5 Reasons I Use Guest Judges for Each Cooking Lab
Let’s talk about 5 reasons I use guest judges for each cooking lab. Not only is it a fun way to recap and learn from the previous day’s lessons, but it also gets the students (and staff) excited for labs.
First things first, before we talk about why the guest judge is something I suggest you implement, let’s talk about who and what is the guest judge’s role.
What is a guest judge?
I have five kitchens, which means each hour has 5 guest judges. Guest judges are teachers or admins in the building who are served a portion of what was created. They are then asked to provide feedback on taste, appearance, and delivery, stars and wishes (liked and would like), and any comments as needed.
I tend to rotate through staff in the building, but I have found I had to be very clear that I needed the feedback form back within 24 hours and a new guest judge is found if they don’t complete the order form.
How does the guest judge process work?
A few days before each lab, I send out a Google Form to guest judges asking for their order specifics.
For example, during the omelet lab, guest judges can order diced ham, shredded cheese, diced peppers, and diced onions with ketchup or hot sauce.
After I have the Google Form orders coming in, I have a numbered spreadsheet for each kitchen. I add the orders as they arrive in the Google Form. I have a new 1/4 page “guest judge order” per kitchen. I hand these out the day before the lab for groups to look over the judge’s order and add the order information to their food lab plan. This allows them to get a better idea of the amount of ingredients they need.
Groups will cook their food and prepare the guest judge’s order. One thing we discussed during the cooking lab unit is food allergies, plating, serving, and working in the restaurant industry. The guest judge order really helps students practice serving etiquette and making food to order.
When the food is plated and on a serving tray with a napkin, fork, salt and pepper, two students from the group can tell me their order number and I let them know who they will be delivering. Students may not go back to their kitchen after finding out who they are serving. This is to preserve the integrity of the food!
5 reasons I encourage you to incorporate guest judges in your cooking labs
- Friendly competition
- Each kitchen has a guest guest and this builds a healthy level of friendly competition among kitchens each hour. Students love hearing about feedback from other kitchens throughout the day. I print all guest judge feedback forms on green paper. It makes it easier for the guest judge to keep track of it and for me to keep them in line when they are dropped off. Lab days are crazy, amiright? Students will see me holding a green piece of paper and want to know if it’s their feedback.
- Student ownership
- Not every lab seems exciting for students and that’s ok. They won’t like every lab. I do ask they take a mini bite and there have been several who realized they did like a recipe. (Looking at you, Zucchini Pizza Bites). Students might think they don’t like the recipe, but they do enjoy preparing food for a guest judge. Even if a student doesn’t want to like the lab, but they do like the guest judge experience, I still see them take it seriously. It never fails.
- Soft skills practice
- One area I think most teachers would wholeheartedly agree is the need for students to build soft skills. This involves conversation skills, teamwork, professionalism, leadership, and problem-solving. Our students are either of working age or almost of working age and the more practice they can get before experiencing the public when working in the restaurant industry, the better.
- Builds appreciation for your program
- There are two types in a building, those that think the FACS teacher position is a piece of cake and those that want nothing to do with the program. Working in the kitchen with a class full of students is not only extremely hazardous, but it also takes a lot of frontloading and prep to make sure students and cooking labs are successful. When your program is producing successful students who are showing maturity and growth, it only helps your program.
- Helps students learn and grow
- The guest judge feedback is then a great discussion piece. Students don’t always realize the zucchini pizza bites need a consistent amount of ingredients on each piece or that the fancy grilled cheese cannot be served with a slice of bread folded up. This is an opportunity to talk about how to respectfully enter a classroom where learning is happening to make a delivery. It helps students realize food should look good and the visual is just as important as the taste.
Hopefully, you might be convinced to try using guest judges in your future cooking labs. It takes some training for the staff in your building to return feedback more than it takes you to train your students!
If you’re convinced, but maybe don’t have the time to create the forms, I have that covered for you! Each cooking lab resource in my shop or TPT store includes all the forms you need to complete the cooking lab including the guest judge pages.