The owner of the Virgins and Castle pub in Kenilworth has added another prize to its trophy cabinet - scooping a national award for staff wellbeing.

Warwickshire hospitality group Caviar & Chips was awarded the Individual Site Award for Staff Wellbeing at the British Institute of Innkeeping's (BII) National Innovation in Training Awards (NITAs).

The awards, held at the BII's People Conference, recognise the best innovation in training, apprenticeships, and wellbeing programmes alongside outstanding individuals in people development.

Hospitality businesses from across the country were entered into the awards, with Caviar & Chips coming out on top in the staff wellbeing category.

The award aims to reflect companies who are paying more than just lip service to the wellbeing of their teams, going above and beyond to look after teams in the past year.

Caviar & Chips, which includes a wedding catering business, the Virgins and Castle and recently opened No. 34 Garden & Grill in Warwick, as well as boutique wedding venue Stockton House in Shropshire, has a dedicated people strategy in place.

Caviar & Chips scooping a national award for staff wellbeing at the British Institute of Innkeeping's NITAs

The strategy covers key themes of: mental wellbeing; physical wellbeing; team; individual; leadership and culture; and organisation and environment.

New team members are given a 'buddy' to help them get used to the business, alongside a wellness action plan, regular personal development reviews, and all-year round training and development workshops.

The company also carries out an annual team survey to evaluate and review its approach, as well as sending weekly internal emails dubbed 'Wellbeing Wednesday' to encourage open communication between team members.

Gemma Carter-Morris, head of people at Caviar & Chips, said: "Wellbeing in our team is paramount to how we run our business.

"Even before co-founders Jonathan Carter-Morris and Marc Hornby established the business, wellbeing was always going to be a cornerstone and that is why collaboration features as one of our core values.

"We know that having a focus on wellbeing helps attract talented and skilled people to our team. We know that investing in wellbeing means we have happier, more relaxed and confident people in our team and this translates to their home lives with their families.

"We also consider physical, mental and financial wellbeing, so we have a holistic approach."

Co-founders Jonathan Carter-Morris and Marc Hornby launched the business in 2017

The NITA award is the latest addition to Caviar & Chips' trophy cabinet, after it was voted the Best Wedding Caterer in the UK by The Wedding Industry Awards in March.

Its latest accolade comes amid a recruitment drive for the business which will create over 200 jobs across the Midlands.

From humble beginnings by co-founders Jonathan Carter-Morris and Marc Hornby in 2017, Caviar & Chips has grown into a hospitality group that will deliver over 100 events in 2022.

"Wellbeing for our business is part of our strategic approach. It isn't tokenistic or when we have time, but it's part of how we make good business decisions and create a guest experience different from our competitors," Gemma added.

"It means we recruit the best people, in the best way and create a great place to work. We really want to buck the trend for what it's like to work in hospitality and we often speak about initiatives that we're doing and share these positive results for others to follow and adopt. If we can bring wellbeing into our company then that's brilliant - if we can bring it into our sector then even better."