Join us for our Open Evening at Leiths on Thursday 5th February 2026, 6:30–8:30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
Join us for our Open Evening at Leiths on Thursday 5th February 2026, 6:30–8:30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
The day after graduating at Leiths I was working in the kitchens at Lord’s Cricket Stadium. I’m a cricket fan so it was really exciting to find a job at the world’s most famous cricket venue. The executive chef came to the careers fair at Leiths so I signed up there.
The main kitchen, where I’ve been working, sends out to more than 20 venues around the ground to serve, including the players dining room. The players get served so much food I can’t believe they manage to go out and play again without taking a nap.
There is a small core team of chefs working events and conferences year-round. But they boost staff numbers hugely over the summer cricket season. In particular over the five-day international matches that are sell-outs of over 30,000 people a day. There’s a big range chefs from a lot of different backgrounds – and ages – so as an older guy I didn’t feel out of place.
After working in one of London’s biggest acute hospitals as an intensive care and major trauma dietitian, I made a massive but the best decision I have ever made. I left the NHS and enrolled at Leiths.
I’d become frustrated at the lack of support out there for patients going through particular treatment plans. As a dietitian, I would spend a lot of time teaching and educating patients about what to eat when they are discharged from hospital but thought: ‘What if there is no one to help with these meals?’
There isn’t something out there that I would recommend as a dietitian to these patients. I came to Leiths for the love of food. But also to gain the expertise to hopefully set up a prepared meal business for people undergoing treatments that require particular diets. For example, nourishing meals for people living with cancer that have a small appetite but metabolic high requirements.
After I finished at Leiths, I took a week off for a holiday and then started my new job as a full-time chef de partie at Toklas. I work mainly in the larder section and my day-to-day involves prepping food, setting up and plating the starters and side dishes for service.
I am learning so much daily, on how to work accurately and quickly, and general knowledge such as working with Front of House teams, and managing stock orders – things that might seem mundane but are essential to the smooth running of a restaurant.
The buzz of being in a busy place is an aspect I love. Highlights for me include learning to handle tickets for my section (and getting through a 250-cover dinner service). Those choux skills from our final exams have come in handy as I have just started training in the pastry section.
The team here is fantastic and really supportive. As a career-changer I couldn’t have asked for a better first step into working in the food industry. I’m really glad to have started working here alongside Naomi – who is also a graduate of the Class of 2025 Diploma cohort like me. It’s nice to have a fellow classmate join the restaurant at the same time and go through this journey together.
I did a stage Andrew Edmunds – one of the oldest restaurants in Soho. It was recommended to me by a Leiths graduate who used to work there.
As promised, the head chef was an excellent teacher reinforcing everything I’d learnt at Leiths. Working on desserts and starters, I nailed the incredibly popular rice pudding but had room for improvement on the chocolate ganache quenelles! I’ve been asked back which I’ll sort out as soon as possible.
I also did a stage at The River Cafe to experience one of London’s best-known restaurants and see what the Michelin star delivered. Working on the pastry section, the rhythm and routine was much more predictable than the main kitchen.
What struck me initially were the superb fresh fruits we used for the sorbets, ice creams and tarts. Unsurprisingly precision was the name of the game on this section.
An added bonus was that literally half of the team were Leiths alumni so they were patient teachers. Plus we could bond over the moments on the Diploma course that had sent us into paroxysms of despair (bavarois figured quite highly).
I’m currently volunteering for a charity that works in community kitchens across North London.
I’ve started at Forza Wine at the National Theatre, the job is part-time for the moment, and all is going well. I’m getting to know my section, learning lots, and everyone has been very lovely and accommodating. Everything is feeling very new!
I’ve got a job private cheffing in the Hamptons in August and my cookware company, George Cookware, that I’m starting with my sister will be launching in September.
As far as preparing for the Hamptons, my main focus the last month has been gathering as much inspiration as possible from chefs I admire, so I can recreate my versions when I get to the Hamptons. It seems the family is very open to anything, so I’m looking forward to being creative when I’m there.
As far as the business goes, my sister and I have always wanted to start a business together. Our company is called George Cookware. It is named after my great-grandfather, who started the steel manufacturing company that is producing our products today.
While still at Leiths, I was offered a job at Sam’s after completing work experience here in the holiday between the Intermediate and Advanced Terms. Since graduating, I’ve been working full-time, mainly at the Chiswick branch. The team here is amazing, supportive, hardworking and genuinely lovely to be around.
My job is all about brunch. I help with both prep and service for the busy breakfast and lunch shifts. My day starts with preparing key ingredients to ensure everything runs smoothly during the rush. It’s a fast-paced, hands-on role that keeps me organised, constantly improving my skills and putting my learning into practice. One of my favourite perks? Not having to wash my own chef whites, they take care of that for you! Joking aside, I genuinely love working at Sam’s. Leiths gave me the skills and confidence to hit the ground running. I feel lucky to have had such solid training behind me. It really helped me stand out and get stuck in right from the start.
