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The finalists are set. The Grand Finale is almost here.

Join us Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, at Bay 7 at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC, for the Grand Finale of the 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown, North Carolina’s largest statewide culinary and mixology competition. The annual Grand Finale is the one and only NCRLA Chef Showdown event open to the public. This is your chance to taste the season for yourself.

Tickets are on sale now.

Meet the 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown Finalists

After a full season of qualifying rounds across the state, our finalists have earned their place on the biggest stage of the year: fifteen chefs, five pastry chefs, and six mixology teams, each paired with a North Carolina distillery. On Sept. 2, 2026, they bring their best to Durham, and you get a front-row seat.

What to Expect at the NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale

Your ticket is an all-access pass to a celebration of North Carolina food and drink. The evening is a walk-around tasting, where you will sample bite-sized versions of every finalist’s savory dish and dessert. These are the same dishes our chefs and pastry chefs presented to the judges. Then sip the competition cocktails made with NC spirits and the competition spirit-free cocktails our mixology teams created, and cast your vote for your favorites throughout the night. Read more below.

Take a moment to sip and swirl at the NC Wine Bar, pouring a host of award-winning North Carolina wines, meads, and ciders. It’s the perfect way to taste even more of what our state’s makers do best as you move through the evening.

The heart of the evening is the Hall of Champions presentation. This is where the season’s top titles are announced and celebrated: 2026 NCRLA Chef of the Year, Pastry Chef of the Year, Mixologist of the Year, and Distillery of the Year.

Title winners and the first runners-up for Chef and Pastry Chef of the Year also earn the honor of serving as 2026-2027 Got To Be NC Culinary Ambassadors, championing North Carolina’s food and drink culture across the state.

Every guest in the room is a judge. As you taste your way through the night, your votes decide the People’s Choice Awards, powered by Sysco, honoring the crowd favorites for Best Savory Dish, Best Dessert, Best Cocktail featuring NC spirits, and Best Spirit-Free Cocktail.

The Dairy Does More Awards recognize the finalists who put North Carolina dairy to its most creative and delicious use across the competition’s savory, sweet, and beverage categories.

Ten seasons in, the story is still the same one that drives everything we do: supporting North Carolina’s hospitality industry. That means the chefs, pastry chefs, and restaurants, the lodging and event venues, the state’s growing distillery and wine industries, and all the people working behind the scenes who make it possible. Over four months of preliminary and semifinal rounds, hosted at some of North Carolina’s finest community college culinary schools, competitors created savory dishes, desserts, and drinks spotlighting the best North Carolina proteins, produce, and products, all locally sourced, creatively executed, and judged by some of the sharpest palates in the state.

What started as a competition has become a celebration of everything that makes North Carolina hospitality special: the people, the places, and the products grown and made right here at home. We’d love for you to join us Sept. 2, 2026, at Bay 7 in Durham NC as we crown this year’s champions and raise a glass to ten years. Get your tickets today!

Hall of Champions