News · 19 October 2026
Bocuse d'Or 2027 Team USA: who cooks in Lyon in January
Team USA won the Americas selection in New Orleans in July and goes to Lyon for the competition's 40th-anniversary final. Who's cooking, how the final works, and what the long road there tells you about a culinary career.
Team USA for the Bocuse d'Or 2027 is head chef Vincenzo Loseto and commis Tyler Higson, with Mathew Peters as coach.[6] They'll cook in the Grand Final in Lyon, France, held January 24–25, 2027.[1] They earned the spot with gold at the Americas selection in New Orleans on July 26, 2026.[2]
It's an anniversary year, too. Paul Bocuse started the competition in Lyon in 1987, so this final marks its 40th anniversary.[4] Getting there takes two years: the cycle runs through 72 countries and five continental selections, and twenty-four teams make the final.[1]
Who is on Team USA 2027?
Ment'or, the foundation that coordinates the US entry, has named a team of four.[8][6]
| Role | Chef | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Head chef | Vincenzo Loseto | Won the 2016 Ment'or Young Chef Competition; cooked at The NoMad and Eleven Madison Park; most recently chef de cuisine at PRESS[6] |
| Commis | Tyler Higson | Raised in Boise, Idaho; started working in kitchens at 14; moved to Napa Valley after high school; most recently chef de partie on the meat station at PRESS in St. Helena[6] |
| Head coach | Mathew Peters | In January 2017, the first American to win gold at the Bocuse d'Or[6] |
| Jury member | Robert Sulatycky | Four decades in hospitality, with Four Seasons, the Dorchester Collection and Rosewood[6] |
How does the Bocuse d'Or final work?
Each team gets 5 hours and 30 minutes for two challenges.[4] One is a plate built around a mandatory ingredient the organizers pick, the other a platter meant to serve several guests.[4]
Two juries do the scoring. One tastes, and looks at flavor balance, textures, seasoning and cooking precision. The other, the kitchen jury, watches how the team works: workstation hygiene, work organization, waste reduction and the use of offcuts.[4] So the marking starts long before anyone tastes a thing.
The final takes up two days of Sirha Lyon, the food trade show at Eurexpo, which runs January 21–25, 2027.[1][4]
Which countries have qualified so far?
Right now the official final page lists 18 teams. The rest will come from the Asia-Pacific and Middle East selections.[1]
| Selection | Where and when | Qualified for Lyon |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | Marseille, March 15–16, 2026[3] | Denmark, Norway, Italy, Sweden, France, Finland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Hungary, Iceland, and Lithuania as a wild card[1] |
| Americas | New Orleans, July 26, 2026[2] | United States, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina[1] |
| Africa | Morocco, 2026[1] | Morocco, Mauritius[1] |
Eight teams cooked in New Orleans. Behind the United States, Canada took silver and Colombia bronze, and Mexico and Argentina went through in fourth and fifth.[2] The platter was built on halibut with shrimp and tomato, sweet corn and a sauce Choron; the plate was a meal for 14 around a bone-in ribeye, with brisket, sweet potatoes and coffee beans.[2]
How has Team USA done before?
The United States won its first gold in 2017, with Peters as head chef. It was the country's second podium in a row.[8] The 2025 team also won the Americas selection, then finished seventh in the world final.[2] Now Peters is back as coach, ten years after his own win.[6]
How long is the road to the Bocuse d'Or?
Much longer than two days in Lyon would suggest, and this team shows it. Higson started in kitchens at 14 and moved to Napa Valley shortly after high school.[6] Peters decided to cook for a living as a high-school senior and started culinary school at 19.[8] Then came years in fine-dining kitchens, from the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida, to Per Se, where he rose from commis to executive sous chef.[8] Loseto won Ment'or's Young Chef Competition and helped on the 2017 gold team. Ten years later, he's leading Team USA himself.[7]
The ladder Loseto climbed is still there. Ment'or runs a Young Chef competition for cooks aged 22 to 28 and a Commis competition for those 21 and under, though details for 2027 aren't out yet.[9]
What does this mean for you?
If you're in high school and this kind of cooking pulls you in, here's the honest answer: no school puts you on a national team. Europe's candidates come through national competitions,[3] and every team, Team USA included, has to earn its place at a continental selection.[1][2] The chefs on this team spent years in demanding professional kitchens before they got anywhere near Lyon.[6]
What you can choose is how much serious kitchen time you get early, and how well trained you are when you get it. That's where our BA in Culinary Arts comes in. It's a three-year degree based in Lucerne, and each year pairs six months of study with a six-month paid internship.[10] By graduation you've done three internships, in Switzerland or worldwide,[11] and 18 months of paid professional work.[10] You leave with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree from BHMS and Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, UK.[10]
Placements in Switzerland pay a minimum of CHF 2,390 gross a month at the 2027 rate, about $2,880, before deductions for board, lodging and social insurance.[10] The dollar figure uses the Federal Reserve's rate of 0.8308 francs per dollar for October 9, 2026.[12] The paid work comes in the internship semesters, not as a side job while you study. And if you want a US reference point, the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Accrediting Commission accredits our culinary programs.[10]
One more thing: the next European round is coming to Switzerland. A Swiss candidate cooked in Marseille this year but didn't make the 11 European teams going to Lyon.[3] In June 2028, Lausanne hosts the European final of the Bocuse d'Or at the Palais de Beaulieu.[5] If you start in Lucerne in 2027, that final comes to the country where you're studying.
Next step: see how the three years fit together on the BA in Culinary Arts page, then read how the paid internships work.