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Chef Rik: How he's inspiring the next generation of chefs
25 Plays5 days ago
Ever wondered what the essence of being a chef is truly like?
Look no further than Rik Razza, a brilliantly bold chef who started off soaking up knowledge and culinary craft in his family restaurant. Fast-forward to today - he is the backbone of developing our chefs and future food heroes, and creates a culture of trust and creativity to ensure he is becoming the leader he always envisioned.
Rik is joined by Maddie, a chef apprentice who is making her mark and experimenting with food to find her unique style.
Listen in as Rik and Maddie navigate the world of food, flavour and culture!
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Transcript
Introduction to FYI Baxter Story with Rick Raza
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to the FYI Baxter Story podcast. I'm Maddie, a chef apprentice at Baxter Story and your host of today's episode. Having just had our Chef Academy graduation and new Obsessed Expo for 2025, we wanted to dive deep into a chef's creative mind, which sparks their passion and fuels their identity.
Rick Raza's Culinary Background
00:00:30
Speaker
We're joined by a very special guest today Head of Chef Development, Rick Raza. Rick is somewhat of a legend, serving up knowledge and power for 28 years at Baxter Story.
00:00:43
Speaker
So Rick, I'm honoured to be sat here with you today and to hear about your journey and your experiences in the industry. Tell us what made you choose cooking as a career. Did you find your passion along the way or have you always been drawn to food?
00:00:56
Speaker
Well firstly, Madeline, it's lovely to be here with you as well. Thank you. It's great be interviewed by you, so thank you for that. I suppose I was blessed, Maddy. I had a Swedish mum and an Italian dad. So I was brought up in a really nice blended culture. That's a cool mix. Yeah, really cool mix. Yeah. So that that was nice. And i think from that as well, what I started to see with both grandparents, so the Swedish grandparent was called Mormor, the Italian one was Nonna.
00:01:21
Speaker
And with Mormor, I started to see her cooking kind of like fresh crabs, fresh crayfish, things like that. Yeah. And Nonna, she was doing pasta and gnocchi fresh. Oh. when we were in Italy and when we were Sweden.
00:01:33
Speaker
yeah and And I was totally oblivious to it. I'm honest, I just saw food and I enjoyed it. So dad was a restaurant manager. So dad worked in some of the top places in London. So he worked Ardis, looking after Sophia Loren, where she used to go. and they named a chicken dish after her as well.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, that's really cool, actually. And then he worked at the Grosvenor House as well. So he had this kind of love for hosting a service, which I started to see. And then he bought some restaurants.
00:02:01
Speaker
And the migration was that I just started working for him. But prior to that, when we lived in a one of the restaurants that he was running, um remember i used to go down when I was younger and we used to pinch the mise en place from the pastry chefs. Did you? Yeah. fridge on a Sunday night when they were closed. And he just i lose it we laugh when we used to, when he used to come in on a Monday, so he's been in the fridge again. Oh, that's honestly so. So through all of that, the passion started to drive and develop. And then I'd started
Stepping into the Culinary World
00:02:30
Speaker
working for dad. So school wasn't for me. I was shocking at school.
00:02:33
Speaker
It wasn't for me at all. I went to Catering College, Westminster College, and I went from a zero student to an eight student. but I found a passion there. um I love working with food, and it all just started to click together for me, which was good, because we were rascal when I was younger, so actually this started to straighten me out a wee bit.
00:02:51
Speaker
And then i started working for Dad in his restaurant. and I started as a waiter actually first which I'm really grateful for now you know you kind of look back I feel like the notion starts with either kitchen boards and you're in the thought of you see it all happening i think so yeah the waiting side for it to me really started to show that how the front of house and the back of house need to work together to get the best to delight the customer you know because the food's got to be right but the service has got to be right and the whole environment's got to be right and that started me on my path I suppose You know, it was all unbeknown to me at the time when all that was going on. It was all things that you see. And then all of a sudden, when you look back, you think, okay, that's where it all started.
00:03:30
Speaker
know, all those little tidbits that you see in there, was like, oh, that's really exciting. so That's kind of how I got into it and got excited about it, really. yeah Pretty good thought. And for you, Maddy, what got you passionate about cooking and what youve got you into it?
00:03:43
Speaker
I guess I'm the same as you. I've always been a foodie, I've always loved food. and My nickname when I was a kid growing up from my nan was Maddy Two Puds because after my roast dinner on a Sunday I would always have two puddings without fail.
00:03:58
Speaker
But I guess my career into being a chef was quite unexpected, i would say. It's not like what you'd think. So in my really early teens, I suffered with disordered eating. I didn't really understand nutrition. I didn't understand what fueling your body meant. I just thought, you know, growing up as a young girl, you think, eat as little as possible. That's what was sort of like...
