Warwick Conferences certainly proved to cut the mustard last week after its catering team excelled in all five contests at the annual TUCO (The University Caterers’ Organisation) competition, bringing home an impressive seven awards in total.
This is the fifth successive year that Warwick Conferences has been recognised at the two-day competition, designed to celebrate the talents of university chefs and catering staff through a range of skills-led challenges.
As a leading collection of conferencing venues, Warwick Conferences prides itself on catering and service excellence, and constantly strives to improve standards both within its own offering and across the industry.
Its recent, independent Value of Satisfaction report highlighted the direct and positive correlation that quality catering enjoys with increased levels of customer satisfaction, with good food exerting an important influence during an event and playing a significant role in determining the defining experience.
This year’s TUCO Competition provided a respected platform upon which to demonstrate the expertise of Warwick Conferences’ catering team with a range of contests to assess flair and technique in a wide variety of areas, from savoury meals to elaborate confectionary.
The Static Salon contest—which showcases the artistic presentation of a variety of dishes—saw Warwick Conferences scoop awards in four of its categories: Pete Fry, for the Bronze award in Plated Fine Dining and Student Meal; Graham Edwards for the Bronze award in Senior Class for Bread Making; Mary Fry achieved a Merit in the Decorative Exhibit; and Jonathan Rackham won Silver in Junior Bread Making.
Gary Crump and Gary Brown were awarded Bronze in the Chefs’ Challenge, which requires contestants to create outstanding menus using a mystery box of ingredients.
Ravinder Kumar was named first runner-up in the Street Food category in the Chef of the Year contest, while Kian Shakouri of Warwick Retail received a Silver Award in the TUCO Barista Skills challenge. Front of house staff Natalja Saveljeva and Kristine Vilcane were also recognised in the Service Skills challenge.
Warwick Conferences’ success at this year’s TUCO Competition is the cherry on the cake following a range of other culinary accolades recently awarded to its catering team. In November 2013, Graham Crump, executive development chef, was awarded the Innovation in Management award by the Institute of Hospitality, while two members of the team were also winners at the CCE Chefs Challenge.
Rachael Bartlett, head of sales and marketing at Warwick Conferences, commented: “We’re extremely proud of the team’s success at this year’s TUCO Competition. Creating world-class dining experiences for our delegates is something we are hugely passionate about, and events such as this help to hone our skills and allow us more of an insight into our competition, as well as ensuring we’re constantly at the forefront of industry development.
“To be recognised so highly across all five contests is an incredible achievement—especially considering the calibre of all those competing—and is a credit to the team’s hard work and dedication to dishing up exceptional food and outstanding service across our venues.”
The TUCO awards were announced at a gala dinner at the Hilton Blackpool on Tuesday 18 March.
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