Meet the chefs

Agent: Tom Kerridge​

• Rank: General​
• Pubs: two​
• Mission: find enthusiastic chefs who value raw ingredients over presentation​

Tom Kerridge, chef-patron of the double Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers, Marlow, Bucks, and owner of the Coach, also in Marlow, says the issue isn’t a lack of chefs but the difficulty in finding the right ones.

“There are chefs out there that want to do the work and that see it as an exciting and vibrant industry to be in,” he says.

For Kerridge, finding chefs who buy into the specific work ethic required of professional chefs is fundamental.

“When we’re looking for new chefs we’re looking for enthusiasm — that’s the biggest thing,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what sort of CV they have or if they’ve been working in Michelin-star restaurants.

Kerridge says he finds it easy to tell the mark of a potentially great chef. “There are chefs that look at pretty pictures of food in books and think the end result is what it looks like on a plate and that’s the most important thing,” he says.

“But the best thing about a chef is when they look at raw ingredients and get excited about them."

“When they’re more excited about a cabbage or a piece of beef or a beautiful bit of chicken than the end result, that’s more important to me. You can tell they’re going to go a long way.”

Agent: Janos Veres​

• Rank: Major General​
• Mission: unearth inexperienced chefs with the right attitude​

When Janos Veres, head chef at the Hinds Head, is on the lookout for new kitchen staff, first impressions count for everything.

“It’s very hard to find quality chefs, and you never know what they’re going to be like just from their CV,” he says. “How they turn up is so important. You find out straightaway if they’ve read the letter for their trial — for example, one of our rules is being clean-shaven.”

The Michelin-starred pub, owned by Heston Blumenthal, uses agencies to find chefs, but Veres says that only accounts for about one in five appointments — the rest coming from speculative CVs, the pub’s website and, occasionally, newspapers.

“We mainly employ commis and demi chefs,” he explains.

“We train and help them progress, so experience at this level is not something we really take into account.”

Veres appreciates that some candidates may not be at their best on that first day.

“Nerves can kick in, but their attitude counts for a lot. They need to be switched on, have good knife and communication skills and keep pace too,” he says.

“It’s really only after the first month that you get to know them and find out if you made the right decision or not.”

Agent: Andrew Pern​

• Rank: Lieutenant General​
• Pubs: one​
• Mission: discover chefs with initiative to complete a trial​

Owning a pub with a Michelin star not only helps draw customers in — it can prove pretty useful in attracting staff as well.

Andrew Pern, chef-patron of the Star at Harome, says he doesn’t need to use recruitment firms because most of his current chefs were found by them contacting him.

Once a potential candidate has made an appointment, Pern says that they will be invited to come and spend a day at the pub.

“We’ll see what they are like doing a number of tasks with the other staff, and maybe cooking my lunch,” he explains.

“If both parties are happy, then the candidate works a paid three-month trial, and a decision is made, again, if both parties are happy,” Pern adds. “This is the way we do it, and I would advise other establishments to do the same.”

Agent: Anton Piotrowski​

• Rank: Lieutenant General​
• Pubs: one​
• Mission: place educated chefs into good positions​

Like most pub operators, Anton Piotrowski believes networking with other food establishments is one of the best ways of finding quality chefs.

However, the former MasterChef: The Professionals winner and owner of the Michelin-starred Treby Arms, in Devon, also claims that by linking with local colleges and professional cookery schools, undiscovered talent can often be found.

“Don’t always try and recruit for those that boast to ‘be the best’ because many of my best chefs started at the apprentice stage,” he explains. “When they are this level, it’s easier for you to train them and adapt them to your style.”

Piotrowski says his recruitment process comes in three stages. Firstly, he will only focus on appropriate CVs with good covering letters. Then, he would ask potential candidates to complete a two-day practical work trial to identify the skills that the chef possesses.

And finally, he will question the candidate on their skill while creating a dish. “These questions would seek to assess their understanding of the seasonality of produce they want to use, why they use particular ingredients and importance of using local suppliers,” says Piotrowski.

“Ultimately, I’m looking for potential candidates to demonstrate passion, drive and a love for the job.”

Agent: Oliver Marlowe​

• Rank: Major General​
• Mission: find team players who are never late​

Oliver Marlowe, executive chef at the Cross Keys, in west London, is a firm believer that a person’s cooking ability will count for little if they don’t have the right attitude.

“I can teach someone how to cook, but it’s very hard to change a chef’s attitude and the way they look at food — so that’s the main quality I’m looking for,” he explains.

