When it comes to hospitality every day is unique. You walk in the door first thing in
the morning and you never know what's going to be in front of you, so every day is a challenge
which is a good thing.
We normally start at 10 o'clock, start our mis-en-place, get ready for lunch service,
then we go through lunch service and then after lunch we carry on with mis-en-place
until dinner service.
It was being creative with food was my first instinct, however working with people was
more so something that I always wanted to do.
When I was at Hautlieu I did Trident at the Royal Yacht Hotel in the kitchens then and
I loved it so much I decided to take a career path within hospitality.
No completely my own idea at the age of about 10 when I started to cook. Family were great
and they always encouraged me to do what I wanted to do.
I just decided myself, I thought it would be fun to do the Trident, and that was it
after that I was set I wanted to take it on further.
Yes, I started as a Commis Chef and I have changed direction but it's always stayed in
hospitality and it just goes to show how diverse hospitality can be, coming from a Commis Chef
to being Head of Department in an FE College in Hospitality.
Originally I wanted to be an Orthopaedic Surgeon but after Trident and seeing how good the
atmosphere is within a kitchen, I decided to change careers to be in a kitchen and then
I didn't have to go to university either.
When I was in education I started off at City & Guilds and no matter where you are in the
world City & Guilds is the qualification to have when it comes to hospitality.
I took the certificates and diplomas in Food Prep and Cooking along with the Food and Beverage
Service which was two years in all.
For starting out my career, even though I was trained in Ireland, it was to the equivalent
of GCSEs and A Levels because you had to do both in Ireland, whereas over here all you
need is the GCSE to start out.
I chose Spanish, Music, and Design Technology.
To have good initiative, be a good team player, and have good communication.
The main skills you need are communication, teamwork, and hard work.
It's about the fact it's a challenge and every day is a learning curve. You're meeting new
people on a daily basis and you get different roles and responsibilities and it gives you
a challenge to actually work towards going to the next step.
It's when you find out a customer's had the best meal of their life, or they're really
happy and you know you've done something good.
It's a steep learning curve. You have to have the ability and to be to sustain long hours
and be able to actually work with people on a daily basis under pressure.
Misconceptions about TV chef, shouting, Gordon Ramsey's, but it's a lot calmer, you just
have to get your head down and work.
Most people think that you don't have to be very academic and it should be more vocational
students who go into this line of industry, and that's not necessarily the case.
The highlight of my career is being selected for an internship at the worlds number one
restaurant, which has held that status for two years. It's in Copenhagen and it goes
by the name of 'Noma'.
I suppose getting a medal of excellence for the job that I do now and for hospitality.
You're always generally going to work Christmas, weekends, birthdays because they're generally
the busiest times of the year, when everyone else has got holidays. So just know that you're
going to be working when everyone else is going to be off basically.
I've come from being a Commis Chef all the way up to being a Head Chef and then taking
over as a chef lecturer and then taking over as the Head of Department in a college. The
learning curve has been very, very steep.
The biggest challenge I've faced was doing Young National Chef of the Year, which was
held in London. It was a long journey carrying about 80 kilos of equipment, food, and luggage
over to London and getting on the tubes at 8 in the morning with all this, and then competing
against seven other top young chefs in the UK.
Take constructive criticism and learn from it.
Whatever you're going to do, give 100% because it will always pay off in the long term.
It has given me the ability to meet new people literally on a daily basis, which is not something
you get in any other job.
It's given me great friendships with other people, because obviously in a kitchen you're
working with people for long hours of the day, you're in the same area for 9,10,11 hours
of the day.
Well as you can tell, I'm not from Jersey and so I have been very privileged to be able
to travel with this job, and so therefore it opens doors to every country. Hospitality
is everywhere.
When I taste some really good hearty food.
A customer saying they're very satisfied because you've gone the extra mile for them.