The Quest for the Excelencias Gourmet Gastronomic Waiter

The first theory exam to choose the 2014 Excelencias Gourmet Waiter was applied on Monday at the Hotel Management and Tourism Superior Studies School, in Havana’s Sevilla Hotel.

The contest – called by the Excelencias Group, Cuba’s Tourism Professional Training System (FORMATUR is the Spanish acronym) and Cuba’s Federation of Cuisine Associations, in collaboration with Cuba’s Bartenders Club – was organized in order to praise those who carry out such important activities related to gastronomic services, and foster the exchange measuring of knowledge, habits and skills among catering professionals, as well as to promote, by means of training to participate in this competitive event, individual studies and the consolidation of knowledge.

All Cuba-based workers related to the activity were called, from both state-run and private sectors where they directly work on gastronomic services.

The competitive activities were organized as described below:

I. The contestants passed a written theory exam, like a staged qualifying competition, which took place on July 14, 2014, 10:00 a.m., in the Green Hall, 3rd floor, Hotel Management and Tourism Superior Studies School, Prado No. 251, Trocadero, Old Havana.

II. Five competitors (5) were chosen out of this first activity and they will go to the second stage, which is basically practical. This competition is going to be held on July 17, 2014, 1:00 p.m., during the lunch service to be carried out at Meliá Cohiba Hotel’s Cetro Hall, Paseo Ave, 1ra., Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución municipality.

III. The three (3) final contestants are going to be handpicked as a result of the second stage, who will face a comprehensive test with a jury made up of officials, specialists and professors with vast experience in terms of the gastronomic activity, and the presence of the people that participate in the event’s activities, also slated on July 17, 2014, 4:00 p.m. This final test is going to included oral questions and practical responses in situational cases, by means of a card drawing.

Both written and oral theory questions, as well as manipulative skill checking, are linked to the knowledge, habit and skills that are to be mastered by a worker of food and drink services. The jury will take into account the mastery contestants have in terms of universal classic gastronomy, as well as state-of-the-art trends applied in Cuba.

Out of the three final competitors, the jury is going to hand the 2014 Grand Excelencias Gourmet Gastronomic Waiter Award and the recognition to the second and third positions.

The results of each qualifying activity are going to be properly informed to the contestants. The winners will be announced within the framework of the event’s closing ceremony. The results of the written theory tests, qualifying activities and final decisions of the jury are not open to appeal.