The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Pupils’ nutty soup recipe wins top prize
Agroup of Moray pupils have claimed first place in the Baxters Soup Challenge 2022 with their unique vegan recipe.
Pupils from several schools were tasked by Baxters to create a new vegan soup as part of the company’s annual soup competition.
The youngsters were challenged to use their home economics, business and music skills to create a vegan soup that could be added to the company’s existing product line.
Speyside High’s second year pupils Ryan Mackie, Kirsty MacLeod and Kaysie Pyper have been crowned winners with their Coconutty Cauliflower vegan soup.
They also impressed judges with their robust business plan.
The group beat off stiff competition from pupils at Milne’s High School in Fochabers, Buckie High School and Elgin Academy to claim first place.
Speyside High School teacher Erin Wood said: “The students have enjoyed every second of the challenge, from creating their ideas to having the chance to pitch to industry specialists.
“We are absolutely delighted to have been named as the winners of the Baxters Soup Challenge and we are all looking forward to receiving our batch of Coconutty Cauliflower soup.”
As well as developing the recipes, pupils were tasked with creating a business and marketing plan for the product, as well as
producing an advertising jingle and determining the cost of production.
During the final at UHI Moray, the four teams presented their soup to a panel of specialist judges.
Each group was assessed on a range of criteria including product taste, ability to understand the costing process and overall presentation.
The winning team will have a small run of their vegan soup produced at the Fochabers factory.
Their efforts formed part of an eight-stage challenge, hosted in partnership with Baxters and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Moray.
The Baxters Soup Challenge is aimed at inspiring and attracting the
next generation of talent, while giving them an insight to the breadth of opportunities within food manufacturing.
Graeme Morrison, European supply chain director at Baxters, said: “It was really inspiring to see all the hard work the pupils put into this challenge – they should all be very proud of themselves.”