New Mexico ProStart

02/10/2026

The Hospitality Industry Education Foundation (HIEF) and New Mexico Restaurant Association (NMRA) will host the 23rd Annual New Mexico ProStart Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 9, 2026, at the Albuquerque Convention Center. More than 90 top ProStart students from across the state will demonstrate their mastery of restaurant leadership skills in Culinary and Management in a fast-paced competition to win their share of generous post-secondary scholarships. The 1st place team in each category will be crowned the State Champions and represent New Mexico at the National ProStart Invitational, the country’s premier high school competition focused on restaurant management and culinary arts, in Baltimore, MD, April 24 – 26, 2026.

NMRA News: ALBUQUERQUE — The Hospitality Industry Education Foundation (HIEF) and New Mexico Restaurant Association (NMRA) will host the 23rd Annual New Mexico ProStart Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 9, 2026, at the Albuquerque Convention Center. More than 90 top ProStart student...

05/09/2022

Let's hear it for the New Mexico ProStart Teams! They travelled to D.C. over the weekend to represent our state in the culinary and management portions of the 2022 National ProStart Invitational. The culinary team from Carlsbad and the management team from Chaparral both worked hard and had a great time! We will have updates once we have the rankings from the competition.

03/09/2020

Fantastic job everyone!! Today was an amazing day!! Congratulations to the winners Taos High school!!!

02/26/2020

Schools competing in State I just sent schedules and orientation info! Please check your inbox and let me know if you did not get the email.

02/21/2020

Sorry everyone team schedules will be announced tonight. Stay tuned for times.

01/18/2020

Amazing group that attended our two day boot camp at DACC!!! Thank you everyone for your hard work!!

12/04/2019

Wonderful job Silver City High school!!! Our NMRA Board was very impressed with the desserts you created!!!

12/03/2019

Your donation to the Hospitality Industry Education Foundation this will help industry employees with emergency funds during hardship, provide culinary students with scholarships and train the future workforce through the ProStart program. Visit our website to donate https://www.nmrestaurants.org/hief-2/

11/26/2019

We love our Alumni!!!! Sara Tori Green

You never know who you'll meet through Prostart!

Take Prostart alumni, Sara Green, for example. She met her future boss at our New Mexico state competition. At the competition, he saw how hard Sara worked and the potential she had so he eventually hired her on! 🙌

What connections have you made through the program?