AGM 2025 Minutes
Monday 27th October 2025
Hotel Café Royal
1. Welcome from RACA President John Williams on behalf of Honorary President Brian J. Turner CBE
2. CEO’s update from Lisa Jenkins
RACA Membership update
Education: Apprenticeship, College Community Programme
Annual Awards of Excellence: 2025 success, new plans for 2026
Master of Culinary Arts 2026
Events: next Plenary Meeting, Seat at the Table
Adopt a School Update
Friends Membership update
3. Online Members Directory update from General Manager Daniel Moriss-Jeffery
4. Ceremony of Conferment
John Williams MBE, President of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, and Executive Chef at The Ritz
Welcome to Members on behalf of Brian J. Turner CBE, who was unable to join us on the evening.
Lisa Jenkins, CEO of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts
CEO’s update
Good afternoon everyone, and as John has said, it is wonderful to have so many of you with us this afternoon.
May I start by thanking Eugene Leonard, the General Manager, here at the beautiful Hotel Café Royal for his hospitality this afternoon and evening. It’s such a pleasure to be here - and to have you and your team looking after us all. What a splendid room this is – and what incredible service you have shown us – thank you.
We will start this afternoon with an update on the activities of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, followed by some news on the Adopt a School programme and a review of some changes to our Friends of RACA membership. Daniel Morris-Jefferry will also share with you the latest details of our online directory. We will finish the formal part of the afternoon with some new Culinary Arts Laureate conferments and an investiture before some canapés (created here by our new Academician Kevin Gratton and the Hotel Café Royal team) and English sparkling wine from Gusbourne.
This year we have taken on 19 new members including:
· Liz Robinson, Head of Hospitality, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
· Luke Holder, Chef Director, Hartnett Holder & Co
· Gary Maclean, Executive Chef, City of Glasgow College
· David Mutter, Head Chef, Darroch Learg Hotel
· Kevin Gratton, Founder, Samphire + Sage
· Roberta Hall-McCarron, Chef Owner, The Little Chartroom
· Leigh Myers, Chef Director, Wellocks
· Atul Kochhar, Chef Director, Atul Kochhar Restaurant Group
· Moses Solomon, Resident Manager, Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Park
· Raluca Talpos, General Manager, Coutts Bank
· Calum Montgomery, Head Chef, Edinbane Lodge
· Beth Bond, Owner, The Cottage in the Wood
· Jack Bond, Chef Owner, The Cottage in the Wood
· Patrick O'Sullivan, Executive Chef, Grosvenor House Hotel
· Pete Redman, Chef Director, BM Caterers
· Fabrice Uhryn, Executive Chef, Waterside Inn
· Adam Wright, Head Chef, Waterside Inn
· Jon Lilley, Head of Culinary, Lexington Catering
· David Taylor, Chef Director, Grace & Savour
Among the new Academicians with us on the evening Beth and Jack Bond, Owner and Chef Owner of The Cottage in the Wood in the Lake District.
Our new associate members are: SushiSushi, TRUEfoods, Macallan, UNOX, Seafood Scotland, Revol 1768, and Clarence Court.
We also have some new Friends of RACA, headed up by our new chair of Friends, Stephen Toon, who is with us today. Those new Friends of RACA are: Marc Newey, Chief Executive, Roehampton Club and Tristan Hall, Managing Director of Sunningdale Golf Club
It is wonderful to have so many of you here with us today, and we look forward to seeing more of you all in 2026.
Our Annual Awards of Excellence were a huge success this year, with two new quarter finals added to the service discipline at the RAC Woodcote Park and the Four Seasons on Park Lane, and we had thirty finalists achieve their award.
Ollie Stonefrost from Lucknam Park Hotel, took the title of Young Chef of the Year, our Young Pastry Chef of the Year was Sarah Williams from the Dorchester and our Young Waiter of the Year, Caitlin Findlay from Gleneagles.
