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Geoffrey Fisher

Courses Taken:
NVQ Level 2 & 3 Hospitality & Catering
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School:
Bentham School
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Years Studied:
1994 - 1997
Profession:
Private Chef
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The lecturers are unparalleled. Their hard work and dedication to the students to move forward in the course and further our start with the connections they have in the industry was certainly a great support and guidance to start my career in Hospitality & Catering.


What have you done since leaving Lancaster & Morecambe College?
After leaving LMC in 1997, I worked as a chef for my parents, owners of Whitewalls Restaurant in Hest Bank. I then went to work for Steven Doherty at the Punchbowl Inn in Crosthwaite for roughly a year, who then sent me down to London in 1999 to work at the Mandarin Oriental under David Nicholls and Hywel Jones at restaurant, Foliage. After just over two years working hard in a busy London Michelin starred, I decided to see the bigger picture outside of fine dining and ended up being head chef of a gastro pub in Knightsbridge called Swag & Tails. It was supposed to be a temporary position for a month…ended up staying for 4 years!

Then I was introduced into the world of superyachting. I helped a chef friend of mine at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix on a yacht…it certainly opened my eyes as to what’s outside London. I came back to London and decided to leave my job and managed to get my first job on a Superyacht in 2006. I worked on a few yachts ranging from 35m to 60m in size. Sailing around the World cooking for the rich & famous. I stayed working at sea for 12 years but I got offered a job recently to get my feet back on dry land, working currently as a private chef in a family house.

Why did you choose to study at LMC?
Apart from being a very good college for catering it was also close by from home!

What were the best bits about your course?
The RWE (real working environment) was a great idea and an insight into a working restaurant, even though I lived in one! Also getting to the Grand Final of the Nestle Toque D’or in 1996 was a great achievement and start to my cheffing career.

Why did you choose your course?
Having finished my A levels and was going to go into design, living and working in a restaurant changed my mind and catering was the course I wanted to do. Although I wasn’t too pleased about doing the service side of the course, it wasn’t until later I realised how necessary it was to understand both sides of catering!

What would you say to someone who was thinking about doing the course?
Go for it! With hard work and commitment you can go anywhere with catering. But it’s not going to be easy and it’s a tough industry with long and unsociable hours so passion is must! But the job itself is rewarding in many ways, meeting friends for life around the world.

Anything else you would like to tell us?
The lecturers are unparalleled. Their hard work and dedication to the students to move forward in the course and further our start with the connections they have in the industry was certainly a great support and guidance to start my career in Hospitality & Catering.

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