CATEGORIES 2023

Digital Innovator Of The Year

It has never been more important to have a clear and ongoing digital strategy and forward thinking hospitality operators have embraced digital. This award aims to recognise that. We are looking for trade businesses that have successfully used the power of social media, digital advertising, and website design to build their brand and connect with customers with the aim of driving footfall to their establishments. How have you managed to keep your business to the forefront. We are looking for creativity and a clear strategy. Let us know why you think you deserve this award.

Hospitality Employer Of The Year

Health and wellbeing in hospitality is being embraced by companies the length and breadth of Scotland and this year we are seeking the hospitality operator that does most to ensure its team is looked after and part of that criteria will include its response to looking after the health and wellbeing of its team. Do you work for a business that you feel goes above and beyond, or do you think you are one? Do you offer the best environment for your team to thrive and do you support them? Let us know now.

Family Business Of The Year

Scotland has some very successful family businesses which have thrived over the years and they deserve recognition for the hard work that goes into making a family-owned hospitality business work. Do you think you deserve recognition or do you know a family business that does? We are looking for a business that is forward thinking, dynamic and includes more than one generation of the family. Although Hotel Sotland is sponsoring this category it is open to all family-owned businesses in hospitality. Enter now.

WILLIAM GRANT & SONS BAR APPRENTICE 2023

The Bar Apprentice is back for its 16th year and William Grant & Sons backing the initiative with brands Glenfiddich Single Malt Whisky, Hendrick’s Gin, and Monkey Shoulder. A bespoke programme has been created for this year’s apprentices – an experience you can’t buy! The programme aims to inspire and educate as well as giving practical experience for working behind the bar or on the floor. The 2023 apprentices will be mentored by a team of experts from William Grant & Son’s.The apprentice who embraces the experience and makes the most progress will receive the accolade William Grant & Sons Bar Apprentice 2023 and will be presented with the award at the Awards Ceremony. If you would like to be put forward for the experience or you have a member of staff that you would like to put forward email:susan@mediaworldltd.com

Sunday Mail Pub Of The Year

Scotland’s leading Sunday newspaper is looking for the best pub in the country. Do you have a welcoming atmosphere? Do your customers come back, and come back again? Get your customers to fill in the entry form when it appears in the Sunday Mail or online at www. scottishbarandpubawards.com and tell us why you think you are eligible for ‘Pub of the Year’.

OTHER AWARDS WILL INCLUDE:

Some top chefs are content to stay in the kitchen, while others strive for greater things and award-winning chef, Dean Banks (34) is one. He runs HAAR with Rooms in St Andrews, and Dean Banks at the Pompadour which both have three AA Rosettes, as well as Dulse in Edinburgh, and his newest venture The Forager pub in Dollar. In addition to these hospitality venues, he operates HAAR at Home delivery service and Waagyu burgers, and drinks businesses; Shaaken cocktails, Lunun Gin and Mond Vodka.

He is certainly very driven and busy. Says Dean, “My dayto-day can involve anything from service at Pompadour, designing new menus with Group Executive Chef Dan Ashmore, being suited and booted hosting or rolling up my sleeves and cleaning or doing property maintenance. I can be everywhere or anywhere doing everything at all times.”

It is just as well he thrives on stress. He tells me, “Being a chef I cope well with stress and I think high intense stress is what drives me. I actually push myself harder and deliver better.”

This year Dean is delighted that Pompadour, Dulse and HAAR all feature in the Michelin guide, who also recommended The Forager on social media. He adds, “I think what we’ve achieved this year with Michelin is fantastic, and shows that we’re doing something really special.”

Not bad going for someone who grew up in the 1990s on a council estate in Arbroath. He tells me, “I was raised by two strong role models who I feels are responsible for my entrepreneurial drive.

He explains, “Growing up with two lesbian mums was amazing. They taught me that if I wanted something I had to get it myself and not expect a handout from anyone. If I wanted a skateboard or cool trainers I had to go and earn them. So I got jobs in the berry fields around Arbroath, picking daffies (daffodils), or a paper round or a job in Peggy’s corner shop.”

They also raised him to be aware of the importance of good mental health, and he makes sure his staff have a good work-life balance and he does try and do that too. Mondays are his family day, and he spends time on the beach or foraging with his wife Isabela and son Felix, aged four. Dean says he’s a hospitality natural, adding, “He’s always saying, ’Daddy I want to come to work with you and cook the lobsters,’ he wants to be a chef and, that is lovely and it kind of gives you a drive.

Dean left school aged 15, went to Angus College to study catering and gained a National Certificate in Culinary Arts. Then in 2007, he headed to Padstow to work in his Rick Stein’s Seafood restaurant for 18 months before returning to Scotland with stints at Number One at The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh and at Paul Kitching’s, 21212. Next, he went to work as a private chef in Verbier, spending the next seven years working all over the world, including a spell at Tides Lodge in Tanzania in 2016.

By 2018 he was ready to come back to the UK and decided to go on Masterchef: The Professionals. He made it to the finals and the following year he opened his first restaurant HAAR, St Andrews and launched Lunun Gin.

In 2020 he crowdfunded to get HAAR UK-wide home delivery off the ground, as the pandemic closed his restaurant and the following year he opened, Dean Banks at the Pompadour Waldorf Astoria.

However it has not been plain sailing a dispute with his landlord in 2021 saw him closing both, HAAR and HAARBOUR, his fish and chip restaurant in St Andrews. Fortunately, he found a new location in St Andrews and opened HAAR with rooms in 2021. Last year he opened Dulse, Edinburgh and The Forager Pub.

At the moment like everyone in hospitality, Dean’s main concern is rising costs, he adds, “Fish prices are at an alltime high. The price we’re paying for lobster right now is the same price that we used to pay at the most expensive week of the year, New Year and Christmas week. So this shows you how high it’s come up, and it’s staying at this height, no one’s bringing prices down!”