Neil Rippington is Elected as a Fellow of The International Institute of Hotel Management
In recognition of Neil’s contribution to the international hospitality community, he has been awarded the title of ‘Fellow of the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM), alongside membership of the ‘IIHM International College of Distinguished Fellows.’
A virtual convocation ceremony, held on 10th July 2021, hosted by Dr Suborno Bose, CEO, International Institute of Hotel Management & CEO, International Hospitality Council, Professor David Foskett, MBE, Chairman, International Hospitality Council, London and Ron Scott, International Director, Indismart Group, came together to confer the fellowship of 150 recognised hospitality authorities from around the world.
To shine the light of inspiration, knowledge and experience, the IIHM College of Distinguished Fellows elected recognised dedicated professionals of the hospitality industry to become fellows of IIHM. All of those conferred this honour are recognised for their contribution to the international hospitality industry and now share their knowledge and experience to educate future generations of hospitality professionals across the world.
Professor David Foskett, MBE, opened the convocation ceremony stating:
“Each of those felicitated with this Fellowship has led us through the darkness of the pandemic and now, finally the dawn is breaking, bring much hope for the future.”
Celebrity Chef, Padma Sanjeev Kapoor added:
“This is a momentous occasion where the stars of the hospitality industry are inducted as Fellows of IIHM. This is the time for shared learning and there could be no other better way than inducting such experts and stalwarts of the industry as Fellows of the IIHM International College of Distinguished Fellows.’
Dr Suborno Bose, CEO, International Institute of Hotel Management & CEO, International Hospitality Council further commented:
“We are sure that these iconic leaders will shine the guiding light and provide great inspiration to young people and future generations who look to join our industry.”
The vision for the IIHM International College of Distinguished Fellows membership is to create an influential group of experts, conferred as Fellows of IIHM. The key objective of the College is to proactively create and support students and the academic community. This will, in turn, enhance the educational and career aspirations of students and graduates of the hospitality industry through the inspirational leadership of the distinguished fellows.
Following the ceremony, Neil said:
“It is such a privilege to accept the award as Fellow of the International Institute of Hotel Management. My sincere thanks to Dr Bose, Professor David Foskett, Ron Scott, all the distinguished staff in India and to colleagues throughout the world for inviting me into your community and allowing me to make my contribution to assist you with the educational mission and projects you carry out for the good of all.
It has been my honour and a true pleasure to meet and work with the incredible global network IIHM has built. I feel humbled to have had this opportunity; it has been life-changing and provided some very special and cherished memories.
The relentless work of IHHM, its energy and enthusiasm is an example to the world.”
The Chefs’ Forum teams up with Warwickshire College Group and Pidy Gourmet for Game Fair Garden Party
We are excited to be working with Warwickshire College Group to stage a VIP garden party at The Game Fair.
The purpose of the garden party is to offer college group stakeholders the chance to see first-hand the wonderful garden that was designed and created by students for Pershore and Moreton Morrell campuses, alongside local landscaping company, Gardens of Reflection and other local partner businesses.
Local MPs, Chairs of the Local Enterprise Partnership and heads of the Chambers of Commerce, as well as college governors and advisory board members have all been invited to see first-hand, the ground-breaking skills and techniques being taught on horticulture, landscaping, floristry and blacksmithing within Warwickshire College Group.
Mark Whittaker, WCG Head of Marketing said,
“We are delighted to be working with The Chefs’ Forum to provide an exquisite range of high-quality canapés to our guests. The menu offered fits very well with the standards of the show garden installation, chiming with the values of sustainability and wildlife in terms of the ingredients selected. It is great to be able to give students the opportunity to showcase their skills, while entertaining our VIP guests.”
The garden showcases several ways of working smartly in a garden environment including use of technology, environmental sustainability, maximisation of space, as well as mitigating climate change.
The 30 x 17 metre garden, made up for four quads includes features such as solar power, vertical farming, a wild flower meadow and a rainwater garden.
Catering students from colleges across the UK will be assembling and serving the canapés and working with the new range of pastry cases that has just been launched by top pastry supplier, Pidy Gourmet.
The Chefs’ Forum Culinary Lead and Director of Education, Neil Rippington has designed the canapé menu to showcase the very best suppliers and offer a true taste of summer.
Guests can look forward to
- 1 x Wild venison carpaccio – Curtis Pitts Deer Services
- 1 x Foie Royale (the ethical alternative to Foie Gras), British (local) cherry gel (sustainable and ethical duck/goose liver terrine) served in a Selection by Pidy tartlet case.
