Restaurant Service Competition

Overview

For a memorable meal, the quality of the service is something that guests often remember as much as the food and drink served.

This means that restaurant servers must show extensive knowledge of all types of cuisine and dishes, especially the ingredients and cooking style of the dishes on an a la carte menu. They will need to know and understand the methods of preparation and serving, along with the tools used.

This competition focuses on the role of front of house staff in a range of food and beverage operations.

Competitors should have good practical skills and a sound understanding of different styles of food & beverage service; formal & casual dining, table, table theatre, gueridon & silver service, cocktail & mocktail preparation & service, as well as knowledge & appreciation of wines, liqueurs & spirits.

Competitors in Professional Restaurant Service must also be able to display good social skills, excellent personal presentation as well as safe and hygienic working practices.

How competing has helped Elizabeth develop her career.

The skills you need to demonstrate

Presentation Skills
Time management
Customer service skills
Health, safety & hygiene
Organisational skills
Problem solving
Teamwork
Interpersonal skills

Useful resources

Prepare for competition success

Our library of endorsed local skills competition briefs ‘benchmarking assessments’ helps prepare learners to build technical skills, productivity, and mindset competencies for national competition success, including employability progression pathways.

Paired with the benchmarking tracker, educators can record progress, identifying strengths and target areas for improvement. Together, they offer a reliable, standards-led framework, creating a sustainable model for skills development that supports educators to empower learners to be competition ready.

Access on the Learning Lab

Contact details

cgcworldskills@hotmail.com

Entry criteria

This is an individual competition.
There is no limit to the number of competitors permitted to enter this competition per organisation.
Competitors must be familiar with the core competencies (these can be found in the National Standard of Excellence in the ‘Useful resources’ section) and be training or working in Food & Beverage Service or Hospitality.
Competitors must be studying towards a Level 3 qualification have achieved a Level 3 qualification in the last 12 months.
When entering the competition please bear in mind that if successful applicants will be committed to up to 2 years of training which will involve training sessions and opportunities to gain skills and knowledge that will be pivotal to your career going forward

How it works

1. Register

Registrations open on Monday 2 March 2026, 9am and will close Friday 27 March 2026, midnight.

2. Entry Stage

Entry stage will be released on Monday 2 March 2026 and will close on Friday 3 April 2026.

3. National Qualifiers

National Qualifier will take place from May to June 2026 as follows:

Bedford: Tuesday 26 May, Start 12am
Cheshire: Tuesday 2 June, Start 11am
Cheshire: Wednesday 3 June, Start 11am
Belfast: Tuesday 16 June, Start 10am
Cardiff: Tuesday 23 June, Start 10am
Cardiff: Wednesday 24 June, Start 10am
Hull: Tuesday 30 June, Start 10am

A maximum of 10 competitors per heat will be invited to compete at the qualifier stage.

4. Training and Development

To help finalists prepare ahead of the UK Final, we will provide relevant technical training and share mindset development techniques, to support them to remain focused on achieving success.

Prepare students and apprentices by engaging with our benchmarking resources to master their skills and mindset masterclasses to build confidence and resilience on the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab.

5. National Finals

The National Finals are scheduled to take place in Wales during the week commencing 16 November 2026.

6. Squad UK

Competitors who are age eligible and have achieved the benchmark score will be invited to opt into Squad UK for the WorldSkills 2028 cycle, subject to the skill progressing to the international competition cycle.