Utah Restaurant Association Hosts Teen Chefs in Pro State State Championship
The Utah Restaurant Association (URA) will hold its annual ProStart State Championship next week, with 14 teams of teen chefs competing from the following high schools: Canyon View, Cedar City, Desert Hills, Pine View, Brighton, Tooele, Provo, Salem Hills, Westlake, Mountain View, Roy, Bonneville, Clearfield, and Granite Technical Institute.
The URA’s school-to-career program ProStart prepares juniors and senior in high school to enter careers in culinary management or hospitality management within the restaurant industry. The Utah ProStart State Culinary and Management competitions take place on Tuesday, March 6, 2018 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM in Sandy, Utah at the Mountain America Exposition Center (formerly South Towne Expo). They are open to the public.
The rules stipulate each team of four students may only use two burners and no electricity to prepare a three-course meal consisting of a first course, entree and dessert.
The teens are competing for bragging rights as state champions and their chance to represent as Team Utah at the National ProStart Invitational. They are judged on techniques such as knife skills, mis-en-place, menu execution, intelligent plating, sanitation, uniforms, teamwork and food safety among other things.
The management competition represents “front-of-the house” skills which must include a business plan, branding, menu design, marketing and critical thinking as teams of four present their unique restaurant concepts to restaurateurs and restaurant professionals from around the state. Management presentations on a national stage have actually been developed into full-blown restaurant
The Utah Restaurant Association was established in 1943 and is celebrating 75 years representing the restaurant industry in the state of Utah and helping to create a community of food service professionals. The Utah Restaurant Association presents a unified voice of the restaurant industry. The restaurant industry in Utah is the third fastest growing in the country, third largest economic contributor in the Utah, is responsible for providing over 90,000 people in the state of Utah with jobs and is feeding over half of the population of the state. The URA also proudly offers the culinary program ProStart®, a school to career program implemented by the Utah Restaurant Association in 62 high schools throughout the state of Utah.