Care Home Catering Awards winners crowned

The winners of the 2024 Care Home Catering Awards have been announced, with this year's victors picking up their titles at the Care Home Catering Forum in London.

Back for another year, the Care Home Catering Awards recognise talent, creativity and drive in care catering and celebrate some of the sector's brightest stars.

Following record entries for the competition, judges at Care Home Catering Magazine eventually decided on the champions for 2024, revealing the winners at a packed out Care Home Catering Forum, which took place at Farmers & Fletchers Hall in London's Barbican on Wednesday 5 June.

The Chef of the Year award went to Adriano Goncalves de Carvalho from Newbury Court, Newbury, Berkshire, which was presented to his colleagues by a representative of Chef Central.

The judges were impressed by the fact that Adriano knows the food and drink preferences of every single resident in Newbury Court, whether it's the resident who likes a whisky and ginger at 5.30 every day, or the one who will only start this meal if he has a KitKat first, or the lady who is a fan of a certain tropical fruit, which Adriano purchases for her when he does his own shopping!  His aim is to ensure that every resident feels that each new day is full of possibility, something he continues to deliver unreservedly.

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Group Care Home Caterer of the Year went to Meallmore in Kincaid House, Greenoch, with the award being oresented by Cathy Amos, head of customer marketing at Brakes to Sophie Murray, head of nutrition and hydration at Sunrise Senior Living and deputy chair of the NACC, who accepted th award on behalf of Meallmore.The judges selected Meallmore as the winner of this award due because it has not ony invested heavily in its catering and hospitality teams, which include two development chefs and a hospitality manager, but because the grouo has achieved PASS certificates across all 26 of its homes and continues to receive glowing testimonials from all who come into contact with it.  

Justin Stanley Duke from Yeo Valley presented the Care Home Catering Team of the Year award to Britten Court in Lowestoft, Suffolk. The judges selected this five member team becaue they have demonstrated how well they can work together to ensure that all residents, regardless of their level of need, enjoy the same level of choice, opresentation and enjoyment as each other at every meal, every day.

The Independent Care Home Caterer of the Year was won by the Royal Variety Charity in Twickenham, London, with the award being oresented by Rachael Vendetti of allmanhall. Stuart Jones, the head chef at this establishment is passionate about the experience of dining and hiw it can improve the quality of lufe for people in care, espoecially thise with additioinakl needs, such as dementia. Stuart passionately believes that those living with dementia or dysphagia deserve to have meals that hits the sweet spot as far as taste is concerned, even if the texture or substance of the dish needs to be adjusted..

The Above & Beyond Special Award was presented to Manda Bracegirdle from Happy Home Services in Clacton-on-Sea by Jamie West of apetito. Manda certainly fulfillis of the above and beyond criteria and more.  A qualified cook she has worked in care homes for 20 years and when she realised that some care homes don't use the IDDSI framework, her response was to pay for her own IDDSI courses and her own mould pack so that she coukd produce amazing meals for residents suffering from dysphagia.

"Congratulations to all of our wonderful winners," says Val Hirst, editor of Care Home Catering Magazine. "Having read through all of the 2024 entries, I am in awe of every single one of these fantastic caterers and all of the work they do. Our winners are standout examples of the inspiring efforts care home caterers across the country go to. We look forward to receiving even more entries in 2025."

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