Laughing Cavalier

David Cavalier is a changed man. As the new food innovation director at contract caterer Charlton House, he's decided he's through with working in restaurants. He's through with chasing Michelin stars and he's through with getting hurt.

What made him throw in the towel and walk away from restaurants for good was a tumultuous four months at the Michelin-starred Peacock Alley in Dublin. When he quit, in November last year, the restaurant belonged to Conrad Gallagher, who has since lost the business.

Cavalier does not want to go into detail about what happened. When pushed, he will say only that he left because, he claims, he was not being paid. He reckons he is owed about £4,000.

Unfortunately for Cavalier, Peacock Alley was the latest setback in a career which, to date, could be described as chequered. Before joining Peacock Alley, he had to cope with the glory of winning a Michelin star at London's former High Holborn restaurant, only to be told four months later that the business was closing for financial reasons.

Other disappointments include being forced to sell his one-Michelin-starred London restaurant Cavalier's in 1991 because of the recession. This was followed by a failed attempt, five years later, to open a restaurant called Memo at London's County Hall.

Cavalier explains why his Peacock Alley experience caused him to walk away from restaurants and join an industry he knew nothing about. It was, in his words, the final straw. "I was at the point where I was frustrated with restaurants. I was fed up working with restaurateurs who were full of false promises. I've been burnt several times and I didn't want to work with anyone where that could happen again."

Needing a fresh start and with no knowledge of contract catering, Cavalier felt Charlton House would pose an interesting challenge. Curiosity drove him to apply.

Cavalier admits his perception of contract catering before joining Charlton House in January this year was misguided. He says, quite bluntly: "As far as I was concerned, if it wasn't bought in and it wasn't frozen, then it wasn't contract catering."

This simplistic perception, he has since realised, could not be further from the truth. Charlton House is a fast-growing company with a forecasted turnover of £26.9m this year. It has 85 contracts and is responsible for feeding the employees who work at each of these sites. The number of people it feeds each day runs to more than four million. Each contract has a daily-changing menu offering staff a choice of sandwiches, salads and hot meals.

Cavalier, loosely speaking, has been recruited to inspire and develop the 300-odd chefs who work for Charlton House. He must ensure that they cook food to a standard that makes the employees want to eat in their staff restaurants, rather than go elsewhere.

This is a tall order, as Cavalier explains: "Whatever we do, we have to be better than the restaurants on the high street because, at the end of the day, our customers can always walk out the door and go somewhere else."

In an effort to describe his role in more detail, he adds: "It's like a piece of elastic." What he means by this is that no two days are the same. He never has to be in the same place at the same time. Whereas he used to spend all his time cooking in one kitchen, he now spends half his time at the stove and the rest doing any number of jobs, from training chefs to costing and designing menus, running sales presentations, ploughing through paperwork or talking to suppliers.

He drives hundreds of miles each week, travelling from site to site and, while he does have an office, he has found time to sit at his desk only twice. Unlike some chefs, Cavalier did not join contract catering because he wanted a nine-to-five career, and that is just as well. Some days he works up to 18 hours, on others he might be home catching up on paperwork by mid-afternoon.

"I could work 48 hours a day if such a thing existed," he says, adding with a laugh: "I am having to learn for the first time to be like a woman. Whereas men can do two things at a time, a woman can do 22 things. I am having to learn to juggle."

Cavalier enjoys the diversity of his job and is pleased that, at last, his career is working in his favour. That said, he does appreciate that for Robyn Jones, chief executive of Charlton House, his appointment was a risk. The company, which Jones launched in 1991, was doing perfectly well without a food innovation director and her concern was that Cavalier might use her business as a stopgap until opening his own restaurant. She also knew he had experienced difficulties in the past.

"I was happy with the standard of our food but I wanted more recognition and it seemed the only logical route was to bring in somebody with a reputation," she says. "If David left, that would damage the credibility of the company. He assured me that would not happen and we felt this was right for us and him."

The decision was certainly right for Jones, who claims that Cavalier's Michelin-starred name has already won the company new contracts. It is also paying off for Cavalier who, for the first time in a long time, has job satisfaction.

For Cavalier, the past is firmly behind him. He has a challenging career but it is one that allows him to spend time with his second wife Jo-anne and their baby daughter Molly. No longer driven by a burning ambition to be a successful restaurateur, he is in control of his life and is happier than he has been in a long time.

Does he miss restaurants? "You have four walls, a pass, a hot table and access to a computer for 10 minutes a day, if you are lucky," he says. "Here I have the opportunity to learn about myself and develop as a chef."

Regrets, too, are something he does not concern himself with. Instead, he believes that his triumphs and failures have helped him to understand who he is and what he wants from life. He explains: "I've picked up a few scars along the way but I don't regret any of the decisions I have made in life. It would be sad if I did that and I would not be able to live with myself.

"If I'm honest, the only regret I have is that I didn't do this sooner."

Charlton House Catering Services

The Clock Tower, Wyfold Farm, Wyfold, Reading, Berkshire RG4 9HU
Tel: 01491 683400
Web site:www.charltonhouse.co.uk

Started: 1991 by Robyn Jones, chief executive
Staff: 900
Units: 85
Projected turnover for 2002: £26.9m

David Cavalier- work history

August 1980-July 1981 Royal Garden hotel, London - third commis, promoted to first commis
July 1981-May 1982 Grosvenor House hotel, London - second commis, promoted to first commis
May 1982-February 1984 Dorchester hotel, London - second commis, promoted to junior sous
February 1984-September 1984 Auberge du Mail, Amboise, France - sous chef
September 1984-July 1985 Berkeley hotel, London - senior sous chef
July 1985-September 1987 Pebbles restaurant, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire - chef-owner
September 1987-January 1992 Cavalier's restaurant, London - chef-owner
February 1992-96 Consultant chef
March 1992-March 1993 Bell Inn, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire - executive chef
March 1993-July 1995 L'Escargot, London - joint head chef/partner
July 1995-December 1996 consultant chef
December 1996-October 1998 Regal Hotels, Newbury, Berkshire - group chef
October 1998-August 2000 Mosimann's, London - executive chef
August 2000-August 2001 High Holborn, London - head chef
August 2001-November 2001 Peacock Alley, Dublin - head chef
January 2002-now Charlton House - food innovation director