Fans of Culinary Class Wars will tell you that the stakes are high on the Netflix competitive cooking series. But with a third-season renewal, the show is raising the stakes even higher with a full-scale overhaul of its format.
Next season, chefs must enter the competition as four-person teams representing a single restaurant, according to the official announcement from Netflix. Team members should already be working together at the same establishment, or they can be from across multiple locations within the same brand. Individuals and teams formed across different establishments are not eligible.
This is a significant departure from Culinary Class Wars’ first two seasons, both of which saw individual Black Spoons (a.k.a. chefs still making their way through the F&B industry) and White Spoons (a.k.a. already established chefs) competing for the prize of 300 million Korean won (roughly P12 million).
Although the show has included several group-based challenges in the past — most notably Season 2’s high-pressure “All or Nothing” battle that pitted Black Spoons against White Spoons — this new format sees the show pivoting towards “a collective fight for pride, reputation, and survival,” according to Netflix.
Since its first season aired in 2024, Culinary Class Wars has topped Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English Show rankings. Season 3 will be produced once again by Studio Slam, reuniting the show’s original creative team, including producer Kim Eun-ji and writer Mo Eun-seol. “We’ll do our best to deliver an even more exciting format and entertainment that lives up to expectations,” said Kim of the show’s third season.
Applications for Season 3 are currently open via Netflix Korea’s social channels.
