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The final, which took place at The Cook School Scotland on 26th March, involved six chefs competing for the overall title. Each cook submitted a three-course meal that highlighted their culinary skills.

The competition challenges people who work within the Local Authority and school meals sector to devise new and exciting recipes that can be produced for large-scale catering whilst giving participants the opportunity to showcase their finesse and presentation skills to competition standard. The best three courses were:

• Best Starter – Christopher Herd, Tayside Contracts – Arbroath smokie and leek tartlet with poached egg and butter sauce
• Best Main Course – Maria Millar, East Lothian Council – Chicken roulade with seasonal vegetables
• Best Dessert – Michelle Muir, Stirling Council – Summer fruit pavlova with summer fruits and raspberry coulis

The overall competition winner will be announced at the Awards dinner, taking place as part of this year’s ASSIST FM Conference on the 14th May 2026. The three dishes will form the menu for the awards night so that all guests can enjoy the food from the competition and taste their outstanding quality.

The judges based their difficult decisions on the taste, appearance, reflection to guidelines and textures of the three course meal. They said the competition was stiff and they spent a significant time debating before coming to the winning dishes.

The judges included chair of judges was Donald McInnes, catering team leader at Inverclyde Council and ASSIST FM committee member; supported by Ryan Murphy, exec chef at Trump Turnberry; Stephen Murphy, national account manager from competition sponsors Brakes Scotland and Iain Ramsey, exec chef at Golden Jubilee Conference Centre.