You can only vote once, so read all the statements from each business below before making your decision. You must be a UK hospitality professional and use your business email address. Voting closes on Friday 29 May at 5pm.

The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on Tuesday 7 July 2026 at JW Marriott Grosvenor House London. Book your table here.

This is Hospitality Shortlist

Celtic Manor Resort’s community impact programme

The shortlisted business  Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales

What has it done? Built a powerful community support programme across Newport to tackle deep-rooted socio-economic challenges in some of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

How was it achieved? The resort worked in partnership with Business in the Community’s Pride of Place Programme, which brings councils together with businesses to tackle local problems. It discovered that many families in Newport were struggling with basic provisions and that children were missing meals. In response, the resort produced thousands of meals, created events for children and provided training for adults.

Celtic Manor has since encouraged every team across its business to use their skills to support its local community, addressing fundamental needs such as food security, safe community spaces, and access to skills and training.

As well as making 2,000 meals for vulnerable residents every month, the resort has also helped to furnish and equip community centres, and almost 900 employees have contributed more than 7,755 volunteering hours.

Flagship projects include a Festive Santa Extravaganza, delivering joy, gifts and activities to more than 850 disadvantaged children each year, and the creation of a community garden to transform derelict land into an educational community green space.

A word from the Celtic Manor Resort: “Businesses can make a real impact when they listen and respond to the true needs of the community. Our project stands out because it demonstrates what true hospitality looks like when it extends beyond our doors and into the heart of our community.

“The outcomes speak for themselves: strengthened community resilience; improved access to food, skills and safe spaces; increased civic collaboration; and profound pride among our own team.

“This Is Hospitality in action. This Is Hospitality at its very best.”

Green & Fortune’s St Patrick’s Day lunch

The shortlisted business Contract caterer Green & Fortune

What has it done? Created a significant fundraising event that brings the industry together annually to support its own community.

How was it achieved? The St Patrick’s Day lunch began in 2019, created by Green & Fortune’s chief executive John Nugent. The event began as a small gathering of 80 colleagues celebrating Irish heritage and friendship and has since grown into a major annual event hosted at Kings Place in London’s Kings Cross. Last year the caterer welcomed 230 guests and raised 84,000 for charity, making its total charitable contribution more than £270,000.

From its inception the event has supported multiple charities, including the London Irish Centre, the Clink and Hospitality Action. When Covid prevented in-person gatherings, the initiative pivoted to home-delivered St Patrick’s Day celebration packs, so supporters could still participate and fundraising could continue during one of the most difficult periods the hospitality industry has faced.

The St Patrick’s Day Lunch is embedded in the culture of Green & Fortune and has become a company-wide effort, with teams volunteering their time to deliver the day itself as well as organising auctions and taking part in fundraising activities, and suppliers donating prizes. This collective effort has created a powerful platform where the industry comes together not to compete, but to support one another.

A word from Green & Fortune: “What makes the event special is that it is delivered entirely by hospitality people. Our teams volunteer to run the day, suppliers donate prizes and industry leaders give their time to drive fundraising.

“It is not a corporate campaign. It is the hospitality community coming together to look after its own. In an industry built on generosity and connection, the St Patrick’s Day lunch represents hospitality at its very best.”

What has it done? Project Perception is a long-term initiative designed to change how hospitality is viewed as a career, particularly among young people before they make key education and career choices.

How was it achieved? Research has shown that both teachers and students often overlook hospitality as a viable profession, so Mollie’s decided it was time to act and focus on early intervention. The motel company went straight to the source and worked with schools to position hospitality as a career rooted in entrepreneurship, creativity, leadership and commercial thinking.

Mollie’s staff went to schools to delivery assemblies and workshops, such as its Milkshake Masterclasses, teaching students about margin, sourcing, sustainability, customer psychology and teamwork, and turning a simple activity into a gateway for business education.

Mollie’s has also partnered with community organisations supporting vulnerable 16- to 25-year-olds at risk of crime, addiction or homelessness, through which it offers guaranteed interviews. As a result, it has adjusted its recruitment processes and provides mentoring and structured onboarding.

The campaign has resulted in positive industry feedback, upticks in its own internal recruitment and feedback from schools who are seeing a clear shift, with students increasingly recognising hospitality as a credible and aspirational career path.

A word from Mollie's: “This is for all of us. For you, for Mollie’s, for the wider hospitality community, and for the people who walk through our doors every day seeking warmth, connection and opportunity.

“Project Perception exists because we believe hospitality deserves to be spoken about with pride. Not as a fallback, but as a profession of creativity and purpose. It builds careers, fosters resilience and teaches skills that last a lifetime. It connects people, colleagues, guests and neighbours in ways that strengthen communities.

“When one business improves, the industry improves. When the industry improves, communities benefit.”

What has it done? Developed a series of community-focused food, education and outreach initiatives that use hospitality as a tool for connection, learning and social impact.

