News · 19 October 2026
Culinary World Cup 2026: Team USA dates and the score sheet
Luxembourg hosts the Culinary World Cup in November 2026, and the US and Swiss national teams cook on the same two days. Here's the schedule, the score sheet the judges use, and how Swiss teams did in 2022.
The Culinary World Cup 2026 runs from November 21 to 25, 2026, at the Expogast show in Luxembourg.[2] It comes around once every four years.[1] The US national team cooks on Saturday, November 21, and Monday, November 23, the same two days as Switzerland, which won the national-team title in 2022.[3][7]
If you're training to be a chef, follow it for more than the medals. The organizers publish exactly how the judges score, and that score sheet reads like a job description for the top of the trade.
When does Team USA cook at the Culinary World Cup 2026?
A draw set each team's days in advance. It lists 20 national teams, 15 junior national teams and 15 gastronomic catering teams.[3] Regional teams and individual chefs compete too. At their October 14 presentation, the organizers announced 28 regional teams and around 529 individual entries, Paperjam reports.[17] Here's how the days fall for the American and Swiss teams:[3]
| Team | Chef's Table | Hot Kitchen |
|---|---|---|
| USA, national team | Saturday, November 21 | Monday, November 23 |
| Switzerland, national team | Saturday, November 21 | Monday, November 23 |
| USA, junior team | Monday, November 23 | Wednesday, November 25 |
| Switzerland, junior team | Tuesday, November 24 | Saturday, November 21 |
| Switzerland, catering team | none | Restaurant of Nations, Sunday, November 22 |
The American Culinary Federation calls ACF Culinary Team USA "the elite group of chefs competing at an international level," and it runs a youth team too.[11] The team's calendar has the World Cup in Luxembourg down for November 20–29, 2026.[12] Look at the junior row: the US juniors serve their hot menu the day before Thanksgiving. The week opens with a ceremony on Friday, November 20, and the awards come on Thursday, November 26, at 2:00 p.m. in Luxembourg, which is 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Timings can still change, the organizers warn.[4]
What do the judges score?
A national team is six chefs, one of them a pastry chef, plus up to four helpers. Only a national chefs' association that belongs to Worldchefs can enter one, and it's one team per country.[4]
The team cooks on two separate days. In the Hot Kitchen, it makes a three-course menu for 110 guests in a kitchen the public can watch, and the plates go on sale in the Restaurant of Nations. Prep starts at noon; service starts at 6:00 p.m.[4] The Chef's Table is a longer list: finger food, a cold platter of fish or seafood, a plant-based course, a hot main, a dessert made without refined sugar and petits fours, next to an edible centerpiece 50 to 60 centimeters tall (about 20 to 24 inches).[4]
The jury scores each contest out of 100, with the same split for both:[4]
| What the jury scores | Points |
|---|---|
| Taste | 50 |
| Preparation, work skills, techniques, workflow | 15 |
| Hygiene and food waste | 10 |
| Presentation | 10 |
| Mise en place | 5 |
| Service | 5 |
| Innovation | 5 |
| Total | 100 |
Taste is half the score. The other half goes to the work around the plate. In the Hot Kitchen, a team that runs late during service can lose up to 10 points (up to 5 at the Chef's Table), and one that cooks more than the portions it calculated loses 5. Ninety points or more earns gold, 80 silver and 70 bronze. Every judge holds Worldchefs A-level accreditation.[4]
Junior teams follow the same format with a hot menu for 70 guests, and everyone on them, helpers included, has to be under 25: born after November 20, 2001.[5] Catering teams are four chefs, and in one day they cook a conference snack for 24 guests and a three-course lunch for 120. They also hand the jury the exact costing of the menu and the nutritional values of every dish.[6]
How did Switzerland do at the 2022 Culinary World Cup?
Swiss teams won all four team rankings.[7][8][9][10]
| Ranking | Winner | Final score | Second place |
|---|---|---|---|
| National teams | Switzerland | 93.010 | Sweden, 90.265[7] |
| Junior national teams | Switzerland | 93.428 | Norway, 93.363[8] |
| Community catering | Swiss Team LUKS & Spital Linth | 91.940 | Community Catering Team Canada, 91.510[9] |
| Regional teams | Cercle des Chefs de Cuisine Lucerne | 94.643 | CCCB Culinary Art Team, 92.259[10] |
The junior title came down to 0.065 points.[8] The US national team finished 10th of 15, with 81.430.[7] And the regional title went to a team from Lucerne, the city where our culinary students train in seven professional kitchens.[10][15]
What does the Culinary World Cup mean for your culinary career?
You don't have to compete to use any of this. Each country's chefs' association enters its national team.[4] But the score sheet shows you what the best kitchens value: taste first, then clean, timed, waste-aware work through a full service, and for the catering teams, a menu with its exact costing.
At the Swiss Culinary Academy by BHMS in Lucerne, Year 2 is the Higher Diploma in Culinary Arts, the middle year of our three-year Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts.[14] Like every bachelor year, it pairs six months of study with a six-month paid internship.[15] In Switzerland, that internship pays CHF 2,390 gross a month at the 2027 rate, about $2,880, before deductions for board, lodging and social insurance.[15] We converted at the Federal Reserve's rate of 0.8308 francs per dollar for October 9, 2026.[16] Your third year then ends with two degrees, from BHMS and Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, UK.[15]
One more connection if you're in the US. The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Accrediting Commission (ACFEFAC) accredits our culinary programs,[15] and the Higher Diploma in Culinary Arts is on the American Culinary Federation's list of accredited postsecondary programs.[13] That's the federation behind the US team you'll be following in Luxembourg.[12]
To see what Year 2 covers, lab by lab, start with the Higher Diploma in Culinary Arts page. The internships page explains how the paid placement works.