Living the brandWhat Kate did next…

Get yourself a name in the industry and pretty soon those headhunters will be after you. At least, that has been Steve Nash's experience.

The former executive chef for Le Petit Blanc brasseries, now working for a new brand, Firefly, a chic restaurant and cocktail bar with plans to expand.

How did you get started in the industry?
It started at school. I was useless at woodwork and metalwork and so I did home economics. I used to get laughed at by the other lads at school. But one of my Dad's friends was a merchant seaman and he sold me the idea that if I became a chef I could go around the world.

Was he right?
He was. I had been working for Tony Howarth, who was head chef at Le Caprice, as junior sous chef. It was the best restaurant in London at the time and I learnt a lot about consistency and organisation, but it was high pressure and after a year I was pretty burned out. So I went travelling and stayed in Australia for more than two years.

A life-changing experience?
It was brilliant. I worked all over the place, doing everything from bar work to reception. I even met my wife, Anne-Marie, while working at a backpackers' hostel. I eventually landed the job of head chef at the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne, where I worked for almost a year, catering for the theatre crowd.

What made you come home?
I had a call from Tony Howarth. He had opened Le Café du Jardin in Covent Garden and wanted a senior sous chef. After about 18 months I got a call from a recruitment consultant who said that one of his clients was interested in me. It turned out to be Raymond Blanc. I have a lot of respect for him and I jumped at the chance to work for him. He wanted a head chef for his brasserie in Cheltenham, but I had to go through four interviews before I got the job.

What's it like working for Raymond? I really enjoyed it. He's a great chef and it was a very exciting time. I went on to become head chef of the Birmingham brasserie, which was more like a London restaurant, doing 250 covers on a Saturday night. It was tough, though. My wife had just had our first baby, and Raymond would call at 4am and ask things like, "How many grams does a starter risotto weigh?" When Manchester opened, I became executive chef for the group.

How did you find swapping whites for a suit?
It's the hardest part, to be sitting on a bench with your laptop sorting out the menus. It does get a bit monotonous but it's an essential part of the job.

What made you leave?
It was going in a direction I didn't want, there was less detail paid to the food and Virgin was pulling out.

So what happened?
I went to the Belfry hotel in Sutton Coldfield as chef-manager for about eight months, during which time I catered for the Ryder Cup. And then I got a call from a recruitment consultant and was introduced to Andrew Murden, who was setting up a new brand. I liked the whole the idea, it sounded like a challenge.

So what's your new job all about?
Firefly is a bar, a restaurant and a club. We opened in March and Leeds has really taken to us. There are teething problems and I'm still finding my feet but it's going well. We're going to open next in Cardiff in September and then Manchester next year. We plan to have about seven in total.

Does this make you brand man? I'm not a fine-dining chef. I believe in value for money, a relaxed atmosphere and not paying through the nose for it. This is a five-year plan for me, but I'm open about the future. I like the idea of going abroad and setting up on my own.

What Kate did next…

Kate Grooby's career has taken her from the Cannes Film Festival, through Madonna's dressing room and to the top job at Quaglino's restaurant in London

No one could accuse Kate Grooby of sitting back and waiting for things to happen. It just isn't in her nature. "There is so much out there. You really have to decide where you want to work and focus on it, because the choice is incredible," she says.

It was no different at the start of her career. At the age of 20, Kate read an article about London's latest cocktail bar - and decided she simply had to work there.

"The place was Coconut Grove and it was all white shirts and pink bow ties," she laughs.

"I wrote to them asking for an interview and I spent two weeks learning the cocktails inside out," she says.

Kate was offered the job as a waitress and her career, and love life, blossomed. Not only did she soon become head waitress but she also met head barman Paul, now her husband.Kate then set her sights on the fine-dining scene and landed a waitressing job at Antony Worrall Thompson's first restaurant, Menage à Trois.

But just around the corner was an offer that was hard to turn down. Through a friend, the couple were offered the chance to manage a 17-bedroom ski lodge in the French Alps. Although it was seasonal work, Kate jumped at it and spent five seasons there as chef while Paul ran front of house. The summer was spent catering for the Cannes Film Festival.

"You'd have Dustin Hoffman having an espresso in the morning, a bit later some banter with Barry Norman. It was a great experience," Kate says.Five years later, the couple returned to London where Kate took a good look at the market and decided that the Hard Rock Café chain offered a future.It wasn't long before Kate attended the Hard Rock's management training, an eight-week course in Orlando, and came back as floor manager.

One of the perks of the job was to get involved in catering for the MTV Awards, where Kate was given the task of looking after Madonna's dressing room.

"She wanted vegetarian soup and being the Hard Rock it was hardly vegetarian. But I fished all the bits of bacon out of her soup and I don't think she knew."

It was after a colleague left for a job at Quaglino's that Kate's focus shifted.

"I went over one evening after work for a drink and I remember thinking, ‘I have got to work in this restaurant.' I was just blown away by the place," she says.

Kate wrote to the head office of Conran Restaurants outlining her experience and why she wanted to work at Quaglino's. As luck would have it, the company was looking for an assistant manager and she got an interview.

"I remember them asking me why if I could sell hamburgers and T-shirts what made me think I could sell oysters and Champagne. My reply was that it wasn't the end product but the customer that counts."

Just three months into landing the job, Kate was promoted to restaurant manager. Two years later, she was given another promotion - to general manager of the restaurant.

Today Kate oversees 140 staff in one of London's most famous restaurants, turning around 10,000 covers a month. "There is a great sense of community here and staff are very loyal. I am given complete autonomy, but there is also an amazing support structure," she says.