Southam school's cook wins '˜School Chef of the Year' regional final

Tanya Malone, who is a cook at Southam Primary School, has won the LACA (Lead Association for Catering in Education) ‘School Chef of the Year’ West Midlands final.

She will now go on to compete for the national title at a grand final , which will be held at Stratford College in March next year.

Tanya, who is an Educaterers chef, won over judges with her chilli chicken fritta main and dessert of vanilla panna cotta with an orange tuile wave and fruit coulis caramel.

she served the fritta with crushed new potatoes, creamy spinach, coconut sauce, green beans and carrot ribbons.

The title of LACA School Chef of the Year is the most prestigious title that any school chef across the UK can hold and, according to LACA, an exciting year is guaranteed for whoever emerges as the 2018 winner.

Educaterers launched as a Local Authority Traded Company – the first for Warwickshire County Council – in September.

Their catering teams feed 125,000 pupils in 195 schools across the county every week.

Educaterers believe strongly in developing its catering teams’ skills and have supported Tanya’s involvement in the competition.

Terry Tredget, director of catering at Educaterers, said: “We were so excited to hear the news that Tanya had won the West Midlands final.

"LACA School Chef of the Year is the award that all dedicated school caterers want to win and we are so proud of Tanya for impressing the regional judges with her menu.

“Our staff are our most important asset and we will all be keeping our fingers crossed for the national final.

"It would be amazing to see an Educaterers cook win that title.”