In the build up to The Staff Canteen Live 2015 at the Hospitality Show 2015, NEC Birmingham on January 19 – 21, we are taking a closer look at the chefs who will be joining us on stage. We dig a little deeper to find out what they are hiding under those chef whites!

Luke Tipping is the executive chef director of Simpsons in Birmingham which has a star in the Michelin Guide UK. He has been working with Andreas since their time at the Plough and Harrow, Luke’s first foray into the industry, and we are delighted that he’s chosen to be involved with The Staff Canteen Live.

What made you want to be a part of The Staff Canteen Live?

It’s good to get your face out there and to keep up with what’s going on. It’s great for the Midlands as well and they're some great people on the same bill so it’s really nice to be a part of it. It’s also good for socialising and networking. We’re all busy people so it’s good to get out for a day and see what everybody else is doing.

Talk us through your role here at Simpsons.

I'm still very hands on in the kitchen. I like moving around and I tend to operate the sauce section. I'm certainly not one for sitting in the office, well not just yet! Simpsons has a team of 14 chefs in the brigade, including some part timers, which are from the local colleges. So my role, even though I'm predominantly in the kitchen, has been extended to look after the whole operation, supporting the great team we've got here at the Simpsons.

What do you do to support the team? We've got a cookery school or a demonstration school, whichever you prefer. There are no actual cookers in there, but we're trying to reintroduce a hands-on approach, so making pasta and things like that, tarts for desserts feature at the demonstrations. That takes up the weekend for us.

We've got a cookery school or a demonstration school, whichever you prefer. There are no actual cookers in there, but we're trying to reintroduce a hands-on approach, so making pasta and things like that, tarts for desserts feature at the demonstrations. That takes up the weekend for us.

At The Staff Canteen we want to see what makes chefs tick. We asked Luke a few questions about what he gets up to when he’s not in the kitchen:

What do you do in your spare time? I play a bit of golf and my son’s a keen footballer so I try my best to look after him

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with that. We play golf together so life’s just work, work, work, then golf, golf, golf, really. Looking after two kids and a wife that’s it, you can’t do a lot else.

I play a bit of golf and my son’s a keen footballer so I try my best to look after him with that. We play golf together so life’s just work, work, work, then golf, golf, golf, really. Looking after two kids and a wife that’s it, you can’t do a lot else.

Does your son play locally then?

Yeah he plays for a local team, nothing too hard-core but it takes up a bit of time and it’s good to try to support him in what he does. We play golf together as well, he’s 14 now, so it’s really nice to spend a bit of father-son time together. It’s a unique opportunity, especially in this job.

What’s the last album you bought?

It’s been a while. I’ve got a lot of music but I can’t think what the last one I bought was. I do really like music though. The last film I really enjoyed was The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s a fantastic film.

>>> Read more in the Behind the Chef series here

Chocolate or cheese?

Chocolate.

Marco or Gordon?

Marco, but I must admit I’ve gone off him a bit recently.

What’s your worst injury or cut in the kitchen?

I cut my finger once. I had a brand new knife and it fell out of the wrappings. It slid out of the packet like a guillotine and shredded my second finger. This was about five years ago and I’ve still lost the feeling in it. I hadn’t even used it, it hadn’t even been held so that wasn’t nice. Most cuts are from people not paying attention but this wasn’t even out of the wrappings so it was annoying more than anything. The nerves have gone so it wasn’t great.

If you weren’t a chef what would you be?

I’ve always been into music so I wanted to be part of the road-crew in a rock band. That idea really interested me at one stage.

Luke will be joining us at 15:30 on Monday, for The Staff Canteen Live. We are extremely excited to welcome such a well-respected name in the industry. It will be a great day for chefs and foodies alike.

By Tom Evans

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