Member of the month March 2026: Peter Kroka

Here at The Staff Canteen, we feature a different member every month who we think deserves to be celebrated – our latest winner is Peter Kroka.

As thanks for being a regular contributor to The Staff Canteen, Peter will receive a TSC mug, an item of merchandise from our online store, and be entered into our member of the year 2026 competition.

Slovakia-born Peter has lived in the UK for almost two decades and has previously worked in the army and a slaughterhouse, as well as a Michelin-starred kitchen, and is currently head chef at the Bosville Arms in Driffield, Yorkshire.

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We spoke with Peter, to find out all about his eclectic career path.

“My mum was a trained chef, and she prepared me and my older brothers for life through food when we were growing up,” he began.

“From about seven years old, I was making my own pasta and helping with cooking. It was never forced on us, it was just normal.

“My dad was more about meat, so he taught me how to cook pork.

“I’m from Slovakia, and at that time it was still communism, so we didn’t really see things like steaks, unless you knew the butcher. Mostly it was pork and chicken.

“My mum told me not to become a chef because of the long hours and no social life!

“So I went into the army.

“Then I decided to come to the UK and I started working in a slaughterhouse and stayed there for about seven or eight years. After I had an accident at work, I couldn’t really do heavy lifting anymore, so I went to Ox Pasture Hall in Scarborough.

“I was working as a cleaner, but it was always understaffed, so I had to help in the kitchen, help in the garden, then clean the rooms. That was really my first contact with a professional kitchen.

“Then I left and went to gastropub The Plough in Scalby, which at the time was probably the best place to eat around there.

“I started as a kitchen porter, and a month later I was a chef, because my head chef, Jon Smith, said: “You are not the KP. You’re probably more skilful than everybody else here.”

“So I started cooking and just kept going higher and higher on the ladder.”

The move to Scotland

The next stage of Peter’s life took him to Scotland.

“I started at a pub called Clipper, which was a mistake in some ways, but also a big learning curve,” he admitted.

“After that, I went to Duck Bay, which is a hotel by the loch near Balloch, where we lived.

“It was easy to get to from home, we were cooking fresh food, and it was a really nice company to work for.

“Then the lockdown hit. My girlfriend’s mum and stepfather were down in England and we felt trapped in the flat, so we moved back to England.”

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Michelin-star kitchen experience

Finding a job post-Covid proved difficult for Peter, deemed overqualified for many of the roles on offer.

But his next break came at Michelin-star level.

“I went to Whitby and worked for Andrew Pern at The Star Inn at Harome,” he said.

“After lockdown, because everyone had had enough of staying at home, it was busy. It was Michelin-starred, so high standards and fast service.

“That was a crazy time, but I realised I was too old for that lifestyle.

“Sometimes I was starting at 9am and finishing at 1am. We had a seven-month-old son and I was only seeing him on my days off. I just thought, I can’t do this anymore.”

Going it alone

After a spell working at coffee shop The Cow Shed at Fraisthorpe Beach, Peter undertook some agency work, which included a stint at White Lodge in Filey, because he made a big life choice.

“I realised I didn’t want to work for anybody else anymore, only for myself,” he said.

“When you work for yourself, you don’t have to report to anyone and you can take a risk and try something different.

“So my girlfriend and her mum found a little coffee shop near where we lived, on a caravan site with a scenic view.

“We took it on, started painting and doing the place up, and opened.

“I was working as head chef at White Lodge and trying to help them run it as well, so I had to choose one as I was basically working seven days a week. It was an easy choice. I decided to go full-time into the coffee shop.”

Named Luca’s Bistro, after their son Luca, Peter teamed up with a local shellfish supplier to elevate the menu, with lobster, scallop, octopus and crab dishes.

Last year, the bistro got a new home, at the community-owned Bosville Arms, five minutes down the road.

“We’re trying to be something between a gastropub and a pub,” he said.

“I follow Fallow in London and a few other people on YouTube, so I learned from that, then make the flavours my own.

People have said to me, ‘I can close my eyes and I’m in Spain’.

“That’s what makes it worthwhile. Obviously, we all work for money, but the real reason I do it is when customers say thank you, or say a dish has taken them back to childhood or reminded them of somewhere they’ve been.

“My style of cooking is what you would have at home, but served with a little finesse. The flavours are more important to me than how it looks.”

To get to know a bit more about Peter, we asked him some quick-fire questions to finish.

Name a comfort food that isn’t considered ‘cheffy’ but that you love to eat

"Brown bread with salted butter. That’s enough for me."

What do you like about being part of The Staff Canteen community?

"I’m completely off social media because it became a distraction for me. But The Staff Canteen is different. It’s not social media in the same way. It’s a nice place where you can find inspiration and see what other people are doing.

"I watch MasterChef, Great British Menu and all those shows, so it’s nice to see those people are actually just the same as we are - down to earth, with the same struggles we have in restaurants."

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned as a chef?

"Don’t take yourself too seriously. You can be a head chef, you can be an executive chef, but you’re still a chef and you still have to work."

What are your hopes and plans for the future in hospitality?

"I’m happy where I am, and I would love to take the whole place further and really make it a gastropub. If the team is right, then maybe one day we could get a rosette.

"But I’m not chasing stars or anything like that. Five years ago, if you had asked me, I would probably have said I was a humble chef, but I wasn’t. I was chasing things.

"Now I think I really am a humble chef. I just want people to love what I cook and be happy."