Oak View Group Executive Chef Mapa crowned Tampa Epic Chef champion

Making food at Benchmark International Arena means more than fried food and quick meals, and Marvilou Mapa has the hardware to prove it.

Mapa, executive chef for Oak View Group at Benchmark International Arena and the Tampa Bay Lightning, was crowned the champion of Tampa’s 2025 Epic Chef competition in July.

The competition, organized by Feeding Tampa Bay, is an annual bout in which local culinary experts compete while highlighting the talents, cultures and foods of the Tampa Bay area.

Mapa claimed the 2025 title, which was accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize.

“The best part for me is taking the win home because usually the stigma of being an arena chef is arena food, fried food and all this stuff. Which is totally not true,” Mapa said. “I think I’ve used more great, quality products and put out more quality food in the arena than I have in my entire career, and I think the competition should show that our food in the arena is just the same or maybe even better than the restaurants around us.”

Shannon Hannon Oliviero, director of public affairs for Feeding Tampa Bay, called Mapa “the total package”, adding that this year was the first time in contest history that two women faced one another in the final—Mapa edged Angel Gaston of Rooster & the Till for the title.

“I think also what impacts is not only what is prepared, but the stories that people tell, the reason they're inspired,” Oliviero said. “It's art. It's more than a dish on a table. And I think with both of the ladies in the finals, that really showed through. But with Marvilou, I think it was really the total package of it all, from what I experienced in the room. So it's the art of it.”

Area chefs apply saying why they hope to participate in the Epic Chef competition, and six are chosen to compete in a kickoff round that sees them craft a dish for 300 public guests. Those guests vote on their favorites, and the top four chefs move on to battle similar to the television show ‘Chopped’, in which they must incorporate certain ingredients to make a dish.

Mapa was originally chosen to compete in 2024, but work obligations forced her to withdraw her application. When the chance arose again in 2025, she had to go for it.

In one round, Mapa navigated combining shrimp and Jolly Rancher candies, which she’d never tasted before.

Another dish saw her utilize white chocolate as well as duck. She paired a wine and chocolate reduction with seared duck as well as green garnishes and citrus. Her final dish required fried tilapia with canned peas.

Homages to home and finding Tampa

Mapa became the first woman to hold the role of executive chef for the Lightning.

“My most favorite part as the chef in the arena is our fans, our guests, are so diverse that I get to cook different type of cuisine. If you're a restaurant chef of a steakhouse, you're only stuck doing a steakhouse menu, you know? In the arena, there's so many food outlets, different types of people, different types of concepts that we get as a chef, so we don't get bored doing the same things all the time,” Mapa said. “And obviously, regardless of how long the day is, when you hear that score buzzer and the cheer of the crowd, it's pretty amazing. It kind of takes away how hard a day might have been.”

She was born in the Philippines, where she lived in a home beneath the restaurant owned by her mother. She was constantly surrounded by good food, the aromas of cooking and customer experience.

She pursued hospitality management in college and landed an internship in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. At 18 years old, she moved to the U.S. to begin her own journey in the culinary world.

Five years later she took her first full-time job as a sous chef before eventually moving to Cleveland, where she worked across the street from the home arena for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. She catered some of their events and was there for the 2016 championship run. Mapa took a short stint as a banquet chef in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin before ditching winter for the Tampa warmth and the NHL.

When Mapa first moved to Tampa in April 2023, she noticed a job posting for a suites chef at the Lightning’s home arena, and fate took over from there.

Her interview with the arena included cooking a five-course meal, and the staff was so impressed they made changes to make room for Mapa. Suddenly she was cooking meals for the players, becoming the first woman in team history to be given the responsibility.

“After the interview with them they kind of realized that because of my banquet chef experience I was more suited to be the catering chef in the arena, whose main responsibility is to feed the players,” Mapa said. “So that was pretty cool.”

Then about a year ago, Mapa was promoted to the executive chef role, a job in which she oversees every food process within Benchmark International Arena.

As executive chef, Mapa oversees all food production ranging from arena concessions to external vendors such as Outback Steakhouse and Papa John’s as well as ensuring all in-house cooks and chefs follow guidelines.

“People ask me, ‘Is it demanding?’ It’s like managing a restaurant with 19,000 seats. That’s a busy restaurant,” she said.

Mapa’s day begins with greeting her staff in the morning before checking emails to check for any pertinent needs before attempting to get to each kitchen in the arena to ensure they are set for whatever game, event or concert is approaching. Oftentimes when the Lightning play, her day requires 12 to 14 hours of work.

“I try to be here from the beginning, and I do not leave until at least the last meal of the day is served, which is the players’ post-game meal.”

Her self-described best meal is a Filipino dish called sisig. Her version utilizes marinated pork belly that gets grilled and is then sautéed with garlic, onions and chilis before being served in a sizzling plate with rice and an egg on top.

With her $10,000 winnings, Mapa plans to travel home to visit her father in the Philippines next offseason.

Between now and then will be another season of helping to feed some of the NHL’s best players and thousands of others within the walls of Benchmark International Arena. All of it makes Mapa proud.

“The coolest part of being there first off was I was not just the first woman chef for the team, but I'm also the first woman executive chef in the whole history of the arena, which is pretty cool. For so long women could not thrive in the culinary world because it’s a male dominated world. I salute all the chefs that trained me, and all my mentors were men and I’m very, very grateful for everything that I’ve learned from them,” she said.

“But it was just something to be proud of. I’m an immigrant from the Philippines. I left home at 18, didn’t know anybody in the U.S,” Mapa continued. “Now 15 years later, I land a pretty cool job. I am one of 32 executive chefs for the whole NHL. For me, it’s a big achievement in my career, and I am very grateful to have this job.”