LONDON, 2015-5-15 — /Travel PR News/ — VisitEngland has named ‘The Chefs of England’, as the winner of this year’s prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Tourism award. The winner was revealed at its annual Awards for Excellence ceremony, held last night at the spectacular Sage Gateshead.
Accepting the award on behalf of all ‘The Chefs of England’ was Hrishikesh Desai, winner of Chefs on Trial, the popular BBC2 TV series featuring hotel expert Alex Polizzi. Hrishikesh beat off stiff competition to be crowned Executive Head Chef at The Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, an exclusive country house hotel in the Lake District.
To celebrate the future talent of the industry, a number of apprentice chefs from the Sage Gateshead joined Hrishikesh Desai to accept the award at the event. The industry relies heavily on skilled chefs, which can be a fantastic career, yet VisitEngland recently highlighted a shortage of skilled chefs. Nearly half of chef vacancies proved difficult to fill due to a lack of skilled applicants and chefs made up a fifth (21 per cent) of all skill shortage vacancies for skilled trades, suggesting that businesses are struggling to recruit the skilled chefs they need.
Chief Executive Officer, VisitEngland, James Berresford said: “England has a growing reputation for the quality of food served across the country; enticing visitors from both home and abroad. With such a huge choice of fantastic restaurants, pubs and hotels offering high calibre food, this award allows us to showcase the impact good food has on English tourism. England’s Michelin starred chefs stand as the pinnacle of excellence, but so many chefs across the country make a vital contribution – providing inspiration for the industry to be ever more creative.”
“This is our thank you to the Chefs of England for their increasingly important role in a thriving and growing industry. I hope many more young people will consider pursuing a career as a chef.”
Hrishikesh Desai, Executive Head Chef at The Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, accepting the award on their behalf said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be accepting this award on behalf of the many talented Chefs across England who strive for excellence to produce outstanding food that raises the bar for quality in this country. I know from personal experience what is required and am constantly inspired by the passion and creativity of my peers. I know that they will be immensely proud of this award and their contribution to tourism.”
The increasing number of English ‘foodie’ destinations also coincides with a growth in food festivals taking place across the country such as the Great British Food Festival, Taste of London and the Big Feastival.
The Outstanding Contribution to Tourism award celebrates excellence and is judged by the VisitEngland board. Previous recipients have included The Great English Pub, Michael Eavis CBE, HM The Queen, the Harry Potter films, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Sir Paul McCartney, Liverpool, The National Trust, the English Garden, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Makers and last year The Travel Agent.
ENDS
Press enquiries:
For more information, please contact Angelah Sparg, Head of Corporate Communications T: 0207 578 1482 | M: 07917 183 668, Email:angelah.sparg@visitengland.org or Kaye Woodhouse, Corporate Communications Manager. Tel: 0207 578 1452 M: 07855 962 940 Email:kaye.woodhouse@visitengland.org or Website: www.visitengland.org
Notes to editors:
Hrishikesh Desai, accepting the award on behalf of The Chefs of England.
Hrishikesh, aged 35, won the coveted role of Executive Head Chef, at The Gilpin Hotel & Lake House on BBC2’s Chefs on Trial following a rigorous interview process and tough culinary assessments which featured on the show. Desai has a wealth of experience and is one of the few chefs to have won both the Roux Scholarship (2009) and the Craft Guild of Chef’s National Chef of the Year (2010), in consecutive years.
VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015
Spanning the course of over 25 years, the VisitEngland awards for Excellence are firmly established as the most prestigious awards in tourism. They celebrate the best of English tourism and promote healthy industry competition and high standards, helping to ensure England’s place as a world-class destination. www.visitengland.com/biz.
The 17 categories for the 2015 awards include: Access for All Tourism Award, Bed & Breakfast / Guest Accommodation of the Year, Business Tourism Award, Holiday Park / Holiday Village of the Year, Large Hotel of the Year, Large Visitor Attraction of the Year, Self-Catering Holiday Provider of the Year, Small Hotel of the Year, Small Visitor Attraction of the Year, Sustainable Tourism Award, Taste of England Award, Tourism Event of the Year, Tourism Experience of the Year, Tourism Pub of the Year, Visitor Information Provider of the Year.
Additional Awards include Tourism Superstar and Outstanding Contribution to Tourism
For full details about the awards and winners visit www.visitengland.com/excellenceawards
About VisitEngland
VisitEngland is the country’s national tourist board. We work in partnership with the industry to develop the visitor experience across England, plan national tourism strategy, grow the value of tourism in England and provide advocacy for the industry and our visitors
Our work is underpinned by robust research and customer insights. You can access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics on www.visitengland.com/biz/resources/insight-and-statistics
For more information, visit www.visitengland.com/biz or www.visitengland.com.
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Hrishikesh Desai and Lady Cobham