Flavor and The Menu “Culinary Student Innovation Challenge” Scholarship

Name: Flavor & The Menu Culinary Student Innovation Challenge Scholarship

Award Amount: $2,500 grand prize for winning student team; additional finalist awards may range from $500–$1,000

Information and Eligibility:
The Flavor & The Menu Culinary Student Innovation Challenge (CSI Challenge) is a national competition and scholarship program that invites culinary-arts students to design and execute innovative new flavor/application concepts aligned with food-service market trends. Hosted by the trade journal Flavor & The Menu, the program encourages creativity, commercial relevance and strategic concept development. Participants collaborate in teams, develop a culinary innovation around a featured ingredient or theme, prepare a prototype dish and submit supporting documentation. The winning team receives the scholarship prize and national recognition.
Eligibility criteria include:

• Academic Level: Open to full-time culinary-arts or hospitality-students enrolled in an accredited post-secondary program in the United States.
• Team Format: Students must enter as teams (typically 2–4 members) under the supervision of a faculty mentor at their institution.
• Submission Focus: The innovation must use the journal’s selected featured ingredient/theme and demonstrate applicability to food-service operations, product development, menu innovation, sustainability or nutrition trends.

Application Requirements:

• Completed student-team application form and entry agreement.
• Detailed concept proposal including description, target market, competitive advantage, portion costing, production method and sustainability/innovation angle.
• Photographs or digital documentation of prototype dish; some institutions may require on-site tasting or judging.
• Résumé/CV for each team member, faculty-mentor endorsement and institutional verification of enrollment.

Selection Criteria:

• Originality, practicality and scalability of the culinary concept for food-service operations.
• Quality of menu strategy, flavor development, nutritional or sustainable advantage and overall market relevance.
• Presentation and documentation clarity; feasibility of production, cost structure and operational fit.
• Team performance, mentor engagement and institutional support.

Additional Details:

• The grand-prize winner’s school often receives recognition as well as the $2,500 scholarship award. Additional finalist awards may be given to runner-up teams.
• The challenge aligns with industry partners who provide featured ingredient(s), judging panels of industry professionals and media coverage through Flavor & The Menu.

Deadline:

• January

Apply Now

View Scholarship Data

Scholarship Categorization