Lockhart has been proud to support the Springboard FutureChef competition last week and we attended an exciting final held at Westminster Kingsway College.
One to watch: Jessica Mitchell, the new winner of Springboard’s FutureChef
Posted by Lockhart Catering
on 25 March 2019
It's an inspiring and prestigious competition for young people which has a long line of winners. Some of the biggest names in the hospitality industry support this event. Jessica Mitchell from the High School of Glasgow was revealed as the winner by Brian Turner and David Mulcahy who oversee the competition.
An impressive panel of judges
The final also included an amazing panel of judges including Sophie Michell, Mark Heirs, Adam Handling, Kuba Winkowski who is the current National Chef of the Year, Steve Groves and last year's winner of FutureChef, Catrin Manning.
We covered this event live on our social channels to bring the industry closer to the action. Check out our highlights on Instagram to see the photos and videos including some of the dishes the chefs cooked up.
Watch our Instagram Highlights Reel >
The history behind FutureChef
The competition began back in 1999, after the industry noticed there was a skills shortage emerging. We spoke to Chris Hawksey, marketing manager at Springboard to find out more about its launch, 20 years ago. He said: "We had recently conducted research that showed young people weren't considering being a chef as a viable career. We had decided that we needed to join forces with the industry and use our connections to provide access to schools at a time when school children are making decisions about their future. The aim was to show young people what an interesting and varied career the culinary arts can provide. Although the competition had been a massive success, having reached around 6,000 young people by 2010, we felt that the competition wasn't a long-term solution to the skills shortage the industry faced. It was from this, that the FutureChef programme was born."
The FutureChef programme is a full year focused on instilling young people with the skills, information and inspiration they need to flourish as a chef. In total, over 12,000 students between the ages of 12 and 16 years old have got involved in FutureChef, battling it out through school heats, local finals, regional finals and the national final.
What do the chefs have to do in the final?
Finalists are given a basket of ingredients, from which they must create a two-course meal to feed three people – judged on things like taste, wastage, time, cleanliness and presentation. Competitors could choose whether to use free range chicken or sea bass as their main ingredient and then had 12 other items to pick from including spinach, purple sprouting broccoli and butternut squash. For dessert they had to create an apple pie or tart using Granny Smith apples.
Take a look at the amazing dishes the budding chefs cooked up.
The start of an exciting career
One of the ways we support this competition is by offering £500 of equipment from Lockhart to the winning school. Jessica also receives her prize plate which we are proud to donate. Watch that winning moment when Jessica was revealed as the new holder of the FutureChef title and picked up her prizes.
Speaking about the whole experience of Springboard's FutureChef programme, Jessica Mitchell said: "FutureChef has been an amazing experience for me. It has given me confidence in my cooking ability and has allowed me to see what life would be like in a professional kitchen. I have always had a passion for food and cooking and have wanted to be a chef since I was 8 years old."
The winning menu was chicken breast, butternut squash, confit chicken leg with fondant potato, onion and carrot followed by apple and frangipane tart with a vanilla pod parfait and caramelised apple.
You only need to look at the list of former finalists to recognise the importance that Springboard and FutureChef plays on attracting and retaining talent. For example, in 2012, Ruth Hansom was part of the national final. Ruth has gone on to compete around the world with a trophy haul that includes Young National Chef of the Year, Master Chefs of Great Britain Young Master Chef of the Year, Craft Guild of Chefs Apprentice of the Year, Craft Guild of Chefs Rising Star and gold at the World Skills UK final.
The team at Lockhart will be watching Jessica's career with huge interest and wish her every success.
Want to learn more about how we support FutureChef? Take a look at last year's article following the event.
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