“I remember Larder with Mr Hill, Pastry Mr Tibo, Restaurant service with Mr Brooks and Mr Bedford, and craft skills with Mr Edmunds and Mr Cockerill,” he said. He also remembers Mr Julyan in restaurant service and head of department Mr Gunn, whom he “continued to see all over the country at a catering exhibition”.
His career has taken him through hotels, ships, a major bank, the Science Museum and a trade union conference centre. Today he is a Chef Manager at Thomas Franks, and he says the college is where it all began.
“The college had a great mix of traditional restaurant kitchens, where silver service and guéridon service were taught properly, alongside brand-new, state-of-the-art teaching kitchens designed for those all-important practical skills,” said Damon. “South Devon Tec, as the college was then known, was one of the most renowned catering colleges in the country, attracting some excellent and highly experienced lecturers.”
His first year was a basic craft course. “I learned the foundations of cooking, waiting, housekeeping and reception, alongside food hygiene and nutrition,” he said. In his second year he moved on to the Professional Chefs Course, which also included food and beverage service.
The teaching staff came from a wide range of backgrounds. “The lecturers were firm but fair,” said Damon. “Torquay had some fantastic hotels at the time, but the college also employed chefs with experience in what was then known as B&I, industrial and business catering.”
Damon worked evenings while studying during the day. “I was often leaving college and heading straight to work,” he said. “It was hard work, but it taught me discipline, resilience and the importance of putting in the hours. Those qualities have stayed with me throughout my career.”
Damon left college in 1988 with his City and Guilds 706/1 and 2 and started work as a Chef de Partie at a large hotel in Babbacombe. After a year in Babbacombe and a spell at a pub near Exeter, he took a position at a hotel in the early 1990s.
“Within six months, I helped the team achieve an AA Rosette, and after two years I was working there as Head Chef,” said Damon. “These were exciting times. Chefs were getting TV time and Gary Rhodes was Head Chef at the Castle in Taunton, some 20 minutes from where I was working.”
The next move was to P&O in Portsmouth. “It was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” he said. Over four years he progressed to Sous Chef in an operation he describes as incredibly busy, serving around 6,000 passengers a day. “It was a fantastic experience and taught me a huge amount about managing large-scale catering operations.”
By the late 1990s he had moved to London and returned to hotels, before going into contract catering as Head Chef at a major bank in the City. His next role was one he says he never imagined he would get: Head Chef at the Science Museum.
“I was responsible for five restaurants, six additional outlets and a growing events business,” said Damon. “It was a challenging and incredibly rewarding five years, filled with some fantastic experiences and memories.”
Through every move, the habits he picked up while juggling lectures and evening shifts went with him.
After the birth of his first child, he took a position looking after the conference centre and catering for all the employees at a trade union headquarters. He stayed for 15 years. “It was a truly rewarding role and, in many ways, a dream job,” he said.
In 2025 Damon joined Thomas Franks as a Chef Manager, “continuing to do what I’ve loved for more than four decades”.
He says the industry has changed enormously since his college days. “We didn’t even take or use a temperature probe back then, but the fundamentals remain the same: good food, good people, hard work and pride in what you do,” said Damon. “Forty years on, I still love being a chef. And perhaps most importantly, I’m still learning.”
Everyone at South Devon College congratulates Damon on 40 years in catering and thanks him for sharing his story.
Take a look at the hospitality courses you could study at South Devon College: Hospitality courses – South Devon College
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