We had a glamorous Gala Dinner at Claridge’s and we continue to be grateful to them for their support of these awards. We added a guest speaker to the line-up this year – Jason Fox, no less and we were fortunate to take on a brand new Champagne partner by the name of Bollinger!
For the 2026 Annual Awards of Excellence we are launching Sponsors and Judges’ drinks reception in February next year and we will be in touch with all our commercial and product sponsors along with our expert judges to invite you all to towards the end of this year – so you have lots of time to get it in your diaries.
“Next year is going to be even busier than this year – as we go into a year with the Annual Awards of Excellence and The Master of Culinary Arts.’
We launched the Master of Culinary Arts earlier this month at The Dorchester with excellence attendance. Our honorary president Brain Turner CBE welcomed our VIP guests and potential entrants and we were also very privileged to have our 2026 Honorary Guest judges speaking – Three-Michelin star chefs Alain Roux and Mark Birchall and one of the UK’s most successful hoteliers Thomas Kochs. The speeches were inspiring and an insight into what the honorary judges will be looking for from each discipline.
The MCA discipline chairs and MCA chair Idris Caldora organised three individual briefings for the potential entrants and talked them through their tasks. We will hold another briefing in each discipline at Brasserie Constance in the new Fulham Pier in association with UNOX, our new headline education sponsor. These additional discipline briefings will be accompanied by three equipment masterclasses from UNOX.
For those of you who were at the Master of Culinary Arts launch you will have seen a new filming crew. 7Fifty Films have been engaged to film a six-part series following the entirety of the MCA, this will include the launch, the follow-up briefings and sifting of applicants, the pastry, kitchen and service tasks and challenges and, of course, the gala dinner and presentations of the 2026 Master of Culinary Art titles.
The first film will be ready very soon, and we will be hosting this on the academy’s YouTube Channel and sharing it as shots on social media. This is a real first for the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and our way of showcasing the talent that we have within our ranks. Our form of story-telling, amplifying what we do as an academy and how our members are committed to giving back to the industry. Our Master of Culinary Arts current and future holders represent the skilled professionalism in our sector and we will capture this in these films – with the goal of sharing it to a much larger audience. All to raise the profile of hospitality, the Academy and our existing and future members – six films that will personify excellence.
We have four new sponsors for the Master of Culinary Arts, including Woods Foodservice, Seafood Scotland, SushiSushi and, as I mentioned, UNOX have also come on board as our new headline equipment sponsor.
Our existing commercial and product sponsors for the Master of Culinary Arts are the University of West London as our Headline Education Sponsor, Ritter Courivaud, Winterhalter, Aubrey Allen, L'Unico Caffe Musetti, Classic Fine Foods, and Berkmann Wine Cellars. We are very grateful to all of you, and it’s great to have so many here with us today.
In terms of our other events and education initiatives, our next Plenary Meeting will be held at the new Chancery Rosewood on the 12th January 2026, and tickets will be on sale to Members soon. Our series of Seat at the Table lunches, which we are proud to be able to hold courtesy of our Headline Educational Sponsor, the University of West London, will also continue throughout 2026 and for the foreseeable future, as will our Ramon Pajares Excellence Scholarship, sponsored by the Savoy Educational Trust, which was this year awarded to a very deserving recipient in Alexandra Sollis, guest relations manager at Gleneagles Hotel.
Alexandra Sollis, Guest Relations Manager at Gleneagles Hotel and inaugural recipient of the Ramon Pajares Excellence Scholarship
Daniel Moriss-Jeffery, General Manager of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts
Delivering an update on our new Online Members Directory, which is now live for Academicians and Friends and will allow our Members to stay better connected while modernising the way we keep in touch.
“Daniel has handled this project completely by himself, on top of his usual workload within the AEE and MCA. Thank you, Daniel.”
Conferment Ceremony
Next up, ladies and gentlemen, we have our annual investitures and this year we are delighted to announce a new membership category that recognises those who have made a substantial contribution to the development, organisation, assessment, and technical aspects of the Master of Culinary Arts - our Culinary Arts Laureate!
