Passion + Plan x Focused Approach = Successful Career

Chef Richard Graham, executive chef, Le Meridien Kovalam Beach Resort

Despite 46 years in the profession, nothing excites chef Richard Graham more than a thriving kitchen under his aegis. Currently associated with the Le Meridien Kovalam Beach Resort as executive chef, he recounts his culinary journey, in conversation with Ashish K Tiwari

It is said that all Christians and Catholics only made cooks and bairaas (stewards). Besides, the perception about being a chef in the yesteryears was not very positive and as a result there was a lot of family pressure on aspirants looking at making a career as chefs. Over the years, the chefs have proved it wrong and have managed to change the perception. Today it’s the most sought after career option for anyone who is passionate about cooking. Confesses Chef Richard Graham, “Though not ashamed of what I was, my elder brother always thought that I would have been somebody else than being a cook.”

Like every youngster, making a career choice was not that easy for him. However, there was one aspect that helped him take a call between the two options he had chosen then. Recounts Chef Graham, “We all hallucinate in life, we all have our thoughts and we all think what if. I did want to join the airforce as a pilot and came very close to doing it. But for some reasons, I then leaned toward being a chef. At times I wonder what if, Would I have been that successful? Would I have achieved what I have? Would I be still alive today?”

The direction of chef Graham’s life was set in the dining table of his house, in early childhood. He attributes his decision to take the culinary profession to the ‘eating culture at home’. Says chef Graham, “It used to be great fun having breakfast, lunch and dinner with the family cracking jokes and having a hearty laugh. This role played by the eating culture at home developed my liking for food. I just love food and it’s my ‘strongest’ weakness.” It’s a liking, which has taken him across countries and continents, culminating as executive chef of Le Meridien Kovalam Beach Resort.

Schooled at St Columbus, a private school in New Delhi, Graham’s initial stints with cooking began during his yearly sojourns with the north Indian Scouts. “That was the time when I was first exposed to kitchen and cooking. It kindled further my liking for food,” he said. After completing Senior Cambridge (equivalent to the first year of graduation) from St Peter’s College in 1968, Graham joined The Oberoi Intercontinental in New Delhi as an apprentice chef. He said, “I had finally found my calling. At that point of time, we were given unwritten choices - to be behind the scenes or wear a black-jacket and be in the front. I foresaw myself as a very good executive chef and chose the former.” He also got an opportunity to train with the Oberoi School of Hotel Management.

The late ’60s were a transition period and the Indian hotel industry was moving toward a more organised form of operations. Candidates recruited then were expected to be well groomed with good schooling and having the ability to make presentations etc. But the learning process, which includes keeping abreast of new developments, updating knowledge and skills about kitchen operations, cuisines, cooking and presentation style etc was for more difficult.

Says chef Graham, “Nowadays every information is available at the click of a mouse. When I entered the world of hospitality, learning anything new literally required going to the place of origin and training hands-on. This ensured authenticity in whatever was cooked and presented to the guest.”

Though compensation, he believes, is still at a bare minimum in India, in those days it was ‘literally peanuts’. “Hospitality aspirants spent most of their time doing nothing but work. We would walk in at 9 am and be in the hotel till 11.30 or 12 in the night,” he said.

But chef Graham’s hard work paid off and he was sent to Germany for further training. “I did a two year stint with the InterContinental property in Hanover. After returning from Germany in 1874, I was posted to the then Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai as executive sous chef and within six months was promoted to executive chef’s position. I was just 27 years old,” he says.

He attributes the early success to a planned and focused approach, getting the right breaks at the right time and exceeding the company’s expectations. The next three years were spent in creating a reputation for food and beverage offerings at the Oberoi property. He developed a good grounding of the hotel business and established a niche for himself among hotel guests and the industry.

But three years later in 1977 he felt it was time for a change and had his first stint of management with the Welcomgroup while heading the food and beverage division of Hotel Searock at Bandra (a north Mumbai suburb). Graham was involved right from the conceptual stage - building the hotel, bringing it up and then operating it efficiently.

“We had a very cohesive team who worked very efficiently. One of the reasons was that the staff working in the hotel was recruited from the five kilometre radius of the hotel. This approach paid dividends as there was no absenteeism. We took raw people and trained them, so we could successfully instill loyalty in them,” he says.

After four years of heading the food and beverage operations at Searock Hotel, Graham took over the responsibility of corporate chef for the Welcomgroup. “I returned to the kitchen with lots of value add-ons like management skills, patience which I had lacked as a chef and the ability to deal with people on a one-to-one level. This move gave me a lot of scope to do things not only as a specialist but also on the managerial front.”

