“WHAT I ENJOY MOST IS MAKING A DAILY CONTRIBUTION TO THE WELL-BEING OF OUR RESIDENTS AND GIVING THEM PLEASURE”
Ever since I was a child, I’ve always known that I wanted to pursue a career in the restaurant business. It runs in the family – my brother is Head Chef at a local secondary school. Naturally, I trained as a chef, then very quickly started working in different establishments: brasseries and restaurants in the Saint Omer area. After around ten years’ experience in traditional catering, I joined Ave Maria in October 2012, a few months after it opened, as a cook on a fixed-term contract. I was then reappointed to a permanent contract in February 2013. From June 2014, the house offered me the opportunity to take on the duties of second chef. Finally, following the departure of Chef Gauthier, who had been with us since the opening, I decided to take on a new challenge and take responsibility for all the restaurant’s catering. In June 2022, I was appointed Chef de Cuisine at Ave Maria, a position I’m very proud of. Little by little, I’ve become familiar with the practices and processes involved in catering in a nursing home. Preparing dishes, menus, modified textures, diets… all while offering a cuisine that meets the wishes of our residents.
After 10 years in the kitchen at Ave Maria, and having gained the necessary experience, I felt ready to take on the job of Chef de Cuisine, to manage a team, to bring creativity and to propose and develop new dishes to put all my know-how to work to satisfy our residents.
I’m very proud to work for this fine establishment, which has a good reputation in the region, and for the Maisons de Famille Group in general. What I enjoy most is contributing daily to the well-being of the residents and giving them pleasure, being able to make decisions about the organization of the kitchen and the dishes offered, but above all working as part of a team that gets on well. What I also like is the opportunity to work closely with my management, and the trust placed in me by my director and hotel manager, who didn’t hesitate to confirm me in this position. What’s more, the training courses on offer help me in my day-to-day work.
I’d say my cooking is family-style, simple, gourmet and responsible.
Obviously, I’m thinking of the poultry ballottine stuffed with mushrooms, but also the duo of gratin dauphinois and vegetable flan… The recipes that won us the Trophée des Chefs 2022.
