the competition, our judges will evaluate all menus entered for the following:
South West Chef of the Year is run on a not-for-profit basis with the following aims:
In addition to the individual category and Overall South West Chef of the Year awards, a range of further awards are also available to our finalists:
We are very fortunate to benefit from the generosity and support of a number of top chefs and suppliers to the industry. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our judges, who give up their time to support the competition and those taking part; our generous suppliers and sponsors; and, of course, all those who enter the competition and put so much hard work into competing.