Guest blog post from Inspiring Culinary Generations (ICG)

As we all know, recent times within the hospitality industry have not been the easiest, but we prevail, and the future is exciting. With staffing shortages and new outlooks on career paths, there is a huge drive for recruitment in our industry, and competitions like our Inspiring Culinary Generations (ICG) Cookery Competition are vital to put culinary careers on the map and to open doors to exciting futures for our younger generation.

We are a national competition designed to acknowledge and encourage excellence in the catering industry and in the home. Our event reaches out to all young catering students and keen home cooks of any age who have a passion for cooking. We are proud to be the cookery competition that fast tracks youngsters through education to an employee level, and to be known as a recognised and well-respected initiative amongst industry leaders, having been running for over 10 years.

As part of the Aspiring Student Chefs (ASC) category, the winner is offered a prestigious three-year Specialised Chef Scholarship at Bournemouth and Poole College with tuition, professional training, and work experience with a chef member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts at some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the UK. The Keen Home Cooks (KHC) category offers the winner a chance to take away some truly great prizes, whilst inspiring people of all ages to get into the kitchen, showcase their passion for cooking, and compete against other like-minded individuals.

The Specialised Chefs course is described by many, including Executive Chef at The Ritz, John Williams MBE, as “the best in the country”. Paul Dayman, Chef Lecturer and Specialised Chefs Course Leader, who has done the course himself over 20 years ago, describes it as “life changing”. He continues, “you come into this and within a very short space of time you’re going to get put with some of the best employers in the country. After doing 14 weeks here at college you’re going to be working in a 5-star hotel, a Michelin restaurant, or an amazing country house hotel – and that’s unrivalled in this country in terms of courses.”

Heading up the judges for the ICG competitions are celebrity chef Lesley Waters and her team of esteemed chefs including James Golding, Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Sustainability Chair, Steve James of Steve James Ltd, Bournemouth and Poole College’s Paul Dayman, Luke Matthews of Chewton Glen, and Head Teacher at the Lesley Waters Cookery School, Jack McDonnell.

ICG is proud to work with many incredible names and brands, including BIIAB, who joined the family in 2022 as gold sponsors. BIIAB have built a reputation as an awarding organisation that supports and enhances education within the hospitality sector, and they passionately believe in encouraging new talent to succeed within all aspects of the industry. From initial conversations, it was clear that there was a shared passion, and we soon started working together to pursue our mission. We are delighted to have had BIIAB supporting the competition over the last year and are thrilled that they will be joining us for our 2023/24 adventures too.

Together, we want to develop the next generation of catering talent.