Culinary Innovation Challenge

Innovation meets responsibility on the plate!

This competition is a celebration of culinary excellence, highlighting the artistry of chefs who use sustainable ingredients to create extraordinary dishes that honor the planet.

The Challenge:

Submit a craveable, on-trend, innovative and sustainable entree that celebrates diverse and/or underutilized ingredients and cooking techniques. The dish must incorporate a food waste element such as trimmings, by-products or repurposing of ingredients. The dish must also taste delicious, look beautiful, and drive consumer engagement.

Dish Requirements:

Feature sustainably sourced ingredients with a lower environmental impact
Be commercially viable
Be able to be prepared and cooked within 45 minutes
Be practical to produce and serve
Focus on authenticity, with flavor as a driving factor
May contain dairy products and/or dairy alternatives
Judges will evaluate the dish based on creativity, technique, and environmental impact

Application Requirements:

One submission per person
The application must include the name of the dish, a recipe with method, ingredient costs, plated photograph of the finished dish, and a photograph of the chef participant
Recipes and images must be the entrant’s original creation
The following questions must be answered:
- What inspired you to be a chef?
- What inspired your dish?
Applicants of both successful and unsuccessful submissions will be notified by email.

Contest Rules:

Entry is open to culinary professionals permanently and fully employed by Sodexo with Sodexo email addresses OR by one of Entegra’s client companies
Finalists must be available for a culinary market basket cookoff hosted at the Entegra Performance Kitchen in Virginia the week of August 18th. All event travel expenses will be covered by the competition committee.
Finalists must be available for the LIVE announcement of the winner on September 23rd in Austin, TX.
All submitted recipes become the property of Sodexo/Entegra
Competitors must have permission and endorsement from their manager/supervisor
Competitors must make managers/supervisors fully aware of competition commitments where time away from work is involved, including practice, presentations and prizes
Sodexo entrants must provide their supervisor’s name and email when registering

Join us as we redefine the future of food—one sustainable dish at a time

All application rules are final. A competition entry means acceptance of all rules and regulations of any party associated with this project. Organizers and judges will not debate any competition results or issues. The Committee of Judges’ decision is final.