The Roux brothers, Alastair Storey and Robin Hutson inducted into Hall of Fame
The godfathers of modern British cuisine, the chairman and chief executive of the largest independent contract catering services provider, and the winner of the Outstanding Contribution award at the 2014 Hotel Cateys are to be recognised at the 2016 British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame (www.bthhof.com) awards dinner, organised by TheCaterer.
Michel and Albert Roux, Alastair Storey and Robin Hutson will be honoured alongside other industry leaders from the travel community at London's Dorchester hotel on 25 April.
Run in partnership with TheCaterer's sister brand, Travel Weekly Group, the Hall of Fame honours outstanding business achievement in the travel, hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors.
Michel Roux, who with his brother Albert made his initial mark on the UK culinary scene with the opening of Le Gavroche in London in 1967, and went on to open the Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire, five years later, said he was "honoured" to accept membership into of the Hall of Fame.
"As a young boy apprentice at 14 years' old, I could not have dreamed I would one day receive such an honour from my peers and I owe so much to those who have taught, inspired and supported me along the way.
"These incredible awards stand as a beacon of inspiration to us who strive for excellence in the tourism and hospitality industries and I could not be more humbled."
Storey, chairman and chief executive of WSH, said he was delighted to be the first foodservice operator to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, an achievement which he believes reflects the sector's broader role in the hospitality industry.
"We have been in retail for some time, but now of course we have our restaurants. At the Woodspeen, our restaurant with John Campbell, we have a business that, in less than a year, has over delivered on targets, received great reviews and won a Michelin star, and John has obviously played a key part in that. We also have our restaurant with Monica Galetti coming up this year which is going to be brilliant.
"All these parts of the business provide interesting opportunities for people, and in turn, the more people you attract to the business the more they influence the way in which you think about developing the business."
Storey, who was a founding member of the Gold Service Scholarship and sits as chairman of the trustees, said that he has great admiration for his fellow inductees, Michel and Albert Roux and Robin Hutson. "Indeed, Robin Hutson gave me a great deal of advice when I first started the business, so to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the same time as these people is a huge honour.
"The Hall of Fame adds more grist to the mill in terms of promoting the industry, and as hospitality and tourism is a major contributor to the economy, the more we can do to celebrate it, the happier everyone will be. I feel we all play a part in people's lives - from feeding children in the education sector through to serving diners in restaurants - so it is inevitable that, despite all the different segments of hospitality, we all end up serving the same customers."
For Hutson, the accolade follows on from a plethora of awards over the past 14 months. Following on from his Outstanding Contribution award at the Hotel Cateys in November 2014, he went on to receive the Lifetime Achievement award from the AA and an honorary Doctor of Business degree from Southampton Solent University last year.
"I've certainly had a good run of awards, but it is always a thrill to be honoured in some way," he said. "Everything I have achieved in this business has been the result of a massive team effort. By the time we open the fifth Pig hotel in Devon, we will have 600 people working across all of our businesses. The Hall of Fame is as much their award as it is mine."
Hutson is chairman and chief executive of Lime Wood Group and Home Grown Hotels, which together own and operate Lime Wood in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, Portetta hotel and mountain lodges in Couchevel, France; and four Pig hotels. The Pig at Combe, near Honiton, will open in the summer.
Tickets for the event are now on sale and cost £235 per person or £2,350 for a table of 10. For ticket enquiries, contact Helen Bush at helen.bush@travelweekly.co.uk, and for sponsorship enquiries please contact Mark Lewis at mark.lewis@thecaterer.com.
For more information, visit www.bthhof.com.
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