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Chefs are being asked to prepare, cook and present four portions of a grab & go meal or breaktime savoury snack with a total cost per head of 60p – this will include food costs and serving item, eg. a box, cone, or paper wrapping.

Phil Thornborrow, foodservice director at Quorn, said: “We’re delighted to be sponsoring the inaugural year of LACA’s Grab & Go competition. Providing great tasting, healthy and sustainable meals for pupils is at the core of our mission at Quorn Professionals.

"With many schools increasing focus on Grab & Go options, it’s important to us that we support the sector and show them how they can create dishes that tick the box on nutrition, budgets and sustainability without compromising on taste. 

"Involving pupils in the process is really important to us. It nurtures a sense of ownership and pride but most importantly, it means that this competition will be dishing up Grab & Go options that we know pupils will love.”

Competition timings

• Paper entries are now open until Friday 31st March
• Entries will then be ‘paper judged’ and the best eight invited to cook off at Quorn HQ in Leeds - on either 15th or 16th May
• Finalists will then be invited to the LACA Main Event on Wednesday 5th July to cook their grab & go item in a competition environment to decide the winner
• The overall winner will be announced at the LACA Informal Dinner on Wednesday 5th July

Prizes

• 1st prize - £500 for the winning school chef, plus win your school a Green Street Kitchen concept (worth up to £1,500) and the opportunity to work with the Quorn European culinary team
• 2nd prize - £250 for the second place school chef, plus win a Quorn Professionals education culinary day for chefs and pupils
• 3rd prize - £100 for the third place school chef, plus £100 worth of free Quorn product for your school

Entry process

Download and complete the entry form, including costing sheet and method to produce the dishes. Submit your completed forms to organisers along with at least one photograph of the finished dish. Entries must include at least one Quorn product from the list provided.

Please also include how you have engaged with your pupils when developing and/or testing your recipes:

• How did you involve pupils in the process? (max 150 words)
• Please provide 1 or 2 images and/or video of the process (if pupils are pictured, only include those pupils with permissions for external use)
• Please provide feedback from 1 or 2 pupils on your entry

Competition

Judges, led by Kate Snow of Quorn and former LACA School Chef of the Year Holly Charnock, will review all entries to establish a long list of the best eight. These will be invited to Leeds for a cook-off. Competitors will have 30 minutes to prepare, cook and serve their dish.

The final shortlist of three school chefs will be invited to the LACA Main Event in Birmingham to compete for the overall title. The overall winner will be given a demonstration slot on the LACA Live feature on Thursday 6th July to showcase their winning dish.

Judging criteria

Marks will be awarded for:

• A minimum of one Quorn product from the list provided must be used in your dish
• Innovation and application in the use of products
• Originality
• Knowledge of the product
• Has the Quorn product been used in a substantial way in the recipe?
• How well the flavours and ingredients work together
• Variety of texture
• Visual appeal of finished dish

View the full list of LACA Grab & Go competition rules, Quorn products to choose from and complete the entry form