Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars: Worthing and Rustington micro pub owner is contestant on BBC One show

Craig Stocker, who owns the two Georgi Fin pubs in Goring-by-Sea and Rustington, is one of the contestants on series two of Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars.

Promoting the programme on its website, the BBC said: “Gordon Ramsay is a Michelin starred chef and CEO of a global business empire. Now, he continues his search for the country’s most exciting and innovative new food and drink business.

“Gordon’s always been at the cutting edge of his industry and has hand-picked 12 of the UK’s best up-and-coming food and drink entrepreneurs, to compete to earn his investment – a whopping £150,000 of his own cash. But to be in with a chance of winning the life-changing reward, they’ll need to prove they have what it takes to partner up with Gordon.”

Craig, 39, said he is ‘one of the youngest founders in the country’ to open two of micro-pubs.

"I own two small craft beer independent ale houses called the Georgi Fins named after my two children,” he said. “We focus on using small independent non-commercial companies to serve the best ales ciders and wines on the market.

"I entered the show to show how amazing this market is and to showcase amazing beer by people that are unable to provide their products on a commercial stage and to get Gordon on board to dominate my market.”

Over the next eight weeks, the contestants will take part in a series of ‘relentless challenges’ – designed to test their character and showcase their business skills. Unlike the infamous Hell's Kitchen, Gordon is not looking for his next head chef – ‘he wants to find someone who he can partner up with’.

Asked to describe his experience on Future Food Stars, Craig said it was ‘amazing in every way’ but the ‘toughest thing I’ve ever done in my life’.

He added: “To put yourself in front of a global star like Gordon to have confidence in yourself to prove you are able to push yourself in ways you couldn’t imagine in the most high pressured of environments was incredible, daunting and rewarding on so many levels I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

"My biggest challenge was to accept that I may be good enough to be on the show, I have skills that business has taught me that I hadn’t realised and that I’m onto something with my business. I had to transfer what I’ve learned along the way, accept my flaws and embrace what I’m good at to progress.”

Craig said it was ‘inspiring’ but ‘also very stressful’ to be surrounded by ‘so many like-minded talented individuals’.

"Discovering the confidence to challenge people was tough but became easier,” he said. “You can be right, you can say no and you can be the best in your field if you have some self believe and confidence in what you do.”

Gordon said viewers can ‘expect more beautiful locations from across the UK’ in series two, with ‘really interesting special guests’, who appear on the show to test contenders.

He said there will be ‘more really tough challenges’ where the contenders have to ‘push extremely hard to impress me with their skills and ideas’.

The TV chef added: “My expectations are high. These guys should have seen the first Future Food Stars series so they should be more prepared for how to impress me. Yes, they need to have a really good idea, but they also need to have strategised about their future ambitions for their products and the growth opportunities for their brand.”

Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars starts at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer tonight (Thursday, March 30).

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