Competitors are required to prepare cook and present four portions of a grab & go/breaktime savoury snack with a total cost per head of 80p.
School chefs can register their interest now. Registrations for the Grab ‘N’ Go Challenge will close on Friday 28th February 2025 and school chefs will have to submit their entry form by Friday 4th April 2025.
The competition is open to all staff that hold a kitchen based post and who are involved in the daily preparation of students’ meals. Contestants may work in more than one kitchen as a mobile chef. Management, area managers, training managers or development chefs are not eligible to enter.
Dugald Curtis, chief executive of SchoolGrid, said: “LACA have always advocated for quality and creativity in school kitchens, and the Grab ’N’ Go competition is a great example of how they continue to inspire creativity and excellence. It is an honour for SchoolGrid to be in a position to help drive this and we strongly encourage school chefs across the country to consider entering - it is a lot of fun.”
Marks will be awarded for originality of the finished dish, how well the flavours and ingredients work together, variety of textures in the finished dish and how appealing the dish is to look at.
Entries will be paper judged with the best eight invited to cook off at a central location in mid-May 2025. Three finalists will be invited to the LACA Main Event on Tuesday 8th July to cook their Grab ‘N’ Go item in a competition environment to decide the winner.
The overall winner will be announced at the LACA Informal Dinner on Tuesday 8th July 2025. The winner will demonstrate their winning recipe on the LACA Live demonstration theatre at the Main Event on Wednesday 9th July.
The winner will receive £500, plus a £500 set of Wüsthof professional chef’s knives donated by SchoolGrid. Second place will get £250 plus a £100 Amazon voucher donated by SchoolGrid. Third place will receive £100 as well as a £100 Amazon voucher donated by SchoolGrid.