19th Annual ProStart Competition Results!
The 19th Annual ProStart Culinary Team Competitions took place Friday, March 1 — Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando. Fifty-seven ProStart schools competed in four competitions over two days. Results are below:
Overall
1st Place – East Ridge High School
Instructors: Ken Pitts and Christopher Dwyer
2nd Place – Hialeah Gardens High School
Instructor: James Bryant
3rd Place – Leto High School
Instructor: Debra Hladky
4th Place – Lake Minneola High School
Instructors: Nick Sandora, Lance Bowles
5th Place – Tarpon Springs High School
Instructors: Cathleen Ryan, Tony DiVincenzo, Vincenzo Pesce
Johnson & Wales University Culinary Competition
1st Place – Leto High School
Instructor: Debra Hladky
Students: Kerelyn Driver,
Victoria Clawson
Anthony Nunez
Lia Thompson
Sterling Frazier
2nd Place – Hialeah Gardens High School
Instructor: James Bryant
Students: Melanie Trejo
Claudia More
Jennifer Costa
Evelyn Lazo
Jenneily Montes
3th Place – East Ridge High School
Instructors: Ken Pitts, Chris Dwyer
Students: Dakota Ederer
Hunter Hoskins
Alexander Cleary
Ysabel Maseda
Dylan Morales
4th Place –Northeast High School
Instructor: John Beck and Curtis Serata
Student: Mitchell McDermott
Dimitri Singh
Sarah Gruber
Tim Shedina
Caitlyn Guidice
5th Place – John A. Ferguson High School
Instructors: Janett Toledo, Jorge Garcia and Jebel Cordoba
Students: Heidy Chaparro
Giselle Sanchez
Alejandra Garcia
Edwin Colina
Carolina Bejarano
Rosen College at UCF Management Competition
1st Place – East Ridge High School
Instructor: Ken Pitts and Christopher Dwyer
Students: Evangeline Marshall
Faith Marshall
Amanda De Turo
Cole Hilton
2nd Place – Lake Minneola High School
Instructor: Nick Sandora and Lance Bowles
Students: Abbigayle Diamal
Bianca Bundy
Brianna Chicas
3rd Place – Fort Pierce Central High School
Instructors: Jesse Strell, Cindy Swertfager
Students: Sarahi Fraga
McClintock Hoeffner
Hope Thomas
Luz Martinez
4th Place – Strawberry Crest High School
Instructor: Paul Bonanno
Students: Madison Sloan
Rachel Bartlett
Jada Broadnax
Janet Gonzalez
Diamon Brown
5th Place – Eastside High School
Instructor: Pam Bedford and Richard Vaughan
Students: Jada Roberts
Dylan Shea
Keiser University Edible Centerpiece
1st Place – Tarpon Springs High School
Instructors: Cathleen Ryan, Tony DiVencenzo, Vincenzo Pesce
Student: Nicole Alexiou 
2nd Place – Eustis High School
Instructor: Nicole Austin
Student: Alexandra Fales
3rd Place – Leon High School
Instructors: Christine Beam and Karen Stribling
Students: Taylah Tolliver
4th Place – South Lake High School
Instructor: Candy Huxhold and John Thunberg
Student: Sara Guevara
5th Place – East Ridge High School
Instructor: Ken Pitts and Christopher Dwyer
Students: Leah Filmer
Waiters Relay
1st Place – East Ridge High School
Instructor: Ken Pitts and Christopher Dwyer
Students: Maxwell Allman
Tyler Dobereiner
Josh Cerna
2nd Place – Hialeah Gardens High School
Instructor: James Bryant
Students: Danaisy Abascal
Kenneth Florencio
Ailani Ortega 
3rd Place – JP Taravella High School
Instructors: Scott Goodman
Students: Micahel Liu
Ryan McGuire
Yessenina King
4th Place – Dixie Hollins High School
Instructors: Christy Rabich, Tara Bishop
Students: Bobby Denovo
Aaliyah Jackson
Carly Lewis
5th Place – Leon High School
Instructors: Christine Beam and Karen Stribling
Students: A’Nyiah Cobb
Javonta Anderson
Morgan Richardson
2019 ProStart Competition Video
19th Annual ProStart Culinary Team Competition
Friday, March 1 — Saturday, March 2, 2019, Rosen Plaza Hotel, Orlando
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
1. CLICK HERE to get your TEAM NUMBER
2. Click on competition name below, find your TEAM NUMBER and your competition time will be next to it
CULINARY COMPETITION SCHEDULE
MANAGEMENT COMPETITION SCHEDULE
EDIBLE CENTERPIECE SCHEDULE
WAITER’S RELAY ORDER
2019 COMPETITION AGENDA
COMPETITION RULES
- Recipe, Costing, and Menu Template
- JUDGE’S RUBRICS: STARTER, ENTREE, DESSERT, SAFETY & SANITATION, TEAM PRESENTATION/WORK SKILLS, MENU & RECIPE
- Recipe, Costing, Menu Templates for MANAGEMENT
- JUDGE’S RUBRICS: CONCEPT, CRITICAL THINKING, MARKETING, MENU/RECIPE/COSTING, OPERATIONS
REQUIRED PAPERWORK
HOTEL The Rosen Plaza Hotel will be the host site for the 2019 ProStart Culinary Team Competitions. The room rate at the Rosen Plaza is $129 per night.
To reserve hotel rooms, use THIS LINK or contact the Rosen Plaza at 800-627-8258 and reference the FRLAEF ProStart Competition Salute to Excellence. The deadline to make hotel reservations is Wednesday, February 13, 2019. But don’t wait this long to book your rooms! These rooms sell out quickly. Go ahead and reserve your hotel rooms. You can always cancel before the deadline if you decide you want to stay elsewhere.
LOCATION—the entire competition will take place at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando. Self parking is complimentary. If you are not staying on site—just mention the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association to the parking attendant and they will waive the parking fee. Valet parking is $20 per vehicle.
MEALS—All meals are on your own (except the Salute Awards dinner, which is complimentary for competing team members and ProStart instructors). The Rosen Plaza has on-site dining and there are other restaurant options nearby. Pointe Orlando is located across the street from the hotel and offers multiple restaurant choices.
REFRIGERATION – Refrigeration will be provided onsite to store items while not competing. You may place your items in the walk-in when you arrive. Items 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.
HATS + APRONS – We will provide hats and aprons for all competing students. The Culinary and Edible Centerpiece students must wear the provided hats and aprons while competing. The Management and Waiter Relay students are not required to wear the hats or aprons while competing. These will be mailed to you before the competition.
TEMPLATES for Culinary & Management – The Recipe & Costing Templates can be found at the link above under Competition Rules.
AWARDS DINNER – The Salute to Excellence Awards Dinner will take place on Saturday, March 2, 2019 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. All ProStart teachers, all competing team members, Hospitality Excellence Award recipients, Pineapple Award recipients and Scholarship recipients may attend the dinner free of charge.
We will contact you in the next couple weeks to confirm your Salute headcount.
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 in the next two weeks. 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 [email protected] or 321-689-7192. Amy can be reached at [email protected] or 866-288-8820 x.250.
2018 COMPETITION VIDEO