Robert Sussex, a Senior Sous Chef from ISS, is amongst four chefs competing in the finals to represent the UK at the prestigious and challenging global culinary competition, Bocuse d’Or.
Earlier this year, Sussex secured a place in the final of the UK Bocuse d’Or qualification, where he will face three other top chefs from the UK, vying to represent the UK in the European heats of the Bocuse d’Or competition in June 2020. The winner of the European Heats will subsequently move forward into the international final in 2021 in Lyon, France.
The Bocuse d'Or (the Concours mondial de la cuisine, World Cooking Contest) is a biennial world chef championship. Named after chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days towards the end of January in Lyon, France, at the SIRHA International Hotel, Catering and Food Trade Exhibition, and is one of the world's most prestigious cooking competitions in the world.
Sussex started his cooking career as a Chef de Partie, or station chef, in various restaurants and hotels supervised by Michelin star trained chefs. Before his foodservice career took off, he had studied to become a chef at Thames Valley University.
While studying, he worked part-time at two 5-starred restaurants while working at Wembley’s Great Hall Restaurants during weekends, where he helped serve anything between 500 and 1000 guests for fine dining.
Three and a half years ago, Sussex got the opportunity to work as a chef for ISS at a customer site in London. Working for ISS, he was given the opportunity to enroll for ISS’s Chef’s Diploma programme, which enabled him to take his career and cooking to the next level.
At ISS, Sussex has also participated in various internal chef competitions, where he managed to win most competitions that he entered.
Sussex said, “I am enjoying working with ISS and our customers. I am given the opportunity to be creative and use my skills in the best way. I get to work with a great team every day, who share my love for food and want to push the food and experience offering for our customers and colleagues to the next level.
'Being part of the finalists in the UK is both humbling and exciting at the same time. I promise to do my best and hopefully give the judges some food for thought!”
Chris Towler, Head of Food Services Excellence at ISS, said, “Robert is just one of our many talented chefs ISS have around the world creating memorable food and service experiences daily for our customers.
'This is a huge achievement for Robert to get to the final in the UK, competing against other talented chefs from hotels and restaurants. This is also a testament to ISS’s commitment to delivering best in class Food Services through empowered talent.”