Connecticut Students Win National Restaurant Management Title While Cooking on a Tight Budget

As football and soccer seasons get underway for millions of high schoolers, a group of Connecticut students has been training in a different arena: the kitchen. Each year, young cooks from across the country take part in a national culinary competition, and this year a team from New Haven came away with a title.

The students attend Wilbur Cross High School, the largest public high school in New Haven, a small Connecticut city that struggles to fund its schools. Their teacher and coach, chef Nate Bradshaw, said the program cannot always raise enough money to buy supplies. Bradshaw said his teams have won nearly every state championship since he began competing 10 years ago, yet he still sees them as underdogs nationally. Some rival schools, he said, have larger budgets, and some are technical schools focused on the trade.

Ahead of the national event, the culinary squad rehearsed in the classroom. In the competition, a five-person team has one hour to produce a three-course meal. During one practice, students spooned butter over sizzling scallops and finished a dessert while Bradshaw coached from the sidelines. They ran past the time limit, but he was pleased with the results. "We take practice like it's the last time you're going to be able to cook," he said.

The contest has a second component: a business pitch for a new restaurant. Adam Sharqawe, one of the students on that side, compared it to "Shark Tank," except that the judges give scores rather than offers. His team developed a West Asian restaurant concept, influenced by his Palestinian heritage. He said it was about giving attention to a part of the world that rarely gets it on the national stage in the United States, and to the region his family comes from.

Three weeks later, the team traveled to Washington, D.C., for the national competition. In a banquet hall with hundreds of spectators, the cooks prepared beef tenderloin, seared scallops and an extra-fluffy chocolate sponge cake. This time they finished with seconds to spare. Team manager Antonio Mandania said the only critical feedback concerned the beef. Some judges loved it, he said, while others found it too rare, which he described as a matter of preference.

The restaurant management students then delivered a rapid-fire presentation for their concept, Nafas Kitchen, which they described as a cost-casual West Asian restaurant. Teammate Charlotte Butterbaugh said the judges told them they were strong, but advised them to slow down while speaking. She acknowledged that the three presenters talk quickly.

At the evening awards ceremony, the culinary team did not place. But when organizers announced the winner of the 2023 National ProStart Invitational management competition, the name called was Connecticut. The team jumped up to celebrate and hug, and Sharqawe said he was in disbelief. He said he was proud of himself and his team, and glad to represent his culture and family.

Sharqawe will return to the team as a senior this year. Over the summer break he began brainstorming new restaurant concepts and recipes with teammates, though he cannot yet share the details. The ideas, according to the report, are top secret until the next competition.