bighospitality.co.uk. "Fred Sirieix leaves Galvin at Windows". bighospitality.co.uk . Retrieved 21 February 2020. Fred Sirieix ( French pronunciation: [siʁjɛks]; born 27 January 1972) is a French maître d'hôtel best known for appearing on Channel 4's First Dates, and BBC Two's Million Pound Menu. Sirieix grew up in Limoges, France and trained to work in front of house in a Michelin-starred restaurant in France before working at La Tante Claire in London. Until 2019 he was the general manager of Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows at the London Hilton. Three years ago, Thompson’s daughter, Daphne, was born; Thompson took 11 months maternity leave and then returned to Scott’s part-time. Again, this is “unconventional” in hospitality, which demands long, antisocial hours. Thompson gives credit to Caring for being open to the idea and she hopes that her experience will be helpful to other women in a similar position. “Yeah, I’m definitely flying the working-mum flag,” she says. “I didn’t want to pretend it was going to be OK and then totally crash and burn. Hopefully I’ve proved the fact that it is possible.” Fred Sirieix Biography - Biogs.com". 11 October 2019. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. This, he says, is what has driven him through a lifelong career front of house both in France and the UK. It has led to his current position as general manager of Galvin at Windows, perched high above London at the Park Lane Hilton and, through his role in Channel 4’s First Dates, as the nation’s maître d’, cupid in a sharp suit, making sure that potential lovers have the best possible chance of getting it together over dinner. “When you talk about hospitality,” he says, “you are talking about connecting with people. It’s about giving first and giving generously.”

a b c d Rayner, Jay; Lewis, Tim (17 April 2016). "The art of service: secrets of the maître d' ". The Guardian . Retrieved 16 February 2017. As for not being too interested in food, this, too, can work to her advantage. “There’s lots of people who do love food,” she says, smiling. “But there’s a lot of people who eat out who don’t. And I know how to translate to that whole section: ‘Don’t worry, I feel the same myself…’” ‘There’s no queue jumping – not even if you are the owner’s parents’ In 2018, he presented Million Pound Menu, a new show for BBC Two. [12] In December 2017, he appeared in ITV's Gordon, Gino and Fred's Great Christmas Roast, alongside Gordon Ramsay and Gino D'Acampo. [13] Fred has presented and co-hosted many programmes, including Million Pound Menu, Remarkable Places to Eat, Michel Roux’s Service and Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip. In a world full of celebrity chefs, Fred has become Britain’s only famous maître d’, and his role on television is helping to raise the profile of Front of House jobs. In 2019, he hosted the CBBC series Step Up to the Plate with Allegra McEvedy where they tested 8 young people in each episode to see if they had the skills to run their own restaurant. [14] A second series was broadcast in 2021. [15]Delgado, Kasia. "First Dates maître d' Fred has gone from matchmaker to musicmaker". RadioTimes. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015 . Retrieved 11 April 2017. Gerrard, Neil (30 March 2017). "Fred Sirieix to front new programme to get young offenders into hospitality jobs". thecaterer.com . Retrieved 10 April 2017. Some non-reservation restaurants have introduced text-based systems, so people can queue virtually in a nearby bar, while waiting for the good news on their phone. Why don’t they do that? “We would need another person to administer it, and anyway we’re fine as we are,” he says. “The queue is a very important part of our vibe. It’s also brilliant marketing. If you see a place that’s full you want to know why.” She was not a natural as a waitress and only lasted six months. “I’d like to take the opportunity to apologise to all the customers I served,” she says. Glennon did, however, excel at remembering customers, chatting to them about the plays they’d just seen, and was shifted to the position of assistant maître d. At the time, J Sheekey was owned by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the men behind the Ivy and Le Caprice. Although Corbin and King would soon move on – selling the business to Richard Caring, Glennon’s current boss – she learned lessons that she still finds useful 18 years on. The winner of Ultimate Wedding Planner has been crowned". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre . Retrieved 17 September 2023.

