Cateys prove how fulfilling our industry is

No one could ever claim that to choose a career in hospitality is to take an easy option. It's no secret that the hours can be long, the pressures great and the pay meagre.

Unemployment may be high across the country but, as Peter Hancock points out this week, so are the numbers of vacancies across the hospitality industry. This fact tells us all we need to know about the public image problem the industry continues to suffer from.

It's clear that the unemployed too often choose to remain unemployed rather than confront the rigours of a career in hospitality. Their preconceptions are doubtless fed by the way in which television production companies choose to depict the industry.

This is a crying shame. We all know that hospitality offers as many opportunities as challenges.

Hancock himself is representative of the kind of role model we need to present to jobseekers. His own career path has taken him from trainee waiter to chief executive of Pride of Britain Hotels.

In hospitality, the ability to progress is within the grasp of any individual with flair and creativity, who is prepared to invest time and energy in their own future.

There's no better proof of this than the Cateys. Our latest crop of winners shows what can be achieved if you have an appetite for hard work and a hunger for success.

Roy Ackerman's journey to being a Lifetime Achievement Catey award winner began when he became a young apprentice chef.

Independent Restaurant Catey co-winner Chris Galvin started out as a 15-year-old commis chef under Antony Worrall Thompson at the Old Log in Brentwood.

And Special Award winner Gerard Basset didn't become World Champion Sommelier this year by chance. Rather, the palate of an angel and many years of hard work won him the title.

The Cateys prove just how fulfilling a career in hospitality can be. If only we could wave the winners' write-ups in this week's Caterer in front of every jobseeker in the country.