00:04:23
Speaker
culturally, like around, and like I'm on my phone, you know. And I thought that was good eat as it was possible, I didn't understand. and then I guess it was through my recovery, I sort of gained such a deep understanding of like, oh, I understand what it means to fuel your body. Food isn't like, shouldn't be demonised, like it's amazing. My mindset really changed and I think That's why I'm so interested in nutrition now.
00:04:48
Speaker
But not just nutrition, it's about like connecting you with other people. It's about making your food, it's not about making your food boring, it's about adding color. It's about...
00:05:01
Speaker
making it delicious. I just wanted to sort of share that with other people. My love language is giving food to people. i love it so much. but So I just sort of fell into the chefing industry, but with like sort of a nutritious side to it. And i absolutely loved it. Yeah. and What's great about that is how you've turned that kind of negative part of your life into a real yeah positive and your mindset's changed, but now you're driving it and actually it's something I love to do, yeah but I can also kind of give to others as well.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yes. That's great.
Beyond Cooking: Skills of a Chef
00:05:35
Speaker
Awesome. One thing about the chef career path that no one talks about enough. That is a great question, isn't it? Because I think there's there's the obvious one, which I will go there and just say first, it's obviously cooking amazing food.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah. Right? It's that lovely ingredients that we get in cooking. But what's not talked about is all of the transferable skills that go with that. So leadership. team dynamics, communication, coaching, mentoring, solution finding, organisation, timing, all of those leadership skills that you can pick up, Maddy, and you can take anywhere, you know? You wouldn't want to obviously step out of a white chef's jacket, why would you? But those skills that you've got, you can apply in any walk of life, whether it's your personal life, or whether you apply it to another trade,
00:06:27
Speaker
or hopefully apply it to the trade that we're in and that we lose. So I think to me, that is the one thing that isn't talked about enough. And you can get so much, certainly from my younger days, it was all about cook, cook, cook, cook. I wasn't worried about all the other bits around it. But actually, as I started to get a bit older and started to realize, hold on a minute, there's other things here that are as important as the cooking, if not more important sometimes.
00:06:51
Speaker
And i think those transferable skills are the bits that aren't talked about enough. As you were saying as well, you said you're growing up you terror in school, didn't like school, but I think that's also the school mentality, it's very black and white, like sometimes not being book smart. But you don't learn these things at school and all these skills are so valuable. They are.
00:07:11
Speaker
What are your non-negotiables in a team? So, super important. This one of the fundamental questions here. I'm going to split it into two. One, the trust piece and then the culture piece.
00:07:23
Speaker
So the trust piece, Maddy, is on the academy we teach the trust equation. And the trust equation is trust T equals C times r times over Okay.
00:07:36
Speaker
Now the sea so this is the non-negotiables. So the C is credibility. So have you got the skills? Have you got the knowledge? Have you got the qualification?
00:07:48
Speaker
can you do what you say you can do? So that's the credibility. So the reliability is all about, do you turn up when you say you turn up? Do you walk the walk? Are you there for the team?
00:08:00
Speaker
You know, do you do what you say you're going to do And then the intimacy piece is an interesting piece because the intimacy is twofold. Firstly, it's kind of being empathetic and ready to listen to people.
00:08:13
Speaker
to find out what's going on and understand them. But the other side is really powerful of intimacy. it's where you drive someone at the moment. We need to do better. And all that is over SI, which is self-interest.
00:08:25
Speaker
So it's not about me, it's about everyone else. And if it's about me, you never build trust. Because people see straight through that. Don't they? but So I think building trust. So when I look at non-negotiables, they're my non-negotiables of trust. okay And then culture. I think culture is all about a shared vision.
00:08:44
Speaker
So a vision that you put in place, that is a shared vision with your team. So all of your team input to that vision, they're part of it. Because otherwise, if you come with a vision by yourself,
00:08:58
Speaker
and they're not part of it are they going to buy into it you know there's an element of people call it lean from the front i'm not keen on that word but it's an element of you have to set the tone sometimes if you like yeah but all the time when you set the tone you're setting it with the team as well you're not just doing it by yourself everyone has parts of it because if everyone has part of it you get ownership and you get responsibility as well and then they feel included Exactly that, Maddie, totally. And actually, what right have i got to say that my team, they're no better than me. They have got the answers, and knowledge, and they've also got their visions and where they want to go. So i need to include them very much in any of the vision that we put in place. And that starts to drive and build the culture. And then the next piece next to that is consistency. and It's being super, super consistent with what you do.
