Eastcote Park head chef Nigel Cooke is one of 12 in the national Care Chef of the Year final on 14 October: two courses, 90 minutes, £4.50 a head.

A head chef from a Solihull care home is one of 12 cooks left in a national competition the organisers describe as the longest standing care chef contest in the UK. Nigel Cooke, who runs the kitchens at Eastcote Park near Barston, is through to the national final of the NACC Care Chef of the Year 2026. (Finalists, NACC Care Chef of the Year)

The final is on Wednesday 14 October at Loughborough College. Whoever wins becomes the 27th holder of a title first awarded in 2000. (Key dates, NACC Care Chef of the Year)

What the finalists have to do

This is not a plated-up showpiece competition. The brief is deliberately built around the constraints a care kitchen actually works to.

Each finalist must produce:

  • a two-course meal, a main and a dessert, suitable for people in a care setting
  • at a combined food cost of no more than £4.50 per head, calculated on three portions
  • that is nutritionally balanced
  • and that uses one of the products on the competition’s set ingredient list
  • in 90 minutes

(Competition overview, NACC Care Chef of the Year)

Panel showing the NACC Care Chef of the Year 2026 route and brief: entries 17 February to 17 April 2026, paper judging April to May, three semi-finals on 21, 22 and 23 July 2026, four finalists from each, national final 14 October 2026 at Loughborough College; the brief is two courses in 90 minutes at £4.50 a head
How the competition works. Source: NACC Care Chef of the Year 2026, key dates and competition overview. Graphic by The Solihull Post.

Entries opened on 17 February and closed on 17 April, and were sifted on paper through April and May. Three semi-finals followed in July: the South at Unilever Food Solutions’ head office in Kingston on 21 July, the Midlands at Loughborough College on 22 July, and the North at Lancaster and Morecambe College on 23 July. Four cooks came through each one.

Where he works

Eastcote Park stands at Eastcote, in the green belt between Barston and Knowle. It is a Cinnamon Care Collection site combining a 50-bedroom care home with retirement apartments. The two public registers give the address slightly differently: the Care Quality Commission lists it as Knowle Road, Eastcote, B92 0JA, while the food hygiene register has the care home at Barston Lane, Barston, B92 0JJ.

Cooke is listed by the competition as head chef across Eastcote Park and Oakley Grange, Cinnamon’s home in Warwick. Three of the 12 national finalists work for Cinnamon Care Collection, the most of any operator on the list.

It is his second national recognition of the year. Cinnamon says Cooke received a Highly Commended award in the Chef Award category at the National Housing with Care Awards 2026. (Cinnamon Care Collection) The awards’ own results page lists him in that category alongside Marcela Morales of Rangeford Villages, crediting his work on nutrition and hydration and on getting catering and care staff working together. (Winners of the Housing with Care Awards 2026)

On the more prosaic measures, the home does well too. Eastcote Park Care Home holds a food hygiene rating of 5, the top score, from an inspection on 4 December 2024. (Food Standards Agency) The Care Quality Commission rates it Good overall, and Good on each of its five key questions, in a report published on 25 May 2022. The CQC reviewed the available data again on 6 July 2023 and found no evidence that the rating needed reassessing. (Care Quality Commission)

What it means for you

Care catering is one of those things nobody thinks about until a relative moves into a home, and then it becomes one of the first questions asked at every viewing. The £4.50 figure is worth holding on to for that reason. It is the competition’s cap for two courses, not a national standard, but it gives you a realistic sense of the budgets care kitchens work inside, and of what a good one can still get onto a plate.

If you are comparing homes in the borough, the food hygiene register is free, it is searchable by postcode, and it records every inspection: ratings.food.gov.uk. Solihull Council is the inspecting authority for food businesses across the borough, care homes included.

The national final is on 14 October. We will report the result.

You can also browse food and drink businesses across Solihull in our local directory, or read what else is happening in the borough’s villages on our Solihull planning news page.