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  • The Person Before the Plate: Simon Lawrence on Winning Care Chef of the Year, Helping Three Others Win It, and Why He's Still Learning

    The Person Before the Plate: Simon Lawrence on Winning Care Chef of the Year, Helping Three Others Win It, and Why He's Still Learning
    2026/05/05
    The Person Before the Plate: Simon Lawrence on Winning Care Chef of the Year, Helping Three Others Win It, and Why He's Still LearningSimon Lawrence won the NACC Care Chef of the Year in 2013 — and the day after, he was on a call about budget deficits. In this episode he talks to host Rob Spence about the twenty-year journey that got him there: from helping his mum run theme nights in sheltered housing, through three attempts at the competition and a highly commended, a second place, and finally the title. He also talks about what winning actually meant — not the achievement itself, but using it to help three other chefs go on and win it too.SHOW NOTESSimon Lawrence's route into care catering started with his mum. She was a home warden in sheltered housing and wanted to put on theme nights for residents; he was working in restaurants at the time and she asked if he could help. He helped. He enjoyed the banter, the communal meals, the residents. When a job came up in a care home not long after, it seemed a natural next step. That was twenty years ago.The transition from restaurants to care, he's clear, is harder than many chefs expect. A care kitchen demands an all-rounder: soup, stocks, sauces, baking, patisserie, fresh puddings for eighty or more residents every day. In a restaurant kitchen you might work a section for months. In a care home you have to do all of it, all the time. He started in a small home with twenty residents; an interview that was effectively a week's cooking trial, during which he was peppered with requests — and then moved to a brand-new home opening from scratch. That gave him something rare: the chance to meet every resident as they arrived, to build relationships from day one, to know all the families before the home was even full. He thinks that shaped everything that followed.His competition history runs from 2009 to 2013. First year: highly commended, very nervous, a small venue in Harrogate, and two people — Sue Coffrey and David Barker , who made him feel looked after despite his anxiety. Second year: second place and best dessert, beaten only by a chef called Ellie who went on to win the national title. That stung, but he took the consolation: he'd been beaten by the eventual winner. Third year: a new employer who had noticed him through the competition's profile, insisted he enter again, and turned out to be right. What followed the win was a platform, and he used it. He moved from running a single kitchen into developing and nurturing other chefs, and he has since played a supporting role in three more people winning the competition. One now runs her own business; another is an executive chef. He describes those outcomes as his proudest achievements from the whole experience. Not winning, but being part of other people winning. His wider assessment of the competition's importance to the sector is generous but precise: it works because the best care chefs bring the whole person into what they do. You can see it in the entrants. They win the title and the next day they're back in the kitchen, telling the residents where they've been. The residents were rooting for them all along.Subscribe wherever you listen — and if there's a chef in your kitchen who's been thinking about entering, this is the episode to send them.To learn about The National Association of Care Catering, please visit: https://www.thenacc.co.uk/A massive thank you to the Sponsors of the Care Chef of the Year:Unilever Food SolutionsLockhart Catering EquipmentRationalProcurement for CareThe Worshipful Company of CooksPowered by Paragon Creative Studios Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    48 分
  • Food Is Feeling: Ilona Tomza on Winning NACC Care Chef of the Year 2025

    Food Is Feeling: Ilona Tomza on Winning NACC Care Chef of the Year 2025
    2026/04/21
    Food Is Feeling: Ilona Tomza on Winning NACC Care Chef of the Year 2025


    What does it really mean to cook for someone in the last chapter of their life? In the first episode of the NACC podcast, Care Chef of the Year 2025 Ilona Tomza shares the philosophy, the competition dish, and the resident moment that changed how she sees every plate she serves — plus what winning really opens up for a care chef's career.





    About our Guest


    Ilona Tomza didn't take the conventional route to becoming NACC Care Chef of the Year 2025. She arrived in England at 17 as a waitress, challenged the quality of the food being served, and was cooking professionally within six months. Years of gastropub work followed before she made the move into care catering — and everything changed.


    In this inaugural episode, host Rob Spence talks to Ilona about the philosophy that drives her: that in care settings, food becomes one of the last remaining sources of joy for residents.


