A round-up of 2024 on The Staff Canteen

With a new year now rapidly approaching, it is time to take a look back at the past 12 months on The Staff Canteen.

To highlight and bring together the range of culinary talent on offer in this country, we produced a wide range of video, written and social content in 2024, as well as running events.

FEATURES

We filmed more than 40 chefs and front of house professionals for our various video features this year: Paul Leonard, Stephen Naylor, Seamus Sam, Tom Cenci, Rebecca Marshman, Adam Jackson, Anna Søgaard, Deepak Mallya, Ollie Bridgwater, Harry Kirkpatrick, Robert Taylor, Devin Jones, Elliot Hill, Francesco Dibenedetto, Mike Naidoo, Stuart Ralston, Luigi Cagnin, Tom Scade, Orson Vergnaud, Jean Delport, Liam Nichols, Galton Blackiston, James Sharp, Karol Ploch, Mark Birchall, Charlie Crote, David Taylor, Evens Lopez, Chet Sharma, Aktar Islam, Tom Childs, Janis Muzikants, Ivan Tisdall-Downes, Sarah Hayward, Johnnie Crowe, Neal Chainey, Daniel Watkins, Stu Deeley, Beatriz Oliveira, Adam Smith, Masaki Sugisaki and Liam Anderson.

Among the most read and watched were...

Luigi Cagnin’s tableside service at The Ritz:

Charismatic Galton Blackiston explaining how he has held a Michelin star for 25 years: 

Aktar Islam’s two Michelin-starred Indian dishes:

A day in the life of a pastry chef at Claridge’s:

Read: Two Michelin-star chef Mark Birchall of Moor Hall: ‘We’re all about making an unbelievable guest experience’

EVENTS

In 2024, we ran 18 networking lunches, either for chefs, sommeliers or front of house staff. Venues included Michelin-starred Muse by Tom Aikens, a trip to Scotland at Stuart Ralston’s LYLA, and our groundbreaking all-female event at Michelin-starred HIDE.

Also, in September, we hosted a TSC Live stage at the Universal Cookery and Food Festival in Kent. Five chefs cooked live on stage in Jean Delport, Galton Blackiston, Robert Taylor, Harry Kirkpatrick and Robin Read.

As well as this, we featured various topics in our series of interviews and editorials.

• How to be successful in the current hospitality climate
• How can AI help hospitality?
• The Staff Canteen’s essential guide to equipment
• Daniel Clifford: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever let Midsummer go’
• Jason Atherton: ‘We have to work 10 times harder now to get success’

November saw the fourth edition of The Staff Canteen Awards, this year held at Scotland House in London.

The winners were -

Chef of the Year: Tom Aikens, chef patron, Muse by Tom Aikens

One to Watch: Stevie Higginson, chef owner, Square Bistro, Lisburn

FOH Team of the Year: Laura Siddle and team, Faru, Durham

Sustainable Business: Tom Heywood and team, Pignut, Helmsley

KP of the Year: Lee Mullen, kitchen porter, Moss & Moor, Ilkley

Social Media Influencer: Craig Miles, development chef, Bidfood

Member of the Year: Jack Bond, head chef, Cottage in the Wood, Keswick

Hospitality Hero: Ursula Boardman, head of centre, CRUMBS Project, Bournemouth

thank you

Thanks to you all for following our content this year, be that via the website, YouTube, social media, signing up as a member or contributing in other ways.

If there are any chefs or topics you think we should be looking to cover in 2025, drop an email to tom@thestaffcanteen.com