SKILLS HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY TRUST SCOTLAND


Does the Queen eat kebabs? I should cocoa!


Hospitality industry scholarship winners were among those given an insight into the Royal kitchens


BY WILLIAM PEAKIN H


e’s not public school, he’s not ex-military. Te son of a builder, he went to comprehensive school. And he’s the


Queen’s Chef. “I did everything I could to get out of school as quickly as possible,” said Mark Flanagan. “But I knew there were two things that I enjoyed; travel and cooking.” Te cooking came from his mum,


who got him to peel the potatoes when he came home from school. “I had no idea or ambition that I would be head chef at Buckingham Palace. But that just goes to show what this industry can offer, every- body,” he said. At 16, he got a job with Guinness


at one of their breweries: “Tere was an opportunity of an appren- ticeship there; they were a very forward thinking company, even back then. Tey taught us life skills and put us on a vocational career path. It was a tremendous opportu- nity for me.” Flanagan worked hard, aiming for


an apprentice chief’s position, but it wasn’t to be; the company wanted him to do a year of academic study, but he had already had enough of


“THE SCHOLARSHIPS DEMONSTRATE THE DIVERSITY OF OUR INDUSTRY AND THE OPPORTUNITIES IT OFFERS.”


David Cochrane, chief executive, HIT Scotland


that so he enrolled himself in cater- ing college, in Slough. His goal was to open a builders’ ‘caff’. “Tings have turned out differently,” he said. Hard work, never giving up,


not taking no for an answer led him to become executive chef at Wentworth Golf Club and to work for the legendary chef and restau- rateur Albert Roux, who eventually put him forward for the job at the Palace in 2001. Flanagan is often asked what the


Queen’s favourite meal is, and he politely demurs (although former Royal chefs told Te Daily Telegraph last year: “Fillets of beef and venison from Sandringham and Balmoral are turned into Gaelic steak, served with a sauce of mushroom, cream and whisky. She enjoys a Sunday roast after church. She relishes the strawberries grown at Balmoral, and the sweet-scented, white peaches that are nurtured in her greenhouses at Windsor Castle)”. But he does disclose that he was at


a school once and a pupil got up to ask: “Does the Queen eat kebabs?” “Not on my watch!” says Flanagan. He was speaking to a packed audi- ence at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel earlier this year, attending the Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scot- land’s Emerging Talent Conference. Flanagan gave an insight into the


daily life of the Palace kitchens; a 50-strong food department, 21 chefs, 500 staff lunches, six or seven events attended by between 20 and 250 people, two state banquets a year for 180 people each. He spoke fondly of the annual decamp to Bal- moral and of the Scottish produce used in all the Royal kitchens. “One lesson I learned pretty


quickly,” he said, “was not to as- sume the most important meal being served is the Queen’s; rather, the Queen regards the most impor- tant meal is the staff’s.” Te Emerging Talent Conference


also saw the award of 179 scholar- ships to people working in the industry, covering a wide range of experiences including a pastry


Mark Flanagan, the Queen’s Chef Picture © Jeff Holmes Pix


master class at Andrew Fairlie’s kitchen in Gleneagles, a spell at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai and attendance at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland. “Our scholars tell us how mo-


tivational these awards are; they can be life-changing,” said David Cochrane, HIT Scotland chief ex- ecutive. Te scholarships are worth more than £1m, in opportunities given in kind by the industry and the value of the experience gained


that is reinvested. Of this year’s scholars, 56% were women and 37% over the age of 30. “Tere is a very a healthy gender


balance, and although we speak about ‘emerging talent’, we are not just a young people’s charity,” said Cochrane. “Te scholarships really demonstrate the diversity of our industry and the opportunities it offers.”


www.hitscotland.co.uk


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