Steve Munkley, vice president of the Craft Guild of Chefs, has been awarded an MBE for services to the hospitality industry and young people in the New Year’s Honours list.
Steve, who now runs his own chef consultancy, has been the director of the Guild’s Graduate Awards scheme, which is an annual awards programme for young chefs under the age of 25.
It aims to test their skills through practical and theory exams, including mystery basket challenges, butchery, and classic recipes, with kitchen and pastry categories, offering development opportunities, industry recognition, and pathways to other major competitions like the Young National Chef of the Year.
A former chair of the Guild, Steve is also chef director of the International Salon Culinaire at the HRC, which in 2026 will run from March 30 – April 1 at ExCeL.
Before striking out on his own he was executive chef at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London for 25 years.
Also featuring in the honours is Paul Freeston, former chief executive at apetito UK & North America, who has been awarded an OBE for services to the food and drink sector, recognising four decades of leadership, innovation and voluntary service focused on nutrition, sustainability and improving outcomes for vulnerable people.
Paul led the business for over 25 years, transforming it from a £27m meals-on-wheels provider into an international, multi-award-winning food company with turnover exceeding £260m.
Under his leadership, apetito became the UK’s leading provider of meals and specialist nutrition to the NHS, care homes, social care and education sectors, while also expanding internationally into Canada and the United States.
Alongside his executive career, Paul served as president of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) from 2021 to 2023 and is also a former president of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF).
He was also a founding board member of the Malnutrition Task Force, which works to combat preventable under-nutrition and dehydration in later life, and he has been instrumental in securing long-term industry funding and support for the organisation since its inception in 2012.
And Sebastian Munden, chair of the global board of trustees for the environmental action non-governmental organisation WRAP and of Ad Net Zero, the advertising industry’s climate action programme, has been awarded a CBE for services to business, and to the circular economy.
He said: “This is an incredible honour. I’d like to pay tribute to my former colleagues at Unilever for over three decades of developing new products together, without whose inspiring partnership none of this would have been possible. And to my current colleagues at WRAP and Ad Net Zero working with businesses to make the circular economy an everyday reality across many different sectors.
“It's also recognition for all those in the grocery industry working to create a better packaging system, and for the practical contribution of businesses alongside national and local governments in the way change is implemented.
“It’s a joy to work alongside so many people who want to innovate a better future that’s also better business, with the circular economy growing in value much faster than the economy as a whole.”
He was chief executive of Unilever UK & Ireland for five years until 2022, and before this head of Unilever’s global marketing operations and held other senior roles across Europe and North America.
Under his leadership Unilever became a founding signatory to the UK Plastic Pact, in 2018.
He has served on policy and steering groups for The Food & Drink Federation, The Institute of Grocery Distribution, The Inclusive Economy Partnership run by the Cabinet Office, and for Movement to Work, and chaired a policy review on the Future of the Local Economy for the British Chambers of Commerce.