Whitbread crowns kitchens of the year
Two Whibread kitchen teams are celebrating their success in the company's Kitchen of the Year contest.
The winners came from the Brewers Fayre at Moseley Park, near Wolverhampton, and a Beefeater outlet, the Woolpack near Ashford.
The pubs were among 12 teams, six from each brand, which took part in the culinary competition held at Unilever Foodsolutions' Innovation Centre in Crawley yesterday, Wednesday May 23..
Each pub submitted a potential recipe for the menu as part of Whitbread's Kitchen of Excellence programme.
Jim McGuire, executive development chef Whitbread, said: "This inaugural competition was created because, as a business, Whitbread are passionate about delivering real food to real customers. It is our kitchen teams up and down the country that are at the heart of our culinary success and we feel it is important we have a platform from which to recognise and reward their achievements.
"I am delighted with the level of enthusiasm and skill demonstrated by the competing teams - the standard of food coming out of the kitchens has been extremely high throughout."
Each kitchen team consisted of general manager, kitchen manager and head chef, challenged to create a dish chosen by the judges, as well as their own winning recipe entry and a dessert made from a box of mystery ingredients.
The judging panel comprised of Whitbread's Jim McGuire, executive development chef, Simon Ewins and Richard Edwards, operations directors, restaurants; Ray Lorimer, executive chef and culinary controller Unilever Foodsolutions; and Eyck Zimmer, executive head chef at the Lowry, Manchester and winner of Knorr National Chef of the Year 2006.
Ray Lorimer said: "We recognise the important role that culinary competitions play in raising standards and promoting chefmanship and excellence in the industry so we were delighted to support Whitbread by hosting their Kitchen of the Year event at our Innovation Centre."
Christian Ender from the Brewers Fayre at Applecart near Didcot scooped a special Outstanding Achievement award for his performance during the competition.
Brewers Fayre Winners:
- 1st Moseley Park, near Wolverhampton; 2nd Applecart, near Didcot; 3rd Telford Lodge, near Kettering
Beefeater Winners: 1
- st Woolpack, Ashford; 2nd Griff House, Nuneaton; 3rd Longford House, Cannock
