Warrington chef wins national award

A chef from Warrington has won the Contract Catering Award at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards.
Mark Cheetham, executive chef at Sodexo – the world’s leading services company – collected the award in front of 800 industry peers at the Park Lane Hilton in London.
Graduating with chef qualifications from Liverpool Colquitt Street College, Mark worked in hotels around the world and opened a French restaurant before joining Sodexo 20 years ago.
Since 2008 Mark has been the executive chef for Sodexo at AstraZeneca, supporting global operations and working as part of the central development team. The contract comprises of seven sites with a total UK population of over 10,000 AstarZeneca employees.
Mark is mainly based between the Macclesfield and Alderley Park sites in Cheshire. He has lived in Warrington with his wife for 14 years.
The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards are the ‘Oscars’ of the culinary world, recognising the best chefs right across the industry, whether they work in a pub, fine dining restaurant, city university, military unit or even as development chefs for national retailers.
For more information about all the winners visit http://craftguildofchefs.org/craft-guild-chefs-announces-winners-2015-awards.
Mark Cheetham, Sodexo executive chef, said, “It’s really humbling to be recognised among the country’s top chefs and it was an awesome experience at the awards. Being part of Sodexo and its national craft forum has provided a great environment to share best practice over the years, and to build relationships which have been so important to consistent improvement.”
David Mulcahy, Sodexo culinary director and Craft Guild of Chefs vice president, said, “The standard of nominees for the Craft Guild of Chefs awards is always high so for four Sodexo chefs to make the shortlist is incredible and shows the breadth and level of culinary expertise across the company. Congratulations to Mark on getting the award, he’s an innovative and talented chef who inspires not just his colleagues but also his customers to work on their culinary skills.”
Caroline Durkin, AstraZeneca director of facilities management, said, “Mark has been the executive chef at AstraZeneca since 2008 and during that time the food offer on all our sites in the UK has continually improved. He is not only passionate about food but he has a sound business knowledge which ensures he always does what is right for our business. During the last six years we have seen patronage increase in our restaurants and coffee shops. The food offer is always refreshed and is aligned to the high street which means customer expectations are always met and in many occasions exceeded.”