Announcing the winners of The Staff Canteen Awards 2022

Alex South

Editor

We are proud to announce the winners of The Staff Canteen Awards 2022, celebrated today at our second awards ceremony at The Compound Studio in Birmingham.

From 283 nominations, over 47,000 of you voted, whittling down the list to four individuals or teams shortlisted for each of the eight award categories: Chef of the Year, One to Watch, KP of the Year, Business of the Year, Front of House Team of the Year, Community Hero, TSC Member of the Year and Social Media Influencer.

We can now reveal the winners:

- Chef of the Year: Gareth Ward, Ynyshir restaurant & rooms, Wales

- One to Watch: Paul Durand, Manifest, Liverpool

- KP of the Year: Kamila Kasperkowiak, The Beehive, White Waltham

- Sustainable Business of the Year: The Ethicurean, Bristol

- Front of House Team of the Year: The Square Bistro, Lisburn, Northern Ireland

- Social Media Influencer of the Year: Dean Edwards, Private Chef

- Community Hero: Lisa Pyott, Doncaster College

- TSC Member of the Year: Anthony Wright, L20 Restaurant at Hugh Baird College, Liverpool

Our Chef of the Year was Gareth Ward who unfortuantely could not attend.

Commenting on his win, Gareth said: "Thank you so much, I’m hugely pleased to have been nominated & voted as The Staff Canteen’s Chef Of The Year. Big thanks to all those who continue supporting us through all our new ventures and ideas, we couldn’t do what we do without your support."

Thanking his team, Gareth said: "Big love to my incredible team, I’m massively proud of what we have achieved together. And finally, shoutout to everyone at The Staff Canteen, looking forward to a brew in my new gold mug."

Well we did it, brought home the gold!
Slightly fuzzy but it’s not all glitz and glamour in this game as straight back into the admin of running a restaurant.
Thank you so much @CanteenTweets for a wonderful day out and great to meet so many of my peers and heroes! pic.twitter.com/zjsgF19rpq
— Paul Durand (@Paul_Durand) November 15, 2022

On winning the title of One to Watch, Paul Durand said: "It was a shock but I'm over the moon. I'm really happy with the staff because this is for them, not me, because I couldn't do what I do without them."

Paul added: "The Staff Canteen is great, we love it, thank you for putting on such a great event."

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A post shared by Mr Matthew Pennington (@mrmatthewpennington)

Picking up the award for Front of House Team of the Year, Owners Stevie and Cristina Higginson, said: "This is great recognition for our team and our loyal customers."

Stevie added: "The Staff Canteen is a great platform for the hospitality industry. We follow it religously across social media, and it's invaluable for chefs."

"Even just being here today, loads of people rooting for us, coming across from Northern Ireland we weren't sure who would be here and there were loads of people from the UK rooting for Square Bistro in Lisburn so we're really pleased," Cristina added.

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A post shared by Dean Edwards (@deanedwardschef)

Thank you to our sponsors, by Rational, Seafood from Norway UK, hobartukcooking, Chef Works UK & Ireland, Compass Group UK & Ireland, Sharp's Brewery, The Burnt Chef Project and Major International, without whom none of this would be possible.

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