16th Annual ProStart Competition Results
(Orlando, Fla.) The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Educational Foundation (FRLAEF) announced the winners of the 16th Annual ProStart Culinary Team Competition which was held Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6, 2016 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando.
A total of 49 schools participated in the competition with 13 schools winning top awards throughout the day’s events. More than $1.4 million in scholarships was distributed to the winning schools. All winners and participants are a part of Florida’s ProStart program which is a career technical education program where high school students learn from an industry-derived curriculum that teaches culinary techniques and restaurant management skills. More than 20,000 students from across the state are enrolled in the program. The four main event competitions included: the Cracker Barrel Management Competition, the Johnson & Wales University Culinary Competition, the Keiser University Edible Centerpiece Competition, and the Coca-Cola Company
Waiters Relay Competition.
Gainesville’s Eastside High School won first place in the overall competition. East Ridge High School in Clermont took home second place in the overall competition, with J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs placing third.
Overall Competition Winners
First Place Eastside High School Instructors: Billie DeNunzio
Second Place East Ridge High School Instructors: Lucressie McGriff and Ken Pitts
Third Place J.P. Taravella High School Instructor: Scott Goodman
Fourth Place Leto High School Instructor: Debra Hladky
Fifth Place Seabreeze High School Instructor: Samantha Crouch
Johnson & Wales University Culinary Competition Winners
Participating teams demonstrated their creative abilities during the competition through the preparation of a meal consisting of: starter (such as soup, salad or appetizer), protein (such as meat, fish or fowl), starch, vegetable, and dessert.
First Place – Leto High School Instructor: Debra Hladky
Second Place – Eastside High School Instructors: Billie DeNunzio and Pamela Bedford
Third Place – East Ridge High School Instructors: Lucressie McGriff and Ken Pitts
Fourth Place – J.P. Taravella High School Instructor: Scott Goodman
Fifth Place – Steinbrenner High School Instructors: Philip Meola and David Walesheck
Cracker Barrel Management Competition Winners
Participating teams demonstrated their knowledge of the restaurant and foodservice industry by developing a business proposal for a new restaurant concept. The business proposal consisted of a defined restaurant concept, supporting menu, and supporting marketing plan. Teams prepared a comprehensive written proposal, verbal presentation and visual di
splay.
First Place – Eastside High School Instructors: Billie DeNunzio and Pamela Bedford
Second Place – Deland High School Instructor: Renee Scarborough
Third Place – East Ridge High School Instructors: Lucressie McGriff and Ken Pitts
Fourth Place – Mainland High School Instructors: Jason Kester and Troy Logan
Fifth Place – Northeast High School Instructors: John Beck and Curtis Serata
Keiser University Edible Centerpiece Competition Winners
Participating teams demonstrated their creative ability during the competition through the preparation of an edible centerpiece consisting of fruits and vegetables. Contestants explained nutritional information, product availability, and preparation techniques.
First Place – Tarpon Springs High School Instructors: Cathleen Ryan, Vincenzo Pesce, Tony DeVincenzo
Second Place – Eastside High School Instructors: Billie DeNunzio and Pamela Bedford
Third Place – Mainland High School Instructors: Jason Kester and Troy Logan
Fourth Place – Seabreeze High School Instructor: Samantha Crouch
Fifth Place – Northeast High School Instructor: John Beck and Curtis Serata
Coca-Cola Company Waiters Relay Competition Winners
Participating teams demonstrated their ability to duplicate a table setting while racing against the clock.
First Place – J.P. Taravella High School Instructor: Scott Goodman
Second Place – Seabreeze High School Instructor: Samantha Crouch
Third Place – East Ridge High School Instructors: Lucressie McGriff and Ken Pitts
Fourth Place – Bartow High School Instructor: Rosalind Chan
Fifth Place – Stoneman Douglas High School Instructor: Ashley Kurth
Team Numbers & Team Competition Start Times
Your team number will be used throughout the competition, not your school name. Click on the Team Number link below to get your number. Then click on the competition(s) you are in to find your start time.
CULINARY COMPETITION START TIMES
MANAGEMENT COMPETITION START TIMES
EDIBLE CENTERPIECE COMPETITION START TIMES
COMPETITION RULES
RECIPE, MENU & COSTING TEMPLATES FOR CULINARY AND MANAGEMENT TEAMS
ProStart Competition Information
MEALS—All meals are on your own (except the Salute Awards dinner, which is complimentary). The Rosen Plaza has on-site dining and there are fast food options nearby. Pointe Orlando is located across the street from the hotel and offers multiple restaurant choices.
REFRIGERATION – As always refrigeration will be provided onsite to store items while not competing. You may place your items in the walk-in when you arrive. It may be stored there until you compete. Even if you arrive on Friday and do not compete in Culinary until Saturday, you can store items in the refrigerator until your competition time on Saturday. Your refrigerated items can be dropped off any time after 8 AM on Friday.
BEANIES and APRONS – We will provide beanies and aprons for all competing students. The Culinary and Edible Centerpiece students must wear the beanies and aprons while competing. The Management and Waiter Relay students are not required to wear them while competing. The beanies and aprons will be mailed to you before the competition.
CULINARY CONTESTANTS – The Culinary judging sheet walks each team through the entire competition. You may not put anything on your table until your “Station Preset” time. You will have 15 minutes to set your station for Knife Skills/Poultry Fabrication. That will be followed by 15 minutes to actually perform the Knife Skills/Poultry Fabrication. After Knife Skills/Poultry Fabrication you will have 20 minutes to set your table for the cooking portion of the event.
