Culinary Students to Mix it Up at Michigan ProStart®

LANSING, Mich. – Teams representing 18 schools across Michigan will meet in Lansing, Mich.
March 9 and 10 for the annual Michigan ProStart® Student Invitational, presented by the Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) Educational Support Foundation. The statewide competition held at the Sheraton Hotel includes culinary, marketing and knowledge bowl competitions.

 “The ProStart Student Invitational is not only a great competition, it also is an excellent opportunity for students to demonstrate their culinary, management and marketing knowledge,” said Rob Gifford, president and chief executive officer of the MRA. “The competition allows teachers, students and the industry to connect the ProStart curriculum to real life experiences.”

Participating teams in the culinary competition, sponsored by SYSCO, will demonstrate their creative abilities through the preparation of a meal consisting of a starter, entree and dessert. Their performance during the practical section will be observed and rated by judges from the industry as well as leading post-secondary colleges and universities.

Participating teams in the management competition, sponsored by Gordon Food Service, will demonstrate their ability to analyze management situations that contain business dilemmas and to present a resolution to professionals with experience in the hospitality industry. Teams will also demonstrate their knowledge of the hospitality industry by competing in a Jeopardy “Quiz Bowl” format.

Thanks to the generous grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation, this year’s event features, for the first time, a marketing competition.  The two schools participating in this competition, Branch Area Career Center and Mason Lake ISD, each secured mentors for their student teams who have submitted a marketing plan for the judges’ review prior to this competition.  Each team will be presented with a business scenario at the competition and given four hours to draft a new marketing plan specific to the scenario.

The winning teams in the culinary and management competitions will be sent to San Diego, CA to compete against other teams across the country at the National ProStart® Student Invitational taking place April 24-26, 2008. The winning Michigan teams will compete for the national title, as well as scholarships. In 2007, $1.3 million in scholarships were awarded to winning students.

The complete list of participating schools are:

Branch Area Careers Center, Coldwater
Calhoun Area Career Center, Battle Creek
Career Preparation Center, Warren
Clare-Gladwin RESD, Clare
Fruitport High School, Fruitport
Lapeer County Education and Technology Center, Attica
Howell High School, Howell
Lenawee VOTECH Center, Adrian
Livonia Career Technical Center, Livonia
Mason Lake Intermediate School District, Scottville
Oakland Schools Technical Campus North East, Pontiac
Plymouth Canton Educational Park, Canton
Regional Career Technology Center, Ypsilanti
Riverview High School, Riverview
Saginaw Career Complex, Saginaw
S and W Consortium at Saline High School, Saline
Traverse Bay Area Career-Tech Center, Traverse City
Van Buren Technology Center, Lawrence