Cover Letter
James Ford
Kilburn
London
E-Mail: chefjames@gmail.com
Mobile: 07542447182
My Food at isnta: @chefjamesatwork
My Website with example menu: https://chefjames.net/menu
[1st Jan 2033 to Present]
My name is James Ford, a dedicated and innovative Executive Head Chef with over 20 years’ experience in a wide range of cuisines such as French, British and Italian and establishments including Brasserie Blanc, San Carlo and wedding venues such as the stunning Leasowe Castle in Liverpool.
I have also owned and successfully run my own restaurant (Truffles, Preston), Parkville hotel (Oxford) and Britalian Kitchen (India) which means I bring excellent leadership skills and business acumen. I strive for culinary excellence and customer satisfaction while ensuring businesses are efficient and profitable. I also believe strongly in creating a positive work environment for staff to encourage retention, excellence and great team working. I showcased all these skills at my time as Head Chef at Brasserie Blanc where I recruited twenty plus team members and trained them to achieve extremely high company standards.
I have recently moved to London, and chose to doing some freelance work to gain some more experience in Pan Asian, Italian, Australian, Peruvian restaurants past seven months or until I find the right permanent position as an Executive/head chef in a reputable and ambitious company that values and utilises my skills.
My experience as a head chef at Brasserie Blanc and Executive head chef at Leasowe Castle plus my newly gained knowledge of Pan Asian cuisine places like Lantana Café (best of Australian/Japanese) and Lima(Best of Peruvian/Japanese) makes me a good fit for anything,
I was at Lima as a head chef, My contract ended on 15th of Aug 23 Available to start immediately
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you will give me the opportunity to demonstrate at interview the value that I can bring to your company.
Yours sincerely
James Ford
Professional Profile
• Dedicated and innovative Head Chef with over 20 years' experience in kitchen operations and food preparation managing teams of five to 30 staff in a range of busy hospitality environments.
• Background in British, Italian, French and Indian cuisine including bread/pastries and desserts.
• Imaginative and creative approach to cooking, with the ability to conjure up unique dishes and bespoke menus to suit specific areas and clients. At the same time ability to delivery company menu requirements.
• Passionate about working with fresh produce and improving restaurant ratings.
• Experienced in catering for large hotel conferences and events at prestigious establishments.
• Skilled in the application of health and safety procedures an extensive knowledge of HACCP regulations.
• Ability to work autonomously from personal experience as a business owner running establishments single-handedly but also thrives on working as part of a team that strives for culinary excellence.
• Honest, reliable, hardworking and organized. Proactive and “can-do” approach with the ability to establish good and profitable working relationships with people from all backgrounds.
Please ✔️ my Instagram @chefjamesatwork
Core Skills
Kitchen management Cooking / Food preparation
Food / Hygiene regulation Relationship building
Staff training Menu development
Staff development Leadership / vision
Employment history
Executive Head Chef, Leasowe Castle Hotel Wirral 1St Feb 22 to Dec2022 • - Managed the kitchen operations of a beautiful four-star castle hotel. This included catering for 47 bedrooms including breakfast, lunch and dining everyday. Also 3 large wedding halls and functions room catering for up to 300+ guests.
• - Managed a kitchen team of 9+ members along with general manager to ensure smooth preparation and delivery of the lunch and dinner service alongside functions.
• - Created new menus and managed control budgets and stock takes. Worked to preserve the wastage and rotes
Key Achievement
• Learned a great deal of Function side of producing to a three weddings at a same time, busy Restaurant/kitchen with brigade of 12 chefs and high level of bar food during the day and conference events
Britalian Kitchen, Head Chef/Proprietor, Bangalore (India) May 2019 – Feb 2022
Google: 4.7/5 stars and Trip Advisor: #1 British Restaurant in Bangalore.
• Founder of ‘Britalian Kitchen and QSR Chef’s Corner’, rated the best British restaurant in Bangalore on Trip Advisor.
• Serving British and Italian traditional and experimental cuisine to the highest level, Also providing a ‘Chef’s Taster Menu’ throughout the month
• Successfully recruited and trained a talented team of 16 kitchen and front of house staff.
• Developed excellent working relationships with staff by constructing training programs to develop staff, inspire service improvements. built a supportive team environment, high standards and positive feedback from the public
• Developed a system of kitchen and business operations to ensure the smooth preparation and delivery of the breakfast, lunch and dinner service. This includes collaboration with sous chefs and a restaurant manager to develop and execute new menus, control budgets, manage monthly stock takes, and to preserve the wastage spreadsheet. Also, supervision and co-ordination of daily activities such as management of the larder and monitoring of sanitation practices to ensure kitchen safety standards.
