Academy of Food & Wine - dedicated to raising the standards of service skills

Photographer: Adrian Franklin
Peter Avis, of Babylon restaurant at the Roof Gardens, London, amongst his peers from the Hall of Fame.


Liverpool-born Peter Avis, restaurant manager at Babylon restaurant at the Roof Gardens, London, was announced last night as the winner of the 2009 UK Restaurant Manager of the Year competition following a closely fought final at the Langham, London. Runner-up was Mark Bevan of the Chester Grosvenor, Cheshire.

Accepting his award, Avis, 33, vowed to raise the profile of restaurant managers and do his utmost to encourage young people into front-of-house careers. “The key attributes of a restaurant manager are the ability to communicate and the ability to value your team,” said Avis. “It’s essential to take everyone as an individual and give them time.”

The Academy of Food & Wine launched the Restaurant Manager of the Year competition as a result of requests from Academy members for an award that recognised the broad range of skills demanded of today’s restaurant managers. The competition set out to find the person with the strongest financial acumen, good management skills as well as market knowledge and product knowledge and a thorough understanding of the hospitality industry and current trends.

Prior to the final all six finalists were asked to submit and present a business plan for a restaurant concept including a profit and loss account, method of marketing and promoting the restaurant, and plans for staff recruitment and training. Each candidate was grilled Apprentice-style on their concept by a prestigious panel of judges (see list below) and also completed a wine tasting and food matching exercise.

The competition was endorsed and supported by the newly formed National Skills Academy for Hospitality. Chief executive David McHattie said: “The Skills Academy is all about excellence in hospitality in terms of management, leadership and customer service, which is what the Restaurant Manager of the Year promotes. Front-of-house and restaurant management are not some sort of punishment, they are a hugely valuable part of the sector and offer people a wide range of opportunities.”

“It was a very difficult decision, we had six impressive restaurant managers in the final,” commented chair of judges Conor O’Leary. “The skills of a restaurant manager are very broad and we had a mix of styles with contenders from very different restaurants. But a good restaurant manager has to be dedicated to his team, dedicated to his customers and be a good front-of-house face. The ability to recruit staff, motivate them, manage them and train them is also crucial – Peter Avis is a fantastic winner.”

Peter wins a week-long trip to New York to compete a stage at a top restaurant, a one-night weekend stay for two in a deluxe suite at the Marylebone Hotel, London, including dinner and wine and breakfast. The Babylon restaurant also receives a 12-month subscription to the OpenTable reservation system.

At the awards dinner the Academy also announced a five-strong Restaurant Manager Hall of Fame, recognising the restaurant managers who have contributed much to the upsurge in recognition of the profession. Joining the Hall of Fame were Elena Salvoni, of Elena’s L’Etoile; Silvano Giraldin, former maitre d’ at Le Gavroche and now senior consultant, Albert Roux Consulting; Jesus Adorno, director and maitre d’ of Le Caprice; Diego Masciaga, restaurant manager, the Waterside Inn, Bray; and David Morgan-Hewitt, managing director of The Goring, London.