New chairman for Association of Catering Excellence

18th November 2011, 12:24pm

The recent Association of Catering Excellence (ACE) annual wine dinner on board HMS Belfast marked the handover from outgoing chairman Sean Valentine of Aspire Group to Ruston Toms of Blue Apple Catering. Toms will be joined by vice-chair Jeni Edwards from Bartlett Mitchell.

More than 130 guests from the contract catering industry enjoyed a five course dinner created by three chefs from Sodexo Prestige – Mark Parfait from Prestige London, Dominic Barham from British American Tobacco, and Jamie Walsh from HMS Belfast. Wine for each course was supplied by sponsor Louis Latour Agencies.

The event is the season finale in a series of annual events for ACE. Outgoing chairman Valentine said: "We focus on delivering great events in fabulous locations at real value for money for members, and we've had excellent feedback.

"I've really enjoyed my time as chair – the other 15 committee members have been very supportive and there is a real team spirit among us all. Our desire to give something back to the industry through face to face events is high on the agenda.

"Over the last two years, ACE has developed as a stronger brand in the crowded catering association market through marketing and PR. A new website and video footage bring the events alive, and the Dragons' Den event brings integrated training and development into the association, with prize winners benefiting from educational trips to Disney Institute and Emirates Academy, sponsored by Savoy Education Trust."

New chairman Toms adds: "I would very much like to thank Sean for the last two years of fine leadership at the helm of ACE and hope that Jeni Edwards and I can continue to steer the association in the right direction into the future. I also hope that with the support of the dynamic team of people on the ACE Council to maintain the high standard of events we deliver for our members. More importantly however, that we all have fun doing so."

A raffle raised more than £2,000 for The Clink Charity, which manages The Clink Restaurant, the first commercial restaurant to open inside a British prison.

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