Deadline to Register for Mac & Cheese is Tomorrow!
Who will make Ohio’s tastiest mac & cheese? The Ohio ProStart and Ohio Hospitality CTSO Mac & Cheese Competition, hosted by the American Dairy Association and Hilton Columbus Downtown, is back with a new format.
The first round will be held virtually, with the top three teams advancing to compete live at the Ohio ProStart Invitational on March 10.
Currently registered schools are VSCTC, Tri-County Career Center, and Vanguard. A minimum of 10 teams is required to hold the competition—6 more teams are needed.
Rules and registration can be found in the educator portal here.
This is a great way to introduce students to a ProStart competition. Reach out with questions!
Don't miss the Super Bowl of Student Hospitality competitions- register today!
Teams compete for top honors in Culinary and Management, as well as other awards, including Best Menu, Top Culinary Student, Best Team Presentation, and more. Everything you need is in the Educator Portal HERE. 13 Culinary teams and 9 Management teams are already registered—join them soon so we can finalize judges. Student names may be listed as TBD for now.
The following schools are registered for the Invitational:
- Akron Career Center
- Tri-County Career Center
- VSCTC Sentinel
- Jefferson County JVS
- Southwestern Career Academy
- Springfield Clark CTC
- Delaware Area Career Center
- Normandy High School
- Stow-Munroe Falls High School
- Penta Career Center.
Big shout out to our 3 new schools who will be participating this year!
Schools must have a competing team (Culinary, Management, or Mac & Cheese) to bring an observation team.
Informational Call scheduled for Tuesday, February 3rd, from 2:30-3:30 pm to discuss and answer any questions you may have on the Invitational. Please submit any questions you may have to info@oraef.org by Tuesday, January 27th, so we can prepare the best answers for you! Join the call HERE.
Coming Soon: Menu & Recipe Costing walk-through video (with the judge of the competition) will be uploaded to the educator portal in February. All things related to what he wants to see, so you can prepare your students!
Scholarship Application Closes January 30th!
Free money for your student's education! We have ONE application. Please have your students fill out the Ohio Hospitality Scholarship Application HERE. Application closes January 30th!
Interested in knowing what trends to keep an eye on next year?
The National Restaurant Association has released its 2026 What's Hot Culinary Forecast, available here.
Leadership Lab Rescheduled!
The Ohio Hospitality CTSO's Leadership Lab will be held on March 26th. This event is a requirement of the Ohio Hospitality CTSO. Registration will open at the end of January.
Pre-Apprenticeship Program
Students can earn thier COA (Certificate of Achievement) and Pre- Apprenticeship designation. Both are work-based learning opportunities. A COA earns 9 points toward graduation, and Pre-Apprenticeship earns 12. The process is simple, with just a few forms to complete each month.
Email info@oraef.org with any questions.
This is a great opportunity for your students! We currently have 3 schools enrolled: Tri-County, Ohio Valley, and Stow Munroe. Please register your students so we can submit to the state of Ohio!
Click HERE to view the Pre-Apprenticeship Guidelines & Click HERE for the Pre-Apprenticeship Application
Educator Portal
The new educator Portal password is 2025*ProStart. Let us know if there are additional resources you would like to see.
Ohio Hospitality CTSO
All Student Waivers must be completed to use Ohio Hospitality as your CTSO. Link to the waiver is HERE
CTSO Handbook is HERE
Submit your CTSO Chapter Leaders so that we can send out the online training. The link to submit is HERE
If you have submitted your student leaders, they should have received an email with thier student leader training! The following schools still need to submit thier student leaders ASAP:
Dater & Lancaster
The following schools still need to submit thier community service project for November AND December: C-Tec, Dater, Ehove, Lancaster, and Vantage. This is a requirement of the CTSO. Please submit ASAP.
2025-2026 Calendar
If you haven’t seen the calendar yet – click HERE
