Meet our chefs

‘I always wanted to be a chef,’ says Gemma. ‘I come from a big family, being the eldest of seven I was always helping my mum at mealtime.’

"I dropped out of 3rd level education and instead pursued a 2 year college course in professional cookery. I went on to work in 5 star hotels and Michelin star restaurants in Ireland for the first 10 years of my career."

Winner of the first ever B&I StrEAT Food Awards! “I’ve been in quite a few competitions and this is a bit different from the norm. I feel over the moon to have won.

Cathy has a real passion for craft and people development. She regularly hosts training workshops and has a dedicated centre of excellence where new concepts and ideas are shared and best practices are communicated to her teams.

Gareth Billington is the Executive Head Chef at Everton Football Club, managing 32 staff members, plus overseeing the Everton Free School culinary team.

Ben joined the Major Events Team where he quickly understood the complexities and challenges of delivering some of the UK’s iconic summer events, none more complex than running the Prestige Pavilion, serving 25,000 covers, for the London 2012 Olympics.

“Sodexo and the guys I work with have put a lot of effort into supporting and mentoring me."

"Sodexo has given me that first step and it’s 100% my goal to progress further to a sous chef role, and who knows, maybe even a head chef."

Nikola Pihakova joined Sodexo from the hotel industry, where she had worked since starting her course in hospitality management in her native Czech Republic. She was a finalist at the Sodexo Chef of the Year final 2018.