Born in Scotland, Ken Woodward completed his advanced training as a chef at Ealing College (now Thames Valley University) in London in 1976.
After a short time as Pastry chef at the Heathrow Sheraton hotel, Ken decided to move to the Waldorf hotel in the West end of London. Here he hoped to continue his pastry training, unfortunately the only opportunities lay in the Larder department, Ken was soon raised to Chef de Partie in the larder. After a thorough training and education in London, Ken moved to Peterborough to take up a position as Head chef for the new John Lewis departmental store. Having opened the 30,000 cover a year catering facility, he used his talents as a consultant to open or refurbish three further stores. During this time he worked as a product development consultant for Waitrose in Bracknell Berkshire.
Ken moved on to the Army School of Catering where he became a member of the civilian team of chefs who trained all levels of cooks for the Army. During this time Ken entered competitions with some success in Marzipan, Fat and Chocolate sculpture classes. He also became a member of the Territorial Army and cooked for many celebrities and Royal family members including Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II.
From here he moved as a lecturer to Brooklands College, Weybridge in Surrey. Very quickly establishing himself as a first class administrator and talented chef. Promotion came soon afterwards and he became the first Programme Manager for Food Production. Building a reputation many Further Education Establishments would be proud of. This included entering many students into culinary competitions and creating a culture of off site exposure to competitions which, was challenging and inspirational for the students. The tally of medals for both staff and students stands at some 300+ awards over 10 years.
Ken also represented the UK on several occasions, in Dallas USA in 1993 in Limoges France in 1994 in the UK in 1996 and Erfurt Germany in 2000. Ken has a number of personal culinary medals to his name mainly in Sculpturing of Fat, works in Marzipan and Chocolate. Sculpture being one of his many passions.
Ken lectures in the School of Service Management at the University of Brighton as Senior lecture teaching Culinary Arts, Modern Gastronomy, Food and Beverage Management and other related subjects, which includes training future managers in the finer points of running a professional kitchen. He has also developed a Masters module of learning which teaches Occupational Therapists the skills training required to help people back into the world of work. He is also studying for his a Masters degree in Culinary Arts.
Ken’s other interests include, fine antique furniture restoration and research into sustainable hospitality. He also has a personal library of over 500 recipe books dating back to the beginning of the 19th Century.
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