• Karen Gruet from Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons won a Gold Service Scholarship at Claridge’s on Monday. This follows the final assessment lunch which was held at Corinthia Hotel London in January.

Karen Gruet is Assistant Restaurant Manager at the Michelin two-starred restaurant at Le Manoir. Frenchborn, she started her work career in the UK in 2013 at Le Manoir as a Commis de Rang, then moved to Restaurant Sat Bains (also Michelin two-starred) in 2014 as a Chef de Rang. Karen then returned to Le Manoir in late 2014 where she has progressed through the front-of-house ranks of the restaurant. Commenting on her role she said she is “extremely driven with a passion for knowledge and developing her skills.”

Chairman of the Judges Edward Griffiths said: “We are thrilled that Karen is our absolute winning Scholar, having shone throughout the programme.

The Scholarship was launched in 2012 to encourage a lasting heritage of excellence in hospitality.

  • Join Native Feasts’ one-night-only birthday bash to celebrate three years since their first ever pop-up, on Saturday March 2 at The Oxford Artisan Distillery.

Expect music from some of Oxford’s best DJs and musicians, with punch flowing freely and cocktails and beers galore. Food will be passed around from 8.30pm and there’ll be general madness all night long. nativefeasts.co.uk

  • Toast Ale and Tap Social Movement have partnered to use craft beer to raise awareness of food waste, food poverty and offender rehabilitation. Their Oak aged Rye IPA will be brewed in Oxford ahead of a launch on March 8 at the Tap Social Movement tap room.

The collaboration beer will upcycle 4,650 slices (140 kg) of surplus bread. This bread, that would otherwise would have been wasted, includes the energy, ingredients and human resource that went into creating it. By using it to produce beer, the otherwise wasted resources can be recovered whilst reducing a proportion of the malted barley needed.

Proceeds will be donated to Oxford Food Bank, a local charity collecting fresh, unsold food from supermarkets and redistributing to vulnerable individuals throughout the community.

Chris Head, Collaboration Manager at Toast Ale commented, “We are proud to create a great tasting beer that empowers drinkers to support such important causes. It shows that positive solutions exist to complicated, entrenched problems.”

tapsocialmovement.com