How was it achieved? The Pony Family has built a portfolio of projects designed to bring people together through food through its dedicated Community Interest Company. Its venues around Bristol operate as year-round community hubs, offering free workshops, education and events to local schools, charities and grassroots groups.

In 2025 the group launched four projects: the Anti-Banquet fundraising event, where business leaders cook and serve food to guests ; the FŌDA Festival (Festival of Food Ideas) , which looks at the future of sustainable food systems ; Caring at Christmas meals for the unhoused community ; and the Pony Farm Bus, a renovated double-decker that has been transformed into a mobile garden, kitchen and classroom, bringing food education into communities.

Through these projects hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised for charity, while workshops have bought together the likes of chefs Margot Henderson and Tomos Parry to share knowledge about practical solutions around health, regenerative farming and education.

Through hands-on growing and cooking experiences on the Pony Bus, children and families are helped to understand where food comes from and to build lifelong skills around nutrition and sustainability.

Across all projects, the focus is on collaboration, bringing chefs, farmers, volunteers and residents into shared spaces where hospitality becomes a platform for education, inclusion and community. Kitchens become classrooms and restaurants become places of learning and connection.

By going far beyond traditional hospitality, the Pony Family is using its spaces, skills and platform to champion wellbeing, education and equity, and demonstrate a belief that hospitality should extend beyond service, using food as a catalyst for positive change and stronger community ties.

A word from the Pony Family: “We believe hospitality should be a force for good – not only serving guests, but actively strengthening our community, because this is what hospitality at its best looks like – open, collaborative and rooted in community.

“If our work inspires even a small part of the industry to do the same, then we are proud to stand alongside so many others using hospitality to make a difference.”

The shortlisted business  The Selkie café-bar and restaurant in Dundee, Scotland

What has it done? Developed a community programme to address food poverty, social isolation and improve wellbeing across Dundee and Broughty Ferry.

How was it achieved? The community programme began during the Covid pandemic as a food drive to deliver meals to those in need. The Selkie now embeds social care into its everyday operations, positioning its venues as trusted, welcoming community hubs.

Its Aunty Nicky meals scheme provides free meals to anyone who requires support. Those in need are welcomed as guests, not recipients of charity, and are asked for only basic information, such as household numbers and dietary needs. The scheme honours the generosity of founder Kelly Fairweather’s aunt Nicola, who battled heroin for 25 years and inspired the programme’s guiding principle: everyone matters, and no one should go hungry.

The programme also includes a weekly Soup and Pudding Club and community events that strengthen local networks, fostering dignity, connection and routine. Rooted in Fairweather’s lived experience of poverty and community care, the Selkie Community Programme demonstrates how hospitality can deliver meaningful social impact while remaining commercially sustainable.

Partnerships with local schools, welfare organisations, churches and community groups have strengthened its reach and impact, establishing the Selkie as a trusted support network within Dundee and Broughty Ferry. These collaborations have also created a cycle of engagement, with some guests later returning as paying customers or participants in wider community activity.

To date, the programme has served more than 12,000 meals, while also driving increased footfall, strong staff engagement and long-term community loyalty. It demonstrates how a hospitality business can balance commercial success with meaningful social impact.

A word from the Selkie: “The Selkie Community Programme demonstrates that hospitality can be both commercially sustainable and a force for social good. By combining accessible dining with structured community activity, it creates a model that nourishes bodies, builds connection and strengthens the local community.”

The shortlisted business Contract caterer Vacherin

What has it done? Built a long-term partnership with Luminary Bakery to support women who have experienced homelessness, domestic abuse, violence or exploitation, creating pathways into training, employment and financial independence.

How was it achieved? Vacherin’s partnership with Luminary Bakery has moved beyond short-term charity support into embedded collaboration. What began with a small team volunteering their time has evolved into a central part of Vacherin’s culture, engaging colleagues across the business in mentoring, fundraising and practical support.

In the last year alone, the business has supported more than 100 women through mentoring and created 175 hours of work placements. Vacherin has also helped Luminary Bakery establish and expand its retail arm and its products are now stocked in more than 40 Vacherin sites, generating sustainable income to fund training and employment opportunities. When the charity needed to expand production, Vacherin provided a temporary space before co-funding for a new central kitchen for Luminary Bakery.

The Vacherin team has raised more than £140,000 from events such as quiz nights and gala dinners, or ambitious challenges, like a sponsored cycle from London to the museum of Vacherin in the Swiss Jura. Most recently, 100 colleagues ran the Thames path, and 40 colleagues scaled the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours, raising an incredible £32,500.

What sets this partnership aside is its longevity, which has grown and developed organically as the team responds to the evolving needs of the social enterprise and support its growth.

A word from Vacherin: “As a London-based caterer we were looking for a charity that was firmly rooted in the city and was making a meaningful impact to people’s lives. For more than 10 years, we have stood alongside Luminary Bakery to support women to rebuild their lives and futures.

"What matters most is the transformation we witness in the women we support and the sense of shared purpose this partnership has instilled across our business – stories that continually remind us why we push our efforts further each year.”