Next year marks the tenth occasion of celebrating the Master of Culinary Arts, since first established by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in 1987. Held every four years and over the last 38 years, the MCA is the UK’s ultimate accolade awarded in recognition of outstanding craftsmanship, for Chefs, Pastry Chefs and Restaurant Managers.
It is appropriate that, as we move into a new era of the MCA and the next series of the individual tests, we recognise the people who have been integral to their success, and who exemplify the technical aspects of the Master of Culinary Arts. Those people who have steered, mentored, and coached all of the current holders of The Master of Culinary Arts, judged them, and nurtured them.
A Laureate is a person honoured with an award for outstanding creative or intellectual achievement, and so for us to introduce a new Royal Academy of Culinary Arts membership category – the Culinary Arts Laureate, the title provides both recognition and prestige. Fellows of the Academy elected to this new category will receive a certificate, a medal, and a badge and will also become part of the MCA Alumni.
To be considered for the conferment of the Culinary Arts Laureate title, nominees must already be a Fellow of the Academy, with no outstanding fees; have substantially contributed to the development of the MCA for a period covering at least four MCA cycles; clearly meet the requirements of the MCA in terms of: experience, professional development, knowledge of traditional and modern gastronomy, advanced skills in their specific trade, and contributed to the training and development of others.
Once agreed by the Academy’s Management Committee, successful nominees are conferred at the Annual General Meeting – and here we are……
‘For us to introduce a new Royal Academy of Culinary Arts membership category – the Culinary Arts Laureate – the title provides both recognition and prestige.’
I will read a short citation on each Culinary Arts Laureate and then invite them on stage to accept their certificate, pin, and medal – and the warranted applause and recognition.
So let us begin, and it is my absolute honour to confer our first Culinary Arts Laureate to our Honorary President Brian J. Turner CBE.
Brian Turner is one of Britain’s most well-known chefs and as many of you will know, he trained at Simpson’s in the Strand, The Savoy, The Beau Rivage in Lausanne and Claridge’s.
In 1971 he opened the kitchens of The Capital Hotel with Richard Shepherd where they won a then - rare Michelin star. In 1986 he opened his own restaurant Turner’s in Walton Street, Chelsea. After fifteen years of success, he opened restaurants in Birmingham and Slough and in 2003 at The Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London. Then Turner’s in Butlins, Bognor Regis between 2010 to 2017.
Brian has had a successful career as a TV personality, with Ready Steady Cook running for 14 years, as well as regular appearances on This Morning, Saturday Kitchen, Saturday Morning with James Martin and his own shows with the BBC. He was awarded a CBE for his services to tourism and training in the catering industry by the late Queen Elizabeth in 2022.
Brian has been at the heart of the Academy since it launched in 1980 and was around at the time of the genesis of the British branch known as Club 9, a group of highly regarded Chefs des Cuisines including Michel Bourdin, Albert Roux, John Huber, Anton Mosimann, Peter Kromberg, and Richard Shepherd. The group met monthly to mull over the culinary business of the day, and he has continued to be pivotal to the discussions behind the development of the Master of Culinary Arts and the Academy for a very long time, as chair, as president and now as our much-loved Honorary President.
There really are not enough words to describe the impact Brian Turner has had on the Culinary Arts but as I ask Brian up on stage with John Williams to accompany him, can I ask you all to recognise his contribution with cheers and your loudest applause.
Ladies and gentlemen – Brian Turner.
CEO Lisa Jenkins and President John Williams MBE except the honour on behalf of Brian Turner.
Now if I may I’d like to keep John on stage whilst I read a few words about our next Culinary Arts Laureate conferred on John Williams MBE.
John first moved to London just before his 17th birthday and began his culinary career at the Royal Garden Hotel, where he progressed to the role of Sous Chef before taking the leap to run their restaurant, which he led for over two years.