- 1 x vegan canape (Koppert Cress, showcasing sustainable microgreens and micro cress)
- 1 x British (local) strawberry and cream Pidy tartlet
The party will give much needed, real-world, work experience to the college students after months of being able to get out into the industry.
Pidy’ s new range of tartlet cases has been specially developed for the foodservice market using neutral sweet and chocolate shortcrust pastry with a plant-based coating that does not contain palm oil which helps the cases stay crispier for longer.
The garden party, which will be held at Ragley Hall on the 23rd July, will also showcase Curtis Pitts venison, Foie Royale, Koppert Cress as well as the new premium pastry range of tartlets from Pidy.
The Chefs’ Forum’s Catherine Farinha said
“It is great to be able to add value to Warwickshire College Group’s garden party to welcome stakeholders to admire and experience their beautiful show garden. Our Chefs’ Forum Academy students will be able to get valuable work experience of catering a high-end VIP event at such a prestigious event as The Game Fair.”
The Future of Asian Kitchens Seminar in Partnership with Rational
The Chefs’ Forum in association with Rational presents The Future of Asian Kitchens Seminar on the 21st July, from 11am-1pm.
The free-to-attend seminar is open to all Asian restaurateurs, chefs, caterers, kitchen planners and designers and will be particularly useful for future planning and for addressing the challenges and opportunities currently facing the Asian dining sector.
Hosted by The Chefs Forum’s Director of Education, Neil Rippington, the seminar will explore current topics affecting all elements of the Asian culinary sector. In particular the following topics will be discussed:
- Natasha’s Law and allergens – Are you ready?
- Technology
- Healthy menu options and plant-based alternatives
- Waste Reduction and Sustainability
- Tomorrow’s Asian kitchens
- The next generation – Future Staffing and Training Requirements
Neil Rippington said:
“The Chefs Forum’s Future of Asian Kitchens Seminar will look at all issues listed in the points above, alongside others, in a wide-ranging analysis of the Asian restaurant sector and the challenges it faces.
“Plus, there must be a new way of thinking in terms of waste reduction, sustainability and technology, at the same time as respecting time-honoured recipes and cooking styles.”
Neil will be joined by a star-studded panel made up of the following experts:
Uddin – Founder of ARON and Chef Patron of Bombay Express
Dipna Anand – Celebrity Chef and Owner of Brilliant Restaurant, Southall
Will Bowlby – Chef Patron, Kricket, London
Raymond Chu – Chef Patron Grand Village Imperial, Bicester
Anand George – Chef Patron, Purple Poppadom, Cardiff
Munayam Khan – Chef Patron – Lasan and Raja Monkey, Birmingham
Arbinder Duggal – Progressive Indian Cuisine – Roux Scholarship Finalist and Masterchef: The Professionals 2019 Semi-Finalist
This is the third in a series of sector specific seminars in association with The Chefs’ Forum to gain valuable market insight to fine-tune Rational’s approach to servicing stakeholders, tailor-made to their individual requirements.
Adam Knights, Marketing Director, Rational UK comments,
“Rational is the Chef’s company and as such we strive to understand the many modern challenges facing hospitality, to provide efficient solutions via our cooking systems, training, and support. We partnered with Rehan Uddin, founder of the Asian Restaurant Owners Network to produce our first Expert Chef online webinar showcasing how Rational cooking systems have supported Rehan in achieving his progressive kitchen goals. Our hope is that the Future of Asian Kitchens seminar will continue to inspire, provoke debate and provide new ideas to the challenges everyone is currently facing.”
Rehan is delighted to be supporting Rational and The Chefs’ Forum as lead panellist in this event to bring together progressive Asian chefs and current ambassadors of modern Asian cuisine.
He said:
“At my restaurant, Bombay Express in Torquay, it’s all about reducing the need for manual labour intensity and increasing speed, consistency and output. Having adopted the latest iKitchen technology from Rational in my restaurant, I can wholeheartedly say that it delivers top-end precision cooking in record time. This has reduced the need for a large kitchen team and that has helped me overcome the current staff shortage.”
The rise of Asian dining in the UK
Dipna Anand has appeared on Saturday Morning with James Martin five times this year and she’ll be appearing again in October, further proving that progressive Asian cuisine is becoming extremely popular among the nation’s avid foodies, further demonstrating the need for greater support of this vibrant culinary sector.
