The South Carolina ProStart Invitational is the state’s premier competition for high school culinary arts and hospitality students. See the success of our past competitions and learn more about participating next year. You can make a difference by becoming a ProStart educator who provides students with the education they need to enter into a viable career.
The South Carolina ProStart Invitational is an annual competition hosted by South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Education Foundation (SCRLEF). The competition includes Restaurant Management and Culinary divisions. The Culinary Competition requires students to demonstrate knife skills incorporated into cooking a three-course meal in 60 minutes with only two butane burners, two eight-foot tables and no electricity or running water. In the Management Competition, students develop a brand new restaurant concept to pitch to a panel of industry and post-secondary judges, complete with critical thinking and verbal presentation rounds.
The top five teams from the culinary and management competitions are awarded generous educational scholarships to help further their careers in the restaurant and foodservice industry. In 2020, more than $1.4 million in scholarships was awarded to students by the NRAEF and leading academic institutions.
Invitational sponsorships go towards supporting our teams at the National ProStart Invitational and the SCRLEF Scholarship Program.
SCRLEF is a 501(c)3, all donations are tax-deductible as allowable by law. For more information on sponsorship, please email the SCRLA office at info@scrla.org.
Location:
2100 Bush River Rd, Columbia, SC 29210
Competition Schedules
Culinary Team Timeline
Management Team Timeline
Recipe, Costing, Menu, and Inventory templates (Word docx)
Hotel information:
DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center, 2100 Bush River Road, Columbia, SC 29210
Single/Double/Triple/Quad: $124 per night plus tax and fees if booked before midnight on February 3, 2022.
Teams are required to stay at the host hotel.
Reserve your overnight accommodations online here.
Guests may also book their reservations via phone by calling 1-800-218-8712.
Complimentary breakfast and parking are included in the hotel room rate.
Student Waiver Form - due February 25, 2022.
Culinary:
1st place – Anderson Career and Technology Center
2nd place – Blythewood High School
3rd place – Golden Strip Career Center
4th place – Daniel Morgan Technology Center
5th place – Academy for Careers & Technology Marion Cty
Restaurant Management:
1st place – The Center for Advanced Technical Studies
2nd place – Golden Strip Career Center
3rd place – Blythewood High School
4th place – Wando High School
5th place – Enoree Career Center
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