Returning to Hotel Kitchens as Premier Sous Chef at Claridge’s after The Royal Garden, he spent nine years there rising to the role of Head Chef. It was here that Chef Williams became a member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and saw him serve on several committees, including the management board.
A short stint at the Savoy Group at The Berkeley as Executive Head Chef led to a return to Claridge’s as Executive Chef for a further nine years. In 2004 John joined The Ritz London as Executive Chef, a position he has held ever since. That same year, he became the Chair of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and in 2024, was elevated to the role of President.
This year The Ritz earnt its second Michelin star and was named the Number One restaurant in the country by The National Restaurant Awards.
John has been involved in the Master of Culinary Arts almost as long as Brian and has been fundamental to its development. His technical and creative skills in the kitchen are widely recognised as setting the standards required to achieve the prestigious title of Master of Culinary Arts in the Kitchen.
He has borne many MCA holders from his kitchen and has always supported the crucial relationship between chefs and Restaurant Service and Management (or front of house as it is fondly called). His attention to detail and exquisite palate make him a formidable standard-bearer. We are privileged to have him as our President, spearheading the Academy.
Ladies and gentlemen – Chef John Williams MBE
John Williams MBE, RACA President and Executive Chef at The Ritz
‘He has borne many MCA holders from his kitchen and […] His attention to detail and exquisite palate make him a formidable standard-bearer.’
It now gives me great pleasure to award our third Culinary Arts Laureate to Silvano Giraldin.
Born in Italy near Padova, Silvano went to catering school and worked his way through Venice and then France for five years in restaurants and hotels such as the Negresco in Nice and the Pacha Club near Paris before joining the iconic Le Gavroche in 1971. Here alongside the Rouxs he worked his way up from waiter, to Maître d’, and sommelier, before becoming the General Manager in 1975 and company director in 1987.
He continues to leave his mark and his dedication and pursuit of excellence have left a lasting legacy on fine dining and set a benchmark for service across the hospitality industry.
Silvano has inspired many front of house colleagues to achieve the Master of Culinary Arts, and it was he, as a founding member and Chairman of Les Arts de la Table and Trustee of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, who was the instigator of the Award of Excellence (service) and the first ever MCA in Service and Restaurant Management. He continues as our co-chair to this day.
Silvano’s awards and accolades over the lifetime of his career have made him one of the most recognisable flag-bearers for service in the UK and he is regularly referenced by his mentees in the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts as their industry icon.
Ladies and gentlemen – please welcome Silvano Giraldin
Silvano Giraldin, Founder of Les Arts de la Table
‘When I said to Paul Bocuse that I wanted to emulate the MOF in Service he said “You can’t…” and then when I took the idea to the French goverment, they were quick to fund it.’
Our next Culinary Arts Laureate conferment belongs to Sergio Rebecchi, a member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts for over four decades.
Sergio was born in the food capital of Italy, Emilia Romagna, but was tempted to London in his teens to join the Forte Organisation, where he became a protege of Lord Forte. This mentorship influenced his career, and showed him the power and importance of training, supporting the next generation and ensuring a succession plan.
Taking on the role as chair of the Annual Awards of Excellence in Service from Silvano Giraldin in 1990, he has since passed on that baton to Simon Girling, food and beverage director at The Ritz.
Along with Silvano, he is a founder member and Trustee of the Gold Service Scholarship and co-Chair of the MCA for Service.
He is a repository of knowledge for classical Service skills, an advocate for women, a defender of consistency and a generous mentor, ensuring that Front of House Service skills are recognised, passed down and celebrated.
A little less known fact, he is also the person who introduced Service Charge into five-star hotels, raising the living standard of those working in our industry and also brought to London the concept of named chefs having their own restaurants in Hotels, when he orchestrated the opening of Chez Nico at the Grosvenor House in 1992.
He has been integral to the development of both the Annual Awards of Excellence and the Master of Culinary Arts – and he does so with stylish aplomb!
