Ross’s career - from washing pots to national cooking competition finalist
Ross has been a chef with Sodexo since 2019. For six months, he was Head Chef at a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) site in Hamilton, before being promoted to Chef Manager of SFRS's corporate sites.
It was a career path that he came to almost accidentally; whilst working as a kitchen porter in a hotel, the commis chef had to take some paternity leave and the head chef offered Ross the opportunity to step into his shoes and cover the role.
Ross has never looked back - he loves being in the kitchen, perfecting his food and cooking to make himself and others happy. Ross said:
"I love the gratification of putting a smile on my customers’ faces with food that I’ve created.”
Reflecting on how commercial kitchens have evolved throughout his career, Ross recalled that during his formative years, the head chef’s word was final and there was a strong sense of hierarchy in the kitchen. These days he observes a much less rigid culture, and head chefs are more willing to listen and support the ideas of their teams. At Sodexo, Ross said he has enjoyed working in a supportive team where he has been able to develop his skills and work with a talented team of development chefs and culinary leaders.
In recent years, Ross has enjoyed considerable success in national cooking competitions. In 2020 he entered a rice-based cooking competition organised by Tilda and was awarded second place together with his colleague Steve (a former ‘Apprentice Chef of the Year’). Both Ross and Steve had to be very creative with different types of rice – not an easy task, particularly as Ross’s course was a dessert dish! He got to travel to London for the first time and was delighted to come second in the competition, together with Steve.
This year saw Ross return to London to compete in the 2022 Sodexo Chef of the Year contest, an annual competition which sees rising stars from across the organisation showcase their culinary skills and expertise through several rounds of judging. Due to Covid measures in place, the initial round of the competition was paper-based, so Ross had to write out his recipes and cook and photograph them for a paper-based submission. The eight finalists then attended a Mentor Day where they recreated their dishes for scrutiny and received one-to-one feedback from a team of expert industry chefs, as well as a masterclass from The Craft Guild of Chefs UK National Chef of the Year winner, Nick Smith.
The grand finale saw Ross take part in a 90-minute live cook-off at the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering (HRC) Show at London’s ExCeL exhibition centre, where he took home a bronze award. Ross said, “I’ve learned a lot in this contest and had fantastic support along the way; senior managers gave up a lot of their time to help me prepare for the competition and it was such a privilege to go to London and demonstrate my cooking for the judges.”
The last two years have been tough with Covid restricting many possibilities, but now that things are opening up again, he’s excited to see what he can achieve and where his career as a chef can take him. Ross is passionate about his industry and would urge others to consider a career in the kitchen, remarking that Sodexo had given him ‘a life as well as a career.’
Sodexo offers a wide range of catering roles, and as Ross’s story demonstrates, it’s a career and an organisation where you can rapidly develop and grow.
Being able to develop as much as I have, and to travel and compete in national competitions against very able contenders means I’m continually being challenged to push myself, and hopefully inspiring junior chefs coming into the industry as well – to show them what is achievable as a chef at Sodexo."