    "We cook people's last meals," she says — and she means it in the most profound way.


    The episode covers Ilona's winning dish — a coq au vin without the wine, plated with dementia in mind so every ingredient is visible and residents can make their own choices.


    It covers the nerves, the waiting, and the moment the result was announced. And it covers what happened next: ITV with Kate Garraway, a Windsor Castle reception with the King and Queen, and a growing list of opportunities she's grabbed with both hands.


    Now confirmed as a judge and live demo chef at the 2026 NACC awards, Ilona's advice to anyone thinking of entering is simple: "Just apply. What's the worst that could happen?"


    Subscribe and leave a review — it helps more people in care catering find the show.




    The National Association of Care Catering (NACC) unites, supports and represents everyone working in and associated with catering in the UK care sector. It is recognised as a respected source of information and opinion for the dynamic and growing area of care catering.

    For more than 30 years, it has been committed to raising standards of care catering and championing the positive impact nutrition, hydration and mealtimes have on the physical and emotional health and wellbeing of the elderly and vulnerable in care settings.




    To learn about The National Association of Care Catering, please visit: https://www.thenacc.co.uk/


    A massive thank you to the Sponsors of the Care Chef of the Year:


    Unilever Food Solutions

    Lockhart Catering Equipment

    Rational

    Procurement for Care

    The Worshipful Company of Cooks




    Powered by Paragon Creative Studios

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    42 分
  • Welcome to The NACC Podcast, & Introducing Your Host

    Welcome to The NACC Podcast, & Introducing Your Host
    2026/04/07

    Welcome to the NACC Podcast, the official podcast of The National Association of Care Catering.


    Thank you for joining us for The Official NACC Podcast; the audio home of The National Association of Catering. We have a whole host of episodes due to be released over the coming weeks, and we cannot wait to share these episodes with you!


    Please don't forget to follow, subscribe, and share with your colleagues and peers!


    In this pilot episode, your host, Rob Spence introduces the podcast, what we aim to achieve, and explains what you can expect over the coming weeks. Our first official episode comes out on Tuesday 21st April, and from there, our episodes will be published every fortnight!


    Each episode, we will be interviewing leading experts in the Care Catering sector, and we will not only get to learn about them, but we will also dive deep into the sector, the industry, and have open, honest and raw conversations that matter those working in this incredible industry.


    You will not want to miss an episode!


    Hosted and presented by, Rob Spence.



    The National Association of Care Catering (NACC) unites, supports and represents everyone working in and associated with catering in the UK care sector. It is recognised as a respected source of information and opinion for the dynamic and growing area of care catering.

    For more than 30 years, it has been committed to raising standards of care catering and championing the positive impact nutrition, hydration and mealtimes have on the physical and emotional health and wellbeing of the elderly and vulnerable in care settings.




    To learn about The National Association of Care Catering, please visit: https://www.thenacc.co.uk/


    Thank you to our sponsors: Allmanhall and Unilever Food Solutions.




    Powered by Paragon Creative Studios

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    9 分
  • The NACC Podcast | The Trailer

    The NACC Podcast | The Trailer
    2026/04/02

    Welcome to the NACC Podcast, the official podcast of The National Association of Care Catering.


    With episodes coming out fortnightly, we interview guests every episode to learn more about care catering, changes that are happening in the sector, latest news, events and much more.


    We will cover everything surrounding the dynamic and growing area of care catering.


    If you are looking to learn more about the positive impact nutrition, hydration and mealtimes have on the physical and emotional health and wellbeing of the elderly and vulnerable in care settings, then you have found the right podcast!


    Hosted and presented by, Rob Spence.



    The National Association of Care Catering (NACC) unites, supports and represents everyone working in and associated with catering in the UK care sector. It is recognised as a respected source of information and opinion for the dynamic and growing area of care catering.

    For more than 30 years, it has been committed to raising standards of care catering and championing the positive impact nutrition, hydration and mealtimes have on the physical and emotional health and wellbeing of the elderly and vulnerable in care settings.




    To learn about The National Association of Care Catering, please visit: https://www.thenacc.co.uk/




    Powered by Paragon Creative Studios

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 分