This is Hospitality: Amber Francis – ‘Hospitality offers a wealth of opportunities’

Hospitality isn’t limited to one career path, believes chef Amber Francis – it’s an industry full of opportunity.

The Great British Menu winner says she is always surprised how people think the industry has limited career options. “What many people don’t realise is there is a real wealth of opportunities out there in the hospitality industry – there is something for everyone,” she says. 

“What I love is that it doesn’t matter what your background is or where you come from, if you’re prepared to work hard, put the energy and the effort in and really want to learn and constantly develop, then you can go really far.

“There aren’t many other industries that have such diversity and are welcoming of all people from all walks of life.”

Francis trained at the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and undertook stages at the Hand & Flowers in Marlow and Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat-Saisons in Oxfordshire before training in pâtisserie at the Ritz London. After helping to launch the now-closed Maene in Spitalfields, her career took a different direction in 2023 when she took on the role of running the kitchen at Christ’s College, a state secondary school in Finchley, London.

“Rather than working in fine dining and doing things alongside that to support communities, I wanted to try and have my full-time role within communities and food education, using the skill sets I’d gained in fine dining,” she previously told The Caterer.

She was crowned the Champion of Champions on last year’s Great British Menu, an accolade that was even sweeter as she was the only school chef on the BBC programme, giving her a platform to talk about the importance of working within food education.

Shortly after her win, she was awarded the Extra Mile Award at the Foodservice Cateys 2025 for all her hard work on food education.

What is This Is Hospitality?

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This Is Hospitality