Interview with Chen Yu Fan - Floor Manager at Colbert

Can you tell us about your start in hospitality and your educational journey?

Hospitality has always been part of my DNA, ever since I was a small child. My mother had her own restaurant in Taiwan where I grew up, and I spent many happy hours on the weekends helping her in the restaurant. I really enjoyed serving the guests and wanted to do my best to help my mom and her business.

In 2004, I came to the UK to study, and I am proud to say that I completed my Master’s in Hospitality and Tourism in 2009. It was tough to start with, but when I arrived here in 2004, I spent 18 months in Exeter at a language school, perfecting my English skills so that I could study confidently at university. Before I started at university, I worked in Glasgow as a barback at a Radisson Hotel. If you can understand the different Scottish dialects, you can definitely pick up the English language quickly. They were really good to me there and taught me how to make lots of different cocktails and about the abundance of whiskies we can serve our guests, including their history and detail. They taught me so much. My visa conditions allowed me to stay in the UK for one more year after completing my degree, so I took up a placement at the 5-star Radisson hotel in Cardiff, which I really enjoyed. When the year was up, I graduated with my master's.

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Tell us about your work experience over the past 20 years and how you became a valued team member at Colbert

After Glasgow, I moved to London and got a job working at Harrods in one of their Japanese restaurants. It was a real eye-opener for me; I didn’t know people could spend ￡250 on a meal. It taught me about luxury, exquisite ingredients, and exceptional service – it was a steep learning curve, but one I really enjoyed.

Then, a friend told me about a job opportunity at The Wolseley, so I decided it looked like a great chance to learn something new. At the interview, I met the most amazing man, Daniel Craig , my boss. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that our paths crossed. He is by far my favourite person in the company. He gave me a chance even when I said I knew nothing about French cuisine or Western-style restaurants. I was brutally honest; I even told him in my interview that I knew nothing about wine but had a little bit of experience with cocktails from my Glasgow days. Daniel gave me lots of training – he had patience and kindness, and he instructed his team to ensure they had patience with me too. Everyone pitched in to teach me, and it was their patience and dedication to helping me succeed that really stuck with me.

Daniel is the Openings Manager for the company, so after a while, he left to open Soutine. When that happened, I transferred to Colbert in 2019 and have been here ever since.

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What do you love most about Colbert?

It would have to be the culture. To me, it’s like a family here – our guests come here and feel welcomed and special. They know our team, our names, our menu, and they love to come and spend time with us. And we feel the same about them – we love to spoil them and make sure they feel relaxed and comfortable.

And our team make the culture great too – working with the team that I do is really rewarding. We look after each other, just like we do for our guests. Our senior management team like Daniele Bilardo , Cezar and Emiliano Lapergola make sure that we are supported.

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What do you love most about working in London?

What I love most about working in London is the incredible diversity and opportunities the city offers. London has everything – a vibrant culture, excellent salary prospects, and endless activities to enjoy. The transport links make it easy to explore the city and beyond.

For those looking for a career in hospitality, London is unparalleled, especially with companies like The Wolseley Hospitality Group. They provide great places to work in, comprehensive training and development, and they genuinely care about their people. It’s a win, win.

London truly has something for everyone, no doubt about it.

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What 3 skills do you think are essential to work in hospitality?

The three essential skills for working in hospitality are excellent communication, a solid foundation of food knowledge, and the ability to read people. Great communication skills are crucial for interacting effectively with both guests and colleagues. Having a good understanding of food allows you to provide informed recommendations and answer any questions confidently. Most importantly, being able to read and understand a guest's body language and cues helps you tailor your service to their needs. Some guests prefer privacy, while others enjoy engaging in conversation. Service isn’t a one size fits all – it’s actually quite tailored and unique to each guest. That’s essential to make an impact.

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What is the most popular dish on our menu? And what do you recommend?

That has to be the chopped chicken salad! Whether it’s hot or cold outside, the chopped chicken salad is always a perfect starter or sometimes a main course.

And if I had one dish I would recommend to any new guest joining us for the first time, it would be to try the escargots because they are served with a delicious garlic butter sauce and fresh breadcrumb on top, and accompanied by a hot oven-baked breadstick.

On this drinks side, I always recommend a classic cosmopolitan or a daiquiri. These cocktails are classic, refreshing and never too strong.

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What do you like to do outside of work?

Well that’s easy – I have a travel bucket list and my aim is to travel to as many places in Europe as I can before I move back to Taiwan when I retire. I have worked hard to see plenty of places already, but I still have many more places to explore before I turn 67. And I can’t wait to see how many more beautiful places I can explore before then.