She said:
“I am thrilled to be taking part in this seminar as it is a great opportunity for me to discuss new trends and ways in which we can enhance the future of the Asian restaurant sector.
“I’m in the process of publishing my third book which is all about the delicious Indian recipes I created during lockdown. Time away from work gave me time to spend on menu development and innovative flavour combinations that give traditional Indian recipes a modern twist.
“Brilliant Restaurant in Southhall has been around since 1975. However, we have always moved with the times and embraced current cooking styles but always building on the foundation laid down by my grandfather in Kenya.”
Delegates can register FREE to attend the virtual event on the 21st July between 11-1pm by emailing: catherine@redcherry.uk.com
“Guest” Chef Arbinder Dugal Sells Out £105 Tasting Menu Pop Up in Maldon Brasserie
He got to the final of The Roux Scholarship, worked for Sat Bains and was a semi finalist on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2019.
Last year he designed the menu at new restaurant Attawa in Dalston and this year, through the aches and pains of lockdown, he’s continuing his rise to the top of modern Indian cuisine by selling out a pop-up at Dante’s Brasserie in Maldon.
Arbinder Dugal is certainly a chef to watch, especially if you are interested in interpretations of Indian food created by and young and imaginative chef who has had the courage to compete at the highest levels.
The evening, which costs £105, is a showcase for the young Indian chef from the Punjab and runs from the 13-15th July.
He calls his distinctive style Progressive Indian and yet his roots were humble but he credits growing up with a tandoor in his back yard and a mother who was a huge influence on his cooking.
He said: “Becoming a chef was my biggest passion since childhood. Being Punjabi, we think of food all the time and the inspiration behind this was my mom who makes awesome food at home and we had a Tandoor in the backyard it kept me busy with experiments both big and small!”
So, what are guests so excited about? Well, for starters the menu is interesting and sure to be popular.
Maldon Oyster
Five spice gooseberry compote, coriander oil
Quinoa and Beetroot
Heritage beetroot, multi seed quinoa chaat, beetroot and quinoa crisp, beetroot ketchup, yoghurt foam
Chalkstream Trout
Charcoal mi cuit, black salt buttermilk, Kachumber crispy chicken skin
Lamb
Mint & coriander crusted lamb rump, pressed lamb shoulder, corn purée, Asian ratatouille, green peppercorn korma
Sorbet
Tamarind and mango compote
Miso Mousse
White chocolate, textures of walnut, milk crumbs & brown butter ice cream.
Make School Food Self Sufficient by Growing It
It’s not a new idea but it is gaining in popularity and is not as unachievable as it sounds. Alice Waters had a similar idea in California in 1995 which went on to great success.
So, what is stopping our schools from having a “grow it, dig it up and eat it” culture where the children are taught the idea as part of the curriculum and get to become keen growers and cooks as a result?
The answer to that question is that nothing is stopping it apart from a will to achieve it. But a step in the right direction is a new petition to Government started by self-confessed “life enthusiast” Ian Dunn who has started a campaign called “Self Sufficient Schools”
He told The Chefs’ Forum:
“Our petition to the government is currently open on Change.org: Make school food-growing and self-sufficiency a dedicated national curriculum subject.
“I’m a parent on mission, my petition calls for school food growing and self sufficiency to be a dedicated subject area of the national curriculum. Self-sufficiency includes learning to cook, use knives correctly, understand hygiene etc., pretty much everything I learned in City & Guilds 706/1 Chefs Certificate. It is time for schools to teach ‘relevant life-skills for healthy, sustainable futures.”
“All schools have space for growing food, such as vegetables, herbs, salad and fruit. With innovative techniques such as vertical gardening, even the edges of a playground can become an allotment. The more space available the larger the potential impact on education, children’s health and school finances. Smaller schools (with no fields or green space) may seem unlikely gardens, but walls, raised beds, roofs and planters can make a huge difference
“The most economical way to provide lunch for children is to cut-out all the middlemen. To grow the produce on-site, then simply pull it from the ground, prepare it in the school kitchen and eat it! The children can do that and learn at the same time.
Find out more here: https://selfsufficientschools.co.uk or follow @vegschoolmeals on twitter.
GREAT BRITISH MENU’S STUART COLLINS TO JUDGE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BIRMINGHAM COMPETITION
A BBC Great British Menu champion is to judge a new competition at University College Birmingham – in tribute to former principal Eddie McIntyre CBE and designed to inspire young chefs as the industry recovers from the pandemic.
