Garner Foods continued its long heritage of supporting causes to battle hunger by donating a total of $20,000 to two important charities. The donations came during the company’s annual charity benefit known as the Texas Pete Kitchen Hero Cook-Off.
A total of $20,000 in donations were made to charities by Garner Foods in the name of the winning chef in the 2018 Texas Pete Kitchen Hero Cook-Off. Pictured (L-R) Dan Plunkett, Garner Foods’ Director of Foodservice Sales, Chef Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, 2018 Grand Champion, Executive Chef Chris Bushelman of Kroger’s Kitchen 1883, Chef Todd Huppert, Manager of Product Innovation, Captain D’s, Saa Jamshidi, Associate Director of the No Kid Hungry Campaign, Chef Justin Morrow, Culinary Innovation Manager, Sonic Drive-In and David Stadtmiller, Sr. Director of Culinary Innovation, Chili’s.
“Our company has always had a passion for helping the hungry,” says Ann Garner Riddle, Garner Foods’ Chief Executive Officer. “This year we were so impressed with the work of world-famous chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen that we added a $10,000 donation for his work across the world to feed those impacted by natural disasters.”
Andres is a world-renowned chef with restaurant concepts across the U.S. He created an organization, World Central Kitchen, to accelerate emergency food production in areas hit by floods, fires, hurricanes and other natural disasters. Most recently, Andres’ team is providing much-needed support for those struck by Hurricane Michael in the Florida panhandle. His efforts have also included mobilizing kitchens to feed those affected by California fires, those displaced by flooding from Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, and Hurricane Maria victims in Puerto Rico.
This year’s Texas Pete Kitchen Hero Cook-Off marked its sixth year with $10,000 going to the restaurant industry’s key charity, No Kid Hungry. “This charity provides food for hungry children in the U.S.,“ says Garner Foods’ Chief Marketing Officer Glenn Garner. “Our donations over the past six years have been enough to provide 600,000 meals to children across the country.”
The cook-off is one of the most unique within the restaurant industry. Held during the Multi-Unit Food Service Operators show in Dallas, four national restaurant chain chefs are judged by four of their peers. Each participating chef draws a number and must prepare a dish from the contents of a set of ingredients, such as a meat, a vegetable, and a Texas Pete sauce.
This year’s contestants were chefs David Stadtmiller of Chili’s, Chris Bushelman of Kitchen 1883/Kroger, Todd Huppert of Captain D’s, and Justin Murrow of Sonic. Earning the title of Texas Pete Kitchen Hero Cook-Off Grand Champion for 2018 was Chris Bushelman. Garner Foods made donations to the charities in the name of Bushelman and Kroger.
