Ron Gastrobar and Mattijs Kaptein win titles Best Learning Company and Best Mentor Hospitality 2025/2026. Ron Gastrobar Amsterdam has been declared the winner of the Best Learning Company Hospitality 2025/2026 competition. Additionally, Mattijs Kaptein, mentor at Restaurant Hotel Merlet in Schoorl, can call himself Best Mentor Hospitality 2025/2026. The awards were presented on the last day of Horecava 2026 by Ricardo Eshuis, director of SVH and chairman of the competition committee.
The level of the learning companies and mentors was exceptionally high again this year. The differences at the top were small, and the committee speaks of a final where details were decisive. The other finalists among the learning companies, Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin (Noordwijk) and Kasteel Kerckebosch (Zeist), have therefore been declared runners-up. In the mentors category, the Top 3 further included Blanca Murillo Ehlhardt (Hotel & Wellness Zuiver, Amsterdam) and Stan Kerckhoffs (Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin, Noordwijk).
Ricardo Eshuis: “What makes this edition so special is that learning is not something ‘extra’, but fully part of daily work. We see organisations and mentors who truly invest in people. That is not only good for students but for the entire sector.”
Three learning companies at the absolute top
All three finalists are characterised by a work environment where learning and working are fully integrated. Students are given responsibility, seen as individuals, and are part of teams where craftsmanship and good employment practices go hand in hand. The companies invest structurally in collaboration with schools, guidance on the work floor, and the personal Your career of students and employees. This makes them the flagships of the sector.
The competition between the three learning companies was exceptionally exciting. The differences lie in the smallest details, with the entire competition process weighing in: from timely submission of documentation and the number of public votes to the execution of the task during the jury visit. This means that the differences between the winner and the runner-up are minimal.
Ron Gastrobar winner Best Learning Company Hospitality 2025/2026
Ron Gastrobar is this year's winner of the title Best Learning Company Hospitality. Where the company already impressed as a runner-up last year, it has shown very clear and broad growth in the past period, both as a learning company and in the role of employer. All recommendations from the committee have been taken seriously, further developed, and structurally implemented. This Your career is visible and tangible throughout the organisation.
Dining at Ron Gastrobar is a celebration, but working and learning are just as much so. The committee experiences an organisation where craftsmanship, enjoyment, structure, and people-oriented work are inextricably linked. The involvement with everyone who learns and works there is significant. Ron Gastrobar does not shy away from any challenge and only lets go of someone once everything has been done to ensure success.
It is noteworthy that there is room for all levels and backgrounds: from Sterklas to assistant level and from leading kitchen to vmbo HBR. It is precisely this combination of professional excellence, visible growth, personal attention, and work enjoyment that makes Ron Gastrobar a very deserving winner of the title Best Learning Company Hospitality 2025/2026.
Runner-up: Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin
Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin made an overwhelmingly strong impression during the committee visit. The committee notes that all recommendations from the previous year have been demonstrably taken up and integrated into daily practice. The involvement of mentors, HR, recruitment, and management is significant and palpable. There is a clear focus on people, which according to the committee forms an important basis for sustainable quality and growth.
During the presentations, students were more prominently in the foreground this year, a recommendation the committee gave last year. The quality of training, guidance, and appreciation of students is at an exceptionally high level. That Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin ended as a runner-up has nothing to do with shortcomings. The distinction with the winner was ultimately not in quality, but in the fact that at Ron Gastrobar the growth in the past period was just a bit more visible. This makes Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin undeniably part of the absolute top in the Netherlands as a learning company.
Runner-up: Kasteel Kerckebosch
Kasteel Kerckebosch made a particularly strong impression as a learning company. The way in which learning and working are fully integrated within the organisation shows the Your career the company has undergone in recent years. The rich history of the castle, combined with modern entrepreneurship and a contemporary training vision, forms a powerful learning environment for students.
The reception was warm, careful, and professional. In a short time, the team managed to provide a complete picture of the quality, culture, and vision of the learning company. Students, mentors, and management exuded pride, craftsmanship, and involvement. The committee was impressed by the level of the students and the way they experience the profession. With a slightly greater visibility of the story and the voice of students, this strong overall picture can be further strengthened.
Best Mentor Hospitality 2025/2026: Mattijs Kaptein
The title Best Mentor Hospitality 2025/2026 has also been awarded. The jury assessed three mentors, each of whom is of great value in their own way for training new hospitality professionals. Where Stan Kerckhoffs excels in safety and structure and Blanca Murillo Ehlhardt in energy and involvement, Mattijs Kaptein distinguishes himself through the unique combination of craftsmanship, pedagogical insight, conscious choices, and exemplary behaviour.
Mattijs Kaptein guides his students intensively and personally. He gives trust, responsibility, and room to make mistakes, which are consciously used as learning moments. His craftsmanship, enthusiasm, and genuine involvement are visible daily on the work floor and in the large network in which Mattijs is active. The jury sees in Mattijs an ambassador of the hospitality profession, who naturally connects sustainability, craftsmanship, and training. The jury is unanimous in the opinion that Mattijs Kaptein deserves the title Best Mentor Hospitality.
How the Best Hospitality Training Company is Determined
Pupils, students, employees, and teachers nominate training companies. From these nominations, a Top 10 of the best training companies is compiled. The expert jury visits this Top 10 to gain a complete picture of the practice and assesses, among other things, the training plan and the vision on training.
The findings are presented to the competition committee, which determines the Top 3 based on these findings. The best mentor is highlighted during the jury visits to the training companies in the Top 10. The competition committee consists of representatives from SVH, SBB, KHN, De Horecabond, the MBO Raad, and previous winners.
Best Hospitality Training Company
SVH has been organising the Best Hospitality Training Company competition for many years. The aim is to continue working with training companies to provide the very best practical training for new hospitality staff and to encourage training companies to continuously improve themselves. The title Best Hospitality Mentor has been a fixed part of the competition for several years.
Previous Winners of Best Hospitality Training Company
- 2024/2025: NH Noordwijk Conference Centre Leeuwenhorst in Noordwijkerhout
- 2023/2024: Het Noorden van Aalten in Aalten
- 2022/2023: De Werf in Veere
- 2019/2020: 't Havenmantsje in Harlingen
- 2018/2019: Van der Valk Hotel Sassenheim-Leiden
- 2017/2018: Het Hooihuis in Roosendaal
- 2016: DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station
- 2015: Vroeg in Bunnik
- 2014: Stempels Haarlem
- 2013: Hotel Greenside Texel
- 2012: McDonald’s Nederweert
- 2011: Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel
- 2010: Golden Tulip Tjaarda Oranjewoud
- 2009: Conferentiehotel Willibrordhaeghe in Deurne
- 2008: Restaurant Smits Koffiehuis in Amsterdam
- 2007: Landgoed De Wilmersberg in De Lutte
Previous Winners of Best Hospitality Mentor
- 2024/2025: Jeroen Oosterveen, Ron Gastrobar, Amsterdam
Mitchell Hendriks, Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin, Noordwijk - 2023/2024: Christiaan Veldman from Grand Hotel De Draak in Bergen op Zoom
- 2022/2023: Mark Benneker from 't Kruisselt in De Lutte
- 2019/2020: Nita Huning-Koster from Het Noorden van Aalten