Welcome to the Young Chef Young Waiter and Young Mixologist England competition. The aim of this competition is to promote hospitality as a career of choice, a profession, and a vocation. The competition is open to all young professional chefs, waiters, and mixologists from any background under the age of 28. YYY England is organised by the central YYY team and in partnership with UKHospitality and the Restaurant Association.
The competition combines over 45 years of heritage with a modern format including digital entries and a live final held over one day.
In 2023, the World Young Chef Young Waiter competition launched in March and the final for Young Chef Young Waiter England was held in Birmingham in July. The winners went on to compete in the World Finals in November at Lycée Rainier III, Monaco. Congratulations to Chef Benjamin Mabley from Hartwell House Hotel & Spa and Waiter Jade Walker from The Ritz London which were announced after taking part in a one-day live final on Tuesday 4th July 2023 at University College Birmingham.
In 2024, YYY England took place at the iconic Ascot racecourse, on none other than St. George’s Day, April 23rd, here finalists showcased their skills and talents. During the England finals, a panel of esteemed Judges selected one chef, one waiter, and one mixologist who were titled YYY England Champions 2024. Before the big day, judges and finalists met on 22nd April for a “Welcome Day” at the Ascot Racecourse. Here the finalists were grouped into their trios for the competition day and briefed on their tasks, and treated to a masterclass from Adam Handling MBE, Laura and Ryon Head from Champagne PIAFF, and Paul Robison CCO of NEFT Vodka and William Campbell-Rowntree, Head Bartender for Raffles Hotel, in the Parade room at Ascot Racecourse. Later in the evening, everyone gathered at the elegant Coworth Park for a delightful welcome dinner.
The 2024 Young Chef Young Waiter England competition took place at the Ascot Racecourse for a one-day final, in April. Chefs, Waiters and Mixologist battled it out for the title of YYY England Winners 2024.
The winning Chef, Waiter, and Mixologist trio from each country all joined at the World Final competition that will take place in November.
Young Chef Young Waiter England Competition:
WHY ENTER WORLD YOUNG CHEF YOUNG WAITER
Our 2023 entrants have had the opportunity to meet high profile industry professionals, learn new skills and make new friends at a competition like no other.
Being part of World Young Chef Young Waiter is a once in a lifetime experience. A chance for competitors to test their proficiency and progress their careers while learning, building new relationships and developing their potential and most of all, Young Chef Young Waiter is fantastic fun!
The aim of World Young Chef Young Waiter is simple: to uncover the very best young talent in our industry and help equip them with relevant skills, current knowledge and the network needed to succeed in the world of hospitality. Devised by respected professionals, the competition has a fresh modern approach that focuses on tasks and criteria that are challenging, educational and fun.
World Young Chef Young Waiter showcases all aspects of hospitality. Inspiring, empowering and inclusive, most of all we celebrate the capabilities and diversity of our amazing industry. You are the leaders of the future. It’s your incredible expertise that YCYW commends.
Many past winners have gone on to achieve huge success in hospitality and YCYW proudly supports the future stars in Britain’s kitchens and restaurants. Winners, finalists and judges have included some the industry’s great recognisable names to include – Mark Sargeant, Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Marcus Wareing, Simon King, John Torode, Annie and Germain Schwab, Jeremy King, Raymond Blanc OBE, Heston Blumenthal OBE, The Earl of Bradford, Lord Forte, Angela Hartnett MBE, Simon Girling, Johanna Wimmer and Fred Sirieix.
WORLD YOUNG CHEF YOUNG WAITER ENGLAND JUDGES
Our judges include leading figures from the hospitality industry. The judging panel for World Young Chef Young Waiter England includes our Head Chef Judge Adam Handling and Head Waiter Judge Simon King along with Jason Atherton, Tom Kerridge, Claude Bosi, Emily Roux, Tom Aikens, Jeff and Chris Galvin, Andy Downton, Brian Turner CBE, Theo Randall, Mario Perera, Johanna Wimmer, Merlin Labron-Johnson, Sanjay Dwivedi, Ruth Hansom, John Williams, Ollie Dabbous, Matthew Ryle, Adam Simmonds, Dimi Leivadas, Jennifer Santner, James Fleming, Beatrice Bessi, Andrew McKenzie, Dimitri Bellos, Jonno Forbes, Saravanan Palanipandichamy, Luigi Cagnin and Antonio Salvatore.
