Raymond Blanc OBE, Gary Jones and Carl Newberry

Mr Raymond Blanc OBE

Monsieur Blanc, please outline how important training and development of the team is at Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons

Today what makes me extremely proud about Le Manoir is the training and development of so many British Chefs. My background is that I'm self taught; I never once worked under another Chef, which may now seem perhaps strange, that training is at the core, the very heart of Le Manoir. We succeed by empowering our team, by developing them, ensuring that they have the equipment and tools that they need to do their jobs. By ensuring that they can manage their time, and to deal with the every day pressures that the kitchen often has. I have fought very hard to install key values, often having a battle with my chefs, to ensure that they look beyond the food on the plate, and for them to understand the relationship between the food and the growers; the fisherman. Encouraging my Chefs to think more than just about the creativity of being a Chef, but to understand the produce - its beauty; its nobility; the traceability but also the craft that surrounds the raw ingredients. What is so rewarding is that we share our success, we keep nothing to ourselves Gary Jones, Benoit Blin, myself, sharing our knowledge passing it on to a Commis who will, if we succeed, after a few years in turn, pass on that knowledge and train other British Chefs. This gives me the greatest amount of pleasure, that they (the Chef) can pass on this knowledge, this skill and continue our core values they have learnt at Le Manoir. We have a responsibility to pass on our knowledge. Carl and Paul have a responsibility to pass on their knowledge to the younger Chefs. Gary, Benoit and I want to create a culture of success and at times we fail, everyone does at times, but watching a Commis grow and develop; to see the Commis then take and accept more responsibility, is truly rewarding. We welcome 90,000 guests a year, we work in each department at the highest levels of excellence, this for the last 26 years and for 6 years before at Les Quat'Saisons. The demands on the operation can be huge. All my life, together with my team, I wanted to create a responsible industry where chefs embrace essential values; such as training, passing on knowledge, learning about provenance and local and seasonal values "¦. Creating a successful, sustainable business that cuts down waste and embraces recycling. We have all worked very hard to deliver the right environment for our Chefs and other staff to learn, and I want us to continue to teach, train and develop our Chefs and that training is the core and key to the success of Le Manoir.

Monsieur Blanc Thank you

Thank you!

Gary Jones

Carl is a human dynamo, he's full of positive energy and to have a guy that has grown up with you; within the kitchen team. He is a guy that has been developed by RB and myself over many, many years. He has done every single section as a Demi Chef, as a Chef de Partie and he has grown and grown. When he finished at Le Manoir he went away and got some great schooling with The French Laundry and Thomas Keller. Carl is like a human sponge, he just soaks everything up. It is absolutely critical that I have someone that knows exactly what I would do in any given situation so the kitchen runs smoothly and I can take a day off because Le Manoir is a seven day a week operation. In this size of brigade it is essential that you have a Head Chef. So is he important - Yes, definitely, a magnificent young man with a very bright future.

Gary, for the Head Chef role at Le Manoir, are you more likely to take someone who has come up the ranks? How often would you go out of the business to employ someone in that role?

We have done that before and have bought Chefs that have been Sous Chefs in 3 Michelin star restaurants before, and brought them in as Sous Chef at Le Manoir, but in my opinion it doesn't work as well.

So do you prefer to groom them?

I don't like to have a set way because you have got to have different approaches with different people because everyone is different. I have found, from past experience, it is better to grow your own which is fabulous ...like the vegetables, it's exactly what we are doing with the Chefs - there is a whole history of these guys going way back to Marco (Pierre White), Paul Heathcote and the rest of the Chefs that have passed through this operation. We have always grown our Chefs here and it's really important because they fully understand what we want because, different people do things differently. The bottom line is Monsieur Blanc and Le Manoir have been here for almost 27 years and, you have seen the carpark today, it's chocker block and it is like that all the time.

The garden is chocker block; everywhere is chocker block!

Yes, it's a fantastic business from very humble beginnings and we are still trying every single day to get that right. And when a guy like Carl, has been around you for 7/8 years he feel very confident in his ability.

Carl Newberry

Carl, thank you very much for your time today. I know you are massively busy. If we could start by you telling us a little bit about your role here at Le Manoir.

I am Head Chef at Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons and above me is the Executive Chef Gary Jones and of course RB, the Chef Patron. I started at Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons as a Commis, back in 2000. I left the operation in 2005, when I was Junior Sous Chef, and then I came back.

Carl where did you go to when you left Le Manoir?

When I left I went to the British Virgin Islands to work for Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island, and then from there I spent two years in California in The French Laundry with Chef Thomas Keller. Then I came back to Le Manoir in 2005.

How was California and more importantly The French Laundry?

Good. Very good. I was on an eighteen month visa and I saw everything that I wanted to see at The French Laundry as it was a smaller kitchen than I'd been used to at Le Manoir. But originally I just went to Necker Island to save a bit of money and have a break before taking my next step, which was The French Laundry.

And both the Necker Island and The French Laundry, were they both a result of you spending five years at Le Manoir?

Yes, because Sir Richard used to have a claim in Le Manoir - a part ownership with RB (Raymond Blanc), so the connection was there and Gary Jones was, of course, the first Head Chef on Necker Island, again so it was having that connection to send the next guy out there - which we have already done again recently.

What about The French Laundry? When I was working at Le Manoir, I went out on a stage, in my holiday. I'd read the book and thought it was great, so I wanted to go out and see what it was like. And I just knew, when I came back that, that was going to be my next career move. So I spoke to Gary (Jones) and told him that I wanted, The French Laundry to be my next move, we spoke about me having another year with RB, Gary and the team, then a year on Necker Island so that I