The semi-finalists for the Young Chef Young Waiter UK competition have been announced for 2021. The twenty UK semi-finalists were chosen by leading figures from the hospitality industry including our Head Chef Judge Adam Handling and Head Waiter Judge Simon King. The ten chefs and ten waiters will compete at Aloft Dubai Creek on the 15 and 16 November where Carrefour are providing supplies for the competition. Thanks to a partnership with the Department for International Trade, the final winners of Young Chef Young Waiter 2021 will be announced at the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai on the evening of 16 November 2021. Sponsors for Young Chef Young Waiter 2021 include Carrefour, Aloft Dubai Creek, Dojo and Arla Pro.
Young Chef Young Waiter 2021 Semi Finalists
The finalists submitted a video entry and questionnaire which was assessed anonymously by our panel of judges.* Three of Young Chef Young Waiter’s 20 semi finalists are from The Gleneagles Hotel and three contestants are from Ollie Dabbous’ Hide. Five of our young chefs and waiters return from our 2020 competition including Liam Smith, The Gleneagles Hotel, Ali Halbert, Ugly Butterfly by Adam Handling, Ruhit Abdul Hide Restaurant, Julien Peigneux, ShangriLa Hotel at The Shard, Hellie Honney The Gleneagles Hotel and Martin McRae The Gleneagles Hotel.
- *Please note it is our policy that any judge who is connected to any entrant, is not permitted to judge that specific entry. This means anyone working directly with a judge at their current establishment or organisation.
About The Young Chef Young Waiter Competition
The Young Chef Young Waiter competition, established in 1979, was relaunched by hospitality experts The Nth Degree Global in 2019 in partnership with UKHospitality and the Restaurant Association. The competition promotes hospitality as a career of choice, a profession, and a vocation. The event is supporting The Springboard Charity’s ‘FutureChef’ and the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts ‘Adopt a School’.
The Judges Young Chef Young Waiter UK
This year’s digital entries were judged by leading figures from the hospitality industry. The judging panel for Young Chef Young Waiter UK includes our newly announced Head Chef Judge Adam Handling and Head Waiter Judge Simon King along with Theo Randall, Jason Atherton, Tom Kerridge, Claude Bosi, Emily Roux, Tom Aikens, Jeff and Chris Galvin, Andy Downton, Brian Turner CBE, Johanna Wimmer, Mario Perera, Stefan Neumann, 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, Luigi Cagnin and Antonio Salvatore. Read more about the judges here.
UK Pavilion
The stunning UK Pavilion has been produced by Avantgarde and designed by Es Devlin OBE. Inspired by one of Stephen Hawking’s final projects, ‘Breakthrough Message’, the UK Pavilion invites you to consider what message we would communicate to express ourselves as a planet should we one day encounter other advanced civilisations in space. Humanity is facing challenges in every aspect of our being. Technology, creativity and innovation is rapidly showing us solutions that can solve these real global challenges. The UK is leading contributions in these areas to provide future, sustainable solutions.
Robert Walton MBE chairman of Young Chef Young Waiter comments: “We are just weeks away from taking the most talented young chefs and waiters in the country to compete at Aloft Dubai Creek with the winners to be announced at the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. I’m so excited for our semi finalists to experience the world stage and put UK hospitality in front of a global audience. Young Chef Young Waiter was designed to nurture the next generation and we hope this opportunity can boost the careers of all our participants through this experience.
Sean Valentine FIH Managing Director of Young Chef Young Waiter said: “I am so amazed at the quality of submissions for this year’s YCYW competition, a truly remarkable undertaking against a backdrop of what has been a very challenging year for all. My admiration goes to all our contestants who have worked so hard in getting to the final and I wish all of our finalist the very best of luck”
Adam Handling said: “The quality of the Young Chef semi-finalists this year has been so impressive. The way they carried themselves and spoke about their passions in the video interviews was really inspiring, and I’m very excited to see what they cook up in the final.”
Simon King said: “I’m thrilled to be involved in this years YCYW competition as it’s going to be bigger and better than ever before. I’ve been delighted not only with the calibre of the entrants but also the great representation throughout the whole of the UK. Looking forward to everyone showcasing their passion and talents on the big stage.”
KEY DATES
The 20 UK semi-finalists selected by our expert judges will compete at the Competition Final at the Aloft Dubai Creek:
Monday 15 November: Semi Final: 10 Chefs and 10 Waiters
Tuesday 16 November: Final: 5 Chefs and 5 Waiters
Tuesday 16 November: Winners will be announced on the stunning UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai in the UAE on the evening.
21st October 2021
