The Craft Guild of Chefs is announcing a set of new dates for a number of its events that were due to take place over the coming months.
Andrew Green, chief executive of the Guild, said: “We pride ourselves on running a full calendar of exciting events every year. Due to the devasting impact of Covid-19 and the measures the Government has been forced to make to control the virus’s spread, it is sadly inevitable that we have had to announce that many of our events are being postponed.
“However, we have worked hard to make sure that these events can still take place, but in the future, so that as an industry we can look forward and shine a light once again on the hospitality sector and the fantastic professionals that make it what it is.”
The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards will be postponed for a year. They will now be on Tuesday, June 15th 2021 at Magazine on the Greenwich Peninsula near the O2 Arena. Any bookings that have been made will be honoured and the Guild will announce in the near future how nominations will work for the postponed event.
“The awards help to recognise emerging and well-established talent from across the UK. Next year I am positive that, once again, the awards will be the highlight of the Guild’s calendar and we will be back celebrating the very best in culinary excellence.”
Meanwhile, the British Student Culinary Championships (BSCC), formerly Wessex Salon Culinaire, is moving to the autumn. Keep an eye on the Guild’s website and social media channels for details of a new date when it is announced. The deadline for entries is being extended until Wednesday, September 30th. The BSCC is the largest student-based catering competition in the country and has grown in stature and prominence in the 22 years that it has been running.
The Universal Cookery and Food Festival (UCFF), which was due to take place in September 2020, has been postponed until Tuesday, September 14th 2021. The festival will still take place at Mudwalls Farm in Warwickshire.
Andrew Bennett MBE, national chair of the Craft Guild of Chefs and brand ambassador for UCFF, said: “We will re-group later this year to explore ways of ensuring this unique event goes from strength-to-strength and returns with a bang - maintaining the field to fork structure and the grass roots of culinary art.”
Ian Nottage, director of UCFF, added “Postponing this year’s event was not an easy decision and not one we took lightly, particularly as this is the culinary highlight of many chefs’ calendars.
“However, given the level of commitment required to stage the festival from sponsors, supporters, exhibitors, speakers and festival-goers alike, in these uncertain and unprecedented challenging times for our industry we felt it was the right thing to do.
“We will be back next year more relevant than ever before, and we look forward to welcoming friends old and new back to Mudwalls Farm.”
The Graduate Awards deadline is today (April 30th) and the organising committee is working hard on revised dates for the semi-finals, the mentor experience and the final exam; these will be announced in due course.
Steve Munkley, vice president of the Guild and founder of the awards, said: “We are determined that this established event will still go ahead, and we will announce new dates as soon as we can.
“We are continuing to receive entries from young chefs despite the challenges they are facing as a result of Covid-19. This just underlines how resilient our industry is and how ambitious this future generation of chefs are.
“This can only stand us in good stead in the coming months and years.”
The National Chef of the Year (NCOTY) competition has extended its entry date and chefs now have until June 15th to enter.
David Mulcahy, vice president of the Guild and director of the both the National and the Young National Chef of the Year Competitions, said: “The brief for competitors remains the same and we will share updates on how the next stage of the competition will work as soon as we are able to.
“It has been inspiring to hear that chefs have been working on their NCOTY entries and that this has provided them with some positivity during this crisis. This just goes to demonstrate how committed these chefs are to their craft and how important this competition is to our industry.”
For more information about any of the Guild’s events and competitions visit www.craftguildofchefs.org.uk/competitions
