My route into hospitality: Pip Lacey

Pip Lacey tried snowboarding, design, sales and front-of-house roles before becoming a chef. Now, she is leading the food at Guinness Open Gate.

In this three-part series, The Staff Canteen speaks to chefs who took an unconventional route into hospitality.

Pip Lacey remembers her first day in a professional kitchen clearly, working at Gordon Ramsay’s York & Albany.

It involved a block of butter, too much blood and the immediate realisation that starting later than most chefs was going to be tough.

“I cut myself really badly,” Pip said.

“It wasn’t the first time I’d cut myself cutting butter and wasn’t the last time either, in the same kitchen.

“I’d bought these terrible Black & Decker knives. People were picking them up going, what the fuck are these?

“Because they were new, they were sharp. I cut myself and then someone else cut themselves on it.

“Blood was just going all over this massive block of butter. I was like, oh my God, they’re going to tell me to get out. That’s it.”

It was not the most elegant start to a career in kitchens, but it was a memorable one.

“I remember being slow,” Pip added.

“I remember Colin Buchan, who was the head chef there, just saying, look, you’re slow, but your work ethic’s great. If you want it, it’s here. It’s going to be tough, getting into it this late.

“He was quite honest with me. He said, just don’t make the same mistake twice and listen and just get on. I was like, cool, and ran with that.”

That first day at York & Albany was the start of a career which has since included Angela Hartnett, Great British Menu, Hicce, Clarkson’s Farm and now Guinness Open Gate.

But Pip’s route into kitchens was anything but direct.

From hospitality to other careers

Pip had worked in hospitality from a young age, though not originally with the idea of becoming a chef.

“My first job at 15 was as a pot wash in my local pub,” she said.

“They attempted not to pay me.”

That early job did not sell her the romance of kitchens.

“I was grabbing the most disgusting pan you’ve ever seen in your life,” Pip recalled.

“These were no chefs to aspire to. That’s definitely not where I was like, oh I definitely want to be a chef.”

At 16, Pip worked at Café de Paris, where she began to understand the rhythm of service and the difference between front and back of house.

“I remember one great bit of advice from one of the chefs after a really tough night was: what happens in service, just let it stay in service. It’s time pressure,” she said.

Before becoming a chef, Pip tried plenty of other jobs. She helped her dad with dental nursing, very briefly sold fascias and windows, and had an unsuccessful spell selling expensive Hoovers.

“I loved to work,” she said. “That was the thing, I loved having my own money.”

But sales was not her strongest fit.

“I’m not even very good at selling my own food,” Pip said.

“I’ll give it to you and you taste it. If you like it, that’s fine. I’m not going to tell you to like it.”

Snowboarding, design and a late decision

Pip went on to study an art foundation at Loughborough before taking up an offer at Newcastle. But even at university, hospitality kept pulling her back.

“At uni, I ran a Zizzi’s and was assistant manager of a nightclub as well,” she explained.

“So I just spent the majority of my time working.

“I had a degree that was 9-5 every day, but I didn’t do one 9-5. I crammed it all in at the end and just passed.

“It was kind of screaming at me that I did love, and I do love, the industry.

“I loved being on my feet. I didn’t want to be in an office.”

After university, Pip came to London and ran Med Kitchen on Gloucester Road. But she also returned to another possible path: snowboarding.

“I did try going back to doing a ski season because I’d done one just before uni,” Pip said.

“I promised my dad I’d come back and do a degree and am slightly regretting that in some ways, because I was probably good enough to go ahead and at least try and turn pro.

“Then I tried to do that at 27, which was a bit too late for things like that.

“I thought it was too late to become a chef as well at some point.

“I went out, did a ski season, started doing competitions and broke my back. It wasn’t bad, but it was just kind of like, maybe that’s a bit of a sign.

“I was fearless when I was 19. Then only a few years later I didn’t want to and thought I might hurt myself if I jump off.”

After that, Pip set up her own business, freelancing in graphics, screen printing and starting a clothing brand. But sitting at a computer all day did not feel right either.

She said: “That’s when a friend was like, well, why don’t you become a chef?

“I was like, oh, I’d love to, because I always cooked