00:09:50
Speaker
how you work with people, how you include people, and just make sure that consistency is better. And that starts to drive culture. What advice would you give to chefs who are just starting but don't know their culinary identity?
Finding Purpose in Cooking
00:10:03
Speaker
It's a lovely question, that, and it's... Something I wish someone had asked me many, many years ago, I suppose. And I think what I'll come to is purpose. So there's a lovely kind of Japanese saying, which is ikigai, which tur talks about of that so it talks about purpose and value. And it's really finding something that you love doing, something that you're good at as well, something that the world wants. And then hopefully as well, you can get paid for it.
00:10:28
Speaker
you know yeah And then from that is then kind of like discovering what is my purpose? what is my What is my value in life? you know Why do I get up in the morning? get up in the morning, you go to work, you work really hard, you come back home, you have to do what you do back at home.
00:10:44
Speaker
You go to sleep and then you rinse and repeat. yeah but There's got to be a purpose behind that to understand. So my purpose is very much to nourish people both in their minds and their bodies through food, beverage and conversation.
00:11:00
Speaker
whilst I journey with them. Yeah. And that's what gets me going. That's my purpose. I think it's important to find that purpose, that understanding, because that drives who you are and what you can then do within your life, your workplace, your home life, wherever it may be. With your identity, obviously, Maddy, you know, you're...
00:11:17
Speaker
Starting off in your journey yeah in life and you've already kind of shared with us and thank you for that because that transparency of sharing you know with your eating disorder it is lovely to hear that you're comfortable to share that which is just superb kind of from a purpose and a value for yourself but where are your thoughts on that in the moment and where do you see yourself kind of journey into?
00:11:42
Speaker
I think that when you're just starting out as a chef, I think it's actually quite good to not put yourself in a box. And I think it's good to not know exactly where you're going to go because then you'll let yourself experiment with lots of different avenues. And I think that is what I'm enjoying at the moment.
00:12:02
Speaker
I love a bit of everything. i like trying new things. I think last week for the first time I did fine dining, which I've never done before, which I've eaten. I've never actually been the other side of it.
00:12:13
Speaker
um The very intricacy of the plating and that was all completely new to me, which I loved. But then i was like, I'd want to do that all the time but yeah with everything that I make and I do and when I create my menus for work and everything there's always has somewhat of a nutritious sort of focus on the background but then i just make it exciting and that's just basically what I love to do but yeah and how do you spot talent in young chefs what do you look beyond knife skills
00:12:44
Speaker
I think when you sit down and interview a chef, at that stage in their career, it's not about their craft, it's more about their attitude. So I'm looking for that for definite for their attitude.
00:12:55
Speaker
I'm looking for that hunger for them to better themselves, that desire to constantly push on yeah and be better. I'm looking for them to understand what is their kind of like purpose in life or if you ask them that question, are they able to start to articulate that and get a sense of they know a little bit of direction, albeit they're really taking on board what you said, that that direction has got to be very wide at that stage as well so they can experience as many things as possible for deaf and deaf. And I'm looking at someone as well that is going to be competitive.
00:13:32
Speaker
You know, they've got that little bit of edge to them. yeah that They're going to push and challenge others around them as well. yeah So I think that that's kind of what i look for in ah in a chef coming through, are those kind of three elements.
00:13:45
Speaker
I think as well because anyone, well not anyone, most people can cook food. If you've got the right, you can watch a video on YouTube, you can have the most amazing ingredients, the freshest ingredients, it's going to taste nice but you have to have the drive, the passion. Passion is a big one as well because you're not going to go too far if you don't enjoy what you're doing, you don't have the passion.
00:14:10
Speaker
that the passion side of it is so important. Sometimes difficult to quantify that with people as well. and What are they actually passionate about? And I think that's where you can tie it back into, right? Have you got thoughts about where you want to go? What is your route that you want to take?
00:14:26
Speaker
But that passion and desire is utmost for them. Yeah. I agree. Because then... you can work with them, right? You can work with them 100%. I think it's been great that chefs have become celebrities and all things like that. I think it's kind of damaged perception of young chefs a little bit as well because so i want to rush through a bit too quick.
Culture and Sustainability in Culinary
00:14:45
Speaker
So we have just hosted our first ever Obsessed Expo. Can you talk about the purpose of why we did this? Yeah, definitely. Well, I think since Obsessed came on board, where are we, three and a half, four years ago, you know?
00:15:01
Speaker
there There's been a real fire that has started to roar underneath food and beverage again, which is super exciting. yeah It's exciting for everyone to be part of it and people want to be part of it that aren't part of it at the moment. So so so that's really good. I think there's a true belief in there in respect of the culture of what Obsessed is. And Obsessed is a culture.
