National competition on menu for student chefs

Four student chefs from the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center are flying to Baltimore today with hopes of winning a prestigious national competition.

Warwick’s team of chefs- Bruce Angelini, Tyler Lowe, Harper Salinas and Kate Whelan- are competing in the National Restaurant Association’s National ProStart Invitational from April 26 through April 29. The team won the state competition on Feb. 6.

According to Austin Irons, WACTC’s culinary arts instructor, this is the school’s first time Rhode Island has been represented in the national competition. They will be competing in the Restaurant Management competition- one of two held at the ProStart Invitational, alongside the Culinary competition.

The team came together in May of 2023, when Irons was looking for students interested in competing. He brought together Angelini, Lowe, Salinas and Whelan.

“We did some trials to see who would work the best and be able to collaborate,” Irons said. “They’ve been meeting throughout the fall, the winter, all the way up into February. And from there, once we found out that we won first place and we’d be going to Nationals, we really dove into it.”

The restaurant that the team came up with was an upscale Tuscan-style restaurant with a heavy piano theme. The team chose to name their restaurant Cristofori, after Bartolomeo Cristofori, who invented the piano in Tuscany around the year 1700.

From there, the team had to market their restaurant to the fake community of ProStartVille, Missouri, determine their strengths and weaknesses as a business in that community, and defend their marketing strategy. In addition, the students defended their choice of menu items and their decisions on menu layout and design. Schools are limited to 12 menu items.

Cristofori will be put under a national microscope this time, and while Irons said that the team has made some tweaks based on feedback from the statewide judges, their product is largely the same.

Irons said that the public speaking aspect of the competition is critical, and students getting the chance to develop those skills in a high-pressure situation is perhaps its most important aspect.

“The critical thinking levels of the teamwork and camaraderie that the four of them really build, being able to lean on each other when you get stumped by a question- you’re able to chat with your team members to build that collaboration and public speaking,” Irons said. “This is a competition where there’s not necessarily any right or wrong answers, but the judges are really looking to see that you thought critically on every single choice, and the continuity between all those choices becomes really important.”

For last-minute preparations, Irons and the team have been staying after school going over their scripts, and has delivered presentations to members of Rhode Island’s restaurant industry so that they can deliver feedback.

Making those industry connections, Irons said, has been invaluable for the students.

“We’ve had a couple professionals from various restaurant groups come up to our students and hand them business cards,” Irons said. “[They’ve told] them that they’re very impressed and to ever reach out if they’re looking for employment. It’s great.”

WACTC’s chefs will be facing off against schools from other states. Every state other than Hawaii, Idaho and North Dakota will be represented, as well as the District of Columbia, meaning that 47 other teams will be joining them in Baltimore.

Irons said that the team is ready to compete and no matter the competition, WACTC’s team is ready to face it. No matter what, though, the team has set a new record and made history for their school.