Past Winners of the Whole Grains Challenge

Past winners have included the following restaurants and foodservice establishments:

  2007 Challenge Winners
2008 Challenge Winners
2009 Challenge Winners
2010 Challenge Winners
Quick Serve / Neighborhood Dining Jersey Mike’s Papa John’s Snooze, Denver, CO Bob’s Red Mill Store & Visitors Center
Family / Casual PF Chang’s China Bistro Boloco The Pump Energy Food
Vapiano
Fine Dining Café Modern, Ft Worth, TX Fair Hill Inn, Elkton, MD Our Place Indian Cuisine, Irving, TX Franklin Southie
Lodging / Catering FireLake Grill House, Minneapolis Compass Catering Canyon Ranch
(award shifted to colleges due to quantity and quality of entries)
K-12 Public Schools

Colorado Springs, CO
Energy Zone, Fairfax County, VA

 small – Mattawan, MI (Chartwells)
medium – Newtown, CT (Chartwells)
large – Norfolk, VA 		small — Harwood Union High School
medium — Orchard View Schools
large — SchoolFood for New York City		 Holton Public Schools
K-12 Private Schools Milton Academy (Flik)
Ross School 		(award shifted to public schools due to quantity and quality of K-12 entries) (award shifted to public schools due to quantity and quality of K-12 entries)

A tie!
 — The Park School
 — The Village Community School
College / University Virginia Tech Dining Services
(Awarded a special Grand Prize)		 (award shifted to public schools due to quantity and quality of K-12 entries) Roger Williams University (Bon Appetit) A tie!
 — Jewish Theological Seminary
 — Mason Dining at George Mason University
Workplace Merck (Flik) Morgan Stanley (Restaurant Associates) Cafe Target (Bon Appetit) American Express — World Financial Center
Healthcare HSC Cafeteria, West Virginia University Hospital Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Aramark) East Carolina Heart Institute, Greenville, NC (Aramark) (award shifted to private schools due to quantity and quality of entries)
Other University Village Retirement Center, Tampa Compass Group, special award for Nutrition Month campaign (award shifted to public schools due to quantity and quality of K-12 entries) Abbey Food Service Group

Be Inspired By Winning Entries

We consider two main factors in choosing our annual Whole Grains Challenge winners. They include

  1. the variety of whole grain foods you serve
  2. the creativity of your whole grain promotions and educational programs

Click here for a sampling of programs and foods that have wowed us in past years.

You can also click on the links below to download some inspirational sample entries. Not every winner goes way out like this – nothing is required beyond filling out the online entry form that asks you to answer a few questions about the nature of your establishment, send us your menus and a favorite recipe, and add any comments about your operation. That said, every year the entries get more impressive, and you do enhance your chances to win by sending extra materials documenting your whole grain promotions.

Virginia Tech’s winning 2007 College / University entry

Newtown CT’s winning 2008 K-12 Schools entry

“Best of 2009 Challenge” collection of entry highlights

Our press release highlighting all 2010 Challenge Winners