Capital City College students win gold at International Salon Culinaire 2025

Culinary students from Capital City College’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Westminster have won over 160 medals and certificates at this year’s International Salon Culinaire competitions.

The hospitality and culinary school, known for educating top talent in the industry, made its mark at the International Salon Culinaire competition, which is the UK’S largest and most prestigious programme of culinary and hospitality competitions.

Held over three days at ExCeL London, as part of Food, Drink and Hospitality Week, the International Salon Culinaire competition challenged current and up-and-coming chefs and front of house students to showcase their skills in four distinct areas: Salon Display, Live Theatre, Skills Theatre, and Sugarcraft. Within these, the students took part in specific challenges like the Duck Culinary Showdown, Junior Petit Fours, Seabass and Trout Preparation, and more.

With over 1000 participants and 100 judges coming from some of the UK’s most respected chefs’ associations, hotels, restaurants and military organisations, this was three days of intense competition. The school’s students won:

• The John Retalick Cup for Highest Achieving College
• 30 Gold Medals, including two Best in Class
• 71 Silver Medals, including one Best in Class
• 43 Bronze Medals
• 16 Certificate of Merit
• one Hygiene Award

Miranda Quantrill, Curriculum Manager of Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Capital City College, said: “We were delighted to put forward our students for the Salon each year, showing their hard work, dedication and skills.  As mentors, we are extremely proud to be part of their journey giving them every opportunity to excel and showcase talent.

“It was a great experience for our first year Professional Chef students to work alongside our second and third year full time and apprentice students, and to see the logistics teams and mentors come together to support our competitors during these challenging few days. We were touched at being able to retain the John Retalick Cup for a second year in a row, and are grateful to Rational & Russum for their sponsorship.”

Sharon Barry​​​​, Group Head of School for Apprenticeship and Culinary Arts at Capital City College, added: “We are immensely proud of all our learners for their dedication and focus to achieve amazing results at the competition. For many, it was a first insight into our industry in this context and to have the opportunity to participate in competitions with learners from other colleges as well as industry professionals.

“The buzz in college afterwards was a delight to see and the learners’ appreciation to the lecturers and employers who supported them in the run up was heartwarming.  we are all excited for the future and to watch their talent grow and progress.”

Want to follow in our winners’ footsteps? Learn more about our culinary and hospitality courses on offer.

Share!