Pub food winners praise teams

The winners of last night's Great British Pub Food Awards in London hailed the hard work of their teams after receiving their accolades.

Eighteen winners were announced including individual chefs, teams and company titles.

Paul Salisbury, managing director of Lovely Pubs who picked up the Special Achievement award, paid tribute to his team.

"I am very pleased to have won the Special Achievement award, but I think a huge thank you goes to the people who work for me," said Salisbury. "We couldn't have done it without them."

When asked how pub food has changed since he entered the business, he said: "Our first business was so basic and now we are doing things that I never thought we would do.

"In the future, pub food can only get better and better. There needs to be more emphasis on quality, less emphasis on value and I think we need better trained staff. People will spend money where there is quality."

Ed Martin​

London based gastropub company ETM Group took the gong for Food Operator of the Year (unbranded). Co-owner Ed Martin also hailed his team: "I think our success is down to the whole team at ETM Group. We have established a great brand and built a whole team. They have really put all the work into it and we've got here today because of all of them.

"I think the secret to success is believing in your team and knowing that they are behind you doing everything that you ask them to."

Jean-Philippe Bidart​

Meanwhile, French chef Jean-Philippe Bidart of the Milbrook Inn, South Pool, Devon, was awarded the coveted title of Pub Chef of the Year 2011 and won the team category with commis chef Georgia Johnson. He vowed to continue training his chefs and strengthening his team.

"Being Pub Chef of the Year is a very good accolade and very surprising, but at the end of the day we did work hard for it," he said.

"My team is very important. I have trained my commis chef for the last 18 months from scratch and she has got some confidence."I think success is down to a very good partnership.

"We are in a small village, not on the main road. People come to us because they do like our food — we are starting to make a name for ourselves."