Oregon Coast Culinary Institute’s Executive Director/Chef Randy Torres led the OCCI Student Team through a winning year. The team claimed the 2019 American Culinary Federation’s national title after a grueling competition with the nation’s top five other student teams.
The team traveled in August to the ACF National Convention in Orlando, Florida, to compete as the reigning Western Regional Champs. Following days of intense competition, the team earned the top honor of ACF National Student Team of the Year. Not only that, former OCCI student, Reilly Meehan, won as USA Chef of the Year!
OCCI’s Student Team competed in a six-team final event. All teams had one and a half hours to prepare a four-course signature menu. They created every element from scratch. No items on the menu could be prepared ahead of time. The team produced four portions of each menu item for the judge’s scrutiny.
In the end, nine months of hard work and professional training paid off.
“I am so proud of our team. Once again they showed the rest of the culinary community that Oregon Coast Culinary Institute is a top ranked culinary school,” Chef Randy Torres, CEC, OCCI Executive Director
This isn’t the first championship for an OCCI Student Team. In 2016, students from our school also claimed ACF National Student Team of the Year.
Team Members
Coaches: Chef Randy Torres, CEC, OCCI Executive Director; Chef Laura Williams, CEC, Chef Instructor
Students: Captain, Brock Mahi; Manager, Vicki White, Bradliegh Best, Marissa Brazell, Grace McKie, Andy Wright, Evan White, Jerry Martinez and Hunter Robbins-Bilow.
