Foodservice Cateys 2022: Chef of the Year – David Steel, Houston & Hawkes

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David Steel worked in a number of senior chef roles before joining Houston & Hawkes in 2020. He put all his experience from working at Harbour & Jones, Lexington and Bartlett Mitchell into developing and evolving the food offer, working with the leadership team to build its reputation as a creative and agile caterer.

Houston & Hawkes founders Simon Houston and David Hawkes brought Steel into the business shortly after its inception in 2019 and he has driven the company’s food strategy as it has grown from five contracts pre-Covid (employing 18 people) to 17 contracts post-Covid (employing 75 team members), serving more than 11,000 customers daily.

His focus on training, mentoring and culinary excellence has been instrumental in securing several high-profile clients, including Three Mobile, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Rathbones and BentallGreenOak. In a tough recruitment market, Steel recruited 23 chefs in the 12 months to June 2022, the majority of which had previously worked with him. He has also developed a chef talent pipeline, ensuring vacancies are filled with known chefs. This includes the creation of the company’s casual team, Aspire, which features 10 chefs to support locations with the peaks and troughs of trade.

Steel has established training partnerships with chef Sally Abe and food writer Celia Brooks, which have not only led to development opportunities for his existing team but also helped attract new chefs to Houston & Hawkes. His coaching and mentoring qualities are evident through the promotion of two head chefs into development roles, and he has supported chefs through the emotional challenges they’ve faced returning to work post-Covid. He has also mentored and coached two apprentices into full-time roles.

Meanwhile, to maintain inspiration and communication among the new team, Steel has set up a chef’s forum food-sharing portal for recipes and photos, holds quarterly chef’s socials, a chef pop-up programme, runs masterclasses, and has set up a support group whereby chefs help each other out.

All of this nurturing has led to innovative food concepts that have been instrumental in the business being the first contract caterer to achieve B Corp certification. He has introduced ‘budget busters’ cooking, which features high-value dishes to support customers during tough financial times, launched a low-carbon and no-meat range called Planted, and introduced suppliers local to clients, including Anonymous Coffee, Fireheart and Hackney Gelato.

In the words of a senior client at Royal Society of Chemistry: “David leads from the front and seeing this first hand is truly impressive. David and his team have responded to every challenge we have put in from of him – he is a true leader!”

What the judges said

“David is one of the most influential chefs I have come across. Clearly a great mentor, he is just what the industry needs.” Harry Lomas

“David was a standout winner. He has always been focused on his career journey and has achieved much along the way. A true leader who gains fellowship.” Hannah Horler

The shortlist

David Steel, Houston & Hawkes

Graham Singer, Compass Group

Nicola Harper, 14forty

Past winners

2021 James Tagg, Manchester United Football Club

2019 Jason Wild, Green & Fortune

2018 Adam Thomason, Restaurant Associates

2017 Dennis Mwakulua, Restaurant Associates

2016 Steve Land, Gather & Gather