David Hennigan, 40, of The Crown at Whitebrook and Celtic Manor in Monmouthshire, has won the 2010 UK Restaurant Manager of the Year competition following an exciting final held yesterday at Babylon restaurant at the Roof Gardens, London.
Michele Caggianese, restaurant manager at Galvin at Windows, London Hilton on Park Lane, was runner-up.
“I’m was very humbled to be chosen as a finalist, but then to be picked from this line-up of six such strong restaurant managers is incredible,” said David, following the announcement.
Liverpool-born David, who has worked in the industry for 24 years, manages both The Crown at Whitebrook and The Crown at Celtic Manor. He trained in Liverpool beginning as a commis waiter and went on to hold positions at the Lords of the Manor, Gloucestershire, and Hunstrete House near Bath.
The UK Restaurant Manager of the Year, organised by the Academy of Food & Wine and supported by the National Skills Academy for Hospitality, the Savoy Educational Trust and sponsored by OpenTable, sets out to find a top class restaurant manager with great business acumen, fantastic people skills, the ability to recruit, manage and motivate a team and who also has a thorough knowledge of the restaurant trade.
Every aspect of the competitors’ skill was put to the test in a gruelling final that included a wine tasting, wine and food matching test, management skill scenario, and a task involving finding errors on a menu and mistakes in a room laid out ready for service. Each finalist was also asked to write and present a written business plan for a new restaurant launch on which they were questioned by a panel of expert judges acting as would-be investors. This year’s judges included top industry personalities Silvano Giraldin, formerly of Le Gavroche, Peter Avis, restaurant manager, Babylon at The Roof Gardens, London (last year’s Restaurant Manager of the Year), and David Morgan-Hewitt, managing director, The Goring, London.
“David’s written submission was very financially orientated and thorough – he was the only finalist the panel would have invested its money in,” commented judge Paul Breach, vice chairman of the Academy of Food & Wine. “David demonstrated to the judges that he had a very broad skill set in food and wine, business and training. He is also a very good communicator. When challenged his answers were considered and knowledgeable.”
L-R: David McHattie, chief executive of the National Skills Academy for Hospitality, David Hennigan 2010 Restaurant Manager of the Year, Academy of Food & Wine Patron Lord Thurso MP and Academy of Food & Wine president Roy Ackerman.
David receives a fabulous study-tour week in New York, staying at top Manhatten boutique hotel, The MAve, in the trendy Flatiron District to complete a stage at one of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group properties. The Crown at Whitebrook will receive a complimentary 12-month subscription to the OpenTable reservation system.
As runner-up Michele Caggianese wins a week at the summer business school of the highly-acclaimed Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland, courtesy of the Savoy Educational Trust.
“One of our roles is to find excellence and promote it and to promote front-of-house as a highly skilled professional career, said Stephen Mannock, programme director for the National Skills Academy, who endorsed and supported the competition. “The standard of this year’s Restaurant Manager of the Year competitors was exceptionally high, but the winner demonstrated exactly what we were looking for. He will be a great ambassador for front-of-house as a professional career.”
The Restaurant Manager of the Year gala dinner also saw further industry stalwarts invited to join the Academy of Food & Wine’s Restaurant Manager Hall of Fame: Alain Desenclos of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons; Jean Claude Bretonne, restaurant manager at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay; Sergio Rebecci, director, Chez Nico Restaurants; Didier Garner, proprietor, Le Colombier Restaurant, London; Craig Bancroft, joint managing director, Northcote Group, Lancashire; and Peter Avis, restaurant manager, Babylon Restaurant, London, the 2009 Restaurant Manager of the Year.
They join the inaugural awardees Elena Salvoni of Elena’s L’Etoile; Silvano Giraldin, formerly of Le Gavroche; Jesus Adorno, director and maitre d’ of Le Caprice; Diego Masciaga, restaurant manager, Waterside Inn, Bray; and David Morgan-Hewitt, managing director of The Goring, London.