CHEF OWNER OF ADAM HANDLING RESTAURANT GROUP
Adam Handling MBE is the Michelin-starred Chef Owner of the Adam Handling Restaurant Group, operating venues across the UK, and is fast becoming one of the best-known chefs in the country. read more Adam is passionate about British food, sustainability, and fighting food waste. Using produce from British suppliers, Adam’s beautifully presented dishes start with careful sourcing of top quality, seasonal ingredients, prepared in a number of different, creative ways to bring their true flavour to life. Adam has a number of impressive awards under his belt, having earnt his first Michelin star at his flagship restaurant, Frog by Adam Handling, in 2022 and a Michelin Bib Gourmand at his pub, The Loch & The Tyne in 2024. In 2022, Adam was announced as an Ambassador for the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign and as part of his ambassadorship, was chosen to create one of five official recipes for HRH King Charles III’s Coronation, for which he presented his Strawberry and Ginger Trifle which was made at coronation celebrations across the UK. Adam has made numerous global television appearances including Saturday Kitchen Live, The One Show and judging on Top Chef, MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals and in 2023 was named BBC’s Great British Menu’s Champion of Champions. He has authored four books, the most recent of which is his boxset trilogy: ‘Frog by Adam Handling’; ‘Why Waste?’; and ‘Perfect, Three Cherries’.
Executive Chef at The Dorchester
Mario Perera moved from Sri Lanka to London in 1995 to take up the role of commis chef at The Dorchester and progressing through the ranks, before moving on after 15 years to be part of the reopening team for Four Seasons Park Lane. read more He returned to The Dorchester in 2017 as executive sous chef. Before coming to London, Mario was part of the culinary team at the five-star Hotel Taj Samudra Colombo Sri Lanka where he developed his skill in banqueting, overseeing the menu planning and organization of events hosting up to 2,000 guests. In his new role as executive chef, Mario oversees the brigade of more than 100 chefs within The Dorchester’s six kitchens serving: The Grill, The Promenade, The Bar, Private Dining & Events, in-room dining and The Spatisserie at The Dorchester Spa. Mario has used his culinary expertise and influence on cooking for HM Queen Elizabeth II at several state banquets at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and at The Dorchester.
Executive Pastry Chef at The Dorchester
Michael Kwan is a multiple award-winning pastry master and executive pastry chef at The Dorchester, London. Michael’s won the UK pastry team European Cup 2022, which qualifies him to take part in the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie 2023 final in Lyon. read more Michael was also the winner of the 2020 UK Pastry Open and the 2019 UK Sugar Championships. His expertise has managed to push through the fierce competition and see Michael year on year excel in his highly extinguished field of work. Michael started his career by helping in his uncle’s restaurant in Hong Kong when he was just 14 years-old, this is where Michael’s inspiration and passion came to start studying hospitality and catering, since then he’s never looked back.
Executive Chef at JERU MAYFAIR
Australian chef Roy Ner has devoted his life to harnessing flavours and textures to create truly innovative, show-stopping dishes.
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Drawing inspiration from his Middle Eastern heritage, he marries traditional and modern recipes and cooking techniques and works tirelessly to source the best local and seasonal produce and ensure his food is of unmatched quality.
It’s clear his learning’s accumulated from the very highest level; from 7 years leading the kitchen of Sydney’s ARIA (-2 hat), Then brunching on his own and partnering up with a Sydney local group to create Nour Restaurant.
This earned him his first hat; Roy led the kitchen in Nour for four years as managing partner.
