Gleneagles staff head to Dubai

Hellie Honney, Martin McRae and Liam Smith.

STAFF members from Gleneagles will be among those jetting off to Dubai after making it to the semi-final of a UK-wide hospitality competition.

Liam Smith, Hellie Honney and Martin McRae have all reached the semi-final stage of the Young Chef Young Waiter competition, with Liam a semi-finalist in the Best Young Chef category and Hellie and Martin both semi-finalists in the Best Young Waiter side of the contest.

Next month they will travel to Dubai to compete in the semi-final on 15th November, with the final of the competition taking place the following day.

All entrants to this year’s competition submitted a video entry and questionnaire, which were then assessed by a panel of judges.

On the chef side, judges include Emily Roux of Caractère, Jason Atherton of The Social Company and Jeff Galvin of Galvin Restaurants; while the waiter judges include Johanna Wimmer of The Ivy Collection, Andrew McKenzie of The Vineyard and Anne Lomas of The Savoy.

Robert Walton, chairman of Young Chef Young Waiter, said: “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.”