The Burnt Chef Journal

This weeks guest is Kirk Haworth, Chef Patron of Plates in London. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation as Kirk provides a refreshingly honest insight into his personal journey and how he has built his key wellbeing mechanisms over the last few years.

 

Having contracted a chronic mystery illness Kirk spent many years juggling work whilst fighting physical and mental fitness. He talks about his journey as he fights to get to the reason why he feels like he does and what he learnt along the way.

 

I want to thank Kirk for joining us and also to say a thank you to Lamb Weston - our partners in potatoes, who have kindly agreed to be our sponsor for the Burnt Chef Journal. Without their support we would not be able to provide regular stigma breaking content. 

 

For more information about The Burnt Chef Project and to support us in our mission please head over to www.theburntchefproject.com

 

A note from our sponsors:

At Lamb Weston, we’re proud to be first in our category to drive awareness of mental health problems – reaching out, creating awareness, putting a stop to stigma and the silence around it. We’re in this together and mental health has never been more important than now as our industry struggles through…! See, Lamb Weston is more than just partners in potatoes, helping to fight burnout in hospitality.

 

Feel free to order a free sample of our authentic Proper British Chips: The Dukes of Chippingdom - proper British chips | Lamb Weston , if you have any other question, feel free to get in touch via Instagram!

We'd like to dedicate this episode to Albert Roux who sadly passed away on the day of this recording. 

 

This week I was lucky enough to speak to Sat Bains, winner of the Roux Scholarship and now a judge, author of 'Too Many Chiefs Only One Indian and Chef Patron of the 2 Michelin star restaurant which he runs with his wife Amanda, Restaurant Sat Bains.

 

Back in November 2015 Sat put his staff on a 4 day working week. A move which at the time rippled through the industry with tremendous positive effects on his business despite the risk of loosing close to £300k doing so.

 

Since then Sat and I have shared a talk on Staff Canteen regarding mental health where he discussed more ways that he had adapted the business to improve staff wellbeing.

 

If you are looking to improve your staff wellbeing and staff retention then this is a conversation that you cannot miss. I hope that you enjoy this chat as much as I did and that you find some useful adjustments to your business that you can use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weeks chat with Luke Holder was one that I have been looking forward to for a while. 

 

Luke works closely with Angela Hartnett and is Exec Chef for the 5* Limewood Hotel which is currently rated the 3rd best country hotel in the country. 

 

Every conversation I have with Luke is insightful and welcoming and I hope that you enjoy the content of this as much as I do. He talks openly about his time as the Gordon Ramsey style chef provocateur where he would often use his position to rule with fear and how he has now transitioned to having one of the best retention rates in the industry and his complete U-turn on how he views, manages and values his staff.

 

I hope that you enjoy this conversation and thank you for listening.

This week our welcomed guest joining us from America is Joseph Workman who talks to Kris about the free resource he designed and how to get the best out of a work environment and it's workers including concepts such as physical politeness, interview clarity and mise en place.

 

The concepts raised during this chat were insightful and interesting. For more information please head over to www.authenticteambuilding.com where you can find all of his videos, for free. 

This week our guest is Iain Wilkinson who is the Head Chef for Yolk Farm Kitchen in York. 

 

He talks to us about his discovery of gambling at an early age which quickly led to becoming an addiction resulting in unhealthy behaviours including stealing from family members.

 

He shares the things he has learnt along his journey and his top tips for improving wellbeing with his team. 

 

We hope that you enjoy this chat and if you would like to learn more information please head over to our website: www.theburntchefproject.com.

 

Don't miss out on this incredibly insightful chat with ambassador for the Burnt Chef Project and good personal friend Adam Simmonds.

 

With years of experience in the trade including time at Le Gavroche, the Ritz, the Halkin, L'Escargot, the Lanesborough, Les Saveurs, Heathcotes, the Greenway in Cheltenham, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons and, of course, Brockett Hall with Jean-Christophe Novelli.

 

Adam worked hard for a Michelin star but has taken a complete u-turn compared to his interview with The Caterer in 2006 where he stated

"Staffing was a nightmare. I was on a mission and I expected everybody else to be as committed as I was. I'd come straight from Le Manoir and I was fiery, boisterous. I was also trying to be far too elaborate with the cooking too early. I can see that now, but at the time I was working in a bubble, isolated. The staffing was never stable and I just hit a brick wall after a crazy year of no holidays and hardly any sleep."

 

We hope that you enjoy this chat.

Over the next few weeks we will be sharing our conversations from the The Burnt Chef Project and Staff Canteen weekly wellbeing and mental health chats. 

 

This is our discussion with Mark Reynolds who is the Exec Chef of Tottenham Hotspur who joined us to talk about how he manages his team of almost 200 and what managing mental health and wellbeing means to him.

Thanks to Cara at the Staff Canteen for sharing this content. 

 

To find out more about The Burnt Chef Project please see the link below.

wwww.theburntchefproject.com

Welcome to our first episode of The Burnt Chef Journal where we aim to encourage change within the industry that benefits the wellbeing and health of hospitality staff worldwide.

 

This episode features Tony Lewis. An ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project as he talks to us about his career history, the highs and lows of working within hospitality and his top tips for those looking at entering the industry for the first time or suffering with their own mental health issues.

 

We hope that you enjoy it and for more information on The Burnt Chef Project head over to www.theburntchefproject.com