and learn a bit more.
Has there been one experience that has had the biggest influence on your career?
If I had to pick anything in my career to date and say that is was a really good place to work and was really inspiring I would say, certainly at the start of my career, it would be Slattery’s. It gave me a really good base and it is important for youngsters coming into the industry that they get into a good establishment with people that are really passionate, as that will in turn pass onto them.
And then outside of that it would have to be when I worked Confiserie Progin based in Biel, Switzerland, I only stayed there for 6-8 weeks, but by far it has to be the best place that I have worked for in terms of product I was producing and standard; it really opened me up to the art of the industry.
Your experience points towards working within companies, have you ever worked in a kitchen in a restaurant or hotel?
I’ve been lucky enough to avoid those but I’ve worked in small pastry shops. I did spend a few days down the Fat Duck when I was preparing for the Chocolate Masters so I got to experience that kind of environment. I’ve always lent more towards the pastry side, the pastry and chocolate shops side and now into the industrial side.
There are elements of a restaurant kitchen which are great, certainly the standard that they are working at is brilliant but it’s not something that has been a massive appeal to me. I feel like I’ve been lucky enough to produce some really good products. It’s been great to develop, design and produce things without the bad side of working in a kitchen, as the hours can be so long.
By the time I left Slattery’s I realised there were other routes to take, which sometimes you don’t always see from a young age, where you don’t have to do seven days a week.
How long does it take to prepare for a competition like the Chocolate Masters?
My preparation started around two years before I entered. The first time was when Mark Tilling won and I came last. At that point I made a decision not to enter again until two years’ time so I could take that time to learn from the right people and pick up the right skills and then reapply.
Any plans to compete in any more?
Possibly, I still feel I’ve got one more competition in me. There are more bits that I want to learn, more skills to try and develop and competing is a good way to do that and push boundaries. Not just learning from other chocolatiers but learning from other industries for example potters, car engineers and mechanics –and see how you can reapply what they do with chocolate and pastry.
What made you make the move into teaching?
It was more about growing skills in the industry, there was a gap at the time in skills and understanding of how to work with chocolate. Back then even the Callebaut Academy in Banbury wasn’t in existence.
I decided to look at teaching so went to Southbank University for a year but teaching youngsters full time wasn’t for me.
I spoke to John Slattery and we agreed that there was a gap so we set up the Slattery School. I started teaching chocolate skills there initially two days a month. It was really busy and we could see there was a demand both in the trade and the public.
It then came to a point where I needed a new personal challenge so went into food manufacturing, developing products for the retailer; initially Marks and Spencer, which I really enjoyed.
What’s it like working for Nestlé and in food manufacturing?
Working for big companies gets overlooked a lot of the time by chocolatiers and pastry chefs. Not everything starts life on a machine and they need skilled craftsman to produce really good quality samples and really good quality innovations that pastry chefs are creating day in day out. It is those skills that can be included in places like Nestle, they are a great company to work for as it’s an amazing facility.
We have the best from every part of the industry coming together to produce innovations for the future.
