CODE acquires The Good Food Guide

It was a phone call from a good friend in the industry who told me I should look at The Good Food Guide after it ceased publication earlier in the year. Fast forward five months, along with a few sleepless nights and some last minute nerves and I’m very happy to announce that we’re now the new custodians of The Good Food Guide.

Food, restaurants and hospitality have always played a big part in my life. My mother worked in hospitality and I was lucky enough to grow up being surrounded by good food both at home and in restaurants. It was a visit to New York when I was 16 years old where I first caught the hospitality ‘bug.’ I was wowed by the excitement and buzz you found in the dining rooms of Manhattan and that going out for a meal was more than just because you were hungry.

Raymond Postgate founded The Good Food Guide in 1951 with one simple aim: “to raise the standard of cooking in Britain and to do ourselves a bit of good by making our holidays, travels and evenings-out…more enjoyable.” The Good Food Guide turned 70 this year and despite Britain being a very different place in 2021, I like to think the reason for producing a Guide each year still remains the same. Integrity will remain at the heart of The Good Food Guide, and we will continue with inspectors dining anonymously and their bills paid in full by the Guide. We will continue to only include restaurants in the guide based on their own merits.

I’m delighted that Elizabeth Carter will continue as editor and we will continue to produce a 2022 Guide at a time when the industry needs championing most as it recovers after the pandemic. Before the end of the year, we will also launch a weekly Good Food Guide digital newsletter and next year we plan to launch a Good Food Guide Club – you can sign up for more information here.

I’d love to hear from you if you have any feedback or ideas. Please drop me a note: [email protected]