Jamie’s Italian, YO! Sushi, Nando’s and Toby Carvery head Hero Award winners

Jamie’s Italian, still with only 14 restaurants open, received the Leadership award for the way the business is setting new industry standards and the impact of every new opening, beating off more established rivals.

YO! Sushi received the Evolution award for the way it has continued to innovate, successfully adapting and developing operations in a dynamic marketplace through marketing initiatives, creative design and new dishes.

All the Hero awards, apart from the Consumer Choice category, are judged by a panel of 35 industry leaders, and run in partnership with Coca Cola, Martini, Royal Bank of Scotland, Coffer Corporate Leisure, Ecolab and Enotria wine. The presentation lunch was held at the Bafta Theatre in London.

The Consumer Choice trophy was presented to Toby Carvery, the nationwide pub carvery brand owned by Mitchells & Butlers. The winner was decided by a survey of 5,000 consumers, and based on customer satisfaction and loyalty ratings. Toby topped the rankings of 50 leading brands, with the highest aggregate score.

Nando’s won the People Development award, after earlier this year being voted the Sunday Times 2010 Best Big Company to Work For - striking a major victory for the hospitality sector in general.

The award for Breakthrough Brand went to Cote, the 19-strong French restaurant group now expanding out of its London heartland. The Newcomer trophy for 2010 was picked up by Chilango, the fast-growing burrito chain.

The event also saw Peter Boizot, creator of Britain most successful home-grown restaurant band PizzaExpress, collect this year’s Peach Network “Industry Icon” award in recognition of his outstanding and inspirational contribution to the UK’s restaurant market. See PizzaExpress founder Peter Boizot an Industry Icon

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