Joe Queen | The Royal Hotel, Bridge of Allan

Nobody has more enthusiasm for the quality of Scottish ingredients than Joe Queen. And he should know. President of the Federation of Scottish Chefs he has a wealth of experience of the Scottish food business and is always happy to 'fly the flag' for the food-wares of his homeland.

He originally trained at Turnberry under Stuart Cameron (whom he describes as 'still an inspiration'). Time with Macdonald Hotels and also Executive Chef at Craigendarroch on Royal Deeside followed on. To further widen his experience he travelled and worked in the US, including a spell at the Disney Epcot Centre where he recalls being at first astonished by the overwhelming range of foodstuffs available to the mass market, high volume visitors.

Having returned to Scotland and worked for himself for a few years, he then became the chef director of the Ivy House Hotel in Ayr. A string of accolades followed on for the hotel, including a Thistle Award in 1997. At the end of 2002 he returned to Macdonald Hotels as a management chef, and is currently operations director of the Monument Leisure hotel group, based at the Royal Hotel, Bridge of Allan.

In this role he is very pleased to be still very much hands-on and involved in menu development and training. That's why you'll find him on the road early from his home in Glasgow. His typical day might find him keeping a watchful eye on plans to host a meal for VIPs, or giving creative thought to a new menu, or drawing up training plans for staff development.

His expertise has him in demand as, for example, a judge in a variety of culinary competitions, while the spring of 2005 saw him in New York, demonstrating his skills as part of the high profile 'Tartan Day' celebrations organised by VisitScotland in New York's Grand Central Station.

His philosophy is straightforward: that food should taste as good as it looks. Buying the best quality goes almost without saying, Joe believes - then cook simply and with confidence, letting the natural characteristics of the ingredients come through in the finished dish.