A day in the life of a head chef on Christmas Day – from a 5am start to being cooked for at home

It’s one of the many jobs that requires a full shift on Christmas day. Rosalind Erskine asked Gary Townsend, head chef at One Devonshire Gardens by Hotel du Vin Glasgow, to tell us about his Christmas day at work.

As anyone who works or has worked in hospitality knows, Christmas day is just another work day. While there may be small moments to mark the occasion, the job is to ensure other people are having a lovely day celebrating with friends or family.

Gary Townsend, who has been the head chef at One Devonshire Gardens, for the past six years, is no stranger to cooking for hundreds of people on Christmas day, the menu for which he has devised months beforehand.

Here he tells us about a typical Christmas day in a busy, working kitchen as well as revealing the secret to a successful day and why you should never worry about cooking for a chef.

Christmas Day for a Head Chef

“It’s an early start as I have two young kids so we’ll probably be up about five or six o’clock in the morning to open presents. After that we’ll have breakfast, probably something fancy or a fry up. I normally leave for work about half nine or 10 as I don’t like to be the last one in.

"We tend to prepare as much as we can - about three or four days before Christmas - so we’re just finishing a few things off on Christmas day. That’d be my key piece of advice for anyone cooking Christmas dinner at home - prepare as much in advance as you can.

"This year we've got beef Wellington's on so we'll make sure they're all good to go, make sure they're going at the right times, get all the different sources and everything ready. There will be other preparations to do for both sittings (there’s one at 12.30 and one at 3.30pm). Ahead of our first service we’ll have a full team briefing with the chefs, front of house and kitchen staff and after that we will probably have a glass of champagne and wish each other a Merry Christmas and to have a good day.

"If there's any secret Santa presents to be swapped, it's done at that point as well. Then it's then it's just straight into service. We do 250 covers that's split into two settings. We'll do a half past 12 sitting and a half past three sitting. There’s a kitchen in house five and one in house one so my team is split into two and they run simultaneously. House five will host bigger parties over tables, such as 10 or 20 people, while in house one it’s smaller tables of two, four or six people."

Why Christmas Day is not like any other day at a restaurant

"Christmas day isn’t like a normal service, everyone arrives at the same time so it’s starters out then on to main course and the dessert. Service goes on for about an hour and 15 minutes or two hours and then we hit a slow point when nothing happens for an hour or two as you’re waiting for the next sitting.

"During this time we get prepared and make sure everything is ok and discuss if anything went wrong in the first sitting. We also look at if anything is selling well in house one or house five and weigh it all out so we have everything in place and everyone is on the same page.

"Then the second sitting will happen. Normally the way it works is if one sitting in one house finishes before the other, the other staff will go down and help them finish off, so everybody's in it together. Hopefully by the time we're all cleaned down and done, we're out of here about five o'clock or half past five.

"We always do need to have somebody staying on for room service and bits and pieces because we do have residents he will stay on until probably nine o'clock.

And Christmas Day at home for a chef?

"I’ll get home at about six, have a shower and be out the door again to go and see family and my kids. I won’t cook on Christmas day, my mother in law does that. I just want a drink at this point.

"I don’t cook on Boxing Day, which I traditionally take as a holiday to spend time with my family here. I’m from Cambridgeshire and I won’t get home to see my family as it’s just too busy here. I’ll try and take some more time off in January just to have a breather as it’s a constant operation here.”

Are people nervous about cooking for a head chef?

One of the things Gary, and probably all chefs all over the world are asked about is, do people worry when cooking for you? This must be true even more on Christmas as its deemed to be such an important meal.

Gary explained there’s no need to be concerned, saying: “People often worry about cooking for a chef but whether it’s Christmas dinner or any dinner or lunch, they don’t need to. I know we work with some of the best produce we can get but I came up with a saying a few years ago ‘we cook with things like truffle and foie gras all day but sometimes you just want a plate of mince and tatties.’”

When asked about the challenges around cooking for so many people on Christmas day, Gary said it’s the planning ahead that can be hard, although planning and preparation are vital.

He said: “A difficult thing about Christmas is not so much the cooking, it's the planning because supplier stop .Your last delivery, if you're lucky, you're going to be on Christmas Eve but you want it in before Christmas Eve because if anything doesn't come in, you still have a day's grace to catch up.

"I am planning for the 24th, 25th, 26th and possibly the 27th as well, so you need to have four days worth of stock before you can reorder again.” Planning starts in the summer, around July or August when he’ll sit down and write the menu.

"This will then start to be promoted as autumn comes, and it clearly works as the hotel is sold out for this Christmas, and often welcomes back many regulars. In December the a la carte menu also has some festive touches, a change from when the kitchen ran two different menus during the Christmas season."

This year Gary’s step-daughter Amelia will be working in the hotel over Christmas as she has a part time job at front of house so he’s looking forward to seeing her throughout his working day.

Find out more about Christmas preparations and what’s on at One Devonshire Gardens by Hotel du Vin Glasgow this year, plus more conversations with the likes of the Big Issue, Valvona and Crolla and I.J Mellis by searching Scran wherever you get your podcasts.