Two kitchen teams have been honoured in the Whitbread Kitchen Excellence awards.
Two teams from the Brewers Fayre and Beefeater restaurant estates have been crowned Whitbread Kitchen of the Year for their respective brands.
The winner's from Brewers Fayre, Moseley Park, Wolverhampton and Beefeater, Woolpack, Ashford, were amongst the twelve teams that took part.
Six teams from each branded estate competed at the culinary competition held at Unilever Foodsolutions' Innovation Centre in Crawley, after submitting a winning recipe idea as part of Whitbread's Kitchen of Excellence programme.
Each kitchen team consisted of a general manager, kitchen manager and head chef with the competition format challenging each team to create a dish designated by the judges, followed by their own winning recipe entry and a dessert made from a box of mystery ingredients received on the day.
Jim McGuire, executive development chef at Whitbread, said: "This inaugural competition was created because, as a business, Whitbread is passionate about delivering real food to real customers. It is our kitchen teams up and down the country that are at the heart of our culinary success and we feel it is important we have a platform from which to recognise and reward their achievements. I am delighted with the level of enthusiasm and skill demonstrated by the competing teams - the standard of food coming out of the kitchens has been extremely high throughout."
The judging panel comprised of Whitbread's Jim McGuire, Simon Ewins and Richard Edwards operations directors - Restaurants, Ray Lorimer, executive chef and culinary controller at Unilever Foodsolutions and Eyck Zimmer, executive head chef at The Lowry, Manchester and winner of KNORR National Chef of the Year 2006.
Christian Ender from Brewers Fayre, Applecart near Didcot, Oxfordshire, scooped a special Outstanding Achievement award for his performance during the competition.
Brewers Fayre Winning Teams:1st Moseley Park, nr Wolverhampton2nd Applecart, nr Didcot3rd Telford Lodge, nr Kettering
Beefeater Winning Teams:1st Woolpack, Ashford2nd Griff House, Nuneaton3rd Longford House, Cannock