There are about 42,000 chefs, 22,000 kitchen assistants, 15,000 waiting staff and 13,000 bar staff working across the hospitality sector on Christmas Day, according to the Trades Union Congress.
Bidfood’s campaign, which launches on 16 October, wants to celebrate these tens of thousands of hospitality staff who work on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in Britain.
The foodservice company has called on its customers to nominate people in their pubs who are either working on either of those two days this year (and/or worked last year), that go a little further to make the festive period special for others.
Rigorous judging
Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges including Bidfood group sales and marketing director Andy Kemp, Springboard charity chief executive Anne Pierce, Pride of Britain Hotels chief executive Peter Hancock, British Hospitality Association chief executive Ufi Ibrahim and Public Sector 100 Group chair Andy Jones.
Six winners will be revealed on 1 December across six categories and each will receive Christmas dinner with all the trimmings from Bidfood in January, and a Virgin Experience Day voucher.
The categories include:
- Pubs and pub restaurants
- Hospitals
- Care homes
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Other (includes schools/universities, quick-service restaurants)
Bidfood’s Kemp highlighted the crucial role hospitality staff play across the particularly across the festive period.
Stand-out individuals
He said: “We know our industry works hard to make Christmas special for everyone in the UK, with thousands giving up family time in the lead-up, and often on Christmas Day itself.
“We want to hear about some of the stand-out individuals in our industry and thank them for their contribution.
“There is definitely a growing emphasis on our sector to play a bigger role in people’s Christmas celebrations.
“Bookings for Christmas Day dinner have gone up 241% since 2011 alone, which highlights the importance of recognising and rewarding our diverse and skilled workforce, and ensuring that working in our industry is an attractive career path for younger generations.”
Entries are open from Monday 16 October to midnight on Friday 10 November and can be made online here.