Palace, theatre and racecourse in running for top catering honours

One of the widest ranges of nominations ever to be submitted for the top honours in Scottish hospitality have been received for this year’s Catering Scotland (CIS) Excellence Awards, the organisers announced. In addition to colleges, local authorities, international hotel groups and a conference centre, contenders include a palace, a theatre, a yacht, a racecourse, farm holiday cottages, a transport operator and a variety of pubs. Located from as far afield as Shetland in the north to Dumfries and Galloway in the south, and from east Fife to islands off the west coast, the entrants this year span the full breath of Scotland. Among the 17 awards, the Restaurant of the Year and Chef of the Year categories continue to prove popular, while others including Young Chef of the Year and the all-new Food Tourism Award are gaining significant support within organisations and businesses of all types and sizes. “This unprecedented degree of interest has underlined the wealth of talent in the industry, and indeed how widespread it is throughout Scotland,” said CIS Advisory Board chairman Neil Thomson. As the country’s annual competition for the catering, hospitality and tourism sectors, the CIS Excellence Awards are widely accepted as the ultimate accolade for chefs, hotels, restaurants, gastro pubs and educational institutions. The shortlist for 2018 will be announced in the third week of April and the awards presented at the Doubletree by Hilton Glasgow Central on Thursday 31st May. For more information or to book a place at the event, call…

Death of owner who brought luxury sailing to Scottish hotels

Ken Gunn, global seafarer who skippered stars on the Hebridean Princess Ken Gunn, co-owner of the multi award-winning Sonas Hotels group on Skye and the global seafarer who introduced luxury sailing to the world of Scottish hospitality, has died at the age of 67. Before he and his wife Anne launched their first hotel, Toravaig House on the southern peninsula of Sleat, in 2003 he was captain of the five star cruise ship the Hebridean Princess, sailing around the UK, Ireland and Norway. VIP guests included HRH Princess Anne, actor Sean Connery, racing driver Jackie Stewart and singer-composer Chris de Burgh. The Hebridean Princess, twice chartered by Queen Elizabeth including a trip to celebrate her 80th birthday, was the model for the nine bedroom Toravaig which the couple insisted should be ‘a luxury ship ashore.’ They went on to purchase and develop the nearby Duisdale House, voted Scotland’s Best Hotel in the 2013 Thistle Awards run by national tourism organisation VisitScotland and Best Independent Hotel in the Catering Scotland Awards in 2015. In 2016 they bought Skeabost House near Portree in the north of the island and recently completed a total refurbishment and extension. In the Islands’ section of the 2018 Scottish Hotel Awards the three hotels won six different categories among them. Skeabost, which now has 18 bedrooms, was voted Scotland’s Island Hotel of the Year in 2016 and again in 2017. Born and brought up in Oban, son of a sea captain, Ken was educated at Oban High…