00:15:25
Speaker
you know It's not a concept. It's it's a culture that people... one believing and then start to deliver back in location. So there's a real belief in craft, there's a real belief in creativity, in community, in cheer and carbon, you know, and that's utmost. And if we can start to grab that and truly believe in it, and I think this is the difference here with a culture, if you start to believe in it and see what that culture is, then every day that you walk into your kitchen or you walk into your restaurant,
00:15:56
Speaker
you start to deliver that. yeah And that in turn starts to delight the customers. you know and And I think that is where the the cultural movement of Obsessed is. That's what it's all about. So today, what we saw was this incredible celebration of what Obsessed is. everything about that and within that this golden thread now of sustainable nutrition that is so important that we bring that into the workplace so there's great purpose around our people how we feed them and great purpose around the planet in respect of how we look out for the planet as well yeah and i think today has been just a massive celebration of that
00:16:36
Speaker
And we have a huge focus on sustainable nutrition and how this benefits our teams, customers and the planet. Can you talk us a little bit about our sustainable nutrition goals for the future? Yeah, definitely. So i think we're moving into this kind of era now, which is great. There's a great quote, which I can't remember fully, but it talks about intelligent eating.
00:16:57
Speaker
and how we eat intelligently and to me if i then translate that that translates into very much sustainable nutrition know what is the purpose behind what we do basically ah in everything in life but within our food and our beverage as well and i think when you look at sustainable nutrition we've just put together this amazing three-day course on sustainable nutrition that has been accredited by the association for nutritionists at the highest level You know, when we shared that with them, they were blown away by the pack that we had put together over the three days. And that three days is a blend of amazing teaching from our nutritionist, Lizzie, and from our new nutritional chef trainer, Steve Wilson.
00:17:39
Speaker
And then combined with examples of food that are run into that sustainable nutrition course as well. yeah So it all combines together. think that's key. And the targets around that is that we pass 120 chefs through there.
00:17:52
Speaker
Okay. Part of that journey with that is going to be that when they have gone on to the three-day course, then they then go back and as a minimum, they implement the bronze food for life standard within their location. yeah So at the end of the year, we should have 120 chefs and 120 locations, all with the bronze food for life as a minimum. So not just like something written down on a piece of paper, they're going to be able to apply it. 100%, it's got to be applied, right? So I think that there are a couple of things there. We're also working close on our larder.
00:18:25
Speaker
So with the larder, Maddy, what we're doing there is making sure that the suppliers that we work with they are aligned with everything that we talk about with people planning purpose and their ingredients the farmers the breeders the producers have to be aligned as well so we've got this amazing larder now whereas you as a chef can go to that order off there and know that it's actually feeding into sustainable nutrition yeah which is brilliant isn't it it's really good
00:18:56
Speaker
food's coming from. Totally. I think, yeah, especially with like educating people, do you know, it's because it is yeah important. and And we need to give our chefs within the business, within their kitchens,
00:19:08
Speaker
the trust elements we're about to try we've put this in place and this is where you can order from and then alongside that we've got feed me back to story coming in which is going to be an amazing tool that you as a chef maddie can go on to one get all the nutritional information and allergy information that's required for customers but educate yourself even further by the ai technology that we're now putting into this as well so that's going to be an incredible tool that's coming out and Going back to cooking, how has the role of a chef changed over the last decade?
Technology's Impact on Culinary Arts
00:19:42
Speaker
And where do you think it's heading? Yeah, well, I think technology certainly is playing a part in it. And access... It's a bit scary in a way. Yeah. Isn't it? Why do you find that scary? what Because it's like...
00:19:54
Speaker
It's taking, i think in some ways it's taking the intelligence out of, we're we're not thinking for ourselves as much anymore. You don't just like with recipes and things like that. but That's the fun part yeah about, that's like what I find the fun part about being a chef is you're allowed to be creative and make things up for yourself, but you can just do, ai can do and everything yeah for you.
00:20:19
Speaker
It everything. but Obviously, so in some ways it is really handy. I like to use it for converting measurements into like upscaling or downscaling recipes because I'm not very good at maths.
00:20:32
Speaker
So it does it for me. I think it's brilliant. So there are are good parts, but then I do think that AI can be scary. It's understanding the traditional foundations of what it means to be a chef. And I'm not losing sight of those. I think that's super important.
00:20:48
Speaker
embracing what technology is offering us now and then starting to combine the two. I think that's going to take a skill to combine the two because there's so much great information that you can get out there now. But there is this element of don't rush too quick.
