The Isaan Project has been crowned winner of Lexington Catering’s Casual Dining Competition 2026.
The Thai street food concept celebrates the bold flavours and culinary traditions of Northeastern Thailand and will now be rolled out across Lexington’s customer sites.
The winning team received an engraved trophy, with the concept recognised for its authenticity, storytelling and commercial potential.
The Isaan Project was brought to life by chef Kitty Whiteley and her Lexington Independents team at Kent College.
Inspired by the region of Northeastern Thailand where Chef Kitty grew up, the concept brings together the traditions, recipes and communal spirit that define everyday life in Isaan.
At its heart is Chef Kitty’s “Khun-Ya”, meaning Grandma, whose handwritten recipe notebook has been passed through generations, preserving the dishes, techniques and stories that continue to inspire the food served today.
Now in its fifth year, Lexington’s Casual Dining Competition brings together teams from across the Business & Industry brand, challenging them to create a new casual dining concept from scratch.
Full menus, branding, uniforms, marketing strategy and mobilisation plans form part of the presentation and judging element for each concept.
The five brands that reached the final will see their concepts introduced to sites across the wider business.
The other four finalists created original concepts drawing on culinary traditions from Jamaica, Shaanxi Province in China, Singapore and Venice.
A total of 29 Lexington teams submitted written entries at the start of the competition, outlining the scope of their concept.
From those entries, 12 semi-finalists were shortlisted to present their ideas directly to the round one judging panel.
Following the showcase, five teams were selected to progress to the final, which was held at OKN1, a collaborative kitchen and award-winning dining venue located within New City College in Hackney.
More than 200 clients and guests attended the final and sampled food concepts developed by the finalists, voting for their favourite brand concept. The guest vote accounted for 25% of the final score.
The finalists faced a judging panel of industry professionals including James Golding, group chef director at Rockwater and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts; Dhruv Baker, winner of MasterChef 2010, author and founder of Tempus Foods; Mike Carter, chef and creator of Japanese street food concept Kana Kana, winner of Lexington’s Casual Dining Competition 2025; and Tom Geoffrey, founder of Cambodian-inspired open-fire cooking concept Barang.
Sean Ritson, Managing Director of Lexington, said: “This year’s Casual Dining Competition was a demonstration of innovation, collaboration and authenticity. Every year the bar gets higher and this year our teams did an exceptional job of telling their stories through food. The competition has evolved to showcase some outstanding regional cuisine and that makes it even more special.
“Now in our fifth year, 30 concepts have been rolled out across Lexington sites, broadening our food offering and taking our customers on a journey around the world. This competition is unlike anything else in the industry. It expands the breadth of what we offer our customer base, nurtures our talent and reflects what makes our people and our business distinctive.”
Kitty Whiteley, head pastry chef at Lexington Independents and winning team lead at The Isaan Project, said: “Winning this competition is incredibly overwhelming. Fire from Isaan, stories from home – that’s what this concept is built on. I wanted to bring the bold flavours of Northeastern Thailand to a new audience and represent my family’s recipe and my grandma’s legacy.
“It is my grandma’s cooking and recipes that fuelled this award win and I’m really proud that her memory lives on. She is behind every dish and to have that recognised means everything to us.”
Dhruv Baker, winner of MasterChef 2010, entrepreneur and TV personality, who judged the concepts, said: “The Isaan Project is a commercially ready-to-go concept that offers diners an insight into traditional family recipes from a specific region in Thailand, and that’s what makes it so magical.”
The result highlights Lexington Catering’s continued focus on culinary innovation, internal talent development and creating food concepts that bring personal stories, global flavours and authentic regional cuisine to customers across its sites.