Local Chef to Judge Nestle© Toque d’Or

MEDIA RELEASE
17 August 2007

Local Chef to Judge Nestle© Toque d’Or

Crowne Plaza food and beverage manager Brian Bowie will join 15 of the country’s leading chefs and culinary professionals to judge competitors in this year’s Nestle© Toque d’Or.

It is the first time that Brian will be on the judging panel at the event which is the country’s premier student cookery and restaurant service competition.

This year he will be judging the front of house skills of the 12 teams of competitors.

“The competition is world renowned and provides a great learning tool for competitors. It highlights to prospective employers that the competing students have the determination, dedication, passion, professionalism and finesse to succeed in their chosen fields,” Brian said.

“I firmly believe in the competition. It’s a great way for me to show my support and give back something to the training providers that motivate and coach our new generation of hospitality members.”

He said Nestlé Toque d’Or is also a great opportunity for participating students to excel against other competitors, and potentially line up future job prospects.

Brian and his fellow judges will be faced with the challenging task of judging the hospitality and culinary creations of teams drawn from 11 tertiary institutions from around the country. A 12th team will comprise three members of the Hospitality Standards Institute’s (HSI), modern apprenticeship programme.

In addition to this, for the first time in the history of Nestlé Toque d’Or, the panel will select a student to become a member of the New Zealand Culinary Team. The Team currently comprises a number of the nation’s top chefs, and is coached and guided by some of the country’s most experienced industry professionals. They regularly compete overseas and recently took out three bronze medals at the prestigious American Culinary Classic in Chicago.

Nestlé Toque d’Or Event Manager, Pip Duncan, said teams competing in Nestlé Toque d’Or are made up of two cookery students and one restaurant service student hand-picked by tutors from each institution.

“The students are required to prepare six covers of a three-course meal within two-and-a-half hours,” she said.

“The students are scrutinised throughout the event by the judging panel which marks team efforts against stringent criteria including: preparation, hygiene, presentation, taste and service.

“Furthermore, strict time guidelines must also be met and written menus are also judged for their use of correct terminology and recipe development.”

Pip said she is pleased with the impressive range of skills and experience of this year’s judging panel.

“It’s a formidable line-up and competing students will really need to keep their cool, if they want to earn top marks and a place in the New Zealand Culinary Team,” Pip said.

The Nestlé Toque d’Or competition will take place on 3 September at Auckland’s Logan Campbell Centre. Aside from Nestlé FoodServices, other sponsors include PERRIER, NZ Beef and Lamb Marketing Bureau, Akaroa Salmon, vegetables.co.nz and House of Knives.

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