3rd Annual Culinary Clash: Battle Anaheim

Several Southern California restaurants have signed on to participate in the3rd annual Culinary Clash: Battle Anaheim, presented by Coca Cola, at the 2014 Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo. The annual fundraising event benefits the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (CRAEF), and features restaurant company teams that will battle in this interactive cooking competition, slated to commence at 3 p.m. Sunday, August 17th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.

The Culinary Clash includes restaurant company corporate chefs and executives who team up with a ProStart student to prepare an amuse bouche and an entree in 45 minutes using only two butane burners.

The 2014 Culinary Clash teams include:

• BJ’s Restaurants
• Daily Grill
• Ruth’s Chris Steak House
• Black Bear Diner
• Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar
• Hard Rock Cafe
• Specialty Restaurants
• Real Mex- Who Song & Larry’s
• ESPN Zone

Sponsors include Title Sponsor Coca Cola; Ingredient Sponsor ProACT; Gold Sponsors Heartland Payment Systems and UnitedHealthCare; Silver Sponsors Ecolab and Sysco; Equipment Sponsor Blendtec; Goodie Bag Sponsor Monin; Bronze Sponsors Cargill, Mercer and Dart; and In-Kind Sponsors Coca-Cola, Karl Strauss, Sweet Tomatoes Souplantation, Red Lobster, Chef Works, Panda Express, and Rodney Strong Wine Estates.

In addition to the cooking competition, the event includes an online fundraising campaign at www.calrest.org/clashvote, where restaurant fans can make a small donation in the name of their favorite participating restaurant. The company that attracts the most donations will take home the top Purse award at the event. Fans can also go to the CRAEF Facebook page to support their favorite Culinary Clash challenger and donate to CRAEF. Small donations can make a big difference for the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s efforts in providing high-quality education, mentoring, scholarships, life skills training and support to more than 5,800 dedicated students across California enrolled in ProStart programs.

The 2014 Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo is the largest showcase of foodservice products in the Western United States. Other special events at the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo include the Food Trends Experience, The Ferdinand Metz Foodservice Forum, Expo Comida Latina, the CA Craft Brewers Association Pavilion, the Roam Food Truck Academy, and the Multi Unit Operators Alliance.