I have to hope that it’s a little early to receive an award for my lifetime’s achievement. Naturally, I want to accomplish a few more things before I put my feet up to push the daisies; but I am flattered –and touched – by being given the supreme Catey award, for Lifetime Achievement – at the wonderful Hotelkeeper and Caterer Magazine awards presentation dinner for over1,000 people on Tuesday 7 July. 

I was especially pleased by the citation, because it said the award was not just for making Le Manoir into “an institution,” but “also for nurturing some of the industry’s brightest talent over the years, “and chuffed me to the maximum by describing me as “a man who can be said to be responsible for many of the vast improvements in the UK’s eating out scene over the past quarter of a century.” After all, I came to this country originally as a young waiter, who had a driving ambition to get into the kitchen, but without money or training.

It’s an award that stands apart. It doesn’t represent entirely the vote of our guests, because that’s a verdict that can be measured to some degree by commercial success. And it’s not bestowed by critics, that fearsome, usually well-informed lot who are paid to have opinions about other people’s work. Instead, and this is what makes it so meaningful, it is an award conferred by our peers and colleagues, by people who know the hospitality industry from the inside, because they work in it or report on it in the trade press.

These are the people who really know how hard it is to get it right. They are acquainted with (if not each and every, then) most of the obstacles that the economic situation, rules and regulations, the well-being and good-will of our suppliers or their opposites, the varying health and happiness of our staff, and even the weather can put in our way as we try to deliver the best possible experience to each of our guests.  They know how difficult it is to balance the genuine care and concern we have for each guest with the need to make profits. Our peers understand that what we are really selling is happiness.

So this Catey isn’t just another gong for me, a statuette to keep company with the other trophies of a lifetime. This is an award for all those who have helped achieve it: my family who have nourished me as much as I have them; my wonderful team who know where I have to be next, and send me there when I forget; the senior management team, most of whom have been with me since Le Manoir’s early days, who listen to my challenging ideas and then make them work; the front-of-house person who have been with me since my first restaurant in Oxford, the executive chef who has worked with me for 23 years, and every waiter and washer-upper at Le Manoir, Brasserie Blanc or Maison Blanc. You’ve all got a share in this lovely Catey.

And for those of you who might think this award is a licence to take early retirement, or to go fishing, or retire to the loveliest part of France and eat frogs’ legs and escargots, you’ve got it all wrong. If anything this award will be a catalyst for me to try even harder. Not for personal ambition or money, but simply for the love of every aspect of this industry, and to do what I do best.