Honorary Members and Investitures 2024
Following our 2024 Annual General Meeting at The Dorchester last month, the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts is proud to introduce you to our newest Fellow, as well as five Honorary Members, who we are celebrating for their outstanding commitment to the Hospitality industry
Investitures
Lisa Goodwin-Allen
Executive Chef, Northcote
Invested to the Chair of Andrew Fairlie
“I think there are many mentors that I could have chosen who have been a great influence on my career so far. However, I have chosen the late great Andrew Fairlie [...]
I had the great opportunity of working with him and his team at Obsession in 2010 and for me personally Andrew was a very humble man. He loved his profession, his country and his family. ”
‘Our first investiture today is to Lisa Goodwin-Allen – presenting Lisa as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts.
Lisa is the Executive Chef of Michelin Star Restaurant Northcote and Director of The Game Bird and American Bar at The Stafford London.
She won the 2023 Food & Travel Reader Awards Chef of the Year, the 2022 CATEY Chef of the Year and is one of the most innovative and exciting chefs in the UK today.
Her impressive culinary skills have landed her regular TV appearances and she is often to be seen as a guest on James Martin’s Saturday Morning and has judged and mentored on both MasterChef: The Professionals and Celebrity MasterChef, but is perhaps best known as one of the veteran judge’s on BBC Two’s Great British Menu.
After joining Northcote aged 20, Lisa became chef de partie after a year, junior sous chef the following year then at the age of 23 was named head chef, one of the youngest chefs to take on the role in a Michelin starred kitchen at the time. Since then, she has helped to maintain the restaurant’s Michelin Star which it has held for over 20 years.
Lisa is passionate about using seasonal and locally sourced ingredients to incorporate her Lancashire roots into her creative dishes. She works across the whole kitchen; managing the team, developing new dishes, handling the ins and outs of the commercial side of the kitchen, and creating a passionate and positive place for the brigade to work.
Giving back to the industry and training her team is hugely important to Lisa and she invests time daily in training the Northcote brigade as it is satisfying for both them and her to teach new skills, get them excited about ingredients, and continually move the brigade forward.
Lisa supports Hospitality Action, Springboard and the Craft Guild of Chefs with their initiatives within the industry and her roles as Chef Ambassador for the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and Ambassador for Slow Food in the UK and Taste Lancashire gives her the platform to promote all that’s good about the hospitality industry and helps to inspire future generations.
Lisa is a RACA academician and was recently appointed deputy co-chair of our senior team. She is a valued member of our academy and the industry, and we are delighted to bestow her fellowship on her today.
Lisa takes her chair as a fellow by honouring Andrew Fairlie.’
LISA:
‘I think there are many mentors that I could have chosen who have been a great influence on my career so far. However, I have chosen the late great Andrew Fairlie.
Andrew was a mentor to many, a true craftsman and really was a great ambassador for Scotland. Everybody will remember him as for being the first Roux Scholar at the young age of 20, which gave him the opportunity to work with Michel Guerard. This undoubtedly could have been the inspiration to his classic and modern French cuisine. After working with Michel he had a short stint in Paris and then returned to Scotland and got his first Michelin star at the Devonshire Gardens.
Andrew then opened his own restaurant at Gleneagles in 2001, which was his flagship. The place where he got his second Michelin star in 2006. He was an inspiration to many in the country, a true mentor to the younger generation, seeing lots that came through his iconic restaurant and have gone on to achieve greater things.
I had the great opportunity of working with him and his team at Obsession in 2010 and for me personally Andrew was a very humble man. He loved his profession, his country and his family.
The respect in which Andrew is held is endorsed by the continuation of the restaurant at Gleneagles in his name under the leadership of his right-hand man, Stevie.’
HONORARY MEMBERS
ANTON EDELMANN
Culinary Writer
Maître Chef des Cuisines at the Savoy Hotel, 1982 - 2003.
“This honours me because sometimes when I look back in my working life it doesn’t look that I did all that much, but when you listen to it, you think frankly, no wonder when you work, 14, 15 hours every day!”
‘Our next investiture is with the legendary Anton Edelmann and we are delighted to be making him an honorary member today.
Anton Edelmann began his career as an apprenticeship based in Ulm in Germany and subsequently joined the Savoy River Restaurant in 1970, where he worked as a Commis de Cuisine. Then then spent several years in Geneva, Brussels and Munich before returning to the UK in 1976 to work as Sous Chef for Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester for three years.
His first Head Chef position was from 1980-1982 at 90 Park Lane where he oversaw the opening of the restaurant and in 1981 at the age of 30 was offered the position of Maître Chef des Cuisines at the Savoy Hotel where he remained until 2003.
