The Key Ingredients For a Happy Home
Alice Davey joined Potters Grange as Head Chef ready for it’s opening in July 2021. She has bought with her a wealth of experience and knowledge from other establishments and her passion for presenting tasty and attractive dishes is clear for everyone to see.
Alice tells us a bit about her journey as a budding chef and what she’s learnt along the way…
‘From a young age I have always had a keen interest in cooking and baking. I used to bake every weekend with my father, and so I knew from early on that I wanted to be a chef.
At 15 I enrolled in culinary school and completed my Level 2 in Professional Cookery and ABC Level 2 in Patisserie. A year later I started my career in hospitality as a pastry chef, working in a 2 AA Rosette restaurant. Whilst working there I would help with creating new and unique recipes to feature on the menu as well as preparing desserts for weddings and other events for up to 400 covers.
At the age of 18 in moved into care as Deputy Chef Manager; here I learned quickly and made my way up to Head Chef within a year. I developed menus for the home and day centre, incorporating the dietary requirements of all residents and customers into daily meals. This meant working a lot with the IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative) scale for modified foods and liquids, as well as fortifying foods for those needing to increase or maintain their weight. For me, it’s really important to learn the likes and dislikes of my residents and incorporating this into IDDSI framework. Not only to ensure our food tastes nice, but also looks appetising!
As a chef I always want to learn new things so I decided to take the plunge back into hospitality as sous chef, so I could widen my knowledge. I stayed for two years gaining more experience before I saw the advert for a Head chef at Potters Grange, a role I instinctively knew was perfect for me.
Here at Potters Grange I am blessed with a state-of-the-art brand new and well-equipped kitchen. As a team at Potters Grange we really focus on a person-centred approach and this, for me personally, is a privilege as it enables me to build a relationship with each resident, centred on food. In my time here at Potters Grange I feel we have gained a real sense of family and our good meals prepared from fresh and local produce is at the heart of that.
As Potters Grange is home to a maximum of 20 people, this family like understanding makes it a lot easier to meet every individual’s needs and requirements. This means that residents not only get the meals they like, but they are cooked just the way they like them as well!’
Having Alice as Head Chef is a real bonus for all the residents and staff at Potters Grange and we look forward to seeing (and tasting) what Alice creates for us next!