The Craft Guild of Chefs has today announced the winners of the culinary arts, confectionary and restaurant service competitions at WorldSkills UK. This year held at the NEC in Birmingham.

Finalists battled it out to win gold during the annual must-attend event.

Formally known as the Skills Show, WorldSkills UK competitions is divided into four areas, each focusing on specific industry sectors. The four areas are:

• engineering and technology digital
• business and creative health
• hospitality and lifestyle
• construction and infrastructure

The Craft Guild of Chefs organises and judges three competitions in the hospitality area. The competitions are culinary arts, confectionary and restaurant service. Each competition sets out core competencies and standards candidates should achieve, which they are judged and marked on.

The Craft Guild of Chefs main competition culinary arts saw chefs showcase their ability to be responsible for the high-quality production of food served to customers in a retail dining situation. Competitors worked with raw ingredients to create complex and intricate dishes. They also had the option to be judged on the creative aspect of compiling a menu. The competition assesses the skills and abilities of competitors entering the field of culinary arts.

Led by Stephen Scuffell, Craft Guild of Chefs chairman of vice presidents, the culinary arts competition consists of two heats; a live heat where chefs complete a series of tasks on a specific day prior to WorldSkills UK; and the UK national final at the NEC Birmingham. Scuffell said, “congratulations to everyone involved in 2018 UK skills live and to all the young professional competitors.”

Medallists included Chloe Lloyd-Hughes from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College who won the gold award, Richard Postles from Cheshire College South and West awarded silver, Luke MacKenzie from City of Glasgow College awarded bronze. An additional three medallists were awarded highly commended.

The confectionary competition focused on the role and tasks of a patisserie and confectionery chef. Competitors carried out a range of tasks which reflect both modern and traditional patisserie. They were judged on eight core competencies in this competition.

City of Glasgow College was honoured with the three medals in the confectionary competition. The winners are Ance Kristone winning gold, Naomi Simpson winning silver and Leona Westwater winning bronze.

The restaurant service competition covered nine competencies including; to prepare and serve a range of dishes suitable for table theatre service in a fine dining restaurant; provide a service for customers in a restaurant dining environment; and identify a range of wines, spirits and liqueurs from a given list. The standards expected were communicated prior to the competition and then judged and given marks for each.

Karolina Glowacka from City of Glasgow College was awarded gold, Paulina Skoczek from Gower College Swansea was awarded silver and Paige Jones, also from Gower College Swansea awarded bronze.