Collin Hilton credits kitchen culture for his World Food Championships win

Collin Hilton whipped up the chicken noodle soup of a lifetime to win the “Final Table” competition of this year’s World Food Championships.

More accurately, Hilton used chicken broth and pasta as a point of departure for an elaborate dish that clinched the overall title of 2025 World Food Champion and a $150,000 prize for the Indianapolis-based chef.

After winning the noodle category during last fall’s World Food Championships at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Hilton competed against 11 fellow category winners during the “Final Table” March 28-30 in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The chefs prepared dishes for three challenge rounds, with the third round billed as “My Culinary Journey.” That’s where his internationally influenced chicken soup came in.

Hilton was born in Terre Haute and grew up in Indianapolis. He spent time in South America and more than a decade working in San Francisco restaurants before he returned to Indianapolis, where he’s worked as chef de cuisine for the Cunningham Restaurant Group since 2023.

Kitchens, he said, are an international melting pot of camaraderie—and he’s worked with people who come from places that include Myanmar and the Yucatán state of Mexico. So when he was faced with the competition’s “My Culinary Journey” challenge, he thought, “When are we coming together? It’s a staff meal that you just throw together in 20 minutes so that everybody in the restaurant can have something in their belly.”

That led Hilton to make a cappellacci pasta stuffed with English pea butter in chicken broth. The broth was accented by charred chilies, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, lime and red onion. Pickled Meyer lemon and cashew salsa macha topped the dish.

“I wanted to serve something of all this stuff that’s given me awe every time I’ve been exposed to it,” Hilton said.

It was the winning dish and capped an unlikely journey that included winning that noodle competition at the World Food Championships, which Indianapolis hosted for the first time in 2024. Billed as the “world’s largest food sport competition,” the event is scheduled to return to the Indiana State Fairgrounds Oct. 16-19.

Bringing the World Food Championships to Indianapolis included a recruitment effort by Culinary Crossroads, an organization that promotes the food and dining community in Indiana, along with representatives of Ivy Tech Community College, the Indiana State Fair and Visit Indy.

Larry Dickerson, director of Culinary Crossroads, said Hilton’s victory helps Indiana stake a claim as “food sports capital of America.”

“It’s exciting to see when an investment brings in returns, such as a Hoosier actually being crowned as the world champion,” Dickerson said. “It’s a performance bonus that you love to have. And, as they say, if you don’t get into the game, you’re not going to have a chance to win it.”

Before arriving in Indianapolis, the World Food Championships had been staged in Las Vegas; Dallas; Kissimmee, Florida; and the Gulf Shores region of Alabama. Dickerson said Hilton’s win can provide a bump to the October event.

“I think it bodes well for consumer awareness and attendance,” Dickerson said. “I think folks will take a look at it and see where there are opportunities to invest in sponsorships and underwriting.”

Unlikely competitor

When Dickerson talks about the chance to “get into the game,” he might as well be speaking directly to Hilton. In fact, it would have been completely reasonable for Hilton to miss his chance to be a World Food Championships competitor.

Hilton, 37, said he stumbled into the realm of culinary showdowns last September, when a fellow chef asked for assistance leading up to a local event titled “The Perfect Bite.”

“He asked if I would help him by being a sous chef. I said, ‘Yeah, 100%.’ But I didn’t think anything of it, because I didn’t have to plan anything,” Hilton said.

A scheduling conflict prevented the other chef from attending the event, but he yielded his spot and a commitment to make 200 noodle bites to Hilton. “The Perfect Bite’s” status as a qualifier for the World Food Championships was unknown to Hilton, who agreed to step in and proceeded to outduel 19 other chefs in an audience vote.

“It was kind of a crash course into the whole thing,” Hilton said. “I had no idea what the World Food Championships were prior to that night. People said, ‘Oh, congratulations, you got a ‘golden ticket.’ Way to go. We’ll see you in a month.’”

Paramount Brookside school, which served as the venue for “The Perfect Bite,” has become more significant to Hilton in recent weeks because his 5-year-old daughter will enroll there as a kindergarten student this fall.

Mike Cunningham, founder and CEO of Cunningham Restaurant Group, said Hilton doesn’t have a showy persona.

“His disposition is really suitable for our company,” Cunningham said. “There’s not a lot of hyper energy. For folks who like the intense TV chef who’s screaming like Gordon Ramsey, that’s not reality, and that’s not something we’re interested in. Collin is calm and knowledgeable and skillful, and that’s kind of how we operate. The fit has been really great.”

