The official announcement took place at a Professional members meeting on Tuesday, at Mary Sumner House in Westminster, where plans for taking the society forward with a new Board of Trustees were discussed.
He said: “We currently work in trying times where unsuspecting clients opt for the cheapest unregulated consultants. It is therefore high time the FCSI attained the highest profiles in each sector of the hospitality and foodservice market and made it essential to only use an FCSI consultant to ensure transparency and integrity.”
Edwards began his catering career at the age of 17 and his since been a catering consultant for 20 years. He started at GY5 in 2007 and now manages day-to-day operations, alongside his role as management consultant. He also leads the allergen accreditation programme for all catering organisations UK wide.
Preparations are now being made for a ‘re-launch’ event in the autumn to bring members together again after a period of re-structuring.
The UK & Ireland branch of the FCSI disbanded at the tail end of last year over a rift with the larger EAME operations but is now in the process of reforming again.
The previous Board all stepped down including the then chairman Andrew Etherington, but the UK division had never legally been dissolved and therefore continued to exist as part of the EAME division.