2008 College Restaurant of the Year

College Restaurant of the Year (or CROTY as it has come to be known) is an annual nationwide competition, run by Restaurant magazine, to find and reward the potential stars of the future in the restaurant industry. The goal is to encourage students and bring recognition to teaching establishments, with all finalists receiving coverage in the magazine during the contest.

This year Croty also incorporates the EuroSkills Cook & Serve competition. CROTY is open to any college or university that awards nationally recognised qualifications within the catering and hospitality industry, and that has an in-house restaurant staffed by its current students, which is open to the public.

UKShallot.com is an ingredients sponsor of this competition. As part of the challenge, teams were given a basket of ingredients which featured shallots, from which they had to create a meal.

The winner was announced at an awards party on 10 March 2008 for all the regional winners. 

The overall winner of the College Restaurant of the Year Awards was Colchester Institute.

The regional finalists were as follows:

North:
Manchester College of Art and Technology (Openshaw).

Scotland and Northern Ireland:
Perth

East:
Colchester Institute

Wales, The Midlands and The West:
New College Nottingham

London and The South:
South Downs College

All the finalists had to create a dish from a basket of ingredients which included shallots supplied by UKShallot.com growers.