The Staff Canteen Awards 2024: Winners announced

We are proud to announce the winners of The Staff Canteen Awards 2024, celebrated today at our awards ceremony at Scotland House in London.

Now in its fourth year, the awards saw 262 nominations across the eight categories and almost 50,000 votes cast by our members and followers.

Final shortlists of four were drawn up for: Chef of the Year, One to Watch, Front of House Team of the Year, Sustainable Business, KP of the Year, Social Media Influencer, Member of the Year and Hospitality Hero.

We can now reveal the winners:

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

Tom Aikens saw off the challenge of Romy Gill MBE, Tim Allen and Dominic Chapman to win the Chef of the Year award, following on from also winning the AA Chefs' Chef of the Year award recently.

He said: "The year, I have to say, has been rather fantastic. I didn’t think I was going to get any of the awards, let alone both of them. I’m very happy. I want to thank all of you here. It’s been amazing to socialise with those in hospitality. Thank you for voting and to my team for everything you do."

Pignut won the Sustainable Business award for the second year in a row. 

Chef owner Tom Heywood commented: "It’s a credit to our customers who have come in and voted for us. We’ve got such a loyal customer base, who know what we do and can see how hard we work at it.

"We do really focus strongly on sustainability. We source everything local, use small suppliers and farmers. It’s really important we support everyone around us, not just ourselves.

"This year has been great. We’ve won three AA rosettes, we’ve won this sustainability award again, have been super busy, had lots of good feedback, lots of returning customers. Everything is going great."

Stevie Higginson, chef owner of Square Bistro, was keen to talk up what Northern Ireland has to offer as he takes a gold mug back across the sea after winning in the One to Watch category.

He said: "We have the best support, the best customers. We've been open for 18 years now and they keep supporting us every week. It’s amazing. Awards are important. It boosts the morale of the team. Hospitality hasn’t had it easy over the last few years, so every little helps the team and the morale.

"Northern Ireland is a great place. When people come to visit, they love it. I urge everyone to come and visit Northern Ireland. Especially Square Bistro!"

Mark Morris hosted the awards, while students were on hand from Westminster Kingsway College to help with the smooth running of the event, and a piper performed as guests arrived at Scotland House.

The awards also give recognition to the faces sometimes not seen much by customers, namely in the Kitchen Porter of the Year category.

This year's winner, Lee Mullen of Moss & Moor garden centre and restaurant, said: "I’ve been a kitchen porter for 23 years. Kitchen portering is really hard work. It's not easy work to do. To get recognition for it is really good."

Durham's Faru was voted Front of House Team of the Year.

"For front of house to get recognised is great," said co-owner Laura Siddle.

"People come to a restaurant and look at the food as the epitome of their dining experience. But for us, we deliver our best service and we try to engage as much as possible, so for us to be recognised amongst the chefs is also great."

Meanwhile, Ursula Boardman of the CRUMBS Project in Bournemouth was crowned Hospitality Hero for her work in helping adults with disabilities and neurodivergences to defy the odds and gain employment in the hospitality industry.

"Our ultimate aim is to break down barriers in the hospitality industry to employ more people with disabilites as they are a great source of workforce," she explained.

Craig Miles, development chef at Bidfood, won an award for his impact via social media.

He said: "I'm very shocked, but really pleased because it’s a new form of media as an older chef, but we’ve totally embraced it, really enjoy it and it’s just nice to get out there and showcase our food and what we do at Bidfood to other people.

"I really enjoy it, because we get to do some educational parts, but we also get to really have some fun and really interact. We can do educational, but we can also have a laugh. I did a video talking about cooking veg got 8.1million hits, which is crazy."

Jack Bond was voted as The Staff Canteen's member of the year.

He said: "To win this award is amazing. I never thought I’d get it, so to win it is unbelievable.

"The highlights of being a Staff Canteen member is to be part of this massive community that The Staff Canteen has built over the year. It’s truly amazing to be recognised."

Thank you to our sponsors RATIONAL, Lightspeed, Major, Compass UK & Ireland, Alaska Seafood, Chef Works, Exmoor Caviar, Nyetimber and Scotland Food & Drink, without whom none of this would be possible.

Adam Knights, marketing director of RATIONAL UK, said: "As a manufacturer, to sponsor these awards is important because it’s our opportunity to give back to the industry that helps us. 

"The awards ceremony today has been fantastic. The new venue is amazing and it’s great to see so many more people here."

Thomas Jacques of Nyetimber added: "It’s so important to support events like this. Bringing hospitality together is so important for the trade to recognise the achievements and the abilities of chefs. And not only that, the people behind the scenes, the ones who don’t normally get the recognition."