Toby Worthington has taken on Applejack Hospitality’s newly-established group head chef role. The chef will oversee menu development and chef training and guidance, drive revenue growth, and foster team culture.
Worthington tells Hospitality that Applejack’s Director of Culinary Patrick Friesen developed the role to assist with the group’s accelerating growth. The appointment comes in the wake of Applejack’s recently announced partnership with the Australian arm of multi-national Compass Group, and Worthington will also be responsible for ensuring Applejack is aligned with the compliance and safety regulations of Compass.
The chef has a wealth of experience managing high volume and high-profile venues, having worked with Merivale on and off for about 12 years including as Head Chef at Coogee Pavilion, Queen Chow Manly, and Papi Chulo. It was during his tenure with Merivale that Worthington met Friesen. The pair worked together at Papi Chulo “many years ago”, before Worthington helped Friesen to open Queen Chow Manly.
“I felt like I had grown as much as I could [with Merivale]. I ended up having lunch with Patrick who was in need of some support and wanted to create this role so they could grow Applejack faster. We had lunch with Hamish [Watts, Applejack co-owner], and I decided to come on board after hearing their story,” Worthington tells Hospitality.
Worthington is currently learning the ropes at Applejack, noting that the group’s smaller size allows for more agility than Merivale’s scale allowed. “Applejack reminds me of Merivale about a decade ago in terms of their size and the way they do things,” he says.
“They’re a smaller group with what seems to be a bit more flexibility in speed, turnarounds, promotions, and activations. I will eventually try and put my stamp on things in the future, but for now it’s about building relationships and getting to know all the brands.”
One of the largest challenges across the industry is finding, nurturing, and retaining talent – something Worthington is aiming to put significant time into developing with Applejack. “It’s been a struggle in the industry for a while now. We’re trying to develop our talent so they can be the next leaders, and nurture them so we can hold onto them,” says Worthington.
To foster this talent growth and retention, Worthington says Applejack already has a range of methods, from respecting work life balance “for everyone, especially full-timers who are there day in day out”, to providing kitchen staff with immersive training.
“Pat is really passionate about training experiences and chef experiences on the kitchen side. He keeps the guys engaged by taking them to farms and taking them to butchers and getting some educational trips in to keep their engagement up, and empower them to take the lead and be creative and have a good stay in each venue that they’re in,” says Worthington.
Looking forward, Worthington says he’s most excited to help drive and grow the existing teams within Applejack. “There are also a few things in the pipeline that hopefully all come to fruition and we can grow and expand,” says Worthington – although he’s not able to discuss upcoming projects quite yet.
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Laura Box
