Fuller's announces Chef of the Year 2016

Head chef at Hammersmith's Stone Masons, Gavin Sinden, and Stephen Emmes were crowned winners of the 25s-and-over category and 24s-and-under category respectively at Fuller's management conference on 10 May.

The judging panel for the awards​, which included a paper round and a cook-off, was carried out by Pierre Koffman, celeb chef and multiple operator Paul Merrett, a representative from the British Beer and Pub Association and PMA ​food and drink writer Daniel Woolfson.

Helped him to win​

Sinden felt keeping his dishes simple helped him to win the award, he told the PMA​: "It's brilliant to win, I'm absolutely buzzing and still excited about it."

Both Sinden and Emmes will fly to Dubai this week (31 May) to work in the kitchen of acclaimed restaurant the Croft as part of their reward.

Sinden will also judge the finalists for next year, which is promised to be a bigger event.

"To stand out [next year], I think you have to keep your dishes simple," he said. "You can have the best presentation, but once you start eating the dish the presentation is gone and you have to rely on the taste."

Level of training​

Of the competition, Dickinson, previously told the PMA​: "It's really good to see, firstly, the level of training that's going into the chefs at Fuller's, but also what they're producing at the other end because of that training.

"It's (the training) because of staff retention. You can pay chefs a fortune, but that really isn't a business option, not for a pub. So you have to engage with their career and what they're learning.

"You have to give them something extra to what they do day in and day out. Things like competitions, stages and those sort of activities, will help you create much more loyal chefs."