Member Info
After completing a two year college course at Halesowen College in the West Midlands, Dez moved to London to pursue his career, working in the kitchens at the Law Courts on the Strand and a private hospital on Baker Street. This led to him being offered a position at the Ritz Hotel, Piccadilly working alongside Michael Quinn MBE where he gained valuable experience.
He then returned to Birmingham and spent two years at the Terrace Restaurant within the Metropole Hotel, situated at the NEC, with a spell at a small city centre restaurant, he was then approached to help open the Alverton Manor Hotel in Truro Cornwall, where he quickly obtained national recognition for outstanding cuisine.
In 1990, he took on his first position as a Head Chef at the Greenbank Hotel, being rewarded with their first Rosette within six months.
In 1992, he took over as Head Chef at the Royal Duchy Hotel in Falmouth and helped them achieve their 4 star status as well as being rewarded with 2 AA Rosettes.
In 2008 he took on the position of Group Development Chef for Brend Hotels, in charge of 11 Hotels, 2 Restaurants and over 75 chefs in the South West. This now allows Dez an active roll in the training and development of chefs within the Brend Hotel group, as well as working closely with the farmers, fishermen and producers in our industry.
Dez is actively involved and a member of both the Craft Guild of Chefs, and the British Culinary Federation of Chefs, performing various cookery demonstrations and talking to the public about food trends, seasonality and the need for local produce. In the past these have included Hotelympia, Speciality Fine Food Show, Falmouth Oyster Festival, Exeter Food & Drink Festival, Craft Guild of Chefs Skillery, Taste of the West Food Shows, as well as performing alongside comedian Brian Conley at the Plymouth Food Festivals Ready Steady Cook. Since 2008 he has organised the chef demonstration stage at the North Devon Foodfest, that now attracts in excess of 10,000 visitors, as well as celebrity chefs including Michael Caines and the Tanner Brothers. He has been involved and organised various outside catering functions in excess of 300 covers, including events for The Queen, Lady Aaron, and the steward’s dinner at the Devon County Show.
Over the years Dez has competed in various competitions, being in the final of Norwegian Seafood Challenge, finalist in British Culinary Federation Chef of the Year 2010 and 2012, semi finalist in Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year 2010, 2011 and 2012,as well as winning medals at various Salon Culinaires. At present he is mentoring young chefs in various national competitions and have had finalists in the NZ/UK Link Foundation, Young Chef /Young Waiter of the Year, Annual Awards of Excellence and the Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Awards competitions.
