Chef left fuming as AA sends out the wrong plates

About 100 restaurants have been sent AA awards plates with the wrong number of rosettes on, the AA Restaurant Guide admitted this week. Albert Hampson, business manager of hotel services at the AA, said there had been a distribution error. "We gave all the plates and information to the company that does the distribution, but something went wrong, there was human error. About 100 restaurants have received the wrong plate."

The errors have occurred right across the award scale, with some restaurants receiving higher-rating plates than they should have and some lower ones. However, Hampson stressed that restaurants should have realised the error since they were all notified in writing of their rosette rating before the plates were sent out and they were in the process of contacting everyone who had received a wrong plate to correct the error.

But not everybody did realise what had happened. The mistake left one Lincolnshire chef furious over the mix-up because he believed he had won three rosettes for his cooking, only to be told two days later by the AA he had been awarded just two.

Paul Harvey, chef-proprietor of Harvey's, a 24-seat restaurant at Scartho, near Grimsby, knew he had been inspected during the summer and was thrilled when he received a commemorative plate with three rosettes on it through the post.

Harvey learned of the mix-up when he rang the AA to say thank-you. "They said there had been a mistake and would I send the plate back and they'd sent me a two-rosette plate in its place. If they want it, they'll have to go to Grimsby tip and glue all the bits together."

Harvey claimed never to have received any written notification. He added that the AA appeared unconcerned at the error, telling him just a handful of plates were involved.

"They don't seem to realise what it means to a chef to be awarded three rosettes: one minute you're walking tall, then it all collapses," he said. "I'm still gutted by it all."

by Bob Gledhill bob.gledhill@rbi.co.uk

Above: Albert Hampson, business manager of hotel services at the AA

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 23-29 November 2000