Competition Guidelines

Culinary Innovation
Challenge 2024

Eligibility

  • Submission of a craveable, on-trend, innovative, sustainable entree that celebrates creativity, ingenuity, and the use of diverse ingredients and cooking techniques. The dish must also incorporate a food waste element by utilizing trimmings, by-products or repurposing of ingredients. Most importantly, the dish should taste delicious, look beautiful, and drive sales.

Each Dish Must:

  • Feature sustainably sourced ingredients that have a lower environmental impact.
  • Be commercially viable within your line of business.
  • Be able to be prepared and cooked within 45 minutes.
  • Be practical to produce and serve at various locations.
  • Focus on authenticity with flavour being a key factor.
  • The entrée can either be plant-based or sustainable seafood (no shellfish).
  • May contain dairy products and/or dairy alternatives.
  • Must be plant forward: dairy and fish cannot account for more than 25% of the dish volume.
  • If you choose to prepare a sustainable seafood dish:
    • Must include sustainable seafood (fish and sea vegetables/aquatic plants, no shellfish).
  • Only 1 submission per person.
  • Recipes and images must be the entrant’s original creation.
  • A recipe title, recipe with method, ingredient costs, plated photograph of the finished dish, and a photograph of the chef participant are all required for submission.
  • The following questions must be answered on the application:
    • What inspired you to be a chef?
    • What inspired your dish? All submissions will be validated by the judges based on these criteria.
  • Entry is open culinary professionals who are either permanently and fully employed by Sodexo Ltd. and with Sodexo email addresses or hold a culinary position in one of Entegra’s client companies.
  • All finalists will need to be available for our LIVE Final Event on September 24th and 25th in Frisco, TX. Please check with your manager on this time commitment.
  • All submitted recipes become the property of Sodexo/Entegra.
  • Competitors should ensure that they have full permission and endorsement of their manager/supervisor as appropriate. The competitor should make managers/supervisors fully aware of all competition commitments where time away from work is involved, including practice, presentations and prizes. A Sodexo entrant must provide their supervisor’s name and email when registering. All rules applying to the competition are final. Organizers and judges will not enter into any debate regarding results or issues surrounding the competition. The Committee of Judges’ decision is final.
  • Successful applicants will be notified by the organizers as per competition guidelines. Communication to both successful and unsuccessful submissions will be by email.
  • A competitor’s entry to the competition means acceptance of all competition rules and regulations and the rules of any parties associated with this project.

Suggested List of Sustainably Sourced Ingredients:

Category Description
FINFISH
  • Pacific Cod
  • Pacific Salmon
  • Pollock
  • Farmed Abalone
  • Anchovy
  • Black Sea Bass
ALGAE
  • Laver Seaweed
  • Wakame Seaweed
BEANS & PULSES
  • Black Turtle Beans
  • Broad Beans (Fava)
  • Lentils
  • Soy Beans
CACTI
  • Nopales
CEREALS & GRAINS
  • Amaranth
  • Buckwheat
  • Finger Millet
  • Fonio
  • Khorasan Wheat (Kamut)
  • Quinoa
  • Spelt
  • Teff
  • Wild Rice
FRUITS & VEGETABLES
  • Okra
  • Orange Tomatoes
LEAFY GREENS
  • Beet Greens
  • Broccoli Rabe
  • Kale
  • Pak-Choi/Bok Choy
  • Red Cabbage
  • Spinach
  • Watercress
MUSHROOMS
  • Enoki
  • Maitake
NUTS & SEEDS
  • Flax Seeds
  • Hemp Seeds
  • Sesame Seeds
  • Walnuts
ROOT VEGETABLES
  • White Icicle Radish
TUBERS
  • Lotus Root
  • Ube
  • Yam Bean Root (Jicama)
  • Red Indonesian Sweet Potatoes

FINAL ROUND

  • Guidelines to be announced.

Need further assistance?

If you have additional questions, contact us at support@culinaryinnovationchallenge.com