‘My main love is food and, as a chef, I know that if you don’t understand your ingredients, it’s difficult to prepare them properly’ – Vince Carr, Food Service Manager

Combining a love for fresh seasonal food and home cooking

 

What gets you out of bed in the morning? For Vince Carr, it’s not just his love of food, prepared fresh each day in our Sedum Restaurant kitchen – but his passion for developing the skills of our Food Service team.

In his book, creating the best customer experience is as much about the people behind the counter as it is about the menus we serve.

And that shows in our Sedum Restaurant's focus on fresh, seasonal, home-cooked meal and snack options using quality ingredients – locally-sourced or British, where possible.

Being next to our Sedum Farm Shop and Sedum Butchers is naturally a help with all three sharing ingredients, produce and ideas to make the Chessington customer experience that little bit special.

Vince's background in the food industry

 

“My main love is food,” Vince confirms, “and, as a chef, I know that if you don’t understand your ingredients, it’s difficult to prepare them properly. That’s why I get so much satisfaction from enabling others to develop their roles.”

Vince joined Chessington in 2020, bringing 30-plus years’ industry experience – including seven years as Head Chef at Roux Restaurants, where he worked with the legendary Albert Roux. He’s also been a Chef Instructor at the internationally-renowned Le Cordon Bleu London.

Throughout his career, he’s recognised the pleasure people find in getting together to enjoy something as ‘simple’ as a freshly-made seasonal quiche or a hot home-cooked curry.

Creating fresh and delicious menus

 

Being part of making that happen is the joy of his job, especially as the range of quality ingredients at Sedum Restaurant and Farm Shop make it easy to experiment with delicious flavours and cuisines.

This is why we can offer such a wide choice of tasty vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options plus new self-service salad bar – alongside favourites such as our cooked breakfasts, pizzas, paninis, sandwiches and home-cooked cakes and sausage rolls.

 

“The Sedum Farm Shop is an education for us in the kitchen – I’m discovering new products myself,” he adds.

“Our British cheeses are a revelation, including Tunworth which we use in our quiches and which Raymond Blanc describes as ‘the best camembert in the world’.”

Vince is also well aware that many customers want healthier and plant-based options. He’s excited about the chance this brings to ‘make things more interesting’ – helped by his focus on using seasonal produce when its flavour is naturally at its best.  

Looking after the team

 

Back in the kitchen, he’s finding it particularly rewarding to train the three Ukrainian refugees who joined us as chefs this summer.

“We’re taking the time to teach them to cook from scratch, as well as helping them learn English,” he explains. “It’s so important to look after other people at work.”

His days are, Vince concludes, ‘ever-changing and fast-paced’. Yet beyond work, he’s also very active.

As well as family, he’s been a Volunteer Blood Runner since 2015, delivering blood and platelets on his motorbike for the NHS to hospitals and the Air Ambulance Service on a call-out basis through the night. Recently, he’s volunteered as a Despatcher too.

Come and visit our Food services, click the links below to find out more:

Sedum Restaurant 

Sedum Farm Shop 

Sedum Butchers