Adam Smith joined The Dorchester Collection's Coworth Park hotel and restaurant as executive chef last year from the Devonshire Arms in North Yorkshire where he was executive chef for three years. Before joining the Devonshire Arms, the 30-year-old father-of-two spent 10 years working with John Williams at The Ritz and during that time was named a Roux Scholar (in 2012) and … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Five minutes with
Five minutes with… Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson started Leicestershire-based contract catering company Wilson Vale with his wife Carolyne Vale in 2002 when Nelson Hind, the company they'd worked at for more than nine years, was sold to Avenance (later to Elior). Wilson Vale now holds 95 catering contracts at businesses and schools across the UK, employs 750 people and is expecting to turnover £29m this year. … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Peter Gray
Peter Gray is the new head chef at Heston Blumenthal's Bray pub The Hind's Head, where he worked under previous head chef Janos Veres for three and a half years. The Yorkshire-born chef's career in hospitality started at Middlethorpe Hall, where he joined as a kitchen porter at 16. He took on a role as a commis chef there, working his way up to chef de partie before leaving to … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Mark Reynolds
Mark Reynolds founded pub company Three Cheers with friends Tom Peake and Nick Fox in 2003 where they continue to run the business's eight sites together. The 44-year-old father-of-three's passion for hospitality started at an early age when his parents set up one of their first bistros in Kensington Church Street in the 1970s. He joined their second restaurant The City Circle … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Wendy Bartlett
Wendy Bartlett is executive chairman of catering company Bartlett Mitchell, which she founded with her business partner Ian Mitchell in 2000. The business currently employs more than 800 people across 90 sites in London and the South East and continues to grow while firmly retaining its independence. Wendy, who has worked in contract catering for 37 years, also sits on the … [Read more...]
Five minutes with…Simon Addison
Simon Addison joined Chewton Glen as head chef in January 2016 to lead The Dining Room and allow the hotel's executive chef Luke Matthews to step back from day-to-day responsibilities and focus on new projects. Originally from Somerset, Simon learnt his craft in a number of restaurant kitchens, working with chefs such as Paul Kitchin and Aaron Patterson before taking on the … [Read more...]
Five minutes with…. Steve Groves
Steve Groves is head chef at Roux at Parliament Square, the London restaurant operated by Restaurant Associates in consultation with Michel Roux Jr. He was sous chef at Launceston Place before taking part in and winning MasterChef: The Professionals in 2009 and after impressing Michel Roux Jr took up a sous chef role at Roux at Parliament Square a year later. The restaurant, … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Fred Sirieix
Fred Sirieix is general manager of Galvin at Windows in the London Hilton Park Lane and fronts the popular Channel 4 TV show First Dates as host and maître d'. An advocate for service inside and outside the industry, Fred co-hosted Michel Roux's Service on BBC2 in 2011 and established National Waiters' Day in 2012. The 45-year-old Frenchman is also heavily involved with … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Jon Wise
Jon Wise worked as a journalist and TV critic for 15 years before realising his dream of opening a restaurant. In 2010 he bought his local restaurant - The Laughing Gravy on London's Blackfriars Road - with plans to serve good quality food in a relaxed setting. Today the restaurant is a thriving business serving locals as well as those from other areas of London. Jon talks to … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Adam White
Adam White is co-founder and managing director of Village London, which includes Village East in Bermondsey, the Riding House Café, and the recently-opened Rail House Café in London. The restaurateur was born in London, but grew up in New Zealand, moving back to the city of his birth in 1994 with plans to work in industrial design. However, he caught the hospitality bug through … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Andre Garrett
Andre Garrett is executive chef at Cliveden House where he runs his eponymous restaurant and oversees all food and beverage outlets at the 47-bedroom hotel. Starting out as a commis chef at Huntstrete House Hotel in 1989 Garrett went on to work with Nico Ladenis at Chez Nico in London in 1991. He remained in the capital, working with Bruno Loubet, at the Landmark Hotel and then … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Edmund Inkin
Edmund Inkin worked in banking before he joined his brother Charles in the family-run hospitality business EAT DRINK SLEEP in 2002. The business has grown from one site – the Felin Fach Griffin near Brecon in 2000 - to three in the last 17 years, with The Gurnard's Head and The Old Coastguard in Cornwall joining the fold. Inkin tells Hospitality & Catering News about … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… James Dugan
James Dugan joined the 303-bedroom Sheraton Grand London Park Lane hotel as executive chef four months ago where he oversees three food and beverage venues as well as banqueting and other food operations within the property. His career as a chef started at Chewton Glen in 1993 where he worked as a commis before leaving two years later to join Jean-Christophe Novelli at the Four … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Ben Orpwood
Ben Orpwood is executive chef at D&D London's latest Leeds restaurant Issho. After completing an apprenticeship at Queens College in Cambridge and a number of stages he joined Zuma London in 2005 as a chef de partie. He went on to launch outposts in Istanbul and Dubai for the brand before heading to Sydney where he worked in a number of kitchens for five years. He returned … [Read more...]
Five minutes with…Kate Firth
Kate Firth is general manager of Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa in Retford, Nottinghamshire. Kate joined the 59-bedroom hotel 35 years ago to work behind the bar for three months before starting university, but after falling in love with hospitality, changed her plans and joined the Trusthouse Forte trainee manager programme. After completing placements at Frimley Hall in … [Read more...]