Suzy Stirling has been honoured for two decades of service helping to shape the dining experience across HC‑One’s Scottish care homes. According to the original Scotsman community piece, Stirling received a 20‑Year Long Service Award from HC‑One chief executive James Tugendhat at the provider’s inaugural Chef of the Year competition, held at The Grand Hotel in York. The presentation recognised her sustained contribution to catering and resident care within the group.

In her current role as Group Development Chef for Scotland Stirling is described as central to maintaining culinary standards, clinical nutrition and regulatory compliance across homes. The Scotsman article and HC‑One’s own materials outline her work on menu development, specialist diets and themed workshops, from Diwali celebrations to National Cheese Lovers Day, aimed at making mealtimes both safe and socially engaging for residents.

Her progression is presented as a classic internal promotion story. Stirling told the Scotsman community that she began at The Orchard Care Home in Alloa in April 2005 as a cover kitchen assistant, moved into assistant and head cook roles when the home needed cover, and later advanced to Group Development Chef for the North East and Scotland in March 2023 before becoming Group Development Chef for Scotland in December 2024. She credited training and encouragement from HC‑One for enabling her development.

The company highlights Stirling’s role as a mentor and leader, noting her regular support to chefs across Scotland and her involvement in running training and development days. HC‑One’s local reporting of themed events shows how kitchens and wellbeing teams use cultural and national food occasions to boost appetite, encourage conversation and create communal experiences, practices the company says contribute to residents’ wellbeing and social engagement.

On clinical practice, HC‑One states that texture‑modified diets are a routine and closely managed part of its catering. The provider’s blog says around 3,000 residents require texture modification and that about 95% of HC‑One menus can be adapted to meet International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) levels. The same corporate material describes specialist colleague training, allergen management and person‑centred pre‑admission dietary assessments as part of efforts to combine clinical safety with “like‑for‑like” meal presentation.

The Chef of the Year competition itself was framed by HC‑One as both a celebration of catering skills and a practical test of care‑kitchen requirements. The corporate announcement explains the three stages — signature dish submission, semi‑final cook‑offs and a grand final — and requires entrants to include a Level 5 minced‑and‑moist alternative for residents with specific needs. Judging criteria, the company says, included nutritional suitability (including texture‑modified diets), creativity, presentation, hydration and wellbeing, sustainability and waste reduction, practicality for care kitchens, and food‑safety standards.

HC‑One’s careers information positions catering as a structured route for progression, emphasising on‑the‑job training, qualifications and development days. The company’s recruitment pages feature colleague stories — including Stirling’s — and highlight initiatives such as Nutrition & Hydration Week, themed menus and mentoring from Group Development Chefs as means to develop chefs, cooks and kitchen assistants within the organisation.

Chris Bonner, who leads HC‑One’s Development Chef Team, is quoted in the Scotsman report praising Stirling as “an exceptional Group Development Chef and a true ambassador for HC‑One’s values,” and acknowledging her role in raising dining standards and mentoring colleagues. The company added that food and nutrition are fundamental to residents’ health and wellbeing, a message it used to frame the award and the new competition.

Stirling’s long service award included a certificate, badge, a £100 gift voucher, a bouquet and an extra day of annual leave, underlining HC‑One’s approach to recognising tenure and contribution. According to the reporting, the celebration at the Chef of the Year event was both a personal milestone for Stirling and a wider opportunity for the provider to showcase the intersection of culinary skill, clinical safety and person‑centred care in its homes.