Venice trip sees Hospitality student Hayden serve up a fourth-place finish in international competition

Hayden, 17, was even just two points adrift of first place after impressing a panel of judges at the eighth edition of the Unox CombiGuru Challenge.

He was tasked with creating a main course and a dessert dish in three hours, incorporating a trio of mystery box ingredients handed over to him just five seconds before the competition started – in Hayden’s case he was given broccoli, chilli and coffee.

Just to reach the final, he had emerged as one of 40 qualifiers from a field of more than 3,000 candidates across 200-plus colleges in the UK.

His performance in the world-famous Italian city also gave Hayden, who has an ADHD diagnosis, “validation” and the confidence that he can carve out a career in the industry and, maybe, one day land his dream job of touring the world with a band as a chef.

While the three-day trip was educational, he also got to learn more about Italian cuisine in the best way imaginable – by sampling it in some of Venice’s best restaurants, all laid on by the competition’s organisers!

Hayden, from the village of Carlton near Selby, has had a passion for cooking since a young age when he used to bake cakes at a homeless shelter with his mum and, on an unforgettable experience, he said: “I’d never been to Italy before, but I’d always wanted to and, coming to College, I wanted to take as many opportunities as possible. 

“I really want to travel and cook around the world and have people try my food, but it was also really nice to see other people’s techniques and the way they present their dishes because everyone has got their own style. 

“As well as the cooking, I enjoyed making a good group of new friends there, too, and experiencing the culture of Venice - seeing all the buildings and how people live there. It was a really fun trip and I’ll always remember it.”

Hayden, who is close to completing his one-year Level 2 Hospitality Multiskill (Chef, Patisserie & Front of House) course, was accompanied on the trip by College’s Hospitality tutor Peter Harrison with both soaking up Venetian culture and sights with fellow students and teachers, including visits to St Mark’s Square and numerous food markets.

The competition was designed to enrich participants’ cooking skills and knowledge with all finalists having qualified after first answering a series of culinary questions on an app, which were issued over a 21-day period and tested areas such as cooking techniques, seasoning practices and flavour combinations.

On how he approached the final, meanwhile, Hayden said: “We had to make the three mystery ingredients the main elements of our dishes, so it involved a lot of working around what balanced with the chilli and broccoli because they are very different ingredients. I did a bread-crusted chilli and mustard because they go together with the lamb I cooked, along with thyme and other seasonings and, to complement that, I evened it out with a cream cheese broccoli.

“Another main element to the competition was not to waste any food, so I used the excess cream cheese to add to my dessert as a whipped cream with the coffee. It was a three-tiered cake and there was a lot of stress as I made the main and dessert at the same time, but all the timings ended up being perfect and everything was properly cooked.

“I was really happy to finish fourth and I was closer to being in first place than I was to fifth place. I was two points off first place and 0.6 off finishing third and winning a £300 knife, so it was a bit gutting, but I was still pleased with how I performed and there wasn’t really an atmosphere of everyone competing against each other.

“Everybody wanted to check that each other was OK and, if I had an extra five minutes, I’d help somebody else and it was really nice to see everybody work on their own projects but also as a team.”

The winner was rewarded with a state-of-the-art Unox Oven for their college, as well as £1,000 worth of Italian cookery classes, a specialist Italian knife set and 1kg of sustainable cooking flour.

For Hayden, though, his own performance gave him affirmation that he can impress amongst a field of some of the UK’s most talented young chefs. 

“I learned what I need to do to improve and, whereas before I’d have thought taking part in a competition just wasn’t me, it’s now given me the confidence to think, ‘Do you know what, let’s go and do it’,” he declared. “This trip has proven that I can do it and given me a bit of validation.”

He also gained a valuable insight, given his desire to work abroad one day, into how an Italian kitchen and its common ingredients can differ from what he is accustomed to in this country. 

“I thought it was really interesting that they don’t have double cream in Italy,” he explained. “They only have one type of cream and they have different techniques in the way that they use their ingredients.

“It was also fun to use some of their utensils, because they have some really impressive knife kits and their chopping boards are huge. I’d never used those types of ovens either. 

