UK Restaurant Manager of the Year 2015 kicks off

The Academy of Food & Wine Service's (AFWS) 2015 UK Restaurant Manager of the Year competition is open for entries.

Run in partnership with The Caterer, and sponsored by Bunzl Catering Supplies and Bibendum Wine, the competition, now in its seventh year, is for restaurant managers or those in similar roles in any sector of the hospitality industry who are responsible for business performance, managing people, staff training and co-ordinating the
operation of the restaurant.

This year's competition will consist of a first-round entry form, which can be completed online. The top 10 entries will be visited by the judges, who will then cut the shortlist to six. Those half-dozen establishments will be given two weeks to prepare a business plan for a new restaurant.

At the final, candidates will be interviewed and tested on their all-round knowledge of the job, customer service skills and social media marketing before they present their business plan to a panel of ‘dragons' and a VIP audience.

Last year's winner, Café Rouge restaurant manager Alper Zan, said: "It's such a prestigious award itself and the training from the world-famous Hospitality School in Lausanne made me sleepless for a couple of nights, thinking ‘what an opportunity'."

The winner will be decided and announced at a gala dinner at London's Andaz hotel on 23 November 2015.

This is the first year that The Caterer and the AFWS have joined forces to run the UK Restaurant Manager of the Year competition.

For entry forms, go to www.restaurantmanageroftheyear.co.uk or email daniel@afws.co.uk. The deadline for entries is 9 October 2015.