Green and Fortune's James Pike wins 2018 ACE Robyns Award

The Association of Catering Excellence (ACE) has named Green and Fortune's James Pike as the winner of its 2018 ACE Robyns Award.

Pike, general manager of Sea Containers in London, said: "It feels amazing to win the ACE Robyns award firstly up against some incredible candidates - just to be amongst them was a real privilege. To come out on top, I'm very happy I want to thank my team and everyone that's helped me along the way."

The winner oversees cafés, bars, staff restaurants as well as event spaces with a capacity of up to 600 people.

He added: "I'm passionate about progressing in this fantastic and diverse industry, I have been fortunate enough to have been afforded some great professional opportunities and also enjoyed several amazing experiences. I received some great simple advice from my Grandad which I hope will continue to serve me well ‘whatever you are doing, do it well and good things will follow'."

Pike was recognised at the association's summer party last night, which was held on board Sodexo's Bateaux London.

The ACE Robyns awards were created in memory of CH&CO co-founder Robyn Jones OBE and Pike was chosen from a list of finalists (below) recognised as emerging talents in contract catering.

In second place was Florence Macfarlane of Genuine Dining Co, Catrin Aherne from The Clink took third place and Amelia Heminway of BaxterStorey was highly commended.

Tim Jones, judge, joint founder of CH&Co and husband of Robyn, said: "I would like to congratulate all of the entrants. We thought last year's entries were good but they were even higher this year and we had great difficulty drawing up a shortlist as many were particularly inspiring, demonstrating the drive and initiative that Robyn was well-known for. The judges had to make some difficult choices, but I know that Robyn would have been very pleased with the winner and the success of the awards."

Finalists:

Catrin Aherne, The Clink
Rebecca Armstrong, Genuine Dining Co.
David Booth, Restaurant Associates
Rob Burden, CH&Co.
Liam Hatcher, CH&Co.
Amelia Heminway, BaxterStorey
Florence MacFarlane, Genuine Dining Co.
Marianne Philippou, BaxterStorey
James Pike, Green & Fortune
Hannah Robson, CH&Co.
Adam Thomason, Restaurant Associates
Ben Wilson, Genuine Dining Co.

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