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Chef, restaurateur and TV personality Rick Stein headed a select number of hospitality industry figures to be featured in the New Year’s Honours List 2018.
Stein has been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the economy. He will add the honour to the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), which he received in the New Year’s Honours List 2003 for services to West Country tourism.
Other hospitality recipients in this year’s awards, which honoured 1,123 people and marked the centenary year of the OBE, included Patrick Crerar, former chief executive of Crerar Hotels, who has been made a CBE for services to the hospitality industry in Scotland and charity work. Ellen Wiles, chef at Oak Field School in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, was named as a recipient of the Medallist of the Order of the British Empire, for services to children with special dietary requirements.
Stein is one of the most well-known names in the hospitality industry having built up – with his ex-wife Jill Stein – a restaurant business into a global brand, fuelled by a successful television and book career.
The originally eatery in Padstow, Cornwall, which opened in 1975, has since been joined by a further 12 food and beverage outlets, four shops, 40 bedrooms, a pub and a cookery school. Four of the restaurants are now located outside Cornwall in Winchester, Hampshire; Sandbanks, Dorset; Marlborough, Wiltshire; and Barnes, London.
Stein remains one of Britain’s most identifiable chefs, a highly respected restaurateur and a hugely popular television presenter. He was the winner of the Catey Chef Award in 1999 and, with Jill, the Catey Special Award in 2016 (pictured).
His influence among chefs and consumers alike is immense. With more than 20 years on television screens in the UK and around the globe, and as the author of two dozen books – no doubt buoyed by his degree in English from Oxford University – his contribution to raising the profile of the British seafood industry has been colossal.
Stein, who is currently in Australia, said: “I am so proud to receive a CBE for services to the economy. I think that the hospitality industry, that I so much enjoy working in, is a force for good not only in the UK but everywhere. To be able to travel the world as an Englishman, fascinated by the food and culture wherever I go and bringing it back home is a dream job, but also reinforces the importance of everyone sitting down and enjoying good food together.”
Crerar has been honoured at the end of the year in which as chief executive of Crerar Hotels, he sold the business, to Thai-based Fico Castle for a reported £40m. Crerar Hotels has 12 properties in Scotland and one in England (Chevin Country Park Hotel & Spa in Otley, West Yorkshire).
The deal included the sale of www.easybreaks.com and Crerar Management, which specialises in turning around underperforming hotels. Jupiter Hotels now manages the hotels.
At the time of the company’s sale in August, it was announced that the Crerar Trust, which Crerar heads as chairman and trustee, would benefit by receiving more than half of the net proceeds of the disposal of the hotel group. Over the past 10 years, charities and worthy causes in Scotland have benefitted by around £7m through the receipt of more than one half of the company’s distributable profits.
This year’s New Year’s Honours List recognised only half the number of hospitality individuals, compared with last year, when hotelier Nick Jones, and chef-restaurateurs Mark Hix and Tony Singh were among the six personalities to receive awards.
New Year’s Honours 2017: awards for Nick Jones, Mark Hix and Tony Singh
Alastair Storey and Tommy Miah rewarded in Queen’s Birthday Honours
Videos from The Caterer archives
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