Unique Venues team member earns hat-trick of wins at Cook and Serve Challenge

Unique Venues Birmingham (UVB) team member Vera Neves secured wins in three categories at the 2025 Cook and Serve Challenge.

Vera picked up awards for Best Cocktail (Junior), Best Beverage Service (Junior), and Food Service Champion.

This was the first year that UVB has entered the challenge.

Each year Venues of Excellence, the UK’s leading collection of venues, invites its member venues to enter a team into their Cook and Serve Challenge to showcase the venues’ outstanding food and drink teams.

The 2025 competition theme was ‘Inspiring Creativity through Conscious Choices’ and centred on sustainability and zero waste, with the aim to challenge the competitors to create dishes that minimise environment impact while showcasing creativity, resourcefulness, and culinary skill.

The competition took place at Leicester College and, in the evening, the competitors and venues attended the awards dinner hosted at Unique Venues Birmingham, to celebrate the great culinary talent within the Venues of Excellence member venues.

Suzanna Reid Barreiro da Silva, managing director at UVB said of the win: “We are extremely proud of our culinary team’s entry into the Cook and Serve Challenge.

“This was our first year entering the competition and to have Vera win in three categories is fantastic and a testament to her outstanding approach to providing excellence customer service and hospitality.”

Chef Lee Barnett’s menu was entirely vegetarian and each course was paired with a beverage, served by Vera Neves

Pictured (L-R): Lee Barnett and Vera Neves