YCYW competition sees von Essen hotels as headline sponsor

Nick Romano, von Essen hotels' chief executive officer said: "As a member of the BHA, we are delighted to be supporting this very important competition, which encourages young talent throughout the hospitality industry and throughout the country. "von Essen hotels aspires to the highest standards of service and cuisine and our support of the competition reflects this commitment. We are delighted to be financially supporting and hosting the competition in two of our hotels as well as providing one of the main prizes." Bob Cotton, chief executive, BHA, welcomed von Essen hotels' support in the competition's 25th anniversary year. He said that the competition attracted over 200 entries last year from many well known, as well as lesser known, establishments. "This year we want to increase this number and encourage many more entries from all sectors of the industry - hotels, restaurants and contract catering and leisure catering." Bob Walton, chairman of The Restaurant Association, said that the sponsorship of von Essen hotels and the continuing long-standing support of the Savoy Educational Trust, HSBC, Sodexo, S.Pellegrino and Wild Harvest, together with new sponsors for 2009, Laurent Perrier and Matthew Clark, highlighted the importance of the competition in the industry: "The competition is going from strength to strength, and we aim to make the 25th anniversary year the best yet."