There is a kitchen for every person

One of my biggest career takeaways to date is that there is a kitchen for every person and a person for every kitchen. I have spent my culinary career working in various environments ౼ from five-star boutique hotels, to restaurants, to catering festivals for thousands of people.

With every change, I’ve found that the most important thing is to be passionate about what you're doing and who you're doing it with.

A second family

The vast majority of chefs spend more time in the kitchen than with their own families, so the workplace becomes a kind of second family. I believe that if you're going to be around a group of people for a significant amount of time, you’ve got to find your niche, that place that you can feel good about going to every morning when you wake up. 

For me, I’ve always loved the feeling of camaraderie in the kitchen. I started working in restaurants on the weekends when I was in school and I was immediately drawn to the fast-paced, sink or swim environment. When I enrolled in culinary school, I studied at a live-in college in Ireland. Every six months a different group of students would take over a hotel ౼ we were both the guests and the staff.

Depending on your area of study, you’d run a different part of the hotel. I was in the kitchen while other classmates ran reception, served in the dining room, etc. It was a wonderful experience and my first time creating a sort of “culinary family.”

Zero job fatigue

After my studies, I worked in kitchens in Ireland, England and Australia ౼ everything from a tiny boutique hotel in Edinburgh to an outside catering company where I’d cater massive meals for thousands of people. It was very varied and kept me on my toes! Through these different experiences, I learned how important it is to say yes to opportunity ౼ and also how equally important it is to say no if you think it’s going to overload you. When you’re overloaded, you’ll never be able to put in 100%. You have got to be passionate about what you do, otherwise, it affects you and it affects your colleagues around you. 

In my current position at Sodexo as a Development Chef for the Food platform in Ireland, my day to day is extremely varied. Together with my team, we create new food offers, build regional menus, look at insight and feedback, test recipes and try to find ways to work smarter. We serve clients in schools, corporate offices, manufacturing companies, and even major government contracts. I liaise with segments, supply management, branding, marketing, the list goes on. I’m able to touch base with a lot more people in a lot more segments, which is very challenging and also rewarding at the same time. There's no job fatigue because there's so much to learn and to do.

Growing within Sodexo

One of the things that I love about working at Sodexo is that there are so many opportunities at every level of the company. I’ve really been able to take advantage of those opportunities on a personal level. In fact, this past summer, I earned a BA in Business Studies. The company supported me with time allowances on projects and I was able to use Sodexo as my guinea pig for assignments! 

Throughout my career, I’ve made a point to learn as much as I could everywhere I went, to take as much as I could out of every experience. That mindset has helped me grow and has gotten me to where I am today.

Find out more about a career with Sodexo!

This article was created by Michelle Daly, Development Chef, Sodexo Ireland