Rhode Island Hospitality Education Foundation’s ProStart Culinary Competition

Area high school students competed in live cooking challenges and presented "Shark Tank"-inspired plans for food businesses, restaurants and hotel concepts.

5 hours ago

Jamie Coelho,

Pages and Pours from Warwick Area Career and Technical Center won the Food Service Management competition. Photo by Jamie Coelho.

The Rhode Island Hospitality Education Foundation recently hosted its annual statewide Culinary Arts, Foodservice & Hotel Management Competition. Ten top high school teams competed for $500,000 in scholarships and the chance to advance to the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s National ProStart Invitational in Baltimore, Maryland, which will be held April 24-26, 2026. The regional culinary competition took place on February 10 at CCRI’s Newport campus with more than thirty area hospitality professionals volunteering to help judge the event, including myself in the management and marketing category.

The competition featured live cooking challenges and “Shark Tank”-inspired food business, restaurant and hotel concept presentations. Nearly 800 Rhode Island students are enrolled in ProStart, a two-year hospitality career-building program designed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Nearly another 400 Rhode Island students are enrolled in the Hospitality & Tourism Management program, The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute’s (AHLEI) two-year, turnkey high school curriculum.

Students from CHARIHOTech competed in a Food Service Management competition that included a business pitch for The Seasonal Oven, a bakery turned ice cream shop.

This year’s event featured area schools including Chariho Career and Technical Center, Newport Area Career and Technical Center, the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School, and Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center.

Students from Warwick Area Career and Technical Center won first place in Foodservice Management. Left to right: Ray McCue, Farouk Rajab, Annissa Gill, Liliana Lunsmann, Jailyn Huffman, Gianna Gioffreda, Alexiana Medeiros, Sam Glynn, and Joanna Arrighie. Photos courtesy of RI Hospitality Education Foundation.

I was charged with judging Food Service Management marketing efforts for proposed food and drink businesses for four local high schools. Each group of students shared their ideas for a type of food or drink business they would like to launch alongside plans for marketing campaigns to generate business and profit. The winner of this section was Warwick Area Career and Technical Center with their plan for Pages and Pours, a book-themed cafe and coffee shop. The team members included Jailyn Huffman, Giana Gioffreda, Alexiana Medeiros, Anissa Gill and Liliana Lunsmann with instructor Austin Iron. Second Place for Food Service Management went to The Seasonal Oven, created by two students from CHARIHOTech.

Students from Warwick Area Career and Technical Center won first place in Culinary Arts. Left to right: Farouk Rajab, Sam Glynn, Greg Coccio, Eva Niosi, Richard Desmarais, Tyler Hartley, Anthony Morales, Liam McGloin, Rob Gemma, Ray McCue, and Joanna Arrighie.

Warwick Area Career and Technical Center won the Culinary Arts competition, including team members Anthony Morales, Richard Desmarais, Tyler Hartley, Liam McGloin, and instructor Eva Niosi. As part of their prize, their winning dish, an Asian-inspired Ground Chicken Wonton Cup (savory seasoned ground chicken in a crisp fried wonton shell, finished with crisp pickled vegetables) will be featured as an appetizer at the Boat House in Tiverton.

A close-up of the winning dishes prepared by Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, first-place winner in Culinary Arts and Foodservice Management.

First Place for Hospitality Management went to Chariho Career and Technical Center, including team members Rosie Sposato, Logan Berdos, Maddie Niewiecki, Lilyana Juneau and instructor Donald Fair.

First-place Hospitality & Tourism Management students from Chariho Career and Technical Center. Left to right: Ray McCue, Farouk Rajab, Rosie Sposato, Maddie Niewiecki, Lilyana Juneau, Logan Berdos, Sam Glynn, and Joanna Arrighie.

Sam Glynn, board chair of the Rhode Island Hospitality Education Foundation, and co-owner of Chomp Kitchen and Drinks, shared some words of advice with the students at the competition. “You guys are hopefully going to take these learning experiences with you for the rest of your lives. We do this selfishly because we want you to stay in the restaurant and hospitality industry, and show you what the industry can be,” he says. “I, along with my partners, own three restaurants, and I started at age twenty-five opening my first restaurant. The things you thought about today, those are the same things we do every day, banging our heads against the wall trying to figure out food and labor costs, all of those things translate. What we hope to do here today through workforce development, is show you guys that this is a great industry to be a part of.”