Cateys 2024: Special Award: Chris Mitchell and Robbie Laidlaw

In December 2023 Chris Mitchell and Robbie Laidlaw undertook a gruelling feat of endurance, competing in the ‘world’s toughest row’, a 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic. 

The pair were at sea for 38 days, 15 hours and three minutes. They battled 20-foot waves, guiding their boat through storms and extreme heat as exhaustion overtook them.

Mitchell, chief executive of Genuine Dining Co, and Laidlaw, the caterer’s business development director, put in a truly Herculean effort and in doing so raised more than £250,000 for Hospitality Action. 

Mark Lewis, chief executive of Hospitality Action, said: “Over the years, supporters have found weird, wonderful and plain jaw-dropping ways to raise funds for Hospitality Action. But none has inspired such awe as the challenge Chris and Robbie bit off in 2023.

“To give some sense of the scale of their achievement, fewer people have rowed the Atlantic than have scaled Everest. 

“The journey tested Chris and Robbie’s physical, mental and emotional resilience to the limit. They lived to a gruelling ‘eat, sleep, row, repeat’ rhythm and confronted mountainous waves, vicious sea storms, sleep deprivation, an errant navigation system and even a capsize in the dead of night. That they faced down all these challenges to fundraise for Hospitality Action is deeply humbling.”

Mitchell and Laidlaw’s journey to the start line spanned more than two years. Initially the pair had looked for a challenge as they reeled from the Covid-19 lockdowns. They were inspired to support Hospitality Action as the charity had helped look after the business’s employees after its sushi restaurant was stormed by terrorists during the 2017 London Bridge attack, and Genuine Dining Co’s team members had saved guests from the knife-wielding attackers.

For Mitchell and Laidlaw, undertaking such a gargantuan challenge was not just a point of focus through difficult months, but a chance to unite the industry behind a single cause and raise funds to support others in need. 

Naming their team Spirit of Hospitality, the pair secured a boat and received support from many of their competitors in the catering sector as well as the wider industry. Chefs including Neil Rankin, Daniel Howes and Tom Kerridge also lent a hand preparing the snacks and dehydrated meals to fuel their voyage. 

Lewis added: “Chris and Robbie selected the name of their challenge, Spirit of Hospitality, advisedly. From the outset their aim was to unite not just the foodservice community, but the whole hospitality sector in supporting our work – to tap into the camaraderie, generosity and humanity that defines the sector. 

“Hospitality Action continues to experience a tidal wave of applications for financial support from hospitality households experiencing a financial or health crisis. Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Chris and Robbie, we’ll be able to help many more of them.”

Speaking after they returned on 20 January, Mitchell described the journey as an “epic challenge” that had been “unbelievably brutal in places”. And if uniting the industry and raising a staggering amount for charity wasn’t enough, Spirit of Hospitality was the first pairs boat to cross the finish line. A truly remarkable feat.