Here he was instrumental in opening various hotels, grassroots level planning, recruiting, implementing menus, laying standards and specifications, setting up recipe and human resource banks, conceptualising cuisines for which the group has made a name for themselves in the market and finally, setting up the kitchen training programme, which has worked marvels for the Welcomgroup.

“We inculcated a first class kitchen training programme which maintained a balance between practical and theory inputs. Most of the chefs in the group today are byproducts of the programme. There was a major focus on incorporating values in the chefs. They were made to better understand their profession, love what they were doing in the kitchen and have pride in themselves. My biggest problem with chefs throughout my career has been getting them to eat what they cook. I explained them in a simple way that when you choose a vocation you should not hold back in giving it whatever you have to. I easily managed to cross the psychological barriers and make them think the way I did.”

It was during this period that an offer came from Australia. “When this offer came by, the wanderer and opportunities in me emerged and in July 1987, I started off in Adelaide with a restaurant organisation called Morsen House. I worked there for a while and then was given an opportunity to start a top notch German restaurant called ‘Sonnenberg’ in Michim, Adelaide,” he says.

This restaurant project turned out to be a completely different ball game altogether. Says chef Graham, “Suddenly I was seeing and working with ingredients which I had never ever seen in my life. I sat back and started thinking, ‘if I have to make it big in this country what is it that I should do?’ And the answer was start the learning process all over again.”

Thus began a fresh innings with cooking, which required him to hip hop jobs in Adelaide with other outlets. At the end of a year-and-a-half, Graham was a more confident professional. “This project made me believe that I could take up bigger things. I moved to Melbourne and worked with the Greater Union Complex, which owns hotels in various parts of Australia. I joined their 380-room Brisan Hotel in Melbourne as executive chef. It was a difficult assignment because I was working with people who knew their rights, followed their routine strictly, worked for money and not just because they loved the job. This assignment taught me how to deal with people,” he says.

Two-and-a-half years later, he joined Royal Automobile Club the largest club in the southern hemisphere as their first non-European executive chef. In his three-and-a-half year stint there, his team showed some outstanding performance in culinary competition. “We got the best ‘Club Outlet’ award. I entered my team into the Salon Culinaire of 1991 where we won two gold, two silver and one bronze medals. A member of my team was voted ‘Australian Chef of the Year’,” he says proudly.

From Australia he moved on to Singapore working with an organisation called the Indigo Group, which set up restaurants for Radisson. After completing a two year tenure there Graham returned to Australia to join Andrew Spinks, whose company acquired run down properties, mostly heritage, and turned them around before selling them to move on to the next property. Graham worked with him on four to five properties. At one of the properties called the Dandenong Club, he received the restaurant of the year award in 1997.

In 2002, because of his wife’s health, Graham applied for the PIO (Persons of India Origin) status and after receiving the card returned to India. His new innings with the Indian hospitality began with Sarovar Park Plaza Hotels and Resorts Pvt Ltd and later a short stint with Goa Marriott Resort as executive chef. He then moved down south and is currently associated with Le Meridien Kovalam as executive chef.

What else besides planned and focussed approach to his career led to be a successful hospitality professional? Replied chef Graham, “I would say that it was my selfish nature particularly with what I wanted to do with my career that has made me a successful hospitality professional. I remember when I was in Germany at one Christmas function, my job as a young apprentice was just slapping the sauce on to asparagus. That was all I was asked to do the entire evening for over 700 guests for the function.

“I made sure that I was well prepared with my asparagus, sauces, garnish and I basically guarded my counter like I would guard my most priced possession. No body interfered, no body said anything, I knew what I was supposed to do and I did it religiously. I wanted to get everything right and also be the only individual doing it. This is one example that would elucidate the extent of my passion for my work and profession.”

Thus, being passionate about one’s work besides planned and focused approach is key for being a successful hospitality professional. Offering a piece of advice to the aspiring chefs, he says, “Every time you enter a new job you should go with the same apprehension as the first day you arrived into the kitchen. I personally started from ground zero leaving reputations behind. This is because every place has its own requirements and environment to adapt to and I make sure that I adapt to the environment before I expect anything else.”

There are three individuals who have made a great difference to his professional life and one such person is Ajith Narayan Haksar from ITC. “A man with vision, someone who I went for advice. He is one person who through the right people, single-handedly changed the course of cuisine in India. It was his insight and appreciation of talent that gave us the opportunity to do things differently. The other two are, Dieter Jamssen of Sheraton and Anil Madhok who used to be my boss while at the Oberoi Sheraton.”

Even after 46 years in the profession he still retains his zest for the kitchen. “What I love more than anything else is a full-fledged thriving kitchen under me. Recreating things and putting my entire experience in developing new things is what I would want to do in life,” he concludes.