Ladies and gentlemen – Sergio Rebecchi
Sergio Rebecchi, Director of Serenata Hospitality
‘He is a repository of knowledge for classical Service skills, an advocate for women, a defender of consistency and a generous mentor, ensuring that Front of House Service skills are recognised, passed down and celebrated.’
Our next Culinary Arts Laureate conferment belongs to John Cousins. A gentleman who is the backbone of the processes, and technical aspects of the service discipline within the Master of Culinary Arts.
John’ s sixty-year career has ranged from hotel line management, through to higher education, where he became Head of the Ealing Hotel School, to now being a consultant, author, and educator.
With over fifty specialist publications, including the two principal food and beverage service textbooks, he is recognised by education and industry as an authority on food and beverage operations and hospitality management.
Since joining the Academy in 1994, by initiation of Silvano Giraldin, he has continually and substantially contributed to the specifications, assessment, and integrity of both the Annual Awards of Excellence, and the Master of Culinary Arts.
In addition to being a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, he holds high level memberships of various professional bodies including a visiting Professor at the University of West London. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Cooks, admitted to the Freedom of the City of London, and has received a Catey Award for contributions to Education and Training.
John has championed the Culinary Arts Laureate title and we are grateful for your continued attention to detail, and your considered professional influence on the academy and the Culinary Arts profession.
Ladies and gentlemen - please welcome John Cousins
John Cousins, Director of Food & Beverage Training Co.
‘It’s funny that we should be in this room today because one of the last times I was here, Sir Forte told a joke: a member of the hotel staff passes the waiter and asks “is it still raining out there?” and the waiter replies “How should I know? This isn’t my station!”’
Thank you John
Our next Culinary Arts Laureate is conferred to the academy’s quiet and charming French man - Didier Garnier.
Born in Angers, into a family of restaurateurs - his parents owned the Michelin-starred restaurant "L'Hôtellerie du Château" and having started young in the industry with his family an apprenticeship at the age of 15 as a waiter at Le Vert d'Eau, another Michelin -starred restaurant in Angers, Didier’s career front of house took off before moving to London in 1973.
His career started as a commis waiter at the Connaught Hotel and was quickly promoted to Chef de Rang and Sommelier. IN 1975–76 Didier returned to France to complete his national service, and during this period also worked for a few months at Maxim’s and Le Cercle Républicain.in Paris.
Returning to the UK in 1978 Didier worked at the restaurant Les Alouettes, in Surrey, and at Le Renard du Village in Ashtead before a move back to London at the St Quentin Restaurant, taking charge of this new French brasserie on Brompton Road. He became
General Manager of St Quentin, and one of its main shareholders, leading a team of 30 people at the brasserie and a slew of spin-offs including the Grill St Quentin in prior to the St Quentin Company which comprised five establishments and 130 employees being bought by the Savoy Group.
In 1988, Didier opened the restaurant Le Colombier, near Chelsea Square, - a neighbourhood and London institution which, after 37 years of existence, closes this December.
A member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts since 1992 and a fellow since 1995, Didier was also knighted with the French Order of Merit in 2016 and the National Order of Agricultural Merit in 2020.
He shares his experience generously and is a worthy recipient of the Culinary Arts Laureate
Ladies and gentlemen - DIDIER GARNIER
Presentation and photograph
APPLAUSE
Didier LEAVES THE STAGE
JOHN stays ON STAGE WITH LISA TO PRESENT REMAINING INVESTITURES
Now we move to recognise one of our pastry chef heroes, with our next Culinary Arts Laureate bestowed upon Michael Nadell.
Michael has been a member of the Academy since its formation and recently retired as Chairman of the pastry committee for the Master of Culinary Arts
He started his career at the Westminster Hotel School before working as a commis pastry chef at The Royal Court Hotel. Eager to learn more he spent the next two years at Maison Berteaux, the renowned French patisserie in Soho. Here he was responsible for all laminated dough’s including their famous croissant.