Anton Edelmann was the youngest and longest serving Head Chef in the history of the Savoy and in 1992 was appointed a member of the Board of Directors.
In 2003 Anton took up the position of Principal Chef for Directors Table, a part of Sodexo, and ran Allium Restaurant as Chef Patron until 2006
Many of you will be familiar with his raft of cookery books (10 during his career), including the Savoy Cookbook and his food promotions for the Savoy in various cities in the USA, Thailand and Japan.
His awards include Catey Chef of the Year 1991, Catey Function Menu of the Year, Craft Guild of Chefs Special Award, and an Honorary Professorship in Hospitality at Thames Valley University.
Please join us in welcoming Anton Edelmann up on stage to receive his honorary membership with our utmost respect and thanks for the culinary contribution he has made to our industry.’
ANTON:
‘This honours me because sometimes when I look back in my working life it doesn't look that I did all that much, but when you listen to it, you think frankly, no wonder when you work, 14, 15 hours every day!
I always remember the Dorchester as a rather challenging place that I worked, and that was in 76 to 79 when Mosimann took over.
It was very nice to go to the Savoy afterwards, because I worked as a commis under Trumpetto. And that in itself was an education. Again there was a lot of transition and change that happened in our industry. And, of course, Savoy was a place which was set in its classic cuisine as the pinnacle really.
I'd forgotten what it was like until I came back. It was a very, very busy place. And so, it took me a long time to get on the top of the job and for a long time, I thought they choose the wrong man for the job anyway, because I felt, I couldn't really run a kitchen of 120 chefs, but I got into the job and I enjoyed myself there enormously.
And when I look back at my little career, I think I was a lucky man. Um, I was fortunate enough to work with amazing people. And very interesting places. And I made it out of the out of it in the end as well, which is quite nice, really!
And I know I am in a lucky position. I would think to myself that I do, what my customers used to do. I go out for lunch a lot. I sometimes drink too much and it's a wonderful thing!
The only other thing I wanted to say regarding the Academy, I was sitting there and I became a member in 1988, I think or something like that.
And I was sitting there were thinking amazing, the transitions has gone through. And it's amazing what you are doing now and you're doing many more things so much better than we did it in the days when I started, I'm not saying that we didn't do them well. But I think there's also a huge demand now, which obviously has increased the amount which you have to produce. Staying active with the industry all the time has become much more complex.
So I think well done with what you have done, Richard Shepherd and Sara-Jayne and John Williams of course. One doesn't appreciate it very often but an amazing job. So thank you very much for this and keep it going, Lisa, and Adam.’
Professor David Foskett OBE CMA
Senior Consultant, David Foskett Associates
“This is obviously a great pleasure and honour, for me, I could stand here and talk for the next hour about, education. But one thing I want to say is that, the academy is more important today in education than it has ever been. ”
‘Our next honorary member presentation is granted to Professor David Foskett who is a Fellow member of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, the Craft Guild of Chefs, and a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality.
David sits on various committees advising on higher and further education specialising in hospitality education and training and has conducted extensive research and consultancy in the hospitality and food industry for large corporate organisations, small businesses, private households, hotels and restaurants, Royal Palaces, colleges, and universities. He has helped to raise well over a million pounds for education projects and charitable causes especially the Clink Charity which helps to educate offenders before their release to help prevent them re-offending.
He is co-author of Practical Cookery Levels 1, 2 and 3, Theory of Hospitality and Catering, Food and Beverage Management, and Hospitality Supervision. These books have sold over 2 million copies and are used in 140 countries.
David has won many awards over the past 40 years, including a Queens Anniversary Award for outstanding hospitality education and the British Hospitality Centenary Award for exemplary hospitality education. In 2005 he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen and in 2007 a Cheval-ier dans LOR-dre du MER-IT Agricole from the President of France.
In 2015 he was named the hospitality hero by the craft guild of chefs and made Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Cooks, and a Freeman in the City of London. He is currently a consultant on Hospitality Services, Hospitality Education and Training, Restaurant Management and in 2024 he was awarded an OBE in the King’s new year honours list.
He is an education hero – please join us in welcoming David Foskett up on stage to collect his honorary membership.’
DAVID:
Well, thank you very much, Lisa. Thank you. John, thank you, Adam. This is obviously a great pleasure and honour, for me, I could stand here and talk for the next hour about, education. But one thing I want to say is that, the academy is more important today in education than it has ever been.
The simple reason for this is that hospitality education in this country is in crisis. There's a number of reports been written. The research done by Professor Peter Jones about the state of hospitality education. Professional recognition has become more important than ever. Many employers, over 70% of employers believe, professional recognition, like the Annual Awards of Excellence are more important than qualifications.
