PepsiCo Launches "Game Day Grub Match" To Find The Next Great Super Bowl Dish

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Jan 08, 2015, 09:30 ET

PURCHASE, N.Y., Jan. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The road to the Super Bowl includes a new stop this year: the kitchens of the world's most distinguished culinary college.

PepsiCo today announced "Game Day Grub Match," a culinary competition in which student chefs from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) will compete to create the ultimate Super Bowl party dish.

PepsiCo logo

The competition kicks off this weekend at the CIA's campus in Hyde Park, NY, where four teams of student chefs will be tasked with preparing their own unique recipes. There is only one catch: each team must incorporate PepsiCo food and beverage products as ingredients.

An all-star cast will be on hand to evaluate the students' dishes, including Food Network star Anne Burrell and acclaimed chef and restaurateur David Burke – both of whom are CIA alumni – and New York Jets Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold. Two finalist teams will be chosen to travel to Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XLIX, later this month to have their culinary creations sampled at various Super Bowl events.

The winning team will be crowned on Saturday, January 31 during Taste of the NFL's annual Party with a Purpose, an event that rallies top chefs and NFL players to raise money in support of food banks throughout the United States. The winners will earn tickets to Super Bowl XLIX and receive a $5,000 scholarship. The PepsiCo Foundation will also make a $50,000 donation to Taste of the NFL to support food banks across the country.

"No Super Bowl party is complete without PepsiCo snacks and beverages, and no institution embodies culinary excellence more than The Culinary Institute of America," said PepsiCo Corporate Executive Research Chef Stephen Kalil. "PepsiCo products have been a Super Bowl Sunday centerpiece in family rooms across the country for decades. Putting our products in the hands of the next generation of great chefs to create one-of-a-kind game day dishes promises to make Super Bowl history by changing the face of football party food forever."

The four teams competing this weekend were chosen following a campus-wide search last month in which PepsiCo and the CIA asked students to submit videos stating why they are worthy of Super Bowl greatness. The top four student video submissions earned a spot in "Game Day Grub Match."

"The CIA has a long-standing relationship with PepsiCo and we are excited to give our students the opportunity to participate in this unique program," said Dr. Victor Gielisse, Vice President —Advancement and Business Development for the college. "CIA students are naturally innovative, and this competition will really spark their culinary creativity and competitive spirit. Beyond giving our students the opportunity to cook at one of the year's biggest events, we also thank PepsiCo for helping to fund scholarships that will advance our students' culinary education."

The Competition
The four student teams competing in "Game Day Grub Match" will receive a pantry of PepsiCo products containing an assortment of the company's food and beverage brands. Each two-member team must incorporate at least three PepsiCo products into its recipe and will spend a day working in the CIA Test Kitchen creating the ultimate Super Bowl dish. Each team will present its dish to a judging panel during a campus-wide tailgate event. The judging panel will evaluate each dish and choose two finalist teams to advance to Arizona in late January.

The Student Teams

Matthew F. Johnson from Duluth, MN and Cullen Folks from Atlanta, GA
Mason Aronson from Sedona, AZ and Adam Shoemaker from Valparaiso, IN
Ryan Hartwell from Yorktown, VA and Mathew Kilgus from Watsontown, PA
Marie Taccino from Dallas, TX and Olivia DeSalvo from Broomall, PA

The Experts
"Game Day Grub Match" will bring together some of the most respected names in food and football:

With her trademark spiky blond hair and pumped-up personality, Anne Burrell has been sharing her passion for food and cooking with America and isn't slowing down. Not only has she worked at some of the top restaurants in New York and studied the culinary traditions of Italy, she is the host of Food Network's hit show, Worst Cooks in America. Burrell has battled alongside Mario Batali as his sous chef on Iron Chef America and is a New York Times best-selling author with her cookbook "Cook Like a Rock Star." Her second cookbook, "Own Your Kitchen: Recipes to Inspire & Empower" was released in October 2013.
Nick Mangold is a professional football player who plays center for the New York Jets. A food aficionado off the field, Mangold was a first round pick out of the Ohio State University in the 2006 NFL Draft and is a six-time Pro Bowl selection.
James Beard Award winner and Bravo Top Chef Masters Contestant Chef David Burke is universally known as a pioneer in the culinary world. His decades-long reputation for sourcing and utilizing the best ingredients and preparing completely unique dishes has securely placed him in the forefront of American dining. The originality of his presentations and the whimsy that he adds to such expertly prepared fare has often earned him the label of the "Willy Wonka of Chefs." Chef Burke's career spans more than three decades and began at The Culinary Institute of America. At the young age of 26, David became the first American to ever win the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Diplome d'Honneur due to his mastery of French technique, incredible skills and flair for creativity. With a slew of critically acclaimed restaurants under his belt, Chef David Burke's newest venture, Grillhouse by David Burke, delivers his signature and award-winning culinary offerings to Schaumburg, Illinois.
Waldy Malouf is the senior director of food and beverage operations at The Culinary Institute of America. He manages the CIA Restaurant Group, overseeing the enhancement of the customer experience while ensuring student learning remains unparalleled at the college's on-campus restaurants. Chef Malouf is a 1975 CIA graduate and former chairman of its Alumni Council. A highly accomplished chef, restaurateur, and author, he has been named a "Great Chef of New York" numerous times by the James Beard Foundation.
Stephen Kalil is PepsiCo's Corporate Executive Research Chef, responsible for leading and inspiring new product development through the application of culinary arts. He is both a Certified Executive Chef with the American Culinary Federation and a Certified Research Chef with the Research Chefs Association. He is also a member of the CIA's Society of Fellows.

Follow the competition online by subscribing to PepsiCo's Twitter channel @PepsiCo and by keeping an eye on #GameDayGrubMatch.

The Super Bowl represents the culmination of a season-long activation for PepsiCo and its brands, which include Pepsi, the sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show; Doritos, which is back this year with its hugely successful "Crash the Super Bowl" contest; Gatorade, which fuels athletes on the field and is a staple of Super Bowl sidelines and locker rooms; Tostitos, which will transform two city blocks in Phoenix into the official party destination of Super Bowl Central; and Quaker, a supporter of Fuel Up to Play 60, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the National Football League and the National Dairy Council.

About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $66 billion in net revenue in 2013, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth in shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

About The Culinary Institute of America
Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is an independent, not-for-profit college offering associate and bachelor's degrees with majors in culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, culinary science, and applied food studies, as well as certificate programs in culinary arts and wine and beverage studies. As the world's premier culinary college, the CIA provides thought leadership in the areas of health & wellness, sustainability, and world cuisines & cultures through research and conferences. The CIA has a network of 47,000 alumni that includes industry leaders such as Grant Achatz, Anthony Bourdain, David Burke, Anne Burrell, Roy Choi, Cat Cora, Steve Ells, Johnny Iuzzini, Charlie Palmer, and Roy Yamaguchi. The CIA also offers courses for professionals and enthusiasts, as well as consulting services in support of innovation for the foodservice and hospitality industry. The college has campuses in Hyde Park, NY; St. Helena, CA; San Antonio, TX; and Singapore. For more information, visit www.ciachef.edu.