Roy then left to the USA to collaborate with chefs like Tim Hollingsworth (-French Laundry) and Chard Robinson (-Tartine Bakery) to create a new venture in Los Angeles, California.
Coming back to Australia, Roy partnered up with Ovolo Hotel Group. The first project together was ZaZaTa in Brisbane, Australia.
Like Nour, the successes were immediate, and it was recently voted to be the top 20 restaurant to visit in Asia Pacific by CNN, and top 100 in the country by Delicious magazine in the first year of operation.
His latest venture is Jeru, a pan-Mediterranean restaurant nestled in the heart of Mayfair on Berkeley Street, which serves everything from vibrant brunches to open-kitchen dining and takes pride in surprising and delighting its diners.
the Food innovation Director for Sodexo Live !
Ben is a highly experienced and passionate chef with extensive knowledge of high-end events including the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Royal Ascot, the Open Championship, The 2012 Olympics and Rugby World Cup 2015.
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As the Food innovation Director for Sodexo Live! Ben heads up the culinary team and is responsible for the food strategy development, including pioneering our inspirational “food philosophy”.
Ben’s role is to support the Sodexo Live! team in developing, deploying, and continually improving the offer to clients and customers and to drive innovation. The benefit of having Ben in place is that he will ensure that there is a development plan in place for our chefs; he will foster strong relationships with suppliers within the local area and set-up our local trend tours to showcase some of the latest thinking on the high street, thus ensuring we are always at the forefront of food development and design.
Operations Director for the Wolseley Group
Simon’s career started at Amberley Castle, a Small Luxury House hotel. After completing his HND in Hospitality Management, he moved to London. While working at The Ritz he won 'Young Waiter of the Year’ 2000'. read more In 2001 Simon joined Gordon Ramsay, managing his flagship restaurant at Royal Hospital Road and opened the Savoy Grill with Marcus Wareing. He worked with Heston Blumenthal as Operations Manager for the Fat Duck Group on projects including the launch of Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental. In October 2014 moved to New York, working for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, managing the Modern. March 2018 saw Simon return to London as Operations Director for JKS, overseeing their 16 sites. In 2020 Simon launched Igniting Hospitality which supported established and launching new business through the pandemic and beyond. Simon has now returned to London as The Operations Director for iconic The Wolseley Hospitality Group.
Founder Burnt Chocolate Consultancy
Andy Downton is the Owner & Founder of Burnt Chocolate Consultancy. In 2003 Andy moved to London, progressing to Head Waiter for Marcus Waring at the Savoy Grill. In November 2006, read more he became assistant restaurant manager for the launch of Theo Randall at the Intercontinental before moving to Gordon Ramsay at Claridges where Andy spent 5 years, 2 as General Manager. In 2012, Andy joined D&D London as General Manager at The Old Bengal Warehouse. He then spent 3 years at the Social Company with Jason Atherton managing City Social. Andy returned to D&D in 2017 as Senior General Manager for 3 venues before becoming Operations Manager at Park Chinois. In 2022 he launched his own restaurant consultancy business using his expertise & knowledge to help restaurants grow & develop to their full potential.
L&D Consultant
Hospitality runs through Johanna’s veins, selling cakes and coffees from a young age at her uncle’s coffee shop in Austria. In 2000, she established her love for London at Anton Mosimann’s private dining club. read more Whilst there, Johanna won the Young Waiter award in 2002, before joining Jason Atherton for the opening of Maze in 2005. Johanna’s passion for development and training fully evolved when she joined Westminster Kingsway College as a lecturer in 2007 training students on the art of service and hospitality. From 2015 to 2023 Johanna led the L&D team at The Ivy Collection, overseeing staff training, pre-opening restaurant training, and fostering career progression and development for team members.
Restaurant Director, Adam Handling Restaurant Group
George joined the Adam Handling Restaurant Group as Restaurant Manager for the opening of The Frog Hoxton in 2018 and was soon promoted to General Manager of the restaurant. He was then appointed Group General Manager in 2020, with responsibility across the Group’s restaurants and bars, and F&B services. In 2021, George was appointed Restaurant Director for the Group.