If you don't believe what I'm saying, There's two books on Amazon. The Great University Con is the first. And The Secret Lecturer is another about the damning position we are in, particularly new universities. It was a disaster when many new universities were created from Polytechnics that many MP’s agree with. So it's not me saying this, there's a number of researchers, but what I want to get across is The Academy today is more important than it's ever been in terms of Education and it's up to us all to support what they're doing. It's absolutely vital in Education training and the years ahead.
I'm so pleased to have Neil Rippington on board as educational chair. I work very closely with Neil particularly in India, We do a lot across Asia and we can see how much we are behind, in hospitality education, in this country now it's really worrying.
And it's glad to see Anton Adelman here because when he was in, in India with me last time for the young Chef Olympiad, he said I'm reading a book called. Why the Germans do it better. I've always been a great admirer of the Swiss and German, education system.
And thankfully in Singapore they are learning from Europe, I sat on a board in Singapore, an educational board for hospitality education in Singapore, and they've just adopted the German method of education and philosophy. And because they believe that skills underpin the economy. The minister that chairs this in Singapore, is the minister of finance, because skills underpin the economy. Work that the Royal Academy does and all those involved underpins our very economy and it's absolutely vital and I've been saying this to academics for many years that skills are the way forward. Thank you.
SAL GOWILI
General Manager, The Ritz London
‘Our next honorary membership award goes to Sal Gowili, general manager of The Ritz.
Sal joined The Ritz in 2011 as Front of House Manager, before quickly progressing to Rooms Division Manager within six months. He was appointed Hotel Manager in 2013 and General Manager in 2016. Prior to joining The Ritz, Sal obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering and spent 11 years in various management positions within Red Carnation Hotels, with his first management position in the 5* flagship property: The Milestone Hotel, after moving from Hilton Park Lane.
Sal is also an Executive Committee member of the Master Innholders, a member of UKHospitality and of The London Chapter of the UKHospitality Committee. He is a Fellow at The Institute of Hospitality, a member and former chair of the West One Hotel Committee and a mentor for Oxford Brookes Students.
Sal Gowili is a generous supporter of the academy, backing us from the wings, connecting us to key stakeholders and an influencer of high standards of training and development in his organisation.’
GUILLAUME MARLY
Managing Director, Waldorf Astoria - The Admiralty Arch
‘Our penultimate honorary membership today goes to Guillaume Marly, who joins us today with a new hat on as the managing director of the Waldorf Astoria, The Admiralty Arch opening in London in 2026.
Originally from France, Guillaume has built a solid and reputable career within some of the finest and grandest hotels in London, all of which have an outstanding world-wide reputation with regards to Service Excellence.
Having started his training and experience within various food & beverage management positions at the Dorchester and The Carlton Tower, he then developed further into Hotel management at Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Ritz London.
He oversaw the opening of The Chiltern Firehouse, potentially the most successful opening seen in London in the last 20 years and most recently overseeing the repositioning and success of the Hotel Café Royal as one of the most sought-after luxury hotels in London, achieving many awards along the way.
Guillaume is a Master Innholder as well as a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite by the French Government in 2016.
Please join us in wishing Guillaume all the very best in his new role at The Admiralty Arch.’
Yolande Stanley MCA MBE
Pastry Chair, Master of Culinary Arts
‘Our last honorary membership is given to Yolande Stanley MCA.
Yolande’s career in patisserie and confectionery was initiated by thorough training with John Huber, a Swiss master of these arts, at Slough college during the 1980s. Intensive and focussed trade knowledge and skills were gained running pastry kitchens in 5-star hotels in the UK and Switzerland, before settling into a teaching career. Starting at university, she also ventured into FE colleges, private schools, and coaching as a volunteer for WorldSkills UK.
Yolande especially enjoys teaching students at the start of their working lives, and many have continued into prestigious positions within the hospitality industry in patisserie where they continue the ethos and legacy of promoting skills and excellence.
Her Royal Academy of Culinary Arts membership was achieved in 1992 and Fellow status was bestowed in 2005. Activity on the Committee for the Annual Awards of Excellence Pastry (AAE) started immediately, and she became Chairman of the AAE in 2000 continuing this role until 2024.
Yolande achieved her Master of Culinary Arts (MCA) in 2000 and has mentored several subsequent candidates of this award, and now in 2024 has assumed the role of co-Chair alongside Benoit Blin.
Yolande was awarded an MBE in 2019 for Service to Young People in the hospitality industry.
Yolande cannot be with us today as she is away performing her WorldSkills International duties – but we are delighted to have her husband Keith Stanley (also an MCA) here with us today to collect her certificate on her behalf.’
Yolande’s husband Keith Stanley MCA accepts the award on her behalf.
