A PREVIOUS winner of the Bolton and Bury Business Awards has spoken of his delight at sponsoring a category at this year's prestigious event.

Peter Wu, who runs The Chinese Buffet in Bridge Street, will be handing out the prize for Customer Excellence in the annual ceremony, which celebrates the best of businesses in the borough.

The 36-year-old, who won Businessperson of the Year in 2010, co-founded the 10-strong chain in December 2006 with Paolo and David Hu, with the promise of quality food and good value for money, and now serves in excess of 30,000 people a week across all its restaurants.

The awards, organised by The Bolton News, will take place at the Macron stadium on Thursday, September 10.

Mr Wu, from Bromley Cross, said: "I am extremely honoured to be sponsoring this year's Customer Excellence category. As a business, it is great to be involved in the awards. Even to be shortlisted is a great achievement.

"When I won the award in 2010, it gave my staff a real spring in their step, which proves that the awards have a very positive effect on businesses."

Mr Wu, whose background is in IT and management, took a leap of faith when the opportunity of co-founding the business came about eight years ago – and it has since paid off dividends.

He said: "The vision from day one was to develop a Chinese restaurant brand to fill that gap in the market. If you look at the sector there are plenty of buffet-style restaurants but no brands.

"When we opened the first in Bolton it was very much about learning the ropes, putting things in place and getting things right. Now it is about expanding on what we know works.

"As the years have gone on, we have developed our brand and widened what food we have to offer, such as sushi and teppanyaki. We focus on quality food with a good atmosphere rather than just cheep value basic food. It's a la carte service with the buffet-style experience.

"It's all about the employees too, having a motivated team and recognising that the people we have are what makes the business work. That is very important when you want to grow a business."

The chain, which has 400 employees across its 10 restaurants, is already planning to expand further, with one scheduled to open in Huddersfield and Darlington.

Mr Wu said: "It is going well at Bury so yes we are looking at other sites now to open before the end of the year, which is exciting.

"It's about having a plan and a vision and taking small steps to get to where you want to be, and evaluating where you are at the same time."