Chef of the Year 2009: Alex Pallatt, The Fox & Hounds, Eggesford, Devon

The Fox & Hounds is a major local wedding venue, hotel restaurant and bar. It is situated in the heart of Devon where a variety of local produce is readily available. Head chef Alex Pallatt joined the team in 2007 after a career in the restaurant business.

The daily menu features classic English food, something the locals almost insist upon. The venue caters for a wide variety of customers, with best-selling items including steak & kidney pie, made using traditional suet, and a ribeye steak from a small Exmoor farm. Event menus include hog roasts and lobster platters.

Almost all the food comes from within a 12-mile radius. Pallatt, 29, works with local farmers and regularly visits them at their farms. He believes that paying suppliers on time is essential for maintaining good relationships.

Most of the suppliers eat at the pub and are invited to theme nights or barbecues. Pallatt has stuck loyally to his best suppliers, even when they have changed ownership, so long as they have been able to prove that standards can be maintained.

Pallatt has changed the food at the Fox & Hounds from being primarily frozen fare to fresh. He has also improved standards and consistency. New menus were introduced and are changed quarterly with the seasons.

Hog roasts and jazz evenings are new additions to the events diary as well as super clubs, offering five courses aimed at food lovers.

Pallatt controls a small team and leads by example rather than by diktat. He has nevertheless had a huge impact on the Fox & Hounds, managing both upwards and downwards. Today's menus are composed of fresh, local produce and final decisions are made by himself and the senior management.

Pallatt has built in a safeguard to ensure that locals - who strongly favour quality, traditional English produce - get what they want. He lives outside the immediate area, so he always makes sure that staff and management who live locally get the chance to veto any menu suggestions not thought to be to the locals' taste.

Finally, Pallatt never stands still, and is always coming up with ideas to improve the food offer. These include technological improvements to the kitchen as well as experimental cooking methods and new smoking and storage facilities.

As a result, the Fox & Hounds, a remote venue, has survived and prospered and is a far better place with him than it might have been otherwise.