This Monday saw the 25th anniversary of the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards held at The Grosvenor House Hotel London. Coined the ‘Oscars’ of the chef world, the awards celebrate excellence across the industry. This year’s awards ceremony was particularly special as it marked a quarter century of these prestigious accolades. The night began in style with the champagne and canapés as guests circulated the Grosvenor House mezzanine level overlooking the impressive Great Room, catching-up with old friends and new. As a leading food and drink agency we were there in force with invites from both Dewberry Redpoint and client McCormick.

As ever, Jellybean Creative the leading foodservice marketing agency were there to support the awards and report back for the Jellybean blog.

The team at the Grosvenor House had the unenviable task of catering for some of the leading chefs in the country on a grand scale (quite an ask) but they did us proud with a delicious four course dinner followed by port and cheese and of course coffee and petit fours. Then it was on to the focus of the night the awards themselves…a drum roll please for the winners…

• International Chef Award – Alain Ducasse
• Apprentice Chef Award – John Howarth, CH&Co
• Armed Services Chef Award – WO1 Christopher Marsden, 167 Catering Support Regiment
• Banqueting & Event Chef Award – Allan Blackmore, Levy Restaurants
• Chef Lecturer Award – Anthony Wright, University College Birmingham
• Competition Chef Award – Cpl Liam Grime, Royal Air Force
• Contract Catering Chef Award – David Ward, Sodexo
• Development Chef Award – Chris Dickinson, Pan’Artisan Ltd
• Innovation Award – Silo Brighton
• New Restaurant of The Year Award – Clare Symth, Core by Clare Smyth
• Pastry Chef Award – Simon Jenkins, S&L Patisserie
• People’s Choice Award – Stephen Frost, Sodexo
• Pub Restaurant Chef Award – Robert Allcock, The Long Arms
• Public Sector Chef Award – Lisa Normanton, North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
• Restaurant Chef Award – Hrishikesh Desai, Gilpin Hotel & Lake House
• World Cuisine Chef Award – Weng Han Wong, Min Jiang Restaurant
• Young Chef Award – Faye De Souza, Restaurant Associations
• Special Award – Chef Angela Hartnett

Well done to all the finalists and winners, as well as the night’s sponsors; including our clients Essential Cuisine, McCormick Flavour Solutions and Pure South; Dewberry Redpoint and the Craft Guild themselves. Another fabulous awards, here’s to the next 25!

 

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