'Respect works both ways – that's how great kitchen teams are built'

Thank you very much.

Pleasure to be here.

So I guess to kick us off, can you tell us about how you, you first got into hospitality? I, I understand your, your, your family were also in the industry.

I left school at 16, and I actually attended, uh, Trafford College to do level one catering.

It felt really slow paced for me because I'd, prior to joining, had found a summer job between my GCSEs and, um, college.

So I kind of was already working in the background part-time at a local gastro pub near myself.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and then I actually went on work experience in the October, uh, half term, and that's where I met Andrew.

Oh, right.

So Andrew's my current executive chef, and I've worked with him for the last nine and a half years now.

Wow.

[laughs]

So.

And, um, ever since then been working with him.

But a bit about my family, so we originate from Hong Kong, and just after the Second World War, my grandma and grandad actually moved, uh, to England.

Mm-hmm.

And then were one of the first restaurants in Manchester's Chinatown as we know now.

Oh, right.

But then also owned restaurants, takeaways in and around this familiar area, so up to Buxton, Leeds, and then even did a little stint in, uh, Brussels in Belgium.

So a bit of a weird mix, but we've al- we've always been in that scene.

And then from that, naturally, my mum and my uncle and aunties have always been around it as well.

Mm-hmm.

So I come from a home where food was very much an epicenter of a lot of the things we do.

Not necessarily just it was a breakfast, lunch, dinner, you eat to survive sort of thing.

It was more, it became a big event, especially matching with our culture as well.