Gardenia’s The Next Big Sandwich Hit Contest Now on its 3rd Year

Tired of the same old sandwich for merienda?

Gardenia is challenging students to think out of the box and create recipes for sandwiches that will offer new and innovative ways of serving them the whole day.

Gardenia’s The Next Big Sandwich Hit (NBSH) pits 20 teams from selected universities throughout Luzon to create sandwiches that follow the 5 E’s of a good sandwich: Economical; Easy to make and prepare; Easy to eat; Enriching in taste and nutrition; and Enticing in its versatile use of Gardenia bread as an ingredient. The recipes should also reinvent the way we look at sandwiches as an ideal replacement for any kind of meal, any time of the day, be it merienda, breakfast, lunch or dinner.
This edition of Gardenia’s The Next Big Sandwich Hit is bigger than the previous competitions with 100 teams from 20 colleges and universities from all over Luzon, which include Tarlac State University, Centro Escolar University-Malolos; Angeles University Foundation; De La Salle University-Dasmariñas; Cavite State University; University of Santo Tomas; University of the East; University of Manila;; Adamson University; National University; La Consolacion College; Philippine Women’s University; St. Paul’s College-Manila; and University of the Cordilleras, among others. Participating students are presently enrolled in hotel and restaurant management, culinary arts, or other allied courses. The students will be competing for cash prizes, Gardenia products, kitchen appliances and cooking accessories in a grand showdown which will be held in November.

In the School Hop phase, Gardenia visits each of the participating schools for the elimination rounds and conduct lecture demonstrations. The students are also given the opportunity to play the The Gardenia Sandwich Game, which can be found at the NBSH Truck.

With the Gardenia Sandwich Game, students can make their own sandwich by choosing their favorite spreads and/or topping from a touchscreen panel. After completing the game, an actual sandwich comes out of a dispensing bin in just a few seconds. Aside from the game, a Gardenia photo wall is also attached to the other side of the truck, so that students can take their photos and upload them online with the assigned hashtag per school. Gardenia products are also being sold on-site to enable the students to sample a variety of breads.
Inside the school lecture area, students are given the opportunity to learn from Gardenia’s Sandwich Academy led by celebrity chef Jeremy Favia, who is also one of the judges for the contest, and Gardenia’s resident chef Benjo Fundales. They share cooking tips and tricks as well as sandwich recipes based on the themes assigned per school. The 10 themes, which include Bread & Breakfast; Lunch Out; Dinner Affair; Workout Boost; After School Merienda; Midnight Hacks; Pica Picks; Sweet Escape; Study Buddy; and Breaktime Fix, also serve as basis for the sandwich creation of competing teams in the elimination round, and were inspired by various bread-eating occasions.
Aside from the theme challenge, the students will also have to create a Price Challenge sandwich, one that not only tastes great and is easy to make, but also just costs P35 or below per serving.

All sandwich recipes should use Gardenia products, namely Gardenia Classic White Bread, Gardenia High Fiber Wheat Bread, Gardenia High Fiber Wheat Raisin Loaf, Gardenia Wheat Cranberry Loaf, Gardenia Slim ’n Fit Wheaten Bread, Gardenia Wheat Pandesal, Gardenia Premium Pandesal, and Gardenia Flavored Breads.

Sandwiches will be judged based on taste, interpretation of the assigned theme, creative use of Gardenia product, and plating. For the price challenge, the cost of the sandwich will also be factored into the judging. After the elimination round, the winning team per school will need to subject their winning price challenge sandwich to a seven-day business implementation program to test its marketability. At this stage, the team is required to sell their sandwiches using their preferred strategy and will be given a budget. They will be required to document the whole process and submit support materials such as costing of their winning recipe and expenditures. This is Gardenia’s platform to provide students a venue to exercise their entrepreneurial skills and prepare them for the food business industry.

The total earnings and capital incurred by each team during the selling period will go to their budget in the final round, while their final ROI will comprise 10 percent of their score in the final round.