Welsh chefs bag medals

A team of top Welsh chefs have won gold and silver medals at the World Culinary Masters competition in Switzerland. The team finished sixth overall, pushing them up to seventh in the world rankings. Wales First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: "It's wonderful to see Welsh chefs doing so much to promote their country abroad." The team gained a gold medal for their "cold buffet table" and a silver medal for their work in the "hot kitchen".

Ford joins academy

Jeremy Ford, executive chef for hospitality at Restaurant Associates, has been made a member of the Academy of Culinary Arts. The chef at Compass Group's fine-dining division is only the fourth contract caterer to join the 270-strong training and support organisation.

Celebrating the very best

Do you know someone worthy of winning one of the industry's most important awards - a Caterer and Hotelkeeper Catey? If so, now's the time to nominate them for the 2006 Cateys. This year's industry "Oscars" will be staged at a glittering banquet on 11 July at London's Grosvenor House. There are 17 categories, including awards for Group Hotel of the Year, Restaurateur of the Year and the Chef Award. To nominate or see a complete list of categories, contact Sarah Sutton on 020 8652 8349, or see www.caterersearch.com/events for a nomination brochure.

Gourmet burgers head east

Clapham House Group has signed a franchise agreement to develop its Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) business in the Middle East. The Bombay Bicycle Club and Real Greek owner has a contract with United Arab Emirates-based GGC Burger to develop a number of restaurants in the region over the next three years. The GBK menus will be refined to meet local tastes, although Clapham House will retain final approval.

Canterbury Foods fails

Food manufacturer Canterbury Foods went into administration last week after failing to agree new terms with its main backer, Barclays Bank.

The group, which had more than 400 customers in the UK, supplied about 1,000 products to in-store restaurants, sandwich manufacturers, food wholesalers and national pub groups.

Former chief executive Paul Ainsworth has already headed a £7m management buyout of the group's most profitable businesses - pastry and food ingredients - under the new Medway Foods name, safeguarding 200 jobs.

Panmure apologises to Compass

Compass has won a reported £10,000 in damages from stockbroker Panmure Gordon over its claims that the caterer bugged supplier meetings to gain an advantage when negotiating product prices.

Panmure Gordon has retracted the assertion, made in a briefing note last November by analyst Mike Murphy.

A statement, issued by both parties after they reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum, said: "Panmure Gordon wish to make it absolutely crystal-clear that there is no evidence which suggests that Compass has engaged in any secret bugging of suppliers' conversations."

The stockbroker will pay Compass's damages and costs to charity Training for Life.

Richard Edwards, OBE

Caterer congratulates Richard Edwards, who retired as chairman of the Academy of Food & Wine Service last month and was appointed OBE, not MBE, in the Queen's New Year Honours list. Edwards, 63, was this magazine's first Hotelier of the Year in 1983.

* Rosemary Machen-Young, director of My Hotels in Nairn, was appointed OBE for services to Welfare to Work and to the hospitality industry in the Highlands.