WATSONVILLE, CA - I’m not one to be interested in sports, but I love me a good cooking contest! It never ceases to amaze me the kinds of creative and innovative dishes that come from the pressure of competition. It looks like California Giant Berry Farms agrees with me, because the grower has just announced its second annual Chef Invitational. The event, back by popular demand, is a nationwide culinary competition inviting foodservice distributor partners to elect their top chefs to compete for the title of California Giant Top Chef.
“We are very excited to announce the event in 2019 after the success we had last year,” said Tom Smith, Director of Foodservice. “It was such a fun time and we had a lot of great collaboration with our distributor partners and their incredible chefs. This time around we will also have Chef Luis Reyes from Sysco West Coast FL, the 2018 winner, to help share his experience and participate as a mentor at the 2019 event.”
Last July, the 2018 Chef Invitational showcased a fierce competition that included innovative recipes that used California Giant berries as the star of the plate. This year’s event will provide even more opportunities for corporate chefs to flex their creativity while competing with both desserts and main dishes. The goal of the promotional competition is to continue to cement relationships with key members of the foodservice industry and highlight the talented chefs that invent creative recipes every day.
The Chef Invitational goes live on February 1, 2019, and entry guidelines are distributed directly to foodservice partners by use of the company foodservice website and e-newsletter, according to the press release. Any recipes need to be submitted by May 1 and finalists are announced May 15. The Invitational event will be held at the Tehama Golf Club in Monterey, California June 23-25, at the end of which, a winner will be determined.
Prior to the Chef Invitational event, finalists will participate in educational sessions with growers, field tours, and roundtable forums with California Giant Influencers who will share insights into consumer and food trends. Each chef-developed recipe will be studied by the company’s group of influencers to create a consumer-friendly version to share with followers on social media channels.
“Sharing the Chef Invitational with California Giant Influencers this year adds a new element to the program by creating recipe hacks that we can share with our consumer followers without restricting the creativity of the professional chefs,” says Cindy Jewell, VP of Marketing. “This combination of professional chefs and consumer influencers really expands our reach providing a great opportunity for these two groups to come together and learn from each other while becoming greater ambassadors for our brand.”
At the Chef Invitational, finalists consisting of the industry’s top chefs will recreate their winning recipes that will then be presented to an esteemed panel of judges to win the coveted title of 2019 California Giant Top Chef.
Best of luck to the participating chefs! AndNowUKnow will keep you updated on how it all shakes out.
