South Eastern Regional College hospitality students receive double recognition at HEAT Culinary Competition

Hospitality students from South Eastern Regional College (SERC) Bangor Campus have competed at the HEAT: Culinary Competition Finals and were awarded the Best Teamwork award as well as a bronze medal for their culinary excellence.

The competition attracted the UK’s most talented young chefs and front of house staff for a week of head-to-head cooking and serving.

The kitchen team consisted of Level 3 NVQ Professional Cookery students Ryan Allen, Eileanoir Blair, Phadon Wichianrak and Danny Bunphaung.

The restaurant team consisted of Level 3 Advanced Technical Diploma in Supervision in Food and Beverage Services students Jemma Barclay, Megan Kirk, Claire Lipton and Joshua McCready.

The talented students produced a four-course meal judged by top chefs in the UK catering industry.

After some tough deliberation between the judges, the team from SERC won the Best Student Teamwork award showing how chefs and waiting staff work together. The team were also awarded a bronze medal in the overall competition.

Dave Chalk and Eileen Buicke-Kelly from the Jersey Craft Guild of Chefs said: “All four colleges raised the bar again throughout the competition. We hope that more colleges will enter the competition next year. We want to bring the colleges into Jersey, and we want to bring Jersey into the colleges.”

Brian Magill, SERC Lecturer from the School of Hospitality, Management, Tourism and Languages and team mentor said “The students have put a great deal of effort into learning and perfecting their culinary skills and they have certainly proved that in reaching the finals.

He continued “The HEAT: Culinary Competition is a brilliant opportunity for students to put their skills to the test and gain recognition for their hard work and determination in pursuit of excellence which will ultimately benefit them in their future careers.”