Chef Christopher Bates, program director of the Magnet Academy of Culinary Arts at Wekiva High School, recently won the 2026 Technology Award from the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ). 

“This win is another example of the hard work Chef Bates puts into this program for his students,” said Melissa Byrd, Orange County School Board District 7 member, in a text message to The Apopka Chief. “He is constantly striving to provide the Culinary Magnet students with every opportunity to grow their skills in a meaningful way that makes them workforce ready.” 

The award includes a $1,000 check, an opportunity for a profile in CAFÉ’s e-magazine titled “The Gold Medal Classroom,” andregistration for CAFÉ’s 2026 Deans & Directors Retreat and Leadership Conference in Chicago, according to the award letter.  

“We follow some pretty unique and occasionally controlled chaos, crazy ideas that pop into my head, and we try them, and they work a lot of the time,” Bates said in a phone interview with the Chief. “It’s just nice to see that the national organization that is dedicated to the advancement of culinary education sees what we’re doing over here in this tiny little high school in Wekiva and recognizes it as being outstanding.” 

But Bates is most excited about winning an all-expense-paid three-day training conference at RATIONAL, which he calls “the best producer of intelligent ovens in the world.” 

“It’s not just that you’re going to do training — you’re spending time with the people who designed it, who engineered it, who crafted the software that makes it work,” Bates said. “I’m getting to pick the brains of the people who train like the executive chef for Ritz-Carlton — and Ritz-Carlton installs 500 of these ovens at all of their properties around the world — the executive chef goes and spends three days at the headquarters to learn how they can implement it. That’s the kind of training I’m going to get.” 

For Bates, the three-day training brings him one step closer to his ultimate goal of opening the Food Science and Technology Training Center at Wekiva next fall. Through a $38,284 subsidy from RATIONAL and a $50,000 Kitchen Makeover Grant from the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Education Foundation (FRLAEF), Bates plans to bring two RATIONAL appliances to the training center: the iCombi Pro and the iVario Pro.  

Bates described the iCombi Pro as a “smart oven” and the iVario Pro as a “tilt kettle.” 

“What makes it powerful and unique? Every square centimeter of the inside of both the oven and the tilt kettle are temperature-controlled independently of every single other one,” Bates said. “When you close the lid, you press a couple buttons, and you tell it what you’re cooking, and it uses a bunch of sensors to figure out the density of each item, and then they apply just enough heat to cook that item and no more.” 

According to Bates, receiving the three-day training and installing the devices at the school will provide students a significant advantage over their peers, particularly those seeking work in Orlando’s hospitality industry. 

“These two particular pieces of equipment, especially the oven, are the most common pieces of equipment at all of our theme parks here locally, all of our resorts, all of those giant convention halls,” Bates said. “When our kids graduate and they get one of those jobs, they’re walking in, and they’re being asked to work with equipment that, prior to this installation, they have never seen before… but if I send in a 17/18-year-old kid, and they already know how to do it, and they can prove it, they instantly jump up a pay grade or two.” 

Although the center still needs approximately $18,000 in funding, Bates is optimistic about Wekiva Culinary’s future.  

“We have had a couple of amazing years, and we aren’t halfway where we’re hoping to be,” Bates said. “We’re still actively looking at how we can maximize opportunities for our students to grow, to learn, to be prepared for the industry and to do well in college, if that’swhere they’re headed. Our goals haven’t changed — all they’ve done has gotten bigger.”