James Livesey - Development Chef
James Livesey is a Development Chef for a busy Chilled & Frozen Food Manufacturer, here he takes some time out of his busy day to give us an insight into how he has progressed in his current role.
Thank you for answering our questions James, firstly how did you become a chef?
I was working in an office following leaving college however I soon got bored. My girlfriend and I were moving house, so I decided to use that as the push to change my career. I wanted to do something that I was passionate about, and I have always enjoyed cooking so I decided to give it a go. My grandfather was a chef in a restaurant and he’d done reasonably well with it so I enrolled at a local college the following September on a chefs course.
What was your first job after college?
My college lecturer arranged for me to join a local restaurant in the kitchen and following that I moved to a couple of other places and then ended up applying for a job at a local ready-meals producer that worked on a small scale. The Directors of the business were very hands on and I stayed there for 2 years.
I then left the company when I was offered a job as Head Chef in a new restaurant close to my home. The pressure was high as the owners had invested a lot of money into the place and the kitchen was a very hectic place. One night the Directors of my old company came for a meal and told me they were expanding following new business wins and asked me to join them, I handed my notice in that night and have stayed with the same company for an extra 5 years.
What’s the hardest thing about being a chef?
Chefs tend to be perfectionists. We like to have our everything absolutely spot on whether it is the cleanliness of our kitchen or the development of a new recipe, self criticism plays a major part in my development however you do have to switch off when you are not working as the work is also physically demanding and nobody can perform at their best when they are not 100% focused in the kitchen.
So what are the good parts about being a development chef?
There are success stories and my employers are one of them. They are now well established and make a good living. Everybody who I speak to has a different reason for getting into the food industry. At the end of the day, you can see what you’ve done. On a good day, things are clean and you have all the ingredients you need to work with. You assemble it all, and you can make some really nice tasting meals that people appreciate.
I also really like to develop new recipes and the challenge of putting together combinations that can sell really well for your employer. The biggest buzz I get is from recognition and there is no clearer recognition than winning industry awards for your work.
What skills are most important for a chef?
People come through catering college with differing skill levels, but most food creation is a natural talent. Some people without a culinary background have an innate touch with food. You have to be really stubborn and determined, because the food industry requires a lot of strange hours, hard work and physical endurance.
What’s your favorite part of the day?
It’s nice to come into the development kitchen in the morning, prepare my ingredients and get to work whilst the office staff are just sitting down at their desks and opening emails, it always brings a smile to my face.
Great iniformation for budding chefs