Chris Pulfer from Restaurant Associates took the gold I the senior class, Craig Bateman from the RMA Sandhurst scooped gold in the junior class, while Jackie Kent, also from RMA Sandhurst, won in the newly launched apprentice category.

Nick Vadis, UK Executive Chef, Compass Group UK & Ireland said: “This competition is fiercely contested by chef teams across our business and really showcases the amazing culinary talent that we have at Compass.

“The quality of the food produced by both our junior and senior chefs was outstanding; these chefs are a real credit to our business and I’m sure many of the junior chefs we saw today will be our senior chefs of tomorrow.

“This year we also launched an award for Apprentice Chef of the Year. Competing in this arena was an extremely daunting task for our apprentices but they rose to the challenge and I’m immensely proud of them, and all the chefs that took part.”

Eight junior chefs had just 90 minutes create a three-course meal, while eight senior chefs were given two hours to cook up a four-course meal, showcasing British produce and reflecting the latest food trends for a panel of industry judges that included Brian Turner and Jason Atherton.

In the senior class development chef Chris Pulfer was followed by James Hart from UCL London with silver and Shaun Reason from the Royal Military Academy (RMA) Sandhurst who won bronze.

In the Junior competition, winner Craig Bateman was followed by Andy Bastyan from MET office Exeter with the silver and Joel Rai from DACI Shrivenham the bronze.

In the new apprentice class the budding chefs were tasked with creating a fish dish in just 40 minutes. Jackie Kent won for her dish of Dover sole while Eleanor De Maria from Chelsea FC and Ruairidh Summers from UCL London were awarded special commendations.