It's time for Compass Chef of the Year 2017
Compass Chef of the Year is an event I look forward to every year as I love the opportunity it gives to showcase the amazing culinary talent we have in the company.
The event is one of our most celebrated events in the business. We employ over 4300 chefs and this competition offers some of our most talented chefs from around the business the chance to showcase their skills. Over the past 12 months, hundreds of Compass Group and Ireland Chefs applied to take part in this fantastic competition, and have now been whittled down to just 28 competitors across three categories: Apprentice, Junior and Senior Chefs of the Year.
The competition will be held at Olympia London as part of the Restaurant Show, on Wednesday 4th October 2017. The finalists will be creating dishes recognising British Produce whilst all the time reflecting current food trends and health and wellbeing.
Finalists for Senior Chef of the Year:
These talented chefs have just two hours to create a four-course meal to a panel of respected industry judges.
- Lopes De Silva - Compass Ireland
- Ollie Hay – Restaurant Associates
- James Horby – Eurest
- Nathan Clark – ESS Defence
- David Bryant – ESS
- Aaron Latham - Chartwells
- Matt Wilby – Chartwells
- John Bridgman – Healthcare
- Matthew Lord – ESS
- Adam Lestrelle - Levy
Finalists for Junior Chef of the Year:
For this competition, there is only one and a half hours to create a three-course meal.
- James Burns - Levy
- Faye De Souza – Restaurant Associates
- Sunny Patel – Chartwells
- Varun Thaper – Chartwells
- Joe Allan - Levy
- David Anderson – Compass Ireland
- Hayleigh Whiteside – Eurest
- Michael Moroney – Chartwells
- Jonathan Gibbison – ESS
- Katie Smith – ESS
Finalists for Apprentice Chef of the Year
Our apprentice chefs have just 40 minutes to create a single main course.
- Rhys Courtney – ESS
- Kyle Levene – InStore
- Michelle Michlski - ESS
- Mateusz Hnatowski – Restaurant Associates
- Marcin Jaros – Compass Ireland
- Ian Brion – Restaurant Associates
- Aivaras Augus – Restaurant Associates
- Michael Ladapo, Levy, ExCel.
The line-up of prestigious chefs who will be judging the finalists’ dishes include: Brian Turner CBE; Peter Griffiths MBE; Andreas Antona of Simpsons and the Cross; Simon Hulstone of The Elephant Restaurant and Brasserie; Omero Gallucci; Chris Tanner – one of the founding partners of Tanners Restaurant; and last year’s senior chef winner David Mahoney.
This winner of each category will be jetting off to the US to meet our Compass USA colleagues and taste some delicious food from some amazing restaurants.
Good luck to all our finalists and we look forward to seeing you all at Compass Chef of the Year.
Make sure you follow us on twitter for the all the latest updates - #CCTOY2017
