Wilmington, NC-based Liberty Senior Living is known for its Liberty Games, a competition among its community residents, but the organization recently hosted another competition for its culinary staff. The inaugural Liberty Top Chef Competition took place in December at The Barclay at SouthPark in Charlotte, NC, and drew in chefs, residents and travelers alike.
“We wanted to gear this more toward staff having that [Liberty Games-type] competition and that sense of they’re representing their community and the residents behind them,” Haley Norris, Liberty’s INSPIRE wellness and enrichment coordinator, told McKnight’s Senior Living. “I know that we had a resident from Florida actually fly up to Charlotte to support her chef.”
After a series of regional rounds, chefs and culinary staff members from 10 different Liberty communities were invited to compete, with five teams making it into the final round to compete for a grand prize of $5,000. Entries were judged on creativity, presentation and flavor by a panel that included Liberty leaders, a representative from the resident dining committee, and guest chef Jerry Lanuzza, an associate professor at Johnson & Wales University. The final rounds featured appetizers, followed by dessert made by the remaining three finalists.
According to Liberty Senior Living Corporate Culinary Service Specialist Bobby Senter, the entries were not only easy on the stomach but easy on the eyes as well…