For the Knife Skills/Poultry Fabrication, the team members will tell the judge which knife cuts the team wants to do. The judge will then assign two team members to poultry fabrication. The other two team members will be assigned his/her knife cut. When the team members are done with the knife cuts, they will place their cuts on the cutting board. When the team members are done with poultry fabrication, the poultry should be presented to the judges on a cutting board. While the knife cuts and poultry are being judged and before the team’s cooking start time, the team may remove the extra cutting boards, clean the knives, etc. However, they may not start preparing their meal. Don’t forget that each team must provide their own chickens for Poultry Fabrication.
TEMPLATES for Culinary & Management
The Recipe & Costing Templates can be found at the link above—under Competition Rules.
WAITERS RELAY – Place mats will not be used for any of the required place settings. Also, only dinner forks, spoons and knives will be provided. That simply means the contestants do not need to worry about butter knife vs. dinner knife. They still need to put all of the silverware in the correct place. When preparing for this event, only use the pictures provided in the rules. Do not use any other pictures as they may differ. Place setting pictures can be found in Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts, Level One, Page 653. All the napkin folds and place settings can be found at the link above under Rules, Waiters Relay.
MANAGEMENT – Management teams must email their PowerPoint presentation to Laura by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, February 2, 2016. This is the final copy of your presentation and will be used during your presentation. You will not be able to make changes to the PowerPoint after 5:00 PM on February 2, 2016. To ensure there are no technology related issues, teams are encouraged to bring a copy of the PowerPoint on a thumb drive as a backup.
AWARDS DINNER – The Salute to Excellence Awards Dinner will take place on Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 6:30 pm at the Rosen Plaza Hotel. All ProStart competition awards will be presented along with Hospitality Excellence Awards, Pineapple Awards and FRLAEF Scholarships. The deadlines for all these nominations was last week. All ProStart teachers, all competing team members, Hospitality Excellence Award recipients, Pineapple Award recipients and Scholarship recipients may attend the dinner free of charge.
NEED EXTRA SALUTE TICKETS? ORDER THEM NOW!
Additional tickets may be purchased in advance for $60. NO TICKETS WILL BE SOLD ON SITE THIS YEAR. To purchase additional tickets with a credit card CLICK HERE.
Tickets may also be purchased by checks made payable to FRLAEF and mailed to:
FRLAEF
PO Box 1779
Tallahassee, FL 32302
All ticket payments must be received by the FRLAEF no later than January 29, 2016 to guarantee a seat at the Salute Awards dinner.
HOTEL – If you intend to utilize our room block at the Rosen Plaza, please book your rooms no later than January 20 to get the special rate. For additional information, visit the competition link above and scroll down to Hotel.
SCORE SHEETS – To be successful, your students must know their score sheet. Teams do not want to “give” points away by not having a uniformed appearance, having visible piercing, incorrect math on costing template, etc. All score sheets are included with the rules of each competition and can be found at the link above.
STIPENDS – Each team will receive a $250 stipend per competition. A team competing in one competition will receive $250 while a team competing in all four competitions will receive $1,000. The competition stipends will be mailed this Friday, January 8, so be on the lookout for the check. If a team backs out of a competition after receiving their stipend, they must reimburse the FRLAEF for the stipend.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Laura can be reached at laura@frla.org or 321-689-7192. Amy can be reached at aparker@frla.org or 866-288-8820 x.250.
2016 ProStart Competition Teams Announced!
The 2016 ProStart Competition teams have been selected. Schools were notified via email of the competitions they were chosen for on Monday, October 26, 2015. The email also contained required entry forms. If you did not receive your award email, please contact Amy Parker at aparker@frla.org. See below for list of selected teams.
ARMWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
BARTOW HIGH SCHOOL
BAYSIDE HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
BETHLEHEM HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
BOWERS/WHITLEY CAREER CENTER—PREMIER
COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
CORAL GLADES HIGH SCHOOL
DELAND HIGH SCHOOL
DELTONA HIGH SCHOOL
DIXIE M HOLLINS HIGH SCHOOL
DUNNELLON HIGH SCHOOL
EAST BAY HIGH SCHOOL
EAST RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL
EASTSIDE HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
ESTERO HIGH SCHOOL
EUSTIS HIGH SCHOOL
FLAGLER PALM COAST HIGH SCHOOL
FORT PIERCE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
HIALEAH HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
HOLMES COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL
J.P. TARAVELLA HIGH SCHOOL
JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL
JOHN A. FERGUSON SENIOR
JR ARNOLD HIGH SCHOOL
KEY WEST HIGH SCHOOL
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS HIGH
LAKE GIBSON HIGH SCHOOL
LAKE HOWELL HIGH SCHOOL
LAKE MINNEOLA HIGH
LAND O LAKES HIGH SCHOOL
LECANTO HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
LETO HIGH SCHOOL
MAINLAND HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
MARATHON HIGH SCHOOL
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH
MARTIN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
MATANZAS HIGH SCHOOL
NASSAU COUNTY CAREER TECH–PREMIER
NEW SMYRNA BEACH HIGH
NORTHEAST HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
ORANGE PARK HIGH SCHOOL
RIVEROAK TECHICAL COLLEGE
SANDALWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
SEABREEZE HIGH SCHOOL
SEBRING HIGH SCHOOL
SICKLES HIGH SCHOOL
SOUTH LAKE HIGH SCHOOL
ST LUCIE WEST CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL
STEINBRENNER HIGH SCHOOL
STRAWBERRY CREST HIGH SCHOOL
TAMPA BAY TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
TARPON SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
TERRY PARKER HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER
UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL
WEKIVA HIGH SCHOOL
WEST BOCA CULINARY ACADEMY
WINTER HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL
WINTER SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL
WIREGRASS RANCH HIGH SCHOOL–PREMIER