Stuart Collins, who won the TV series’ Central Region, will judge the Eddie McIntyre Award Student Chef Recipe Challenge, open to students on University College Birmingham’s NVQ in Professional Cookery college course – made up of trainees as young as 16.
Eight finalists have now been chosen, with the chance to win an incredible first prize of a five-day stage at The Ritz, London, working with acclaimed executive chef John Williams MBE and his team. The winner will also receive a cheque for £250.
The grand final will take place on Wednesday, July 7th at University College Birmingham’s training kitchens at the Summer Row campus.
Crucially, Stuart, who owns Docket No. 33 as featured in the Michelin Guide and made the last two in the starter category of the Great British Menu finals, himself trained at University College Birmingham 20 years ago and hopes to show students that the industry can not only recover, but thrive, post-pandemic.
“It’s been tough for the industry, but students should stay positive, focused and excited about their future,” said Stuart, who has worked for Michael Caines MBE and Gordon Ramsay and wowed Great British Menu judges with dishes celebrating scientific innovators, from Stephen Hawking to Edgar Hooley, the man who invented tarmac. “As the industry opens up, we hope there will many opportunities to explore.”
Stuart will be spending the whole day in the city as he also travels to friend and fellow Great British Menu contestant, Liam Dillon’s restaurant The Boat Inn, in Lichfield. Stuart and Liam, also a University College Birmingham alumnus, will be going head-to-head again as they each cook three courses for a friendly competition where guests get to pick the winning chef.
Stuart said: “Collaboration and a little friendly competition is a great way to stay on your feet in the industry and constantly keep learning. I’m really excited to be back in the city and working alongside Liam and meeting some of the thriving new chefs from University College Birmingham.”
The Student Chef Recipe Challenge is the first Eddie McIntyre Award, paying homage to University College Birmingham’s former head, who passed away after a long illness last October. Eddie was not only the youngest principal of a UK further education college when he took charge, but was an award-winning chef himself.
Eddie’s wife, Wendy, said: “Eddie would have been delighted, over the moon that this is happening in his name. He was very much for giving kids a good start in life while doing something they loved, and was particularly passionate about giving young people from the local area the chance to gain good employment and move up the career ladder. He would be very proud.”
Chef lecturer and year manager Alan Oliver, who is organising the competition with Birmingham College of Food’s new head of external relations, John Penn, said it was a great way to honour Eddie’s memory. “Eddie was widely known and loved by those in the industry, but, sadly, due to Covid restrictions, his funeral was limited to close family only,” he said.
“This is a small way to pay our respects to an incredibly talented, big-spirited, big-hearted man who was such a positive influence on the university and the development of our Birmingham College of Food. The competition itself is based on the foundation of Eddie’s beliefs and overriding principles, namely promoting and providing an equal and a fair opportunity for all with the ambition and commitment to succeed.”
The first, paper-entry part of the competition tasked students with producing a recipe suited to the lunch menu at the on-site training restaurant, Restaurant at Birmingham College of Food, which is open to the public and holds an AA Highly Commended College Rosette.
It needed to focus on good flavour combinations and, where possible, students had to use seasonal, local, British produce with ingredients costing no more than £6. In the final, the chefs will have to prepare, cook and serve two mystery dishes. The first will be the same with a recipe supplied, the second will test skill and knowledge of pastry, creating a dish with no recipe.
Second prize is a cheque for £175, third prize, £75. All finalists will receive a personalised chef’s jacket, Japanese chef knife, and a framed certificate.
The Chefs’ Forum & Rational Synchronise The Education Catering Sector
On Tuesday (24) June, The Chefs’ Forum joined forces with Rational to stage an Education Catering Seminar, live on Zoom. This virtual, free-to-attend, event was open to all school catering managers, chefs, kitchen planners and designers and served to address the challenges and opportunities facing this vitally important sector of the catering industry.
