{"id":2039,"date":"2019-10-04T11:58:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T15:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2019-10-04T11:58:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T15:58:51","slug":"pollard-foundation-announces-winner-of-student-chef-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/04\/pollard-foundation-announces-winner-of-student-chef-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollard Foundation announces winner of student chef competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A chef representing a Rocky Mount catering company was awarded a full scholarship to the Al Pollard Culinary Arts Program at Virginia Western Community College on Sept. 28 after triumphing in the 2019 Al Pollard Memorial Gala&#8217;s culinary competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Lemons, of Center Stage Catering, will receive\nan $8,000 scholarship, which covers a two-year associate&#8217;s degree at the\nculinary school. The chef, who is in charge of smoking food at Center Stage,\nwas discovered by culinary arts instructors Ted Polfelt and John Schopp after\nhe posted pictures of his cooking online. He has been training as a secondary\nsous chef at the catering company ever since, and is particularly fond of\ncooking barbecue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CJ King, who serves as a board member for the Al\nPollard Memorial Foundation, said that the Al Pollard Zero Hunger \/ Zero Waste\nChef Competition is intended to help budding chefs like Lemon receive a\nculinary education while simultaneously continuing their work in fine dining\nand culinary institutions throughout Southwest Virginia. Competing chefs are\nsponsored by the restaurant or food company they are employed with, which\ninclude several notable local institutions, including Billy&#8217;s, Lucky Restaurant\nand 419 West.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The competition, which consists of a mystery basket-style\nchallenge overseen by experienced judges, benefits everyone who competes, King\nsaid. All participants are awarded with a $4,000 scholarship intended to cover\na career studies certificate, which can be completed in one year. The winners\nof those scholarships include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Devin Agosto of Frankie Rowland&#8217;s Steakhouse\u00a0<\/li><li>Ray Johnson of Billy&#8217;s<\/li><li>Josh McKnight of Remini&#8217;s\u00a0<\/li><li>Robert Thompson of Lucky Restaurant<\/li><li>Azariyah Yashrael of 419 West<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now in its 14th year, the Al Pollard Gala has always\nincluded a chef competition, with the aim of helping participants develop\nfurther culinary and kitchen management skills that will improve the fine\ndining scene in Roanoke and the surrounding areas. This year&#8217;s competition,\nhowever, incorporated a sustainability element. Kroger, a long-time sponsor of\nthe Al Pollard Memorial Gala, invited the competing chefs to buy ingredients\nfor the cooking challenge from its food waste program, which aims to eliminate all\nfood waste stemming from Kroger stores by 2025. The program, launched in 2018,\nhas already reduced the company&#8217;s food waste by 40 percent by either diverting\nedible produce to programs that can use it for food, or by sending it companies\nthat can either compost it, use it to create renewable energy, or recycle it as\na source of livestock feed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re trying to get all this food before it spoils\nto people who need it, and they&#8217;re going to great lengths to do it,&#8221; King said.\n&#8220;You wouldn&#8217;t believe the food waste that they have, but it&#8217;s still good food.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Al Pollard Memorial Gala, which took place at\nVirginia Western&#8217;s culinary facilities at the Claude Moore Educational Complex\nat the Roanoke Higher Education Center, is held in memory of Al Pollard, an\narea restaurateur who created lauded local institutions such as Corned Beef\n&amp; Co. Pollard was instrumental in revitalizing the downtown dining\nexperience in Roanoke, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the culinary\nschool, which was announced shortly before his death in 2006. The Al Pollard\nMemorial Foundation also hosts an annual golf tournament, which took place on\nSept. 20. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $500,000 to\nbenefit of Virginia Western&#8217;s culinary program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A chef representing a Rocky Mount catering company was awarded a full scholarship to the Al Pollard Culinary Arts Program at Virginia Western Community College on Sept. 28 after triumphing in the 2019 Al Pollard Memorial Gala&#8217;s culinary competition.\u00a0 Daniel Lemons, of Center Stage Catering, will receive an $8,000 scholarship, which covers a two-year associate&#8217;s&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/04\/pollard-foundation-announces-winner-of-student-chef-competition\/\">Continue Reading<span> Pollard Foundation announces winner of student chef competition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foundation"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jaime Shetrone","author_link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/author\/jshetrone\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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