It has been another roaring success for the Springboard Awards for Excellence, as the 2019 event raised an incredible £110,105 for their mission to promote the hospitality industry, reduce unemployment and alleviate poverty.
The Springboard Charity’s annual awards ceremony took place at the Novotel London West who kindly hosted the event for another consecutive year, seeking to celebrate and reward hospitality businesses that have displayed incomparable efforts and contributions to the industry over the past year. The Awards focus particularly on recognising the companies that demonstrate tangible results in the attraction, recruitment and retention of employees as well as offering unique initiatives that seek to promote the industry as an exciting, rewarding and fulfilling working environment.
Springboard presented 20 awards to the businesses proving their excellence in a number of different categories; including Best Employer Award, Best Chef Development Strategy and Best Work Experience Provider. Last year’s Awards for Excellence raised a total of £125,000 for Springboard’s IntoWork and Educational programmes, helping individuals from all over the UK to gain the experience & skills required to begin successful careers in hospitality.
The event offered guests a fantastic three-course meal, prepared by Executive Chef Michael Penn, as well as excellent entertainment from their host for the night, former BBC impressionist Alistair McGowan and enchanting music from Emma-Kate Bentley and Enoch Mukasa.
The Awards ceremony was split into three categories – Promoting Careers, Attraction & Development and Best Employment Practice. Both Kew Green Hotels and Hilton Hotels stole the show, each taking home three prestigious Awards. Sodexo also impressed judges enough to walk away with two Awards – earning Best Apprenticeship Strategy for their innovative strategy to alter perceptions of apprenticeships. Representing Sodexo, Michael Taylor was awarded Springboard Individual Ambassador, particularly for his commitment to the FutureChef programme. The full list of Award-winners were as follows:
Category one – Promoting Careers
Springboard Individual Ambassador – Michael Taylor, Sodexo
Springboard Group Ambassador – Hilton Hotels
Best Regional Initiative – Browns Pie Shop
Best Education & Industry Partnership – Harrison Catering
Category two – Attraction & Development
Best Work Experience Provider – Jurys Inn Brighton
Best Use of Digital Media to Attract Talent – Kew Green Hotels
Best Recruitment Initiative – Hilton UK & Ireland
Best Young People Attraction & Development – Kew Green Hotels
Best Chef Development Strategy – Mitchells & Butlers
Best Housekeeping Team Initiative – PPHE Hotel Group
Best Management Strategy – Center Parcs
Best Wine Strategy – The Ritz London
Category three – Best Employment Practice
Best Apprenticeship Strategy – Sodexo
Best Career Progression – Casual Dining Group
Best Staff Progression – Hilton
Best Community Engagement – Kew Green Hotels
Best Employer Award – The Grand, Folkestone
Special Awards
Fiona Colley Award – Ryan Morrisson
Chris Beaumont Award – Michael Sloan
President’s Extra-Mile Award – Arletty Jooron
Brand new for 2019, the President’s Extra-Mile Award recognises the individual who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to supporting the work of Springboard and is chosen by a special panel of judges comprised of Springboard’s CEO Anne Pierce MBE, Life President Stephen Moss CBE and Dr Andy Kemp, Bidfood. The first President’s Award was presented to Arletty Jooron; a highly-valued Springboard Ambassador since 2011 whose continued support & contribution to Springboard’s endeavours – most notably the Springboard Panto and the annual TREK – has helped to raise vital funds for the charity while promoting their fundamental goals.
Harri were the headline sponsors of the Springboard Awards for Excellence 2019; their generosity allowing the event to go ahead again this year. Other sponsors included American Express, Bidfood, Bonasystems, Braehead, Brakes, Caterer.com, CH&Co, COREcruitment, Diageo, Handpicked Hotels, HIT Training, James Hallam, Learning Curve Group, Service-line and Syft.
Springboard CEO Anne Pierce said, “We were delighted to receive so many high-quality entries from so many fantastic businesses for our Awards for Excellence this year, which made our judges’ decisions even more difficult when selecting the winners. Each and every one of those shortlisted for the Awards demonstrated extremely impressive & unique examples of excellence within the recruitment sphere of hospitality.
“Year on year, we’ve seen more and more new faces and new businesses enter and attend the Awards for Excellence, and we’re so pleased to see some really fantastic winners once again in 2019 whose contributions to the hospitality industry align with and support Springboard’s mission to really promote careers in this wonderful industry.”
If you would like to be a sponsor for next year’s Springboard Awards for Excellence 2020, then please contact [email protected]