Expertly hosted by Neil Rippington, Director of Education at The Chefs Forum’s, Neil chaired panellists and delegates through this ground-breaking event, which explored current topics affecting all elements of the Education Catering Sector, including:
■ Natasha’s Law and allergens
■ Healthy eating and menu planning
■ Design and technology
■ Waste reduction and sustainability
■ Tomorrow’s kitchens and service operations
■ Developing the next generation of chefs across the sector
The Panel was made up of the following industry experts:
- Phil Rees-Jones – Director of Campus Facilities at Cardiff University and TUCO Ltd., Chair
- Jacquie Blake – LACA Vice Chair and Commercial Operations Manager, Nottingham City Council
- Neil Porter – LACA & Operations Manager, BAM Construct UK
- Brian Turner CBE – Celebrity Chef and Supporter of Chefs Adopt a School
- Holly Charnock – LACA School Chef of the Year and School Chef for Sefton Council
- Kevin Tombs – RATIONAL UK Limited
Following the highly successful event, in which the panel provided attendees with a valuable insight of their sector experience and how they can support the sector going forward, each panellist summarised their experience and evaluation of the event.
Jacquie Blake has worked in the education catering sector for many years. Jacquie is the Vice Chair of LACA, representing over 3,300 organisations providing 3 million lunches in 22,000 schools every day.
Jacquie said,
“Today’s event united all tiers of the education catering sector and established some common ground. Sustainability, good quality food and seasonality are all elements of professional cookery that permeate through pupils’ needs. We play a very important role as caterers, as sometimes the meal we provide is the only hot meal a pupil receives that day, so it must be prepared with all the above elements in mind. All of us have a responsibility to support schools with education around food education with cookery clubs, growing clubs and allergen awareness. In Nottingham Catering, at Nottingham City Council, we often refer to lunch as the ninth lesson of the day!”
LACA School Chef of the Year, Holly Charnock added,
“We find taster pots of new dishes a great way of testing menus on our children. Some are willing to try new things, others less so. We try to encourage pupils to try new foods before saying that they don’t like something. If they try a food and say they don’t like it, we will swap their meal without a fuss. Today we put a taster pot of a new sweet potato, chickpea, and spinach curry on every plate for the children to try and it went down an absolute storm!
In my kitchen, I am very lucky to have both a Rational iVario Pro and iCombi Pro. They were installed two weeks ago and have made a huge difference as all my recipes are now programmed for other team members to recreate at the touch of a button – I wholeheartedly recommend this equipment in busy school kitchens.”
Adam Knights, Marketing Director, Rational UK commented,
“The education catering seminar was a great success, and we are very grateful to the experts who took part. Our goal of working in partnership with The Chefs’ Forum is to provide an ongoing platform for individuals from the education catering sector, who together can make a change for improved education catering standards. It was great to hear that modern kitchen equipment was cited by 67% of delegates as being one of the top expectations from new staff in a kitchen operation. Our team of experts are more than happy to audit existing kitchens and advise on the best possible replacement of outdated equipment with state-of-the art sustainable and timesaving alternatives”
Neil Porter, LACA Business Director added,
“I was delighted to be asked to sit on The Chef’s Forum panel to talk about a very topical subject around what steps we can all take to reduce the carbon footprint in our kitchens. The webinar was very topical, had a great line up of panellists and was very well chaired by Neil Rippington. I was able to share details of a publication I was very fortunate to be involved with called ‘Inspirational Design of Kitchen and Dining Spaces’ which references good design features and sustainability factors.”
Hospitality industry hero Chef Brian Turner was a great asset to the panel. His work with the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and the ‘Chefs Adopt a School’ programme sees some of the industries’ leading chefs visiting schools for the benefit of teaching future generations the importance food and eating as a vital component of life. Brian wants to see development in school menus to make future generations healthier, whilst appreciating the enjoyment of eating as a social experience.
Brian commented,
“Chefs Adopt a School is all about making school children think about food and what they are eating. I was a dinner monitor at school and used to arrive ten minutes early to learn about the menu that day, so I could tell my table about it. I think it would be fantastic to assign this role to year 6 pupils, and maybe even ask them to come twenty minutes early to learn about the provenance of locally sourced ingredients and the reasoning behind the recipes that day so they can explain the menu to their peers at the table.
I’m all for the family approach, togetherness, enjoying food and learning at the same time. It would be great if more chefs could work with school caterers to help them source the best, locally sourced ingredients.”
As caterers in the education sector, we need to produce food in a healthier, more exciting and appealing way, aligned with food service operations that meet the needs and expectations of University and College students and school pupils.
The Chef Shortage Crisis – Yes, Times Really are Bad for Chefs
When a chef tells you that he doesn’t want his name or restaurant to be mentioned in a story about the chef shortage then the situation has reached crisis proportions. His reason: he doesn’t want his customers to think he hasn’t got enough staff to prepare their meal and book somewhere else.