A spell at the Coque d’Or restaurant created a chance meeting with Bill Lacy, Head chef at the Empress restaurant which saw Michael joining the team at the newly opened Brittania Hotel, at Grosvenor Square, as Chef Pâtissier, under Lacy.
Then a phone call from Guy de Laurent at the Royal Garden hotel enticed Michael to join him as Chef Pâtissier, and then on to the Mayfair Hotel where he ran a pastry kitchen with twelve staff, following in the footsteps of William Barker and Brion Clark, two past masters of their craft.
A move to the newly built Intercontinental Hotel, Hyde Park corner, brought Michael Peter Kromberg together for seven years and whilst doing his day job Michael
also taught Advanced Pastry to third year students at the Colchester Institute. He has always encouraged his team members to enter competitions and has himself won 10 gold medals including one gold medal at the Frankfurt Culinary Olympics. In 1994 he was the first pastry chef to be awarded the Chef Award at the Catey’s
he has inspired hundreds of chefs in the UK and his craft and intricate skills are synonymous with the artistry required of the quiet culinary art of pastry.
Ladies and gentlemen – Michael Nadell
Presentation and photograph
APPLAUSE
Michael LEAVES THE STAGE
JOHN stays ON STAGE WITH LISA TO PRESENT REMAINING INVESTITURES
Our penultimate investiture this evening is the presentation of the Culinary Arts Laureate to David Pitchford.
Originating from Shrewsbury in the West Midlands David trained at Wolverhampton College before moving to London where his first job was at BBC Television Centre.
Followed by six years working as a young chef at the Dorchester, finishing as chef Tournant.
In 1973 he obtained a London University Certificate of Education at Garnett College before teaching professional cookery at Ealing Hotel School, under the headship of Victor Ceserani.
In 1977, with his wife Rona he opened Read's Restaurant in Faversham, Kent, just recently retiring after 47 years. Read’s won accolades in all the major British food guides as well as a Michelin star which was maintained for 21 consecutive years.
In 1987 David was invited to join the Academy of Culinary Arts by Michel Bourdin and in 1997 he represented the UK at the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon. In July 2003 David and Rona won the “Catey” for the “Independent Restauratuer of the year” at the awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane and in 1998 he became Vice Chair of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts remained so for more than 25 years.
In 2007 David became the Chairman of the MCA (Kitchen) and in 2014 Chairman of the MCA all three disciplines Service, Pastry and Kitchen. His contribution to the Master of Culinary Arts is indelible – shaping the Culinary Arts accolade for over 15 years.
Ladies and gentlemen – David Pitchford
Thank you David – and Rona for being part of the academy and the Master of Culinary Arts’ history and structure.
Our final investiture this evening belongs to a hospitality superstar – and we are delighted to be presenting a Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Fellowship to Harry Murray MBE.
Most of us will know Harry from his time at Lucknam Park, where he was appointed managing director of the 42-bedroom Hotel and Spa in 1997. He helped to develop the hotel from four AA stars to five red AA stars with a Michelin-starred restaurant and became chairman in 2010, the year the hotel won the Independent Hotel of the Year Catey and AA Independent Hotel of the Year.
Stepping down as chairman of Lucknam Park at the end of 2021. It is his contribution to mentorship and training that have become his legacy.
With over 45 years as a Master Innholder Harry has continued to coach and inspire the next generation of hospitality leaders. He continues as president of HOSPA and as an ambassador and patron of Hospitality Action, Springboard, Be Inclusive Hospitality, the Institute of Hospitality, the Hoteliers Guild and UKH.
Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome Harry Murray up on stage to collect his Fellowship and say a few words.
a. Fellowship
i. Harry Murray – Fellow (John presents with Lisa) - Harry to say a few words
Harry managed luxury hotels across five decades and was recognised with numerous awards for his tireless efforts to raise standards of excellence. His awards include an MBE for services to the hospitality industry, Hotelier of the Year, Catey Lifetime Achievement Award, AA Lifetime Achievement Award an Honorary MBA from the University of West London.
