By Spencer Metzger
My career in food started with a phone call when I was 15. I loved food at school, so I rang The Ritz London and asked if I could come in for work experience. They said yes, I spent two weeks there and I was hooked.
I had never seen a kitchen work at that level before. I went back as an apprentice and began working my way through the kitchen. I certainly didn’t walk through the doors of The Ritz at 15 imagining everything that would happen afterwards. I just knew I wanted to learn how to cook like that.
John Williams has probably had the biggest influence on me. I spent years learning classical French cooking at The Ritz and he taught me something that has stayed with me throughout my career: the basics really matter. You can’t skip learning how to make a great sauce or cook a piece of fish properly. Those foundations are important, no matter how far you progress.
I was also fortunate to spend time at L’Enclume with Simon Rogan, while winning the Roux Scholarship took me to Frantzén in Stockholm. Both experiences exposed me to different approaches to food, service and the overall guest experience. At Frantzén in particular, I saw how much the chefs’ personalities and their interaction with guests could change the whole experience.
There have been some incredible moments since then, from Great British Menu and being named Champion of Champions to achieving two Michelin stars at Row on 5.
But what people see are the successes. They don’t necessarily see all the ordinary days that come before them.
Leaving The Ritz after spending so much of my career there was a big decision. Starting again at Row on 5 meant stepping into something completely new and proving myself all over again.
My relationship with Jason Atherton has been an important part of that next stage. We discovered early on that we shared the same standards when it came to cooking and service, and over time that relationship developed into a partnership.
It also taught me a lot about the business of hospitality. When I suggested taking on the former Little Social site, it wasn’t enough to say I thought it would make a great restaurant. I had to come back with a concept and a proper business plan. Jason and Irha backed me and that became Chez Rose.
You can create a beautiful dish, but ultimately you have to make the whole restaurant work.
That is increasingly challenging. Costs are a huge issue for hospitality, from ingredients and energy to the cost of running a restaurant properly, while guests quite rightly expect value for what they spend.
But people are perhaps the biggest part of the equation.
We need to find good people, develop them and give them a reason to stay in hospitality. We can’t expect young chefs to build careers around impossible hours. The challenge is maintaining high standards while making both the business and working life sustainable.
My own thoughts about leadership have changed considerably over the years. When you’re young, you can think being in charge means having all the answers. I’ve learned it is much more about listening, explaining what you are trying to achieve and giving people the confidence to take responsibility.
Standards need to be clear, but people learn in different ways. If you can help someone develop and become more confident, the whole restaurant becomes stronger.
Finding talent is a big part of that. We currently have two people from Northern Ireland working in our kitchen and, when I look at young chefs, technical ability is only part of what interests me.
The first thing I notice is curiosity. I can teach somebody a dish, but it is much harder to teach someone to care, to ask questions or to work well with the people around them. I look for people who are prepared to get stuck in, who can take a correction and come back the next day wanting to be better.
I hope young people coming into the industry can see that there are opportunities for those who are willing to learn and put the work in. You don’t need to have your whole career mapped out.
Opening Chez Rose was an ambition I had for years. It is named after my grandmother Rosemary and is very personal to me. Now the ambition is to make it last: to create somewhere people return to, where they feel at home and can eat really good food.
And despite spending my working life around incredible food, on a day off I don’t need every meal to be a tasting menu. Sometimes the greatest pleasure is something simple, cooked really well, with no fuss. Whether I can be persuaded to adopt the Northern Ireland tradition of Tayto Cheese & Onion is another question!
Looking back to that 15-year-old walking into The Ritz for the first time, the advice I would give him is probably the same advice I would give anyone starting out in hospitality today.
Don’t rush. Keep asking questions. Find people you respect and learn from them. Take pride in the small jobs as much as the big moments, because those small jobs are what you build everything else on.
Be curious, keep learning and, when you get the chance to do something that scares you a little, take it.
Spencer Metzger will join Pamela Ballantine at the Leadership Lunch at Hospitality Exchange 2026 on Tuesday 13 October. The event will also celebrate 14 emerging talents from across Northern Ireland’s hotel sector through the Hospitality Exchange Rising Star Awards. For the full programme and ticket information, visit hospitalityexchange.org.uk