That’s a pretty good reason.
We talked to Chef X yesterday and this is a true story. The restaurant has 8 days to solve its problems. The restaurant has lost its Head Chef, Chef de Parties and some of its Commis as well as servers, Sommelier and assistant General Manager.
The result is that the fine dining restaurant is now looking at cutting the weekday lunch service to once a week and taking the working week to four days. The chefs will only work 3 nights a week. The kitchen will be open on Wednesday for prep during the day. It will then open for dinner on Thursday and then offer lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday.
“We are looking at increasing the wages for our chefs and at the same time cutting their hours. We will make this work by doing 5 stunning services a week. I am hoping that will be enough for me to find staff who really want to work hard for those services and then have enough time off to make the whole thing worth it.
“I am not prepared to give in. I set out to reach a certain standard and I will not compromise on what we offer.
“I have been decimated by walk-outs. Some of whom won’t even work their notice. It all happened so fast. Some have gone for the money. One Chef de Partie has gone to be a Head Chef. He’s not good enough but that didn’t stop him.
“Now it’s just me, my Senior Sous who is incredible. A level 3 student. A Commis who started as a KP. Two Demi Chef de Partie and a Commis recruit that’s not confirmed. And that’s just the kitchen.
“What is so upsetting is that I have not lost any European staff. This is not Brexit. This is just chefs who either don’t want to cook any more or want more money and better titles.”
How bad is it for you. Can we help?
Gourmet Takeaway Launches In Harborne From Ex-Simpsons Chef
The concept is the first of its kind in Birmingham, offering takeaway boxes of exceptional quality food that focus on flavour and seasonality, whilst utilising the precision and technique that Dan learnt under the tutelage of Luke Tipping at Simpsons. The takeout menu will change frequently and will offer lunch, dinner and Sunday Roast options, with boxes starting from £9.95.
The opening menu features crispy glazed chicken with spring onion, chilli, and sesame, and house-made ricotta stuffed courgettes, asparagus salad, and courgette purée. A typical Sunday menu will feature roast chicken served with pomme purée, confit carrots, buttered hispi cabbage, and chicken sauce. Herbs are grown by Dan, and Qbox will be the UK’s first takeaway outfit to sell Difference Coffee; a premium provider used by some of the country’s best restaurants.
Commenting on the launch, Daniel said: “From growing up in Wolverhampton and being taught to cook by my Nan, to our yearly childhood holidays in Southern Italy, I’ve always been surrounded by great food. My time under Luke at Simpsons taught me to respect ingredients and I’m looking forward to bringing that same quality to Harborne High Street”.
To see the first menus, please visit Qboxbirmingham.co.uk and follow @qbox_birmingham on Instagram and stay up to date with the latest additions. QBox can be found on 49 High Street, B17 9NT. Opening hours are Thursday-Saturday 11-9pm and Sunday 10-5pm.
The Chefs’ Forum Nominated for a Top Award
We’re all buzzing at The Chefs’ Forum as our own Neil Rippington has been shortlisted for an Education and Training award at The Catey’s 2021.
The award goes to a professional “who has demonstrated an innovative approach to continuous learning with particular regard to the needs of the hospitality industry in the UK. They will have developed initiatives in training that have added value and demonstrated an ability to adapt to the changing needs of the market.”
The nominees for the award are:
- Peter Brooks, Compass Group UK & Ireland
- Murray Chapman, A Passion to Inspire
- John, Keating, Fairmont St Andrews
- Neil Rippington, The Chefs’ Forum
- Stephanie Robertson, RA Group
We are very proud of what Neil has achieved since he joined us and we feel we have really started to make a difference to the colleges, chefs and students we work with.
Catherine Farinha said:
“I’m so chuffed for Neil. This is real recognition for a true industry star who has dedicated his whole life to education. This week saw the final of The Chefs’ Forum’s Young Pastry Chef of the Year 2021 take place at West London College. Neil, together with Jamie Houghton, President of the UK Pastry Team led a team of judges from the UK’s finest pastry kitchens in the search for the winning student. To see him back in a college environment where he belongs, working with lecturers and students from seven colleges showed all who took part his seamless professionalism and expertise. We are honoured to have Neil as part of our team, heading-up The Chefs’ Forum Academy across multiple colleges. I wish Neil all the best for the big event and really hope he wins as he greatly deserves to do so.”
Read all about The Young Pastry Chef of the Year 2021 here.