Key achievements
• Successfully maintained a 5 star hygiene rating and excellent food review ratings on Google (4.7/5 stars) and Trip Advisor (#1 British restaurant in Bangalore) by personally responding to all verbal and written feedback from the public, including praise and constructive criticism. This has ensured ‘Britalian Kitchen’ stays at the top.
• Negotiated contracts with vendors, slashed payroll/benefits administration costs by 30% by negotiating pricing and fees, all whilst ensuring the continuation and enhancement of the service.
Head Chef, Brasserie Blanc at the Marriot, Manchester (U.K.) Feb 2018 – Apr 2019
• Prestigious opportunity to work with Chef Raymond Blanc/company setting up a new restaurant in Marriot.
• Completed extensive training enhancing my culinary skills, proficiency at delivering food to standards.
• Assisted Raymond Blanc in recruiting 20 members of staff to follow all aspects of due diligence to meet the high standards detailed in Raymond Blanc’s company policy.
• Achieved the smooth running of daily kitchen operations to serve over 150 guests including the restaurant (500-600 covers/day), bar, room service, conferences, events and functions.
• Facilitated planning and design of menus for the hotel functions whilst ensuring the standard operating procedures for Raymond Blanc’s core menu were strictly adhered to.
• Had oversight of spending to minimize waste and maximize profits.
• Approved/polished dishes before they reached the customer, by working closely with Chefs at all levels.
• Determined food inventory needs, stocks and orders.
• Ensured the kitchen met all regulations including sanitary and food safety guidelines.
• Created a positive and productive staff environment by ensuring all staff had timely individualized appraisals, development plans. Also ensured staff rotas were negotiated fairly whilst essential staff cover.
• Other duties included filing of all relevant documents on HR software, filling of daily due diligence.
Key achievements
• Received the ‘Fantastic newcomer Award’ at the annule retreat hosted by Blanc and.co.
• Substantially improved guest satisfaction scores by chatting regularly with guests to obtain feedback.
Head Chef/Owner, Truffles Restaurant/Bar Hotel, Chorley (U.K.) (Parkville Hotel) Feb 2003 – Apr 2017
• Founder and creator of the Truffles and Parkvile Hotel establishment which successfully ran for 14 years as a restaurant, bar, café, hotel and salsa club. Profitable business with profitable turnover year on year.
• Sold the business to move nearer to Manchester took the opportunity to work and learn from Chef Raymond Blanc.
Key Achievements
• Multiple positive reviews and articles in the Chorley guardian and Lancashire life. Frequently invited to BBC Lancashire radio talk show to discuss the success of the restaurant.
• Reached #1 restaurant in Chorley and the local area on TripAdvisor.
• Substantially improved guest satisfaction. Word of mouth led to guests coming to stay from all over uk.
• Gained tremendous support from locals and was considered for Gordan Ramsay’s best restaurant list.
Head chef, Studley Wood Golf Club, Oxford (U.K.). Feb 2001 – Jan 2003
• Catering to thousand members a week, function rooms, comprising ten members, to support the à la carte restaurant, bar and weddings function rooms that held 250 guests and numerous events throughout the year, including daily club members functions. Busy bar and food in the restaurant and BBQ areas
Head Chef, George Hotel (Thistle), Wallingford (U.K.) Oct 1998 – Feb 2001
• Managed a team of 12 within the kitchen. Busy hotel with function rooms that held 150 guests and numerous events throughout the year, including weddings. bar and food in the restaurant
Key Achievement
• Played a key role in securing the hotel’s position as number 1 of 43 branches held by Thistle and Peel Hotels due to their highest GP% month on month.
1993 – 2000: Worked in various prestigious hotels (e.g. Hilton, Thistle), restaurants, bars and traditional pubs and cafés around London and Oxford working within teams of two to 20. Also worked for temporary agencies in various positions to gain sufficient experience to open my own hotel/restaurant/bar in 2003.
Education & Qualifications, Bachelor of commerce, Professional Development of Fine Dining,
Technical Skills: Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Marketman, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Procure wizard
Interests: Health and Fitness, Salsa Dancing, Films, Nutrition, Fine Dining and Travel, Music and books