James Dugan joined the 303-bedroom Sheraton Grand London Park Lane hotel as executive chef four months ago where he oversees three food and beverage venues as well as banqueting and other food operations within the property. His career as a chef started at Chewton Glen in 1993 where he worked as a commis before leaving two years later to join Jean-Christophe Novelli at the Four Seasons Hotel London Park Lane. Over the last 24-years he worked with John Burton-Race, Ramon Farthing and Richard Corrigan before opening Cafe Royal in 2012. He joined the Sheraton Grand from Four Seasons Hampshire where he worked for two years as executive chef.
How are you finding things at the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane?
It’s very exciting, there’s certainly lots to do, but everything is at a great standard already, so I’m just elevating it to a new high really. I’m enjoying approaching things from all different angles as the offering is so diverse – you have an Italian restaurant (Mercante), a large banqueting operation, the Smith & Whistle pub and then the classic lounge serving afternoon tea. As a hotel in general it ticks a lot of boxes.
Are you planning to make any changes to any of the hotel’s restaurants and dining spaces?
The hotel recently had a facelift, so it’s just a case of refining what we’re doing already and ensuring that the procedures are in place and the systems all work, because there’s no point coming in and running a restaurant operation if the back-of-house isn’t working. We’re pretty much there with the food concepts, there will just be a bit of tweaking of the menus.
Your last three career moves were in the luxury hotel sector, what is it about this part of the industry that appeals so much?
My background was in Michelin-starred restaurants for the first 20 years of my career and that proved to be successful and I enjoyed it. Then came the time in my career when I was hungry for a wider audience, so I stepped up into luxury hotels like Cafe Royal, The Four Seasons and now here. When you’re working in fine-dining restaurants you sometimes get the craving to do different concepts and you are always looking for the next best thing and I suppose hotels offer that – the diversity.
What are the challenges hotel chefs face compared to those working in the restaurant or other sectors?
In restaurants you tend to focus on the culinary offering more than anything else, whereas in hotels you have that, plus multi-offerings – 24 hour room service, breakfast and afternoon tea. There are many other things to keep an eye on, but then you have a greater number of staff for that.
When I stepped into the Cafe Royal I wondered if I’d be able to do it coming from a Michelin-starred background and I realised yes I could, because I have a much bigger team. The one thing I’ve strengthened is my managerial experience. I’m managing people and developing them more than I did when I was in a small team. I am also strengthening my financial knowledge. There are so many aspects to a hotel that you don’t get just in restaurants and I recommend to anyone to step into that role. It has its benefits in so many ways.
What has been the most challenging moment of your career so far?
The only major challenge was stepping into five-star luxury properties and having to teach myself breakfast, afternoon tea and banqueting from scratch and really trying to understand the processes and procedures behind it all to make sure it goes seamlessly, especially in banqueting. I was lucky when I left 36 on the Quay and joined Amberley Castle. Despite being a small Relais property it would sometimes have sole lets to 200 people with marquees in the gardens, so I got a taste of banqueting there and then might do breakfast for 40 or 50 people at a time. However, moving to Cafe Royal I had to do breakfast for 200 or more and that was a learning curve. It’s challenging but very rewarding because you know where you’ve come from and what you’ve done before and how you’ve developed over the years and it’s rewarding in so many other ways.
Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?
Richard Corrigan and Ramon Farthing at 36 on the Quay in Emsworth. I was so lucky working one-to-one with Ramon. Before, when I’d worked with John Burton-Race it was within a team of 17 whereas I was working by Ramon’s side every day and although it’s very painful, it’s an experience. It has taught me a lot about developing and training the guys I work with now. When I train people I go in and train them myself because they feed off it. With Richard Corrigan he trusted me to take over the running of Lindsay House from him. It had a Michelin star and three AA rosettes and we took it from a 70 to a 120-cover restaurant, so I suppose working with Richard taught me a lot about drive and the motivation behind running a restaurant in London and the intensity you need to work at to make it a success. He is an amazing chef and an amazing owner. Between those two guys, they really moulded me to what I am today.
If you could solve any problem in the industry tomorrow what would it be?
I wish the industry would have a lot more students going through the colleges and that the Government gave them more funding to do that. There is a drop in the number of students coming into the industry and that needs to be addressed. We tend to employ a very diverse number of chefs at the hotel and when I connect with the colleges I find they are not as full as they should be. Good education is paramount, so I don’t understand why there’s not the investment there.
What are your plans for the next five years?
I don’t think about things that far in advance. This is now my third executive chef role in a five-star deluxe property and I’m happy where I am now and with my personal progression, so I’m not thinking too far into the future. I like to see the broader picture in the industry and I won’t be retiring in this role, but that’s as much as I will say.
Emma Eversham
Hospitality & Catering News, Interviews Editor