Devised by Harrogate-based brothers Adam and Daniel Pawson, the inspiration for the database came from professional chef Dan, who – after a successful career working alongside the Roux brothers at the Waterside Inn, appearing on Britain’s Best Dish and catering for athletes at the London Olympics – was looking to advertise his chef services without spending thousands on a personal website.
‘The popularity of food online has become increasingly evident through a number of new online channels, and whether it’s taking pictures of meals and sharing them through Instagram or writing a food blog, food is fast becoming one of the most popular online categories,’ says Dan. ‘With Chef Database we want to make the most of this and encourage chefs to create their own online presence.’
But how does Chef Database differ from existing recruitment sites? ‘Part of the problem is that recruitment sites are very one sided with the agencies posting a job and then waiting for interested individuals to respond,’ explains Dan. ‘With Chef Database we aim to address this by allowing chefs to create their own professional profile, similar to that of Facebook or LinkedIn – although highly relevant to the catering industry – and allow those looking to hire to browse a range of detailed profiles and contact them directly without having to go through an expensive agency.’
And with chefs’ CVs notoriously poor, the directory also helps create a polished image. ‘If you look at most chef CVs these days they are very disorganised but our site offers them a quick and simple profile that they can enjoy adding to,’ says Dan. ‘They can update continuously via their job/achievement timeline, add photos and new accomplishments, and once they’ve taken the small amount of time to create it, people looking for a chef can easily browse the profiles and get in contact with them.’
Chef Database
07926379256
chefdatabase.co.uk