According to Marlowe, the DM Group-owned Cross Keys recruits from a couple of smaller agencies that specialise in high-end chefs, and by advertising on trade websites. Social media is a great help too.

“Get your advertisement out to as many people as possible but nothing beats a recommendation,” he claims.

Ideally, candidates will spend a full day in the kitchen, where they will work closely with another chef on a section.

“It sounds very cliché but we really want someone who’s a team player and fits in well with the other chefs,” he says. “Another big decision maker for me is tardiness, while being clean and presentable will always score highly.”

Agent: Mark Dodson​

• Rank: Lieutenant General​
• Pubs: one​
• Mission: source talent from catchment area so long as enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge is shown​

With his Devon pub situated 12 miles from the nearest town, Mark Dodson always knew it would be difficult to attract young chefs away from cities like London.

So instead, the chef-proprietor of the Michelin-starred Masons Arms, in the tiny hamlet of Knowstone, has relied solely on the local catchment area to recruit staff — and it’s a policy that he believes has paid off.

“We’re pretty unique in that all our staff are local,” he explains. “Being local means they know what to expect when they start working here. It’s a vindication for us too — as we have tried to involve ourselves in the community as much as possible.”

Dodson says he is always willing to teach budding chefs how to cook, as long as they have the enthusiasm to learn.

“I think you’ve got to give young people a chance, and let them grow into the job,” he says. “Some of our chefs have worked their way up the ladder, while others have taken up senior jobs elsewhere. But for as long as they are with me, I try to improve them as much as possible.”

While he invites candidates to spend a morning at the pub, Dodson is keen not to put them under too much pressure.

“I don’t ask them to cook a dish because it’s a false situation, and I don’t think that’s the best way to see someone’s true potential,” he suggests “For me, it’s more about how they fit in, it’s about whether they ask the right questions, how they stand, how they hold their knife, and so on.”

Agent: Emily Watkins​

• Rank: Lieutenant General​
• Pubs: one​
• Mission: turn budding chefs into experts with the promise of in-house progression​

"I think the issue is industry-wide,” says Emily Watkins, chef-patron of the Kingham Plough, Oxfordshire, which came 15th in this year’s Top 50 Gastropubs awards. “I think it’s probably because we’ve had such a fast progression in our eating scene and that every single rural pub or city pub is being turned round into a food-led establishment.

“It used to be you could put an advert out, CVs would come in and you could be quite fussy about what you look for. But nowadays you’re lucky if you get a CV through your door at all and it’s taking longer and longer to recruit.

“I had three months’ notice from one chef de partie (CDP) that he was leaving to move to New Zealand and during that period I had only four CVs that were even worth contemplating. It took us four and a half months to fill his position, which was just crazy.”

She says: “When you see the top Michelin-starred restaurants in London with some of the most famous chefs in the world suffering recruitment issues, it’s no surprise that we do — especially out in 
the countryside.

“But I’m pleased to say we’ve had a lot of CDPs who’ve come and stayed for two to three years. And we offer a lot of in-house progression, which I think really helps that.

“For example, our sous chef started almost six years ago as a demi and he’s risen up the ranks. They’ve seen the opportunity, they’ve stayed here, gone for it and become part of the family.”

Agent: James Lyon Shaw​

• Rank: Major General​
• Mission: find, train and retain good staff by keeping the role interesting​

Despite being responsible for the kitchens of some of London’s most innovative food pubs, James Lyon Shaw is under no illusion about the difficulty in finding top chefs.

Lyon Shaw, operations director at ETM Group, believes candidates, in general, seem to be undertrained and under-motivated compared to a decade ago.

“I won’t lie — it’s very tough recruiting chefs at the moment,” he explains. “And with so many new openings in London, chefs know they can walk out of one kitchen and find a new job in minutes.”

Interviews for chef de parties usually consist of a 30-minute meeting with a head chef to discuss experience, training, knowledge and ambitions.

This is then followed by a practical day trial.

“I always look at length of service in previous roles, as I don’t want to have people who jump around from job to job,” Lyon Shaw says. “We invest a lot of time in getting our teams up to speed, so it’s futile if they leave after six months.”

He also claims to prefer a cool, collected style of chef. “Some of our kitchens are on the small side and the teams are very dependent on each other, so we don’t have time or space for ego and shouting,” Lyon Shaw advises.

“My advice to other operators is if you find a good chef, keep them interested. Replacing them is only going to get harder — until people start getting trained again properly in colleges and junior chefs stop wanting to leap to the top without learning the full skill set,” he adds.