Greg Crump, chef de partie at Warwick Conferences’ has triumphed at the 2007 Conference Centres of Excellence/IACC Chefs’ Challenge, winning both the overall Gold award and the ‘Best Dessert’ category.

Greg, who joined Warwick Conferences’ Arden House in 2001, clinched Gold with a menu of:

• Lobster Ravioli
• Rack of Lamb with Marinated Figs
• Chocolate Fondant with Banana Fritters

His dessert also won him the ‘Best Dessert’ award!

Greg is the son of Graham Crump, Warwick Hospitality's Group Executive Chef - good to see them keeping it in the Warwick family!

The Chefs’ Challenge invites entries from the 41 members of the Conference Centres of Excellence (CCE) consortium of dedicated conference venues, and from members of the International Association of Conference Centres (IACC). Now in its ninth year, it is a showcase for many of the conference industry’s top talents – its winners regularly go on to achieve further national and international competition success.

Finalists are selected on the basis of menus submitted on paper, and then compete in an ‘against the clock’ cook-off at South Warwickshire College. “Standards were remarkably high despite the pressures of the day,” commented Mark Houghton, head of the judging panel and Chairman of the British Culinary Federation: “All contestants can be proud of the effort they put in and the way they represented their conference centres.”

The 2007 awards took place at Warwick Conferences’ Scarman House conference venue. “Specialist conference venues place great importance on standards of cuisine, and this competition underlines their determination to achieve ever higher standards,” said CCE Chair Kay England, who presented Greg with his winner’s trophy.