00:21:06
Speaker
Develop your base, develop your foundations, utilize what AI has got for you or technology has for you. combine the two and I think you then become a very, very powerful chef in respects of what you can offer.
00:21:21
Speaker
And what is one mistake young chefs make when trying to prove themselves, do you think? I don't think it's a mistake. I think it's an eagerness. And I think we've mentioned it already. And the eagerness is to rush ahead too quick. I think it's, you know, i think there's a saying, isn't it? Slow to go smooth, smooth to go fast, which means focus on getting things right. yeah Focus on understanding them, focus on doing them well.
00:21:46
Speaker
Focus on that element being fantastic. Whatever you are working on, whether it's your leadership skills, whether it's certain techniques, whatever, and then you'll start to see things speeding up, but you'll be doing them in a really good way and a very professional way rather than going too fast at it and not totally understanding what you're You'll have bit of knowledge behind what you're doing. I think that's key. up but To me, that's ah a key part. So it's not mistake. I think it's more an eagerness that you just need to be a little bit self-aware about what's going on.
00:22:19
Speaker
yeah And talking about that, is there any advice that you've been giving in your career that you would pass on now? Yeah, I think so for definite. I think a very wise chef said to me, put four or five people around you that you can trust.
00:22:37
Speaker
Trust again. Trust again. That will give you not the answers that you want, but the answers that you need. okay so you can go to them tell them something and they're not just going to say yeah great love what you said maddie they was like yeah you know maddie that's not quite right and you need you know so so again that that element of they're going to talk to you and tell you truthfully what's going on and where you're at at the moment so i think that's absolutely key let's come have a quick look at the books there's a couple of bits I think as well is being grateful and appreciating the privilege of the job that we do. Yes. The fact that we can take these wonderful ingredients, cook them and delight customers with, and that's a privilege, right? Yes. An absolute privilege to have that.
00:23:20
Speaker
Be that 1% better every day. Every time you wake up in the morning, what's that 1% that you're going to do better than you did yesterday? And really drive for that to make it happen. And the last one which we've talked about is find your purpose.
00:23:34
Speaker
Yes. You know, work with someone, a coach or a mentor, whatever it might be, to find your purpose
Wisdom in the Culinary Journey
00:23:40
Speaker
in life. Because I think then, know, when we talk about being eager and going too fast, that will help you on the journey.
00:23:46
Speaker
so Also, so with when you said about appreciating that you're a chef and what your job is, it's funny because when I talk to my friends and or I meet people like new my own age, they're oh, so what do you do? And I say, I'm a chef. And they're like, no way, that's so cool. And then I'm like...
00:24:04
Speaker
It's cool actually, but you don't think at the time, because in my head it's like, I'm going to work, this is my job. I introduce myself and then that's so cool. So it's good to be reminded. I think we just take it sometimes. And actually what we do, can be super complex sometimes, but we just kind of like take it as it is. It can be super simple sometimes, it can be super complex. And that takes a great skill to do that. Forget that. It's nice to be reminded, isn't it? It is.
00:24:33
Speaker
Rick, before we say goodbye to our listeners, is there any last nuggets of wisdom you'd like to leave with us? You know what, Maddy? I think one, thank you very much. It's been lovely being interviewed by you. You're welcome.
00:24:45
Speaker
It's great to hear some of your views. And you know what? I think... Enjoy life. Life is precious, right? Don't get hung up on too much stuff. And i said it a few times, to find your purpose, find what you want to do enjoy that, and then just go and just spread that and nourish people that you come across.
00:25:06
Speaker
And don't take yourself too serious. Yes. Be who you are. I love that. I think that's what i would say. Yeah. yeah That's what would say. Well, thank you very much. Thank you. It's been wonderful.
00:25:18
Speaker
So, Maddy, we spent a bit of time together. For you, what's been your biggest takeaway from today? I guess my biggest takeaway from today is talking about starting off as a chef and sort of types of people you want surround yourself by, people you can trust.
00:25:34
Speaker
That came up a lot, trusting people. And just being inspired, creative, like having a drive and a passion is definitely very important when you're starting.
00:25:47
Speaker
And knowing what your purpose is, definitely will help with your future career and where you want to go And Yeah. That's great.
00:25:59
Speaker
This has been a great conversation and I hope people take on board your words of wisdom and use them to champion and empower both themselves and fellow chefs. Thank you so much, Rick, for joining us today. It's been an absolute pleasure.
00:26:12
Speaker
It's been my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And thank you listeners for joining us on this episode of FYI, the Baxter Story podcast. We hope you love this conversation as much as I have.
00:26:24
Speaker
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