Head Chef: Craig Lawson
Craig was born and raised in Vancouver BC, Canada. His early career was in sports. At 17 he was ranked second in the country in his field of Archery and was training with the Canadian team in Montreal to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. When injuries he sustained from a car accident ended his ability to follow this ambition, he reassessed his options and at 24 having worked in the hospitality industry on and off since he was 14, decided to take this experience and his love and enjoyment of cooking and turn it into his career. In Vancouver he attended the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in 2002 and graduated with honours and at the top of his class.
After graduation, he moved to the UK (for a girl - who is now his wife!) and began his kitchen career working at The Lime Tree, West Didsbury. This was followed by a move to a new venture, The Bakery in Heaton Moor which gave him his first experience of a restaurant opening. His next role was another new restaurant opening, Marmalade in Chorlton. During his time as Sous Chef and ultimately Head Chef at Marmalade, the restaurant won City Life Best Newcomer of the Year 2006, and Cheshire and Lancashire Life Best Newcomer of the Year 2006. Having worked for restaurants with a more intimate atmosphere he was keen to move to an environment that gave him experience not only of high quality food but volume, for this he moved to Simply Heathcotes in Manchester, and also a secondment to Longridge Restaurant.
Then the travel bug kicked in and he and his wife, Lisa, took 2 years to work and travel their way around the world. He credits his time working at Pacific Rim inspired Cactus Club, in Vancouver as a turning point in his style of people management, teaching him the ‘scream and shout’ method of running a kitchen popularised on TV isn’t necessarily the most effective way to inspire and lead a team! The development of his management skills was continued while working for John Allred (of Le Gavroche, The Ritz Paris, Harvey’s) at Mediterranean influenced Arbitrageur, Wellington, New Zealand.
Craig joined Jon and the team as Head Chef in February 2009 and is keen to continue the 39 Steps tradition of using high quality local produce and not over complicating the natural flavours within the dishes that are served. Craig explained, ‘by working closely with our suppliers we are able to use products that you may not always see in your local market and as a result we frequently change our menu, introducing new dishes and new products to your plates as the weather changes and different produce becomes available throughout the year. Next time you are in pop your head into the kitchen to introduce yourself, as I am always interested in meeting our guests and value your comments’.
When Craig isn’t found eating, sleeping or dreaming food you may just find him on the golf course with his father in law, spending time with his wife or cooking for friends.