All winners of Gold and Silver Plate Awards are inducted into the Gold & Silver Plate Society.  

 

As members, they receive exclusive invitations to association events and other activities, are asked to participate in future Award Celebrations, and serve as pre-screen judges for the Silver Plate selection process each year.  

 

Society members are often consulted on upcoming activities and initiatives by the association team and board of directors. Their insights and expertise continue to drive innovation and excellence in foodservice. 

 

Many extraordinary individuals have been in the Gold & Silver Plate Society 

 

Founders of Iconic Chains 

 

From Panera Bread’s Ron Shaich (2005) to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse’s Ruth Fertel (1995) and Bob’s Big Boy’s Robert Wian (1959). 

 

CEOs of Leading Brands 

 

 

 

Past winners include executives from Dunkin’, Wendy’s, Eat’n Park, Buffalo Wild Wings, Denny’s, First Watch, Olive Garden, Golden Corral, and more. 

 

Independent Visionaries 

Industry legends such as Danny Meyer, Wolfgang Puck, Charlie Trotter, “21” Club’s Jerry Berns, and New Orleans’ Ralph Brennan have earned their place in the Society. 

 

Pioneers Across Foodservice Segments 

 

From schools and hospitals to convenience stores, amusement parks, and hotels, dozens of Society members have transformed how America dines. Their impact is felt in every community nationwide.

 

 
Selection Process 

Every year, IFMA The Food Away from Home Association puts out a call and receives a large slate of nominations from its membership and the industry for Silver Plate Awards. This year, we made revisions to the form, simplifying the process – and resulting in a larger number of candidates!  

Gold & Silver Plate Society
Society members, comprised of past Gold and Silver Plate winners, gather annually at the Gold & Silver Plate Awards Celebration in Chicago. During this time members welcome a new class of award recipients in addition to reconnecting with past winners.

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Check out these books from the industry’s elite

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Anyone in chef’s whites might feel at home inside the buzzing kitchens that landed a Silver Plate this year for Brad Haga, SVP of Prepared Foods and Dispensed Beverages for the Casey’s General Store convenience-store chain.

America may run on Dunkin’, but it’s Scott Murphy who sets the pace

If Scott Murphy’s business card listed all the roles he fills for Dunkin’ and its multi-brand parent, it’d have to be some sort of fold-out model to fit everything.

How Chip Wade is putting his own stamp on Union Square Hospitality

Running a company while its founder is still actively involved can be a challenge. If that founder happens to be Danny Meyer, the Yoda of fine dining, a successor would have to be dumber than a rock to shun the input. And Chip Wade, CEO of Meyer’s U

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Jane Street, a young investment firm, had to wait a year before Sally Minier agreed to be interviewed for the facilities management position it was struggling to fill. Even then, Minier recalls, she said yes largely to see if a newcomer to the starch

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Gold and Silver Plate awards by the numbers

For more than 70 years, superstars of the food-away-from-home business have competed for the industry’s highest honors—a Silver Plate for being the best in their segment, and the grand prize for the best among that elite group, the Gold Plate Award.

K-12 Silver Plate winner Bertrand Weber announces his retirement

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Joe R. Lee, the Gold Plate winner who built Darden Restaurants, dies at 85

Joe R. Lee, whose role in building out the industry sector now known as casual dining earned him the Gold Plate award in 1988, has died at age 85.

Silver Plate winners are showing up on bookshelves

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Life after the Gold and Silver Plate awards

The smarts that earned restaurant executives a Silver Plate have put them in demand as board of director appointees. Recent weeks have led to at least three past winners being named to the lofty advisory positions.

From the vault: How Ted Minah changed the C&U segment

Minah's head-turning work would earn him a Silver Plate in the College & Universities category in 1968.

The inside story of how Gold and Silver Plate winners are chosen

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GSP Society members at CIA Leadership Awards

Gold & Silver Plate winners were out in force at the Culinary Institute of America’s 18th Annual Leadership Awards, a celebration of what the “Harvard of Foodservice” calls the industry’s tastemakers.

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Students pursuing a career in the food-away-from-home business got a high-def picture of what their future might be like—and practical advice on plotting the journey—during a day-long event with leaders from the supplier side of the trade.

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Midway through the career that earned him this year’s prestigious Legends Award from the National Restaurant Association, Ted Fowler remarked to a gathering of fellow industry leaders that he felt like the turtle who finds itself perched atop a fence

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Jessica Shelly

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