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As part of his role, George was instrumental in the opening of Adam’s first venues outside of London, leading the opening teams at Ugly Butterfly in St Ives and the Group’s first pub and restaurant with rooms, The Loch & the Tyne in Old Windsor. He is a driving force behind the Group’s sustainability mission and was key in helping Frog, the Group’s flagship restaurant, gain its Michelin star in 2022 and retaining it to date. George played a significant role in securing The Loch & The Tyne at number 27 (and Highest New Entry) in the Top 50 Gastropubs in its second year of operating and has continued to make the Top 50 list ever since. In 2024, The Loch & The Tyne was also awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
George is at the forefront of Adam’s sustainable efforts within the group and is a strong advocate for sustainability across the industry as a whole. Alongside promoting a cross-industry focus on sustainability and zero-waste, often inviting other bar and restaurant teams in to learn the Group’s methods and initiatives as well as constantly networking, George is passionate about sustainability in terms of staff. With that in mind, he spearheaded the launch of the Adam Handling Future Food Stars Programme at Ugly Butterfly, a stagiaire programme for students at local Truro & Penwith College. The Programme is aimed at getting young students into hospitality by including it as part of their curriculum. The students spend two weeks working front of house, two weeks in the kitchen, and two weeks learning about the sustainable practices undertaken in the bar; all of which counts towards their college course. The Ugly Butterfly team also go into the college to provide a full day of training that covers the full spectrum of hospitality, which culminates in the students cooking a dinner for local heroes, who have done good deeds for the community.
Before joining AHRG, George worked at venues from Cornwall to Warwickshire from the age of fifteen, building an impressive CV and reputation. His first full-time job in hospitality was as General Manager at The Boot Inn, Lapworth, aged 21, where he managed a team of 30 in a multi-million-pound business.
As a fantastic public speaker, George is a regular contributor and speaker at various industry shows and panels, and has a regular monthly column in Chef & Restaurant Magazine.
Managing Director of 1711 by Ascot
After graduating from Ealing College’s Catering School in 1990, Jonathan Parker began his hospitality career when he joined Town and County Catering as a Junior Events Manager. While working The Championships at Wimbledon, The British Open and many other prestigious events every summer in the UK, Jonathan also travelled the world working in various fine dining establishments - from a Bar Manager role in Aspen, Colorado to Assistant Maître d’ of an exclusive waterside restaurant in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
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Returning to England to hang up his travelling boots in 1995, Jonathan took the Restaurant Manager role at the newly opened Lupo in Soho at the height of the West End’s food and beverage revival with similar openings at The Atlantic and Soho House.
Jonathan was then offered his dream job at Chelsea Football Club just as the stadium was undergoing a major redevelopment. As General Manager he oversaw the business as the stadium increased its total hospitality covers from 250 per match to 4,500. The Chelsea Village model included all of the stadium catering, 2 hotels and 3 day to day restaurants as well as a highly successful events business.
After the completion of the final West Stand in 2002, Jonathan joined the team at newly-formed catering company FMC Ltd. The company had won the iconic Wimbledon Championships contract and were in the process of rolling out a number of new UK stadium joint venture contracts to provide catering to Southampton FC, Swansea City FC, Leicester City, Hull City and Surrey Cricket Club. Innovative at the time, the contracts oversaw the Event Sales function as well as the entire Stadium Food and Beverage operation.
In 2008 following the purchase of FMC Ltd by Compass Group, Jonathan was appointed as Operations Director of their global contract at The All England Lawn Tennis Club.
In his first year he introduced the new Centre Court retail and fine dining facilities for The Championships, adding an additional 3,000 covers to the offering taking fine dining to 10,000 covers each day.
During his tenure Jonathan oversaw all food and beverage operations with the introduction of a new Club House, 2 new players’ facilities, various debenture hospitality restaurants and the new Media Centre in 2015.
