Compass chef Nick Vadis presented with British Culinary Federation award

The accolade recognises contributions of excellence to the hotel and catering industry and was awarded during the BCF's annual prize giving dinner dance at the Hilton Metropole Birmingham. Celebrating contributions made by Vadis throughout his culinary career, the award highlighted his leadership of the English National Culinary team in the Culinary Olympics and his pivotal role as national coach for the UK Bocuse d'Or candidates including Simon Hulstone and Adam Bennett over the past four years. Vadis has been Compass executive chef for five years and in this role oversees culinary development across the business and heads up a 7,000-strong chef team. Before Compass he was executive chef at British Airways where he played a pivotal role in the development of pre-flight dining and prior to that he enjoyed a 25-year career in the Royal Navy, travelling to Europe and North America. Vadis said: "It is a huge honour to receive this award from the British Culinary Federation. I'm passionate that the development and promotion of key skills is critical to the hospitality industry and am committed to developing and nurturing future talent." Throughout his career he has been heavily involved in the training of chefs, from his teaching role with the Tri-Service School of Craft Training in Aldershot where he trained new recruits in culinary arts, to his support for the Compass Group's Junior Chefs' Academy, which provides a starting point for secondary school students looking to get a taste of the catering industry. In 2007 he became national chairman of the Craft Guild of Chefs, has worked with Springboard, the Future Chef programme and the Junior Chefs' Academy to mentor and support both Compass teams and external chef students and in 2010 was invited to take an honorary professor position at Thames Valley University, now renamed the University of West London, for three years. In his career Vadis has won more than 100 awards throughout the course of his career, including two Silver medals at the Culinary Olympics Erfurt Germany, 2004.