Scottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

Two chefs working in Scottish establishments are in the running for the title of Craft Guild of Chefs' National Chef of the Year 2012 Award, following the announcement of the 40 semi-finalists in this year’s competition.

Justin Galea, Executive Chef at Turnberry, and Zoltan Szabo, Senior Sous Chef at the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow, both made it through to the penultimate round of the contest.

Hailing from a mix of foodservice sectors, including restaurants and contract catering, the semi-finalists are hoping to follow in the footsteps of previous winners such as Gordon Ramsay.

Four semi-finals will take place at Sheffield College on June 19th and Westminster Kingsway College, London, on June 26th, after which eight hopefuls will progress to the final at the Restaurant Show Earls Court in October.

 www.craftguildofchefs.org

Harry Gow of Inverness has been crowned Scottish Baker of the Year. The craft bakery and family-owned business, which employs 180 people in the city, beat off competiition from northern, central and southern Scotland.

Artisan baker Paul Hollywood judged the finalists at a ceremony hosted by Scottish Bakers.

Chief Executive of Scottish Bakers, Alan Clarke, said: 'Over 12,000 bakery customers throughout Scotland voted for their favourite baked goods earlier this year, and we now have a ringing endorsement for our industry and a worthy winner in Harry Gow.'

The Results

Scottish Baker of the Year: Harry Gow Bakers, Inverness

Runners-up: WM Stephens, Dunfermline and Mimi's Bakery, Edinburgh

The Scottish Food and Drink Federation's (SFDF) Schools Programme, A Future in Food, has secured ongoing funding from the Scottish Government.

Worth £270,000 over three years, the national programme aims to help teachers, pupils and parents better understand the food-and- drink manufacturing sector in Scotland.

The funding, bolstered by additional industry and stakeholder contributions, will enable the programme to extend its impact and reach across the country. Since its launch in 2010, 3,500 pupils have been engaged in activities designed to boost their awareness of careers in the food industry. This ranges from food forensic projects where pupils use science to uncover the properties of different food products, to Dragon's Den-style activities where young people develop and present their food business strategies.

Moira Stalker, Schools Programme Co-ordinator at SFDF, said: 'As Scotland's biggest manufacturing industry, food and drink offers many exciting career opportunities for young people. Professionals in food are committed to bringing our industry to life for students in an engaging, interactive way by providing hands-on support to schools. Equally, with future employment being a concern for teachers, parents and students alike, we want to help them see how skills and qualifications in subjects such as science, engineering, logistics or IT can link to rewarding jobs in the industry.'

The Scottish business failure rate was 40% higher over the last year than in England and Wales, according to the latest figures from the Insolvency Service. The rate of company liquidations in Scotland is now 1.0% of the total active register of businesses compared to a rate of 0.7% in England and Wales. During the first quarter of this year, 432 Scottish companies went into liquidation, receivership or administration.

Within the total figures, the sectors which are suffering themost are real estate, renting and other business activities which accounted for 39.2% of all compulsory liquidations, while construction accounted for 15.7% of the total and. Hotels, restaurants and bars made up 12.2%.

Occupancy fell in Scottish hotels during February but revenue remained higher than the rest of the UK, according to the latest report by accountants and business advisers, PKF. The firm’s monthly hotel survey found that occupancy in Scotland fell by 2.4% during the month compared with an increase of 1.1% in regional UK.

Meanwhile, rooms yield fell by 2.2% in Scotland during February, although at £41.43, the overall figure was higher than any part of the UK. In regional UK revenue fell by 0.1% to £39.64; was up 0.5% to £39.52 in England and down 7.0% to £36.97 in Wales.

Alastair Rae, a partner at PKF, commented: 'Glasgow hotels continue to benefit from the conference market whilst this month’s numbers are down, this could be due to a quieter conference period rather than any major issues.

'Edinburgh is also down although this is unlikely to be serious given its continued success as a major tourist destination. However, the sector in Scotland as a whole has considerably higher revenues so, while any drop in monthly figures is a concern, there is perhaps less to be worried about other than the challenge of controlling costs.'