“They cost up to £6,000 and we got one each, so I couldn’t put the lamb in when the cake was in there, because they need to cook at different temperatures. They were really complex ovens as well.”

In addition to preparing high-quality food, Hayden enjoyed tantalising his own tastebuds, too.  

“The pizza was great and I had five tiramisus in three days, which was so nice,” he enthused. “I’d never had tiramisu before, but I will try to make it now. I also had three ice creams in a day!”

Hayden went on to explain that he was well-prepared for his first experience of international competition due to the support of his York College tutors and the services he had been part of in our training restaurant The Cookery.

His tutor Peter also helped Hayden with practice sessions in the build-up to the tournament.

“I was able to use a lot of skills that we have covered at College in the competition, as well as the confidence Peter (Harrison) has given me and I’m really grateful for that,” Hayden pointed out. “I feel York College are really dedicated to their students. 

“It felt really professional when I first came here and I knew it was somewhere that could help me get a career. During the first talks you have with the teachers, you get to meet all of them and they were happy to give us all personal tours of the kitchens. 

“I was actually quite shocked that the college had its own restaurant with a bar and how many staff members there were. One of my teachers Adam likes to say that something doesn’t have to be cooked the same way each time. 

“We’ve learned that there’s not one answer to everything and that’s quite a special thing to have learned from him. He’s also happy for us to experiment with different foods and I’ve enjoyed not just being in the kitchen but also being able to serve customers and see the smile that we give them. It’s great to get that reassurance and feedback from actual customers that the food tastes good.”

Hayden added that the knowledge and industry experience of his teachers will prove beneficial to his future career, with plans to start an apprenticeship next year and an eventual ambition to run his own business. 

His role models on Campus include Front-of-House tutor Suzanne Barwick, who has supported an endless number of apprentices during more than 24 years on our teaching staff, and Hospitality Coach Matthew Bird, whose Willowgate Bistro in Pickering was crowned North Yorkshire Restaurant of the Year at the 2024 Englands Business Awards.

On his aspirations and the encouragement he is receiving at College, Hayden said: “I’d like to tour as a chef with a band but, at the moment, I’m looking at an apprenticeship with The Grand for next year whilst I do my Level 3 here. I can get paid as well then, which would be cool. 

“My teachers are really helping with my cover letters. They share their own experiences.

“They’re not here to just slap instructions in front of you. They actually care and Suzanne has been really good at explaining how apprenticeships work.

“I’d also like to start my own business one day – I think that would be fun, especially when I’ve learned to drive, because I’d like to have a food truck! Matthew also owns a restaurant so it’s great to learn from somebody with that outside experience.”

Hayden already combines his studies with shifts as a chef at the Sloop Inn in Temple Hirst, where he is given the responsibility of designing menus.

He feels, too, that York College is an environment where he receives the right level of support for and understanding of his ADHD condition, which can lead to diagnosed individuals preferring to work in small groups and workplaces.

“There are a lot more customers during our services with College than where I work, which is a small pub with dogs and stuff,” he pointed out. “But, at College, I feel I’ve been able to grow because it’s such a big kitchen and the classrooms are good sizes, which is really good for my ADHD.

“The support I’ve been shown for that has been really good. The teachers all know and help with working around it.

“If I need to, they let me step out to have a glass of water, but I actually quite enjoy it when things get stressful and you’re cooking, because it makes you feel like you’re doing something and you get a rush.”

He still gets a thrill, too, from pursuing a career doing something that he has loved from an early age.

“When I was little, my mum always took me to homeless shelters and I’d cook for them,” he said. “I did Macmillan Coffee Mornings a few times, too.

“I used to do a lot of desserts, mainly because I was young and I loved baking. My mum pushed me to do the college course and has supported me with what I want to do.

“My GCSE food teacher was also a really, really nice person. She taught my favourite subject in a fun way and gave me the Best Chef award at school.”

To learn more about our Level 2 Hospitality Multiskill (Chef, Patisserie & Front of House), click here

For more details about York College's Level 3 Chef de Partie apprenticeship, visit here

Information about all our courses will be available at our next Open Event on Thursday 19th June (5.30pm-7.30pm). It will also be an opportunity to meet our expert team of tutors. Register a place here