Hilton said prescribed assignments helped him to succeed in the World Food Championships setting. The first challenge in Arkansas was based on creating an entree from ingredients selected at a Sam’s Club location, while the second was based on sampling and then replicating a dish the chefs tasted at a restaurant.

“I thrive with parameters,” Hilton said. “If you say, ‘Make good food,’ I don’t know where to begin. But if you say, ‘Make good food that’s pizza and in this location,’ I can run with it.”

Hilton essentially completed the pizza assignment for Shin Dig, a Cunningham restaurant that opened last October at 1351 Roosevelt Ave. in the North Mass District. Cunningham Restaurant Group is made up of 18 concepts, including the perennially praised Vida and Livery eateries.

Sharing his skills

Hilton is part of Cunningham’s corporate culinary team that’s led by Carl Chambers, vice president of culinary services and innovation. Chambers, Hilton and other members of the team are headquartered at the company’s Test Kitchen in downtown Indianapolis and aren’t assigned to a specific restaurant.

Mike Cunningham said Hilton’s chef de cuisine role is focused on research and development.

“He is responsible for menu development and menu changes at all of the different concepts,” Cunningham said. “For some concepts, menus change four times a year. For other concepts, it’s twice a year. There’s a calendar and a schedule that Collin is responsible for.”

Members of the corporate culinary team are sometimes recruited for community-building projects. In 2024, Chambers, Hilton and pastry chef Joni Manes worked with students at the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Laura Alvarado, CEO of the Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation, said the school is planning an adaptive kitchen and culinary arts program for youth who are blind or have low vision.

“Putting something on the stovetop can be somewhat scary for any kid,” said Alvarado, whose foundation financially supports the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. “If you have a child who is blind or low-vision, it can be even scarier because you’re not quite sure where all those things are in [relation] to your body.”

Alvarado said Chambers, Hilton and Manes—who served as Hilton’s sous chef during his World Food Championships run—taught students to prepare food ranging from spaghetti to cupcakes.

Although Hilton said he entered the monthly sessions with apprehension because of his lack of teaching experience, he heaped praise on the students.

“They’re curious, they’re tenacious, they’re adventurous, and they go for it,” Hilton said. “It was awesome.”

Alvarado said she’s hopeful the relationship between Cunningham Restaurant Group and the school will continue.

“I knew from the first moment in the first cooking class that we were going to have no issues,” Alvarado said. “They were eager to learn alongside our students, and vice versa. To me, that really unifies us.”

Key ingredients

To win the noodle category last November, Hilton prepared cappelletti pasta made with buckwheat and achiote, stuffed with honey and parmesan cream and served with a chicken meatball and complemented by brown butter and koginut squash puree.

Hilton said that dish, which yielded a $10,000 prize, centered on the koginut squash—a hybrid winter squash that’s a cross between the butternut and kabocha varieties.

In Indianapolis, Hilton said the flavorful koginut isn’t easy to find. He buys the squash at downtown’s Whole Foods grocery store.

Then he tries to stay out of the ingredient’s way.

“As a chef, the hardest thing is to not manipulate something,” Hilton said. “You want to have respect for an ingredient, because this is one of those ingredients that’s so good on its own.”

At the “Final Table” competition in Arkansas, Hilton and sous chef Manes were accompanied by fellow Cunningham culinary team member Kristi Feichtinger.

For the “Retail Gourmet” challenge focused on Sam’s Club items, Hilton prepared pan-seared salmon in romesco sauce.

A red flag appeared when one of the competition’s judges said he had an aversion to salmon because the fish is so commonly overcooked. Fortunately, Hilton’s salmon received high marks.

“Salmon is so delicate and has such a short window of where it’s good,” Hilton said. “It’s really easy to dry the whole thing out. If anybody’s looking for a suggestion, err on the undercooked side for salmon.”

Hilton’s “Final Table” win gives him automatic entry for October’s World Food Championships event, where he’s chosen vegetarian as his category.

“It was a cool experience meeting all of these people, and it challenges you in ways you don’t get in the restaurant setting,” he said of his first World Food Championships experience. “I probably think more fondly of it because I won. I am going to go back. It’s not trying to ‘defend the title’ or anything like that, but I’ll be delighted if they want to give me a check again.”•