A team of students from Moulton College is celebrating after being named winners of a prestigious Delapré Food Festival competition.
Designed to showcase the creativity and entrepreneurial talent of Northamptonshire’s next generation of food professionals, Moulton College students Chloe, Erin and Michael competed with teams from Northampton and Tresham Colleges to create an original food product with commercial potential, complete with branding, pricing and marketing plans. As a further twist, entries also had to include a connection to Northamptonshire.
The Moulton College team stood out in a highly competitive field with their Northamptonshire Scone, which utilised locally sourced ingredients. The students were praised by the judges from Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust for their creativity, commercial awareness and technical baking skills.
Now their success has led to an invitation to sell their products at the upcoming Delapré Abbey Food Festival, which takes place 6th-7th June, providing a valuable real-world trading experience and public showcase for their work. In addition, the winning product will be stocked at The Orangery Café at Delapré Abbey for the following six months.
The team, Chloe, Erin, and Michael, noted that they were keen to not over-complicate the brief, stating that the idea of the scone showcased their use of ingredients in a simple yet effective way. Erin explained:You can make all sorts of things, but I think we came up with the idea of the scone so it didn’t complicate the product and the ingredients we were using. We wanted to showcase it with something simple, so they really came through.
By providing a platform that bridges education and industry, the competition equips students with practical experience and insight into launching a product in a competitive market, from concept development through to customer engagement. The team explained how they found it extremely valuable to get the opportunity to think about food commercially: “Going into this and working out the breakdown of the costs and the scaling and the marketing, everything is quite a bit more in-depth than what we had thought before.”
Bart Polinski, Executive Head Chef at Delapré Abbey and part of the judging panel, said: “Opportunities like this allow for students to get a glimpse of the food industry in action, giving them a clear vision of what they are working towards. All of the students’ confidence and hard work that they put into making not just their products, but fully composed business plans and presentations, was extremely impressive.”
As part of their prize, the winners will now bring their product to life in a real-world setting, launching it at the upcoming Delapré Food Festival 2026, taking place on 6–7 June. The festival is a major celebration of food and drink, concluding Northamptonshire Food & Drink Week, featuring artisan producers, street food, chef demonstrations and family-friendly experiences set within the Abbey’s historic grounds.
In addition, the winning product will be stocked at The Orangery Café at Delapré Abbey for the following six months, offering an extended opportunity for visitors to support emerging local talent beyond the festival weekend.
This initiative forms part of Delapré Abbey’s wider commitment to supporting skills development, enterprise and pathways into the food and hospitality industries. Sarah Blunt, Senior Development Chef at Classic Cuisine, and part of the judging panel, said: “A competition like this is fantastic. It really does show students a way of looking at what’s available.”
Crispin Slee, founder of Delapré Food Festival, said:
I was bowled over by the standard and the quality of the entries. It was clear everyone had put in a lot of time and effort. I can’t wait to see the look on the faces of the winning team when we open the festival and they sell their first scone. It will be a magical moment.
This is a fantastic achievement for our students and a real testament to their hard work, creativity and professionalism. Opportunities like this are invaluable – they allow students to apply their skills in a real commercial context and build confidence working with industry professionals.
With the countdown now on to Delapré Food Festival, visitors will have the chance to taste the winning product for themselves, while enjoying a vibrant programme of food, drink and entertainment in one of Northampton’s most iconic settings.