Starkey, Adam (21 December 2017). "Gordon, Gino and Fred prove a winning combo on Great Christmas Roast". Metro . Retrieved 9 January 2018. Nankervis, Troy (23 March 2017). "First Dates maître d' Fred Sirieix promises fans surprise 2017 location change". Metro . Retrieved 18 April 2017. In the future, possibly phones will come with health warnings. It’s become an addiction. People are taking pictures of food but they are not talking to each other. Look, I don’t mind what they do. If they are using flash and it is irritating others then yes, I would intervene. When you work front of house you have to use good sense when deciding to get involved.Thompson breaks into another broad smile: “Anyway, looking after my daughter sometimes is a much harder job than this place!” ‘A lot of people who eat out don’t love food. I feel the same myself…’ verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Glennon’s distinctive dress sense started to take shape when she moved to 34. “It’s helpful especially with so many different restaurants to be, ‘Oh right, you’re the woman with the big glasses, yes,’” she says. It is, though, very much a uniform. “I dress completely different away from work. What did I wear today? Jeans and trainers. And I love hats, so I’ll constantly be wearing hats around.” Rayner, Jay (6 June 2017). "What happens when you strip food of the branding and just rely on taste?". Radio Times . Retrieved 19 June 2017. I was born in food. My dad used to say: “We don’t have much money and we don’t have fancy cars, but we always have good food in the fridge and on the table.” My parents would buy fillet steaks, foie gras, oysters, lobster; they love good quality food. Every day we had a three-course meal: starter, main and dessert and cheese before dessert. Every single day.

Fred Sirieix knows exactly where his interest in service comes from: his parents’ careers in the French equivalent of the NHS in Limoges, where he grew up. “Every day before going on the night shift my dad would shave,” he says now. “I asked him why he did that. He told me it was to make the patients trust him. The conversation around the dinner table was all about patient care. It was about making sure people had a good experience.” If you have ever said, 'I wish I knew more about wine,' this is the book for you. Read more Look Inside Details

During August and September 2023, Sirieix presented the reality series Ultimate Wedding Planner; which aired on BBC Two. [22] Other ventures [ edit ] I am biased to a good bottle of bordeaux. I recently had a Château Batailley 2014. That wine, oh my God. Bordeaux, when it’s well made, it’s just something else.

She goes on: “Some of our best customer relationships have been conceived in a moment of awfulness where somebody has complained. That’s your opportunity then. That’s something you’ve got to build on. It’s about taking ownership, being on the front foot, and smiling and communicating. All basic principles but oft forgotten in restaurants.” As is the often the case, much of his story is happenstance. School did not suit him and when a friend announced he was going to catering college, Sirieix followed. While he did some training in the kitchen, and believes he could still work a service as a cook if they were desperate, he soon specialised in working front of house. After training in a Michelin one-star in France he came to England to work at Pierre Koffmann’s La Tante Claire as much, he says, out of a love of the English language as anything else. That was 24 years ago. Since then he has worked everywhere from Le Gavroche to Sartoria and the Bluebird Cafe, before joining up with the Galvin brothers 10 years ago. From belligerent Michelin-starred chefs to Bollinger-swigging managers, Britain’s best-known, best-loved maitre d’ is here to lift the lid on life behind the scenes of the world’s best restaurants. With over 25 years’ experience of charming guests, Fred Siriex has seen and heard it all, and as always, he’s here to help. Fred Sirieix, the French maître d’ joins Jaega Wise to share his ‘Life Through Food’ and passion for hospitality. It’s been a decade since Fred started to appear on television, and he’s best known for being the Front of House on the long-running Channel 4 series First Dates. But before that, Fred had reached the top of his profession working in some of London’s most prestigious restaurants, and has been flying the flag for Front of House roles since he left catering college.For Etura, a big part of the job is calculation: working out how long diners will take and when the number of people in the queue matches the amount of time left in which to get them fed. The biggest mistake he could make, he says, is for someone to queue only to be told there is no space. “I’d rather leave seats empty than that happen.” Not that it’s likely. He knows how to work the numbers. And his tip for reducing queue times? “You can queue before we open. At Frith Street the queue for the 5pm opening starts at 4pm. Or use the 90-minute rule. So come at 5pm for 6.30pm, or 6.30pm for 8pm.” And so to the killer question. Would he be willing to queue for as long as his customers? “Of course, and I have. Friends come from Spain and they want to eat here. So we wait.” a b Finn, Rachel (25 June 2022). "Gogglebox fans in awe as Fred Sirieix appears with rarely seen fiancée Fruitcake". OK! Magazine . Retrieved 26 June 2022. We don’t value hospitality in this country, that’s for sure. There’s a lot of examples to show that: it was labelled as low-skilled only recently. If you speak to a career adviser, they wouldn’t recommend hospitality as a career for kids. But it’s just incredible what you can do in hospitality. Also, it’s a meritocracy. That’s what I say when I do talks in catering colleges: if you work hard, you’re going to go all the way to the top. It’s your time now.