Profile
I started cooking at an early age of 16, joining the Royal New Zealand Army as a Cadet. After irreparable damage to my knee, I was discharged on medical grounds and found myself back in my home town of Dunedin. It was here that I restarted my culinary journey by completing my Qualifications as a chef at the Otago Polytechnic. During these early years of training, I worked at various restaurants throughout the district including Restaurant 95 Filleul, La Scala and Olivers Restaurant in Clyde. All these restaurants where quite diverse in their approach to food but all of them helped shape my skills and beliefs of what a restaurant should be, also and most importantly how significant the customer experience was for a business to succeed and what my role was in making that happen. It was at the age of 20 that I entered into my first business, which over a 10 year period had expanded into 4 businesses, including 2 bakeries, a catering venue as well as a 50 seat fine dining Restaurant in Alexandra called Stepping Out. Here, I had full autonomy over the kitchen and this really allowed me to explore cooking styles and allow myself to be influenced by other chefs styles, beliefs and values. After nearly 12 years in Central Otago, I moved back to Dunedin with my Fiance. This is when we had the brainstorm to open up Bell Pepper Blues, inspired by Mark Miller. Miller’s cuisine had a wonderful earthy vibe that reflected the heart and soul of Native American Indian food and culture. The flavours, colours and textures really appealed to my creative side and prompted me to delve further and away from my classic training. During the 18 years at Bell Pepper Blues I was able to compete and expand my culinary repertoire, winning the National Cervena Plates. I also was selected as beef & Lamb Ambassador and then after 5 years of achieving this title. This was then was elevated to the prestigious role of Platinum Ambassador for long and continuous services to New Zealand Beef & Lamb. Near the end of Bell Pepper Blues, I began to take on more consulting roles. The first was to open then head the kitchen at Pier 24 the newly built hotel on the beach front in Dunedin. It was 5 years of running this Kitchen that lead me to my next venture, which was to re-open the kitchens of the historic but very tired restaurant at 'Olivers' in Clyde. The new Owners had a grand vision as well as budget to build a bakery, deli, microbrewery and 90 seat restaurant and with a staff of almost 30 was the biggest challenge of my career. I spent a year away in Clyde and then moved back to Pier 24 to refresh the kitchen and team, but there seemed be be a rather common thread to the work that I undertook, which was stress and long hours. I decided it was time to make some drastic changes. In early 2017 I decided to take some time t myself and obtain my Culinary Arts Degree at the Otago Polytechnic. I would side line mainstream cooking for a while and pursue some life balances. The role of consulting for other businesses and companies offers variety and challenge, but most importantly having nights and weekends off has given me a chance to catch my breath, retrain and rethink the direction I want to go in. Watch this space as I update my profile with my new projects… |