Pizza Hut, the fast-food chain, emerged as the champion of champions in this year's awards by winning for the third year running.
'I was nervous. I thought it would be difficult to make it three times in a row for the company,' said Tsoi Hiu-wah, an 18-year-old waitress at Pizza Hut in Tai Po.
She attributed the quality of her training to carrying off the food category prize the Jardine Pacific division had collected not only in 1995 and 1996 but also in 1993.
'I benefited from a good training scheme,' she said.
Pizza Hut has a rigorous training programme for its 3,300 staff in 57 restaurants in the SAR.
Human resources manager Anders Cheung said: 'Training for new staff is intense for the first three months.' No fewer than seven steps to service are drilled in to employees who are constantly assessed by 'mystery' customers.
The under-cover diners are recruited from among students at local universities to evaluate service performance and quality of meals.