Time for (Unsung) Heroes
In the plump file named ‘things that foodservice does well’ – you’ll find, among myriad other examples, evidence of an industry like no other when it comes to honouring unsung heroes, be they young, up-and-coming chefs, charity workers, mentors or otherwise.
Last Thursday evening the tradition continued in some style with the annual Cost Sector Catering Awards – a chance to meet, eat, drink and marvel at some of the fine work done by in-house or contract caterers working in healthcare, schools, government departments, meals on wheels and welfare, prison catering, police, fire and MoD, as well as on-board travel catering.
The ceremony, organised by our friends at publishing house Dewberry Redpoint and held at the Hilton London Metropole, was packed to the rafters with the great and good of the industry, including a delegation of Jellybeans (actual collective noun) keen to mark the biggest night in the cost sector calendar.
With pre-dinner emceeing duties overseen by Dewberry Redpoint’s Andrew Archer, comedian Paul Sinha took the stage, following some fantastic food, to gee the room into an appreciative awards frenzy.
Headline moments came with Age UK chairman Dianne Jeffrey CBE, who has led both the Malnutrition Task Force and the Hospital Food Standards Panel in recent years, who was honoured with the Public Sector Lifetime Achievement Award (sponsored by our good friends at Hobart UK) while Geoffrey Harrison, the chairman and founder of Harrison Catering, received the equivalent Contract Catering gong.
All in all a fantastic night in which we were privileged to share. A night of unsung heroes. Well done to Dewberry Redpoint on another rather marvellous bunfight.
Follow this link for a full list of winners and a video from the night, click here.