With the "Chef Champion", the SV Group honors the most talented chefs from its 300 or so restaurants, canteens and hotel kitchens throughout Switzerland. This year's cooking competition was all about sustainable and healthy eating: the organizers were looking for an interpretation of the "Future Lunch". Edwin Paul Dhanapal Chelliah, head chef at the Ecole Internationale de Genève, won over the jury with his innovative three-course menu and brought the coveted trophy home to French-speaking Switzerland.
With around 300 staff restaurants and canteens in Switzerland, the SV Group reaches over 70,000 children, students and employees every day. SV's chefs therefore play an important role in promoting sustainable and healthy nutrition.
In search of the greatest talents in SV's kitchens
In order to fulfill this responsibility, SV's Culinary Team invests a great deal in the innovation of the menus and in the further training of the cooking staff. The in-house cooking competition "Chef Champion" proves that there are numerous talented chefs among them.
"At the beginning of the year, we called on our chefs in the plants to submit a culinary dossier. They were asked to show us their interpretation of a future lunch," says Claudio Schmitz, Director Culinary Excellence at the SV Group. Complete recipes including ingredients and quantities for a vegetarian main course and a dessert should be part of the submitted dossier. The focus was on fresh, plant-based ingredients, creative preparation methods and modern flavor combinations. The Culinary Team selected six finalists from the submissions, who were invited to the final cook-off.
Working methods, creativity and taste make the difference
The final cook-off took place on June 6 at the BBB vocational college in Baden. The finalists had 2.5 hours to cook and prepare their submitted menu on site. As an additional task, the participants were presented with a basket of plant-based ingredients on site, from which they had to spontaneously create a starter or salad to match the theme.
In addition to a kitchen jury, which graded the practical work, a four-person tasting jury assessed each menu in terms of taste, creativity and visual impression. The tasting jury consisted of Fabian Fuchs, head chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant Neue Taverne in Zurich, Patrick Camele, CEO SV Group, Dörte Bachmann, Head of Sustainability SV Group and Christina Frei, member of the BBB school management. The award ceremony took place the following day as part of the annual conference for SV chefs - the "Culinary Day" - at the KKThun.
The Chef Champion 2024 trophy goes to French-speaking Switzerland
The title of Chef Champion 2024 goes to Edwin Paul Dhanapal Chelliah. For his three-course menu, the 40-year-old chef from the Ecole Internationale de Genève drew inspiration from Moroccan and Indian cuisine and impressed the jury. His creation consisted of a kefta d`orge perlé as the main course and a moelleux de carotte aux épices for dessert.
Second place was awarded to Marco Bannwart. The 29-year-old chef at Endress & Hauser in Basel scored points with the jury with his creation "Tofu in quinoa crispy crust with miso chili mayo, fennel and avocado parsnip puree".
Third place went to Marcelo Dreyer. The 41-year-old chef at Axa in Winterthur impressed with his main course of pickled kohlrabi and protaneo beetroot dumplings, marinated peas, puffed quinoa with shiso mayo, Granny Smith consommè, borage flowers and capuchin cress. For dessert, he served a vegan lemon tart with aquafaba meringues.
The three other finalists were Raphael Blum, Head Chef at Julius Baer in Zurich, Romain Gaillard, Sous Chef at the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva and Dino Torriani, chef at Endress & Hauser.
Edwin Paul Dhanapal Chelliah, head chef at the Ecole Internationale de Genève
Kefta made from protaneo (vegetable protein from beans and peas).
Biriyani made from pearl barley
Roasted fennel with sesame and cumin
Romaine lettuce fritters
And mint and coriander chutney
For dessert we had moelleux de carotte aux épices.
Marco Bannwart, head chef at Endress & Hauser in Basel
Tofu in a quinoa crispy crust with miso chili mayo, fennel and avocado and parsnip puree
Marcelo Dreyer, head chef at Axa in Winterthur
Kohlrabi protaneo beetroot dumplings, marinated peas, puffed quinoa with shiso mayo, granny smith consommè, borage flowers and capuchin cress. For dessert, we had lemon tart with aquafaba meringues
Raphael Blum, Head Chef at Julius Baer in Zurich
"Tofu dance of flavors" and for dessert a lemon mousse with saffron-coconut panna cotta, cashew crumble and raspberry
Romain Gaillard, Sous Chef at the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva
"Pommeaults" with stored fruit in a kohlrabi wreath, pearl barley with potherbes, parsnip espuma and a raisinée sauce. For dessert, cream puffs with honey and absinthe parfait and red fruit compote with hypocras
Dino Torriani, chef at Endress & Hauser
Crispy tofu with buckwheat, cherry tomatoes and fennel. Strawberry tartelette for dessert