Jonathan left the world of tennis to join Ascot Racecourse in 2016, after the business identified the F&B function as an integral element of a customer’s raceday experience, alongside sport, fashion and social occasion. Since joining the Ascot Board, Jonathan has seen the racecourse’s Sodexo catering partnership rebrand to become 1711 by Ascot. The 60 strong F&B team are boosted by nearly 4,000 event staff to serve more than 300,000 customers during the five days of Royal Ascot where they deliver more than 35,000 fine dining covers alone.
Co-Founder of Wine&Earth and CFO of WorldYCYW
Rob started work at 16 in the finance industry and spent 10 years working in various finance and banking roles in London, and a short stint in Malaysia working for a ‘Big 4’ consultancy firm. After becoming a Chartered Accountant, read more he began to support SME’s on a consultancy basis from a business operations and finance perspective. During this time Robfell in love with the hospitality industry while working in a senior finance role for Goedhuis & Co, a fine wine specialist and duly decided to start his own wine project, and began importing wines from independent family estates across the world with a focus on sustainable wine making and Wine & Earth was born in 2018. Alongside Wine & Earth, he also operates a pub/restaurant in London, is Global Wine Ambassador and CFO for World Young Chef Young Waiter and is Chairman of a professional football club. Having joined the hospitality industry later in his career, he loves being a part of this programme and seeing the passion from the contestants to go to the highest levels.
Founder of Anna Sebastian Hospitality & Celebrate Her
Specialising in the beverage sector in the luxury hospitality world, Anna works with hotels, bars and restaurants on creating and executing bar programs from branding, concept, menu development, recruitment and PR and Marketing, read more Celebrate Her is a global community that brings women and non-binary hospitality people together. It is a community platform that bases itself on four pillars including community, education, recruitment and events.
Deputy Restaurant Manager at abc Kitchens within The Emory
Meet Eleonora, with over 12 years of hospitality expertise across restaurants and luxury hotels. For the past 8 years, she's been a key player at Rosewood London. Starting as a Bartender at Scarfe's Bar, renowned among The World 50 Best Bars, and then later led as Bar Manager The Gin Bar at Holborn Dining Room. read more Her boundless energy and passion define her approach to hospitality. She shares her mixology skills as a guest on Sunday Brunch TV and serves as a Spirits Guide for Drinks Distilled e-commerce. Eleonora's success includes winning the Four Pillars Gin competition, earning her the chance to craft her own gin in Australia.
Head Bartender at Raffles London at The OWO
William Campbell-Rowntree currently sits as Head Bartender in Raffles London at The OWO. Being part of the pre-opening and opening team. He has developed and over seen the drinks development across the two bars and four restaurants within the building.
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Mainly based at the Guards Bar & Lounge, a splendid new watering hole for London, on the ground floor, this is the hotel's main bar for guests and visitors looking to enjoy the majestic pomp and circumstance of Whitehall. The bar champions a fantastic cocktail menu “The Flavours of Raffles” as well as having a signature Slings list including the Raffles classic and the modern take in The London Sling.
William has always been in creative environments having studied Music and the arts. However, his love of Hospitality became the perfect outlet for this creativity and has worked in cities all across the country along side his studies, including Liverpool, Manchester & Newcastle.
In 2018 he made the move to London where he joined Artesian at The Langham. Working alongside industry powerhouses Anna Sebastian and Remy Savage he focused his skills and ability, moving up to Bar Supervisor. While art Artesian he worked with the team that regained into Worlds 50 Best Bars, Best Team and Best Menu. While also competing and winning competitions personally.
In the past few years William has focused and specialised in opening bars, this ranges from Corporate Offices, Small independents and culminating in Raffles London at The OWO. William champions his breadth of knowledge and understanding of many different areas within Hospitality. From 5* hotels, independents and events work across the board means his understanding of the industry goes far. William knows these environments are crucial in career development and hopes he